Frankfurt Airport (FRA) will soon be used exclusively for civil aviation, following the contractual closure of Rhein-Main Air Base by the end of 2005…
Frankfurt Airport (FRA) will soon be used exclusively for civil aviation, following the contractual closure of Rhein-Main Air Base by the end of 2005. For more than six decades, the U.S. Air Force has used the southern side of FRA as its European transportation and logistics hub.
An official farewell ceremony was held today at Rhein-Main Air Base for invited guests. With substantial financial support from Fraport AG (the owner and manager of Frankfurt Airport), the U.S. Air Force is relocating its activities to Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases on the opposite side of the Rhine River, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Dr. Wilhelm Bender, Fraport AG`s executive board chairman, praised the close partnership that has flourished over many decades at Frankfurt Airport. This relationship between military and civilian airport users grew from occupying power to good neighbor, to best friends.
Bender declared that FRA is embarking on an exciting new era in its history. Understandably, we have mixed emotions: joy and optimism for the future along with nostalgia for the past. Above all, we are thankful of the Rhein-Main Air Base`s historic achievements such as the Berlin Air Lift. Bender added that the Americans will continue to hold a highly honoured place in Frankfurt Airport`s history.
The remaining air base area, which the U.S. Air Force is vacating step by step until the end of this year, will provide enormous growth opportunities for Germany`s largest airport. By about 2015, a brand new Terminal 3 will be completed on the former air-base site. On land already returned by the Rhein-Main Air Base, the successful CargoCity South has sprouted up in the past few years.
Since1945, Rhein-Main Air Base has served as the U.S. Air Force`s Gateway to Europe. Due to the global political environment changing at the end of the Cold War, a basic agreement was reached for relocating the military from Frankfurt Airport. At the end of 1993 representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany, the U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), and Fraport`s predecessor company Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG.
(FAG) signed an initial agreement for the partial return of about 132 hectares to civilian use. At that time, FAG contributed almost DM100 million for constructing new infrastructure at Ramstein for the U.S. Air Force.
In 1999, a second agreement was signed for returning the remaining air base area and the Gateway Gardens military residential area, located near the northeastern corner of FRA. The German federal states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate were also partners to this agreement, which involves a total of approximately 200 hectares (about 170 hectares at Rhein-Main Air Base and about 30 hectares at Gateway Gardens). Under the second agreement, FAG (now Fraport) contributed about DM254 million for constructing new facilities and buildings at Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases, where the U.S. Air Force is transferring its activities.
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