Airports are of great interest to the public. They regularly provide stimuli for socio-political debates; this is particularly true for Frankfurt Airport, one of Europe's largest hubs. Fraport AG, its owner and manager, operates in an area of conflicts between highly diverging interests.

Some of our stakeholders see global challenges such as climate changes a top priority, others residing in the vicinity of the airport attach more importance to noise abatement. And there are stakeholder groups that focus on the Group's financial value creation, its competitiveness and the maintenance and development of secure and attractive jobs.

The requests presented to us are extremely diverse and sometimes even incompatible with each other. We are convinced that the exchange of information will improve mutual understanding and the elaboration of broadly accepted solutions.

Fraport's stakeholder dialogue targets all essential stakeholder groups of the Group (cf. graphic). Particular attention is given to residents affected by airport noise and almost 81,000 direct employees (as at December 31, 2015) at Frankfurt Airport, Germany's third largest employer. It goes without saying that the Fraport Group maintains intensive contacts to its main customers, the airlines, too.

We understand dialogue as an important instrument, enabling us to draw inspiration for the strategic orientation of the company and indications to Risk Management. As a “learning organization” we are always guided by the progress of science and technology.

Despite the increased volume of traffic at Frankfurt Airport, we do our utmost to reduce the burdens involved for people and for the environment. Prior to the airport's expansion, the zoning procedure, a public approval process, also called into being an environmental impact assessment. The results of this procedure are found in the planning permit document (only available in German) issued by the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Transportation, Urban and Regional Development on December 18, 2007.

Preceding the Airport's expansion by a new runway a mediation process was launched. This process intended to expose and support the public debate about the necessity and reasonableness of Frankfurt Airport’s future development.

Outcome of the Mediation Process (only available in German)

In order to capture the criticism expressed by neighboring residents, municipalities and other organizations regarding the airport expansion and to take account of these concerns in our planning, in 2008 the Hessian Regional Government and the air transport operators Fraport, Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Flugsicherung (German Air Traffic Services) and BARIG, the Board of Airline Representatives in Germany, founded the Forum Airport and Region (only available in German). This forum brings together the dialogues about the development at Frankfurt Airport and the cooperation in the region. It focuses on the exchange of concepts with the population, noise monitoring and the development of noise protection measures.

Since July 2009, the non-profit company Umwelthaus GmbH, founded by the State of Hesse, has been operating the Environment and Community Center (only available in German) (ECC) setting new standards for transparency and information. The ECC claims for itself to inform in a neutral, correct and transparent manner. Its main objective is to improve communication and cooperation between Frankfurt Airport, its users and the neighboring residents. In addition, the ECC has the task to concentrate the various monitoring activities – such as aircraft noise monitoring, social and environmental monitoring – and to review the facts and findings in a neutral way.

We are fostering a close dialog with the region at our international locations, as well. As an example, the Lima-based Jorge Chavez International Airport is deemed an exemplary airport in South America. The fast growth experienced at that airport imposes us a special social responsibility, via our subsidiary Lima Airport Partners (LAP) that goes far beyond a strengthening of the regional economy and environmental protection. More and more, this also includes dealing with social issues of the neighboring population and a targeted promotion of useful projects.