Bender: Frankfurt Airport is on the Path to Becoming a Leading A380 Hub

FRANKFURT (Germany) 28th April (PROTEXT/ots) - Airport andairline managers from around the world are meeting in Frankfurttoday and tomorrow to discuss how the new Airbus A380 superjumbowill change global aviation. Welcoming the A380 is the motto ofthis unique conference, the first dedicated solely to the A380.Fraport AG is hosting the two-day event.

Fraport AGs executive board chairman, Dr. Wilhelm Bender,greeted the approximately 150 conference participants thismorning. In his speech, Dr. Bender emphasized that, since thebeginning of the 1990s, Fraport AG has firmly believed in thisnext generation widebody aircraft. Inaugurated in 1994,Frankfurt Airports Terminal 2 was conceived from the outset foraircraft with the dimension of the A380.

Dr. Bender stressed that Frankfurt Airport is on the path tobecoming one of the leading hubs for the A380 superjumbo. Thiscoming jet generation will impact the aviation industry, just asthe Boeing jumbo did a quarter of a century ago.

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) will be prepared well in time. Bythe middle of this year, FRAs Terminal 2 will have one aircraftparking position available for receiving the first A380 routetest-flights. One of the two passenger bridges at this parkingposition will be able to dock directly with the upper deck of thesuperjumbo.

According to current plans, the first A380 route test-flightsto and from FRA are expected to take place already by the end of2005. Lufthansa, Fraports main customer, will put its double-decker Airbus jets into service in 2007; Lufthansa has ordered atotal of 15 A380s. Thus, Frankfurt Airport will serve as thebase for the second largest superjumbo fleet in the world, afterDubai.

A prerequisite for stationing the Lufthansa superjumbos atFRA is the creation of a new A380 maintenance base, to belocated at the southern side of Frankfurt Airport. Fraport AGsmarket researchers expect Germanys largest airport to behandling about twenty A380 takeoffs and landings daily by 2010.

FRAs runway system will not have to be modified toaccommodate this new aircraft generation. Runway North ofFrankfurts two parallel runways is 60 meters wide and meets theso-called Airport Code F for A380 category aircraft. RunwaySouth and Runway 18 West (used for takeoffs only) both are 45meters wide and have 7.5-meter-wide reinforced shoulders on theright and left sides. FRA has three runways, all 4,000 meterslong. Specialists from Fraport AG as well as all of the othermajor air transportation hubs expect the A380 to be certifiedfor such runways.

Regarding airside measures, FRA will only need new markingson the apron (ramp) areas and the passenger loading bridges willhave to be adapted to the A380s dimensions. Apron areascurrently used for parking ground-handling equipment will haveto be used A380 handling in the future, too. At Terminal 2,there will initially be two parking positions available for theA380 by 2007. The first of these positions is already expectedto be available by the middle of 2006. Here, two passengerbridges are planned for serving the A380s lower deck and a thirdpassenger bridge for the upper deck. At Terminal 1, as a firstphase there will be three A380-compatible parking positionsavailable by 2007.

Corresponding passenger gate-rooms also have to be redesignedand enlarged. These A380 measures required for both of FRAspassenger terminals will involve a total investment of about 150million.

On the ramp, new and more powerful aircraft towing vehicleswill be required for the long trips to the maintenance facility,for example. New catering trucks and cargo-lifting vehicleswill be needed to reach the greater height of the A380 upperdeck.

Fraport AG has maintained intensive dialogue with theEuropean Airbus consortium for many years. For example, airportknow-how has helped influence construction details of the A380to ensure that ground handling will run as smoothly as possible.The goal is for the A380s time on the ground not exceed the timerequired for the B747 jumbo.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide

Robert A. Payne, B.A.A.; Press Office (Dept. UKM-PS),

Corporate Communications (UKM); 60547 Frankfurt am Main,Germany, Tel.: +49 69.690.78547; Fax: +49.69.690.60548; E-mail:r.payne@fraport.de; Internet: www.fraport.de

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