FRA’s Terminal 3 ground-breaking ceremony on 5 October 5: Anke Giesen, Fraport Executive Board Member for Operations; Dr Matthias Zieschang, Fraport Executive Board Member for Finance; Dr Stefan Schulte, Fraport Executive Board Chairman; Volker Bouffier, Prime Minister of the State of Hesse; Karlheinz Weimar, Fraport Supervisory Board Chairman; and Michael Müller, Fraport Executive Board Member for Labor Relations.
Frankfurt Airport held the ground-breaking ceremony for its new €2.5 billion Terminal 3 on Monday. Airport Business’ Jonathan Ford was in attendance and asked Dr Stefan Schulte, Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG, about his vision for airline occupancy of the new terminal, the first phase of which will be completed by 2022.
Fraport AG began construction of the new Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport on 5 October. Airport Business attended the ground-breaking ceremony, at which Dr Stefan Schulte, Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG, commented: “Frankfurt is the most centralised hub geographically in the whole of Europe. We are home to the largest employment complex in all of Germany, with a total of 80,000 on-site jobs across 500 companies.”
It has taken the airport 15 years to get to this point after an intensive planning, approval and verification process. The first phase of the Terminal 3 complex will be capable of handling up to 14 million passengers a year, and is planned to be open in time for the 2022 summer season.
Dr Stefan Schulte, Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG, pictured (right) with Airport Business’ Jonathan Ford: “We currently do not have a definitive strategy for the airline occupancy of the new terminal. Airlines only look into the short-term future compared to airports, however, one possibility is that non-Star Alliance carriers will move to the new Terminal 3. This would allow Star Alliance carriers, including our number one airline, Lufthansa, to expand capacity with a joint Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 hub operation.”
The 90,000sqm new terminal is being built on the south side of the airport, on the site of the former US Army base. It will have an exterior height of 33m metres, with a clear interior height of 22m, which promises to give a unique spatial experience for passengers. With a total investment of €2.5 to €3 billion, Terminal 3 is a significant infrastructure project that will benefit the local building industry and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, State of Hesse Prime Minister Volker Bouffier said: “The construction of Terminal 3 is an important step in ensuring Frankfurt Airport’s future viability and, thus, Hesse’s position as a leading economic location in the world. Fraport AG’s massive investment of €2.5 to €3 billion in this new facility is creating significant added value for the region, which deserves our respect.”
Karl-Heinz Weimar, Fraport AG’s Supervisory Board Chairman, added: “Our future Terminal 3 will strengthen Frankfurt Airport’s competitive position internationally. With my many years of experience at Fraport, which is regarded as one of the world’s most successful airport operators, I am certain that this ambitious project will be finished on time and on budget. Fraport has tremendous expertise for creating passenger terminals, ranging from Pier A-Plus in Frankfurt to the recently constructed new terminals in St. Petersburg, Varna and Burgas – as well as passenger terminals previously built in Delhi and Antalya.”
Once Terminal 3 is completed, the airport expects to handle 80-85 million passengers per year across the three terminals. The architectural design shares some similar features to that of the current Terminal 1, in that it will have two piers – H and J – that form a V-shaped design. The Terminal 3 piers will provide 24 much-needed aircraft docking positions, including 20 designed for widebodies like the A380 and 747. At a later date, two additional piers will be added, with apron space already established for this second stage. Once completed, the terminal capacity will increase from 14 to 25 million passengers per year.
400 Fraport employees linked together to display a scaled down model of the outline of the new Terminal 3, which is scheduled to open in time for the 2022 summer season. Initially, the terminal will have two piers, with a second phase to add two further piers.
In order to accommodate the new facility, several infrastructure changes will be made to make terminal accessibility easy for passengers. These include the redesign of road links and the airport’s CargoCity South area, as well as new IT and telephone lines being laid in the area.
Terminal 3 will also be linked to the current Frankfurt Airport people mover, which will see its current line extended to the east of the airport site past Terminal 2, around the end of the eastern runways heading towards the south side of the airport, eventually linking to the front of the new terminal.
The building will incorporate the latest sustainable technologies, including solar energy and LED lighting systems. The increased use of natural light, helped by the sleek architectural design of the building, will help minimise the need for artificial light. It is believed that the new terminal will help to add 20,000 jobs to the current site, meaning that by 2022 the airport site will employee over 100,000 people.
Civil engineering projects, such as the foundations, and landscaping the site for the new terminal, will take place until the third quarter of 2016, with the first building shell construction expected to start towards the end of next year. Operational testing will then occur from the second half of 2020, once the building shell has been completed.
“Currently, we are seeing an increase in passenger traffic of around 3% per annum, meaning that by the time Terminal 3 is completed we will be needing the additional capacity space,” Schulte told Airport Business. He added that the new Terminal 3 may potentially house the non-Star Alliance carriers. “We currently do not have a definitive strategy for the airline occupancy of the new terminal. Airlines only look into the short-term future compared to airports, however, one possibility is that non-Star Alliance carriers will move to the new Terminal 3. This would allow Star Alliance carriers, including our number one airline, Lufthansa, to expand capacity with a joint Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 hub operation.”
After the ground-breaking ceremony, Robert Payne, Head of International Press & Global Activities Team, International Spokesman, Fraport AG, showed Airport Business’ Jonathan Ford around the new Terminal 3 site. Currently, the new apron space that will eventually be incorporated into Terminal 3 is used for cargo and day stopping aircraft to be parked on. When completed, the new terminal will be able to accommodate 20 widebody aircraft, including the A380, simultaneously.
