FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Frankfurt Airport has strong growth opportunities in the medium term, according to operator Fraport. For the expected development of air traffic, there are few other locations in Germany with expansion plans or unused reserves, Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte said Tuesday evening after a tour of the construction site at the new Passenger Terminal 3, which continued to be built during the Corona pandemic. Schulte was referring to estimates by Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) that air traffic would grow by 67 percent by 2051.

According to Schulte, Terminal 3, which will cost around four billion euros, is scheduled to open in early 2026 and is already attracting strong interest from airlines interested in moving from other parts of the airport. "This shows that we are strategically on the right track with Terminal 3," Schulte said. The airport boss did not name any specific tenants. He added, however, that the tenants are not only airlines that have so far been based in Terminal 2, which will initially be completely closed and refurbished from 2026.

The modern equipment of the new terminal is also an incentive for the existing handling buildings in the north of the airport, Schulte said. Major renovations are also planned at Terminal 1, which is used primarily by Lufthansa, the airport's main customer, and its Star Alliance partners. Terminal 2 is due for a complete refurbishment, including the technical facilities, after more than 30 years.

With its four-runway system, Frankfurt Airport still has considerable capacity reserves. According to the zoning decision, more than 700,000 aircraft movements are permitted annually; in 2019, the previous record year, there were 514,000 takeoffs and landings with 70.6 million passengers. Opponents, on the other hand, want to enforce a lower upper limit because of aircraft noise.

Currently, Germany's largest airport is handling just over 80 percent of pre-crisis levels in terms of passengers. For the full year, Fraport expects a range between 80 and 90 percent, i.e. 56.5 to 63.5 million passengers. Terminal 3 will initially be able to handle around 19 million passengers a year. A further expansion to a capacity of 25 million is possible./ceb/DP/ngu