Frankfurt Airport’s (FRA) new Pier A-Plus, the 800 meter-long westward expansion of Terminal 1, has opened on schedule after about four years of construction. Flight operations began on 10 October at the new pier, allowing Germany’s biggest hub to serve up to six million additional passengers per year, thus a total of approximately 65 million passengers per year. This €700m terminal complex will be exclusively used by Deutsche Lufthansa AG and its Star Alliance partners, including flights coming from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In particular, Pier A-Plus provides more docking positions for serving wide body aircraft like the Airbus A380 superjumbo and the Boeing B747 family.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Executive Board Chairman, Christoph Franz, commented: “I am convinced that Pier A-Plus will be well appreciated by our guests. Five new lounges and the latest technology set new standards. With Pier A-Plus, our FRA home base is again at the forefront among Europe’s major hub airports. This is good news for the German aviation industry and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which particularly benefits from Germany’s biggest airport.”
Pier A-Plus with 185,000m² of total useable floor space is the largest above-ground construction project at Frankfurt Airport since the opening of Terminal 2 in 1994. It provides seven docking positions for long-haul aircraft: four designed for double-decker jets like the A380 superjumbo served by three passenger bridges (one for the upper deck and two for the main deck); and three more positions with two passenger bridges for aircraft like the Boeing 747-8 and Airbus 340. Alternatively, 11 narrow body jets can be handled simultaneously at Pier A-Plus, ensuring optimum flexibility.
The new pier makes the transfer processes significantly easier and faster at Lufthansa’s biggest hub. In the future, all incoming flights from the US will be handled at Area A of Terminal 1. The minimum connecting time for many transfer flights on these routes will be reduced from currently 60 minutes to 45 minutes. Furthermore, the so-called docking rate will increase noticeably. That means that more aircraft can directly dock on the terminal and do not have to be parked at remote apron positions. This is much more comfortable for travellers than having to be transported to the terminal by bus, and it reduces the complexity of operations.
Pier A-Plus features five Lufthansa lounges: one First Class, two Senator and two Business lounges where guests can take a break, work or get refreshed. These facilities expand Lufthansa’s total lounge space at FRA by almost 50% to more than 14,000m2. Other details in the pier enhance the comfort of passengers: the moving walkways are longer and broader in order to shorten walking distances and to pass other guests who are not in a hurry. Furthermore, the generous waiting areas have seats with integrated power outlets and USB ports for electronic devices.
