Deutsche Lufthansa has increased its investment in a comprehensive modernization of its major air cargo hub in Frankfurt by 100 million euros (110.5 million dollars), as the new high-bay warehouse is being built a year after construction began.
Lufthansa’s cargo subsidiary wants to transform the 3.5 million-square-foot cargo terminal – the size of 46 football fields – into Europe’s most advanced air hub. Last week, it marked the progress of the renovation project with a celebration attended by local politicians, customers, employees and project partners. The entire project is set to be completed by 2030.
The airline said it is investing $663 million in the modernization project. The price tag is higher than originally planned because management included the planned revitalization of an existing cargo building in the project, spokesman Jan Paulin said in an email. The revamp includes cargo handling areas and offices, including storage and transportation technology and IT systems.
Lufthansa Cargo operates 18 Boeing 777 freighters and four Airbus A321 narrowbody freighters, and manages shipments carried by several Lufthansa Group-owned passenger carriers, including Austrian Airlines. It is the largest freight operator at Frankfurt Airport. Around 80% of the airline’s global freight volume – 1.4 million tonnes – flows through its Frankfurt hub.
Construction work is being carried out in phases to ensure uninterrupted 24-hour operations, a process Lufthansa Cargo describes as comparable to open-heart surgery. The proximity of flight operations to construction requires strict safety measures and careful coordination to avoid disruption, according to a project fact sheet. Numerous subprojects within the facility must be carefully coordinated to avoid delays and conflicts.
The redevelopment, located on the north side of Frankfurt Airport’s cargo campus, features a 131-foot warehouse that will allow the airline to install tall racking for pallet storage and an automated conveyor system. The new building will be the second-tallest at the airport, after the control tower. It is designed to improve cargo capacity and efficiency compared to low-ceilinged facilities. Photos show the completed superstructure of the warehouse’s stair tower. The new structure will add 280,000 square feet of space to the cargo complex.
The warehouse will have 13 floors, 3,000 pallet positions and will allow for up to 325 storage and retrieval operations per hour – twice the current capacity. Automated shuttle pods will move goods around the warehouse.
“For our customers, this means faster handling speeds, simpler transport processes and improved service quality,” said Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, in a press release last year.
The contractors will use more than 3,500 tons of steel for the warehouse and transportation system – almost half the amount used in the Eiffel Tower.
In addition to the new building, Lufthansa Cargo is also modernizing its existing cargo center through renovations or replacement buildings.
According to the company, the first parts of the automated transport system and the construction of the first two building modules are expected to be completed in 2027.
To minimize its impact on the environment, Lufthansa will equip new buildings with solar panels, heat recovery systems and efficient heating, ventilation and cooling systems.
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