Frankfurt - Main
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ICAO Code | EDDF/FRA |
Last Validated | Jul 2014 |
City | Frankfurt |
Position | 50°02'00"N 008°34'14"E |
Runway(s) | 07R/25L, 07C/25C, 07L/25R, 18 |
Elevation | 364 ft |
General
Frankfurt is the busiest airport of Germany and the third busiest of Europe. Most major airlines to be seen anywhere in Europe, can be seen here. For many years, part of this airport was Rhein-Main Air Base, the main USAF transport base in Europe. Nowadays, military aircraft occasionally visit and a couple of former USAF aprons are being used as a cargo terminal. As is the case with most airports, Frankfurt is constantly expanding so parts of the field are now obscured by terminals and piers. However, there are still plenty of good places to spot and to take pictures. On 21 October 2011, the fourth runway, north of motorway A3, was put into operation.
Since August 2007, the airport offers airside tours departing by bus from Terminal 1, for a few euros. The bus tours operate daily every hour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the hour. There are additional tours on weekends and holidays at 11 a.m. and 12 noon. The ticket box is on the transfer bridge between Terminal 1 and Frankfurt Airport Center.
Layout
Frankfurt's layout used to be rather straightforward for such a massive airport. The recent obvious change was the addition of the third parallel runway, north of motorway A3. The terminal area is north of the old parallel runway system. Bizjets and cargo ramps are on the southern part, which is the former USAF area. Still rather prominent is the north-south runway on the west-side of the airport, used for departures in direction 18 only.
Getting There
The airport can easily be reached from a lot of stations in the city by means of the S-Bahn (local train). The airport has two stations, one for the S-Bahn and one for the intercity trains to the rest of Germany and Europe. Many bus lines also connect the airport with the neighbouring villages and other parts of Frankfurt.
An easy alternative is to take bus OF-64 which usually runs every 30 minutes from Terminal 1 (when in you are in Terminal 2 get on the bus at "Hugo-Eckener-Ring" - a bus station at the big road in front of T2). Bus no. OF-51 runs from Terminal 1 and 2 every 60 minutes. In both cases you have to exit at the US-Air-Base and walk back a few meters along the airport fence.
Around the Airport

The view at the popular spot 3 near Zeppelinheim, photographed by Leo Hoogerbrugge.

Simon Pascal framed this Triple Seven on runway 07L from spot 7.
Frequencies
121.900 | Delivery |
121.700 | Apron - west |
121.850 | Apron - centre & south |
121.950 | Apron - east |
121.800 | Ground |
119.900 / 378.350 | Tower |
124.850 | Tower - runway 18 |
120.150 | Langen Radar - dep N, NW |
136.125 | Langen Radar - dep W, S |
126.550 / 372.850 | Langen Radar - dep (alt) |
120.800 | Langen Radar - arr N |
118.450 | Langen Radar - arr S |
127.275 / 277.800 | Langen Radar - arr (alt) |
118.025 | ATIS - arr |
118.725 | ATIS - dep |
Based Operators
Charter Service Hetzler | Ce525 |
Condor | A320 A321 B757-300 B767-300 |
Jet Executive Int'l | Lj35A, Lj55 |
Lufthansa | A319, A320, A321 A330 A340 A380 B747 |
Lufthansa Cargo | B777F, MD-11F |
Lufthansa Cityline | ERJ190 CRJ900 |
BDA Aviation | Beech 99 ATR-72 |
Aerologic | B777F |
Preserved
D-ABJI | Boeing 737-500, used for ground training by Lufthansa |
44-09063 | This C-54 is part of the Berlin Luftbrücken Denkmal. |
43-49081 | This C-47 is also part of the memorial site. |
More Info
Frankfurt Airport | Official website |
Rhein Main Aviation Society | All kinds of spotters' info from this well-known group |
RMV | For public transport info. |
Order of Battle Germany
German Air Force |
German Army |
German Navy |
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