Germany’s largest airport Frankfurt is to open its new €4 billion Terminal 3 on 23 April, which will have capacity for up to 19 million passengers per year.
Frankfurt Airport’s operator Fraport said that nearly 60 airlines currently using Terminal 2 will move to the new terminal in four phases up to 9 June. Germany’s second largest airline, Condor, is scheduled to move its operations to Terminal 3 in summer 2027.
Fraport added that the new terminal, which has been under construction for 10 years and features three main piers, will offer “a high-quality passenger experience and rapid processes”, including “state-of-the-art” check-in and baggage drop-off systems and CT scanners at security checkpoints.
The opening of the long-awaited Terminal 3 comes after Frankfurt Airport saw its traffic grow by 2.6 per cent year-on-year to 63.2 million passengers in 2025. Total traffic for Fraport, including its 28 airports in Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia and South America, was up by 5.1 per cent to 184 million passengers last year.
This rise in traffic helped Fraport to increase total revenue by 8.2 per cent to €4.2 billion in 2025, while edibta (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) went up by 10.4 per cent year-on-year to €1.44 billion.
Fraport noted that growth at Frankfurt “still significantly lags behind” pre-Covid traffic levels — the airport catered for 71 million passengers in 2019. This is in stark contrast to Fraport's 14 airports in Greece, where 2025 passenger numbers were 23 per cent above 2019’s figures.
Stefan Schulte, Fraport’s CEO, added: “We would be significantly better placed in Frankfurt if we did not have the excessive regulatory costs that continue to limit passenger growth in the German market.
“A major step forward has come with the government’s announcement to withdraw the latest increase in aviation tax. This step now needs to be implemented. If further cost reductions follow, a reversal of the trend is possible. Sweden’s example shows the kind of growth surges that are possible if aviation taxes are completely abolished.”