Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Frankfurt Airport (EDDF/FRA) is Germany's busiest international airport, lying some 12 kilometres southwest of central Frankfurt am Main near the Frankfurter Kreuz motorway interchange. Operated by Fraport and serving as the principal hub for Lufthansa and its subsidiaries, it is one of Europe's busiest and most complex aerodromes, making it a demanding but rewarding destination for the simulator pilot wanting to fly into a genuine heavy-traffic hub.
Frankfurt Airport is Germany's busiest airport by passenger numbers and one of the busiest in Europe, operated by Fraport and serving as the main hub for Lufthansa, including Lufthansa City Airlines, Lufthansa CityLine and Discover Airlines, as well as Condor and the cargo carrier AeroLogic. For a simulator pilot it offers the chance to fly into a very large, tightly choreographed international hub with four parallel and crossing runways, full ATC services and dense mixed jet and cargo traffic.
The airport lies in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, about 12 kilometres southwest of Frankfurt am Main's city centre, close to the Frankfurter Kreuz interchange where the A3 and A5 motorways, two of the most heavily used routes in Europe, meet. Area control and approach services in the vicinity are provided under the Langen name, with Langen Radar handling approach control and Langen Information providing AFIS/flight information duties on the published frequencies.
Frankfurt has four physical runway pairs. The two main parallel runways are 07C/25C, at 13,098 ft/13,097 ft, and 07R/25L, at 13,080 ft/13,079 ft, both hard-surfaced, lit and equipped with ILS. A third, shorter parallel runway, 07L/25R, is 9,176 ft/9,175 ft, also hard-surfaced, lit and ILS-equipped. The independent crosswind runway 18/36 is 13,011 ft, hard-surfaced and lit, but without ILS listed. Field elevation is 338 ft.
Radar/approach is provided as Langen Radar on 118.45 MHz and 127.275 MHz. Langen Information offers AFIS on 119.15 MHz and 123.525 MHz. Frankfurt ATIS is broadcast separately for arrivals on 118.03 MHz and departures on 118.73 MHz. Clearance delivery (initial call) is on 122.035 MHz, with a further directional frequency (DIR) on 124.2 MHz. Ground/Rollkontrolle operates on 121.805 MHz and Apron/Vorfeld on 121.655 MHz. Tower/Turm is split by area: 119.905 MHz for the south, 124.855 MHz for Runway 18, and 136.5 MHz for the north. VOLMET broadcasts are available on 127.605 MHz (Frankfurt 1) and 135.78 MHz (Frankfurt 2). Instrument approaches with ILS are available on runways 07C/25C, 07R/25L and 07L/25R.
Frankfurt operates under strict noise-abatement arrangements: following the opening of the fourth runway, a court ruling in October 2011 confirmed that scheduled night flights between 11pm and 5am, the so-called Mediationsnacht, are no longer permitted, overturning an earlier 2007 approval that had allowed seventeen scheduled night movements. The additional runway also raised the airport's capacity from 83 to 126 aircraft movements per hour, reflecting the intensity of traffic sequencing a pilot should expect when operating into the field.
The land now occupied by Terminal 3 was acquired by Fraport as part of the airport's continued expansion. The construction of a fourth runway significantly increased the field's movement capacity, from 83 to 126 aircraft movements per hour, and prompted the 2011 legal ruling that ended scheduled night flights during the Mediationsnacht period.
Frankfurt Airport remains Germany's busiest airport and a major European hub, operated by Fraport and serving as the principal base for Lufthansa and its associated carriers, Condor, and the all-cargo operator AeroLogic. It continues to be one of the busiest cargo airports in Europe, and its four runways and full suite of radar, tower and ground frequencies support continuous high-density international operations.
