Frankfurt Airport: Central Europe's Busiest Hub

Central Europe's Primary Hub

Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA) is Germany's largest airport and the third busiest in Europe by total passengers, handling approximately 60 million passengers per year. It serves as the primary hub for Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partner group, including Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings. The airport's central position within the European continent — equidistant from most northern and southern European capitals — and Germany's rail connectivity make it one of the most efficient transfer points in Europe for passengers routing between intercontinental and intra-European flights.

The airport is owned and operated by Fraport AG, a publicly listed company with the State of Hesse, the City of Frankfurt, and Lufthansa among its major shareholders. This ownership structure has enabled consistent long-term investment in infrastructure while maintaining commercial discipline. The airport's two main terminals — Terminal 1, opened in 1972 and expanded multiple times since, and Terminal 3, currently under construction — are supplemented by Terminal 2, which opened in 1994 and handles non-Star Alliance carriers.

Frankfurt operates two runways for most of the day, with a third runway added in 2011 to increase capacity. The airport operates under a night flight ban between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., which limits its total annual capacity compared to curfew-free airports like Changi but is imposed by German environmental law and reflects the residential density of the Rhine-Main metropolitan area surrounding the airport site.

Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 Guide

Terminal 1 is the dominant building, handling Lufthansa and all Star Alliance partners. It is organised into three main halls — A, B, and C — connected by an underground SkyLine train that runs every 2–3 minutes. Hall A handles Lufthansa's long-haul and most medium-haul operations as well as partner airlines. Hall B and C handle primarily short-haul Lufthansa and Eurowings operations plus several Star Alliance partners with fewer daily departures. The internal navigation within Terminal 1 uses a letter-and-number gate system that is logical once understood but can be confusing on first encounter — passengers connecting between, say, an Air India arrival in A and a Lufthansa departure in C should allow 30 minutes for the transit including the SkyLine journey.

Terminal 2, a separate building connected to T1 via SkyLine, handles all non-Star Alliance international carriers. Key tenants include Emirates, Qatar Airways, British Airways, American Airlines, Delta, Air France, KLM, and the full spectrum of international carriers that choose Frankfurt as their German gateway. T2 is an older building than modern terminal standards suggest it should be — its food court and retail offer lag behind T1's more recently renovated areas — but it is functional and well-maintained. The SkyLine transfer between T1 and T2 takes approximately 4 minutes and operates from before first departure to after last arrival.

Rail Connections: ICE and S-Bahn

Frankfurt Airport has two rail stations on the airport campus, a distinction shared by almost no other major airport in the world. The Regional Railway Station (Regionalbahnhof) beneath Terminal 1 handles S-Bahn regional trains including the S8 and S9 services that run to Frankfurt Central Station (Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof) in approximately 11 minutes at a fare of EUR 5.25. These trains run every 15 minutes at peak times and stop at several intermediate stations in the Frankfurt metropolitan area, making them convenient for passengers staying in suburban Frankfurt rather than the city centre.

The Fernbahnhof (long-distance railway station), connected to the airport campus by a covered walkway, handles ICE high-speed trains on the primary German intercity network. Direct ICE services connect Frankfurt Airport to Cologne Central in 58 minutes, Mannheim in 22 minutes, Stuttgart in 67 minutes, Munich in 3 hours 10 minutes, Berlin in 3 hours 50 minutes, and Hamburg in 3 hours 40 minutes. This rail connectivity is the most significant operational advantage Frankfurt has over any competing European hub — a passenger flying into FRA from New York can board an ICE train and arrive in central Cologne faster than they could fly the equivalent 200-kilometre journey in good traffic.

The practical implication for transit passengers is significant: Lufthansa sells rail-air tickets that include an ICE segment to or from Frankfurt as a through-checked interline journey, with baggage transferred at the airport. A passenger flying from London to Stuttgart might fly to Frankfurt and board an ICE rather than taking a connecting Lufthansa regional flight, with the rail journey counting as part of the booked itinerary. The Lufthansa Lufthansa Rail&Fly ticket covers approximately 20 German cities on this basis.

Lufthansa Lounges

Lufthansa operates four lounge tiers at Frankfurt, spanning from the Senator Lounge accessible to Star Alliance Gold members through to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, an entirely separate building accessible only by limousine from the terminal buildings. The First Class Terminal — officially called the Lufthansa First Class Terminal — is considered by many aviation enthusiasts to be the finest airport facility on earth. It operates as a private club for Lufthansa First Class passengers and HON Circle members (the airline's invitation-only status for travellers logging over 600,000 qualifying kilometres).

The First Class Terminal has no queues: a dedicated check-in agent greets passengers at the entrance by name and handles documentation while the passenger is escorted to a private suite for pre-flight drinks and dining. A dedicated limousine service drives the passenger across the tarmac to the aircraft steps, bypassing the main terminal entirely. The facility has a wine cellar, cigar lounge, fine dining restaurant, shower suites, and a sleeping area. It receives approximately 400 guests per day across all Frankfurt First Class departures.

The Lufthansa Business Lounge and Senator Lounge network within Terminal 1 is large, competent, and consistent. Senator Lounges in Hall A are the premium tier within the main terminal, with better food quality and lower occupancy than the Business Lounges. Priority Pass holders access the third-party Lufthansa Partner Lounges and several independent operators, which are adequate but significantly below the quality of the Star Alliance gold tier facilities.