Fraport AG, Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, is owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport (FRA). Frankfurt Airport had approx. 53 Mio. passengers in 2010. Being the main base of Lufthansa and Star Alliance in Europe the airport forms one of the most frequented “transit turntables” or “Hub airports” with 52% transit passengers. Approximately 106 airlines are active at Frankfurt, offering 266 destinations to 112 countries. In addition to Frankfurt, Fraport AG is also the operator of airports in several countries like Bulgaria, Turkey, Chile and China. In 2010 Frankfurt airport recorded an average of 4.1% increase in passenger volume. According to forecasts of
IATA this trend will continue for the coming years. Therefore Fraport is heavily investing in the expansion of new capacities. The main objectives are a new runway which has been successfully taken into operation on October 21st 2011 and a new Terminal (Terminal 3). At the same time Fraport tries to enhance the processing capacity in the older Terminal 1 and 2 through the implementation of new technology, i. e. automated boarding and access gates, common self-service check-in facilities and automated border control. Fraport has achieved profound experience in the operation of automated systems. At Frankfurt there are approx. 150 common self-service check-in kiosks in use, 80 automated boarding gates and access gates, with more automated gates to come. Beyond that, Fraport is the only airport in Germany that has two automated border control systems in operation: the ABG system (Automatisierte Biometriegestuetzte Grenzkontrolle) based on iris recognition technology and the EasyPASS system based on facial recognition technology and the e-passport. Based on the positive experience with automated border control Fraport is recommending a roll-out of this technology to the German authorities.
Fraport is member in the international working group PEMG of IATA which is committed to the optimization of the travel process by using new technologies. Therefore Fraport has knowledge about actual developments in the passenger process worldwide and wants also to contribute to the development of standards for all users.