Frankfurt Airport Expansion Approved

German airport operator Fraport has received approval from the city of Frankfurt for the construction of an additional pier at the new Terminal 3.

The building permit for Pier G at Terminal 3 allows Fraport to award contracts for the state-of-the-art terminal next year, with a planned entry into service date of 2021.

Pier G was originally scheduled to be built after Terminal 3’s first phase was completed in 2023, but construction has been brought forward to meet strong passenger growth, the operator said.

“We’re very pleased to have obtained the green light for building Pier G,” Fraport said in a statement. The operator said its goal is to provide additional terminal capacity as soon as possible to relieve congestion at its existing Terminals 1 and 2.

Pier G will expand Frankfurt’s capacity by four to five million passengers per year. When fully built, Terminal 3 will accommodate up to 25 million passengers.

Frankfurt is Europe’s fourth busiest airport, handling 64.5 million passengers in 2017.