One of Europe’s largest privately financed infrastructure projects has begun above-ground construction in Frankfurt, Germany.
Airport operator Fraport has laid the cornerstone for Frankfurt’s new Terminal 3, which will increase the airport’s total capacity by 21 million passengers per year when fully complete.
The first phase of the T3 project, named Pier G, is scheduled for completion in 2021, with capacity for up to five million passengers a year. T3 is being developed in a bid to secure the future of Germany’s largest aviation hub.
During the ceremony, Fraport CEO Dr Stefan Schulte said, “We are building the future with Terminal 3 – for Frankfurt Airport, the entire Rhine-Main region, and far beyond. With the new terminal, we are adding sufficient capacity for about 21 million more travelers annually by the year 2023. Frankfurt is already an international leader in terms of connectivity. No other aviation hub in the world offers more destinations to business or leisure travelers than Frankfurt Airport. Terminal 3 will further strengthen Germany’s most important gateway to the world.”
Terminal 3’s Pier G is being developed in the southern part of Frankfurt Airport. The plans call for the main terminal building, along with Piers H and J, to be completed in 2023. There will be an option to add a Pier K, potentially increasing the new terminal’s total capacity to 25 million air travelers.
Fraport supervisory board chairman Karlheinz Weimar added, “Frankfurt Airport is a premium air traffic hub. This is obvious from the growing number of travelers wishing to fly from and via Frankfurt. In view of the buoyant growth in passenger volumes, it is high time we enlarge our capacity. So it’s good news that one pier can be completed ahead of the rest. Pier G will begin operating and providing additional capacity as early as 2021. This leaves no doubt that we were right to opt for an architectural design that could be flexibly adjusted as required.”
