Frankfurt Airport's Summer Timetable 2013: FRA's Global Network Features 107 Passenger Airlines Serving 295 Destinations in 107 Countries

FRANKFURT, Germany, March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

New Connection with Air China to Chengdu, China - Freighter Services to 78 Destinations in 40 Nations

FRA/rap> The new Frankfurt Airport (FRA) Summer Timetable 2013 - which goes into effect on Sunday, March 31 - will feature 107 airlines offering passenger flights to 295 destinations in 107 countries per week. A total of 4,790 flight departures (passenger and cargo flights) will be offered per week via FRA.

The role of Frankfurt as Germany's most important hub in international aviation is underscored, in particular, by FRA's high percentage share of intercontinental traffic. Out of a total of 775,000 seats being offered per week at Frankfurt, about 285,000 seats will be offered on long-haul routes. Growth in this segment can be attributed to the increased deployment of larger wide-body aircraft at FRA such as the A380 and the B747-8. During the summer schedule, Fraport (the owner and manager of Frankfurt Airport) is expecting ten A380 superjumbo departures per day: flown by Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and Thai Airways.

On May 19, Air China (CA/CCA) will be inaugurating a new intercontinental route via FRA with three flights per week to Chengdu (CTU), the capital city Sichuan province in China (http://www.cdairport.com/front_en). From the start of the summer schedule Lufthansa will use state-of-the-art Boeing 747-8 jets on the FRA-Hong Kong route. In addition, Lufthansa will increase its flights services to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan from four to five flights per week. In Germany, Lufthansa will raise frequencies on the busy FRA-Munich (MUC) route from 98 to 105 per week.

In European traffic, FRA will be offering four new flight connections. The Spanish carrier Vueling (VY/VLG) will be flying between FRA and the Catalonian capital of Barcelona (BCN) 12 times per week (http://www.barcelona-airport.com). Britain's BMI Regional (BM/BMR) will be offering 11 flights per week from FRA to Bristol (BRS) - gateway to the Severn estuary and Somerset regions in southwestern England (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk).

New services to Eastern/Central Europe include Croatia Airlines (OU/CTN) new twice-per-week connection from FRA to Pula (PUY) in Istria County on Croatia's northern coast (http://www.airport-pula.hr). In early June 2013, Utair (UT) will launch a weekly service to Rostov-on-Don (ROV) in the Russian Federation, using Boeing 737-500 aircraft for this three-and-a-half hour flight (http://www.aeroport-rostov.ru). LOT Polish Airlines (LO/LOT) is expanding its frequencies from FRA to Krakau (KRK) in southwestern Poland from 7 to 13 flights per week (http://www.krakowairport.pl/en) and to the capital of Warsaw (WAW) from 21 to 28 flights per week (http://www.lotnisko-chopina.pl/en/passenger). Lufthansa (LH/DLH) is increasing frequencies on existing routes from its FRA global hub to the Baltic city of Tallinn (TLL) in Estonia (http://www.tallinn-airport.ee/eng), as well as to Nizhni Novgorod (GOJ) and Samara (KUF) in the Russia Federation (http://www.airportnn.ru/en/passazhiram and http://uwww.aero/en/airport_information_2).

In mid-April 2013, Australia's Qantas (QF/QFA) will discontinue its direct flights to FRA, which will be served in the future via Dubai (DXB) in cooperation with Emirates (EK/UAE). Because of the civil war in Syria and the resulting EU ban on Syrian flights since the middle of August 2012, the route from FRA to Aleppo and Damascus has been discontinued. Frankfurt Airport accounts for 64.5 percent of the total international traffic handled by Germany's 16 coordinated civilian airports. Due to difficult economic framework conditions, airlines have reduced their flight offerings for the summer timetable. Compared to last year's summer schedule, the number of passenger flights at FRA will slip by 1.3 percent. However, the average number of seats offered per aircraft will increase to more than 170.

In the volatile cargo business, the number of freighter departures per week will drop by 1.3 percent, reflecting ongoing uncertainty in the global economy. With its 62 percent market share, FRA continues to offer the greatest number of intercontinental air cargo connections to and from Germany (150 flight departures per week) and to serve as the primary logistics hub for German industry. A total of 27 cargo carriers will fly freighters via FRA to 78 destinations in 40 countries.

Passengers and other airport users can find further information about the latest FRA Timetable on the Internet at: http://www.frankfurt-airport.com (select "Flights" section). Interactive and PDF versions of Frankfurt Airport's pocket timetable brochure as well as different versions of the FRA App, including in Chinese, can also be downloaded.

For Further Information, Please Contact:

Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide

Robert Payne - International Spokesman and Head of International Press/PR & External Activities Team, Press Office (UKM-PS), Corporate Communications, 60547 Frankfurt, Germany; Tel.: +49-69-690-78547; E-mail: [email protected]; Internet: http://www.fraport.com; http://www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org

SOURCE Fraport AG