July 2, 2025

Frankfurt Airport: Europe’s Leading Pharma Hub for the Global Healthcare Market

Located at Europe’s heart, Frankfurt Airport ideally meets the prerequisites for transporting temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals to destinations all over the world – even at high summertime temperatures.

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is situated within the economically powerful Rhine-Main region very close to ten of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical producers. In the ongoing summer flight season, 83 airlines are serving 275 destinations in no fewer than 91 countries worldwide from the Frankfurt CargoHub – also for quickly and reliably transporting pharmaceutical products.

FRA has more than 22,000 square meters of temperature-controlled cargo areas, 14,000 square meters of which are specially designated for handling pharmaceutical products and meet the most demanding standards for safely and securely handling them. There is a whole fleet of state-of-the-art vehicles that are specially equipped to carry heat-sensitive products anywhere on the apron while consistently ensuring precisely the right temperature.

“Frankfurt Airport is Europe’s leading pharma hub – and therefore plays an essential role for global healthcare,” says Dr. Pierre Dominique Prümm, Fraport AG’s Executive Director for Aviation and Infrastructure. “Airport operator Fraport and our many partners in the cargo community bring together comprehensive expertise, optimal infrastructure and certified processes for ensuring high-quality, highly reliable handling of pharmaceutical products.”

Every year around 200,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical and healthcare freight are handled at FRA, and the cargo hub’s significance is steadily growing: 74 percent of the members of the cargo community in Frankfurt anticipate positive development and accelerating growth in the pharma sector.

Additional information, images, and press resources are available in the digital press kit.

Overview: Pharma@FRA

Key Facts – Pharma@FRA

Annual capacity:  200,000 tonnes of pharma and healthcare freight  

Weekly volume:  A million pharmaceutical products a week   

Temperature-controlled handling areas:  22,000 square meters  

Dedicated areas for pharmaceuticals:  14,000 square meters reserved exclusively for handling pharmaceuticals (CEIV-certified)

Temperature range:  -86°C to +25°C

Certified infrastructure:  More than 75% of all paths on the airport premises are pharma-certified: Europe’s best value.

Local service providers:  Fourteen CEIV-certified service providers under one roof: a European record

Globally networked:  Eighty-three airlines serving 275 destinations in ninety-one countries (2025 summer flight schedule).

Site advantages:  Ten out of twenty of the world’s largest pharmaceuticals producers are nearby.

Growth forecast:  74% of the cargo community anticipates additional growth at Frankfurt (according to Fraport’s January 2024 survey).