Frankfurt Airport is the largest airport in Germany, serving more than 69,5 million passengers (2018). Currently, 89 airlines operate in the airport and offer flights to 262 destinations, of which almost half are intercontinental. About 55% of all passengers use Frankfurt as a connecting hub – it is the highest transfer rate among the major European hubs. However, as busy as it is, Frankfurt Airport is located in the close vicinity of many towns and cities – almost half of Germany’s population lives within a 200 km radius of the Frankfurt intermodal travel hub – the largest airport catchment area in Europe.

Noise regulations

To protect the community around, Frankfurt Airport does not serve flights between 23:00h and 5:00h, unless the flight is categorised as an exception (for medical or safety reasons). The airport is also directing its efforts towards reducing noise at source and achieving a better distribution of noise. Additionally, the airport introduced noise charges, which continuously grew, based on effectively measured noise – every charge calculation is based on the aircraft type being allocated in one of 16 noise categories measured at Frankfurt. The charge is also higher when the aircraft operates later in the evening. Noise Rating Index was introduced at the airport to incentivise airlines to use technologically advanced aircraft.

This case study is about the airport’s communication with the community and creating several important bodies during the airport’s last expansion process 1997-2011 (see Figure 1)

^{Figure 1. The land around Frankfurt Airport in 2020. In purple – the airport, in light brown – newer residential areas, in dark brown – older residential areas}

Objective

The objective of this case study was to showcase a good example of Frankfurt Airport, which expanded immensely and during this process the airport dealt with communities living around the airport in a transparent, peaceful way, while searching for a consensus together, showing the main problems that popped up during the process.

Approach

This case study's approach focuses on searching solutions for airport expansion that would benefit and wouldn’t oppose either side of the dialogue, which include communities, NGOs, airlines, air traffic controllers, the government, etc.

1. In 1984, one previous expansion brought to light the need to involve communities from the very beginning of the expansion process. A new runway was built and started to operate in Frankfurt Airport – the communities living around the airport were not happy with the process and the results. They organised protests, demonstrations and wrote complaints. Moreover, non-peaceful clashes took place;

2. In 1997, Lufthansa recommended a new expansion of Frankfurt airport due to an expected lack of capacity;

3. One year later, having learnt from previous mistakes in 1984 in relation to communication and decision-making without the consulting with the communities, the mediation process was initialised and the mediation group was established, which consisted of representatives of towns and cities, NGOs, airport, Lufthansa, Federal Ministry of Transport, Hessian Ministry of Environment, etc.;

4. During the working period of the mediation group, a total of 129 expert opinions were received, 20 studies and 15 hearings were carried out;

5. A result of the mediation process was a “mediation report”, which included a series of recommendations and proposals. The report confirmed the need for the airport’s expansion, however, recommended a ban on night flights, an agreement on a “noise pact” and a set-up of a permanent Regional Dialogue Forum for a follow-up mediation throughout the entire process;

6. The Regional Dialogue Forum initially worked during 2000-2008 and its main goals were the continuation of the started dialogue and guidance to the approved procedures by keeping the mediation results in place. The Forum was composed of 33 members, including towns and cities representatives, NGOs, representatives from the industry, airlines, air traffic control, trade unions and the government. The Forum was divided into the teams for five projects – night flight ban, anti-noise pact, optimisation, ecology/health and long-term perspectives);

7. There were two planned approval procedures in which the airport operator applied not only for an expansion but also for a night flight ban (like the mediation process and the Regional Dialogue Forum agreed), but finally, in December 2007, the decision of the Hessian Ministry for Transport on the plan approval procedure included a permission to have 17 movements per day between 23:00h and 05:00h and 150 movements from 22:00h to 06:00h. The public debate was organised to decide if it was a violation of mediation agreements;

8. In 2008, the Forum of Airport and Region was created as a successor to the Regional Dialogue Forum (see Figure 2). During later years it launched NORAH (Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition and Health) Noise Impact Study to conduct more detailed research on the effects of aircraft noise on health and quality of life;

^{Figure 2. The organisation of the Forum of Airport and Region (source: presentation "Mediation and Dialogue Process in Frankfurt. Mediation Conference in Roztoky", October 2012. Joachim Wempe, Regional Authority FrankfurtRheinMain)}

9. In 2011, the new landing runway started its operations according to the decision of the Hessian Ministry for Transport on the planned approval procedure;

10. Less than ten days later, on 30 October 2011, the night flights were banned from 23:00h to 05:00h due to a decision of the higher administrative court of Hessen based on the agreements of the mediation process and the Regional Dialogue Forum conclusions;

11. On 4 April 2012, the Federal Administrative Court's final decision was established – night flight ban from 23:00h to 05:00h, and a maximum of 133 flights in total from 22:00h to 23:00h and from 05:00h to 06:00h (average per night/year). Additionally, some technical exceptions were introduced.

Frankfurt airport performed expansion works between 1997-2011 and provided a good example of how the German system operates for the construction or expansion of airports and how environmental concerns (especially, noise) are considered. The Land of Hessen, having learnt from previous experiences, indicated that it would be convenient to carry out a mediation process, before the expansion process starts, for all interested parties to be heard and to reach a consensus on the major options for the future airport development, as well as to build a closer relationship between the airport and its neighbours as it was mentioned previously.

This case study showcased a strong example of community engagement, transparent communication and inter-municipal cooperation.