Frankfurt Airport to build LCC terminal

German airport operator Fraport AG has applied for a building permit to construct a new Pier G at Frankfurt Airport to accommodate the growing low-cost segment. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2018.

Frankfurt is Germany’s biggest airport and the major hub of Star Alliance member Lufthansa.

Fraport executive board chairman Stefan Schulte said, “Frankfurt is and will remain a hub airport. However, the development of the aviation market as a whole means that, in addition to the traditional full-service offering, we have to take the needs of low-cost providers into account and continuously enhance our processes.”

Pier G was originally envisaged as the second phase in the construction of Frankfurt Airport’s new Terminal 3, but is now being realized and commissioned ahead of schedule.

“The LCC market share at Frankfurt Airport is around 2%. We support growth at Frankfurt, but our main business will remain as a hub, not the LCC business,” a Fraport spokesperson told ATW in Frankfurt.

The new pier is to be constructed in three phases:

The first phase is scheduled to open in 2020 with capacity for 4 to 5 million passengers at a cost of up to €200 million ($235 million). In a second phase, Pier G will be expanded to a total capacity of up to seven million passengers and connected to the first section of Terminal 3. In the third and final phase, Pier G will be extended to include bridges and jetways.

“Pier G will enable us to alleviate future capacity constraints at Terminals 1 and 2 as early as 2020. By this date, our two existing terminals are expected to be approaching their capacity limit of 64 million passengers. That limit could be expanded to around 68 million passengers, but only on a temporary basis and at the expense of quality,” Schulte said.