Frankfurt am Main Airport (IATA: FRA, ICAO: EDDF), commonly known as Frankfurt Airport and known in German as Flughafen Frankfurt am Main or Rhein-Main-Flughafen, is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, Germany.
Run by transport company Fraport, Frankfurt Airport is by far the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany, the third busiest in Europe (after London Heathrow Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport) and the ninth busiest worldwide in 2011. Passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport in 2011 was 56.4 million. As of winter 2011/2012, Frankfurt Airport serves the most international destinations in the world, serving 275 destinations in 111 countries. With a freight throughput of 2.17 million metric tonnes in 2011 it is the busiest airport in Europe by cargo traffic. The southern side of the airport ground was home to the Rhein-Main Air Base, which was a major air base for the United States from 1947 until 2005, when the air base was closed and the property was acquired by Fraport.
Frankfurt Airport is the main hub of Lufthansa, Germany's flag carrier, and of Condor Flugdienst. Due to capacity constraints in Frankfurt, Lufthansa has established a secondary hub at Munich Airport, where many key medium and long-haul routes are available.
The airport has been expanded several times since its opening in 1936 and has now two large terminals (Terminal 1 and Terminal 2), with a capacity of approximately 65 million passengers yearly, and four runways. In recent years, major construction works were necessary to make the airport compatible for the Airbus A380, including a large A380 maintenance facility, because Lufthansa has stationed its A380 aircraft fleet at Frankfurt Airport. On October 20, 2011, the fourth runway went into operation, which will allow the airport to meet the predicted demand of about 700,000 aircraft movements in 2020. To handle the predicted passenger amount of about 90 million in 2020, a new terminal section adjacent to Terminal 1 for an additional six million passengers opened on October 10, 2012, and a large third terminal for 25 million passengers is scheduled to be built beginning in 2013.
Read more about Frankfurt Airport: Location, Terminals, Airlines and Destinations, Cargo, Runway System, Airport City, Other Facilities, Access, Traffic and Statistics, Incidents and Accidents, Future Expansions
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“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)