FRA/rap> Imagine an airport that's only a ten-minute train ride from one of the world's leading business cities. Imagine an airport that offers some 160 intercity train connections per day and serves more than three million intercity rail passengers per year. Imagine an airport where the integration of air, rail and road networks is a strategic imperative that has been aggressively pursued for three decades. At Frankfurt Airport, imagination is a reality. Along with the obvious benefits for travelers, intermodal travel has given Fraport and Frankfurt Airport a competitive edge. Intermodality is another example of Fraport's commitment to sustainable travel. By transferring some short-haul flights to the high-speed rail network, extra runway capacity is being achieved until FRA's new runway opens.

All Routes Lead to FRA:
Historically a major crossroads of transportation and trade for centuries, Frankfurt has become a global gateway to the world. Interestingly, FRA's leading role in international aviation is far greater than the Frankfurt region's modest population of about 2.5 million might suggest. This can be partly explained by the airport's role as a global transfer hub and by its central location in Western and Eastern Europe. Moreover, it is due to FRA's extensive transport networks in the air and on the ground that are so efficiently inter-linked. The airport's northeast boundary (near the air and rail terminals) is formed by the famous Frankfurter Kreuz, Germany's most important motorway junction. This is where the A3 and A5 autobahns intersect: a vital nationwide "X" axis for road transportation. FRA also boasts the largest expanded catchment area of any European airport - more than 35 million inhabitants within a 200-kilometer radius of FRA. Getting people and goods quickly to and from Frankfurt Airport has always been a high priority for Fraport – increasingly via intermodal air/rail links.

It all began in 1972 when Fraport inaugurated Terminal 1 with an integrated railway station – a revolutionary concept at that time. So important was this intermodal link that Fraport even helped finance the station to make it possible. Thus, FRA became one of the first airports in the world to have direct rail services, which are envied even today by many other airports. Initially, this station (now called the Regional Train Station) handled only local services. Later, intercity trains from throughout Germany and neighboring countries began regular service. In May 1999, FRA welcomed the age of high-speed rail with the opening of a second station known as the AIRail Terminal or Long-distance Train Station. InterCityExpress (ICE) and regular intercity trains use this facility exclusively. Featuring outstanding architecture and ambiance, the AIRail Terminal provides a smooth transition between the rail and air worlds at FRA. Rail passengers can check-in at the special Check-in T area right in the AIRail Terminal, which also has its own input/output baggage station linked to the airport's automated baggage handling system. Fraport contributed more than half of the AIRail Terminal's € 280 million cost. At Frankfurt Airport's CargoCity South there is a third station called the Rail AirCargo Station. Fraport is encouraging the use of this facility for future intermodal cargo services.

Shrinking Travel Times:
August 2002 marked another milestone in intermodal capabilities: the opening of Deutsche Bahn's new high-speed rail corridor between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main and Cologne/Bonn (Rhine-Ruhr) economic regions. Travel times have been sliced in half to less than one hour between FRA and downtown Cologne - thus making combined air/rail travel even more attractive. Along with better access to FRA's expanded catchment area, the new line serves as a key route in the growing trans-European high-speed rail network. And FRA's Long-distance Train Station serves as a mainline station in this network. In December 2002 Deutsche Bahn implemented the biggest change in Germany's rail schedule in a decade, in order to utilize the new rail corridor and the AIRail Terminal in the national system. This meant that the number of intercity rail connections could be expanded by 70 percent to 163 per day, including new high-speed services to Amsterdam and Brussels.

With completion of the trans-European high-speed rail network in the coming years, FRA is poised to become a major international rail hub - a 21st century intermodal travel port. One day, there could be high-speed trains converging on FRA from as far north as Scandinavia, as far east as Warsaw and Moscow, as far west as the U.K. via the Channel Tunnel, and as far south as Italy via the Alps. Just imagine!

The Ultimate AIRail Service:
The dream of seamless air/rail travel is perhaps best exemplified by FRA’s unique AIRail Service – a joint venture of Deutsche Bahn, Fraport and Lufthansa - that is offered on high-speed ICE trains in both directions between FRA and downtown Stuttgart (since March 2001) and Cologne (since May 2003). Rail trips can be booked worldwide and "appear" as Lufthansa flight numbers. Passengers flying first, business or economy class receive the corresponding seats on ICE trains. Even the central train stations have been designated by airport-type codes: QKL for Cologne and ZWS for Stuttgart. Travelers check in their baggage and receive flight boarding cards at Lufthansa counters in these stations - up to 20 minutes before the ICE train departs for FRA. The rail schedules are tightly meshed with flight schedules and Fraport ensures that its 45-minute transfer time for airline passengers is also guaranteed for the AIRail Service. Fraport provides efficient train-to-plane baggage logistics via the airport's automated baggage sorting system and expert handling teams. Travelers do not have to worry about claiming their baggage until they reach their destination airport - the same thing in the reverse direction.

Travel time from QKL to FRA is only 57 minutes and travelers can choose from 16 daily ICE connections per day; thus Lufthansa has already been able to drop two short-haul flights on this route. The ZWS-to-FRA route takes 73 minutes with seven daily connections offered. Future plans for the AIRail Service include expanding frequencies on the Stuttgart route and adding more cities such as Düsseldorf.

Airrail Center
Fraport's home base of Frankfurt Airport is more than an international air/rail transportation hub, it is a major real estate marketplace. Airports, particularly Frankfurt Airport, are growth-oriented locations. The AIRail Terminal has been specially designed for the construction of a superstructure on the 660-meter-long rooftop. Fraport selected the Airrail Center Frankfurt consortium to build this estimated € 600 million complex, which will be more than twice the size of Frankfurt's highest skyscraper (but horizontal instead of vertical) and offer some 185,000 square meters of useable space over nine storeys. J.S.K. Architekten, the Frankfurt- based architects responsible for designing FRA's Terminal 2, created the stunning design for the Airrail Center Frankfurt. This glass-enclosed center will feature a five-star luxury hotel, quality office space, as well as retail, leisure, and wellness facilities - located at the junction of international air and rail networks at Europe's best connected "intermodal travel-port".

For More Information, Please Contact:
Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
Attn: Robert A. Payne - Manager International Press
60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel.: +49 69 690 -78547 / Fax: +49 69 690 -60548
E-Mail: r.payne@fraport.de / Internet: www.fraport.com