“German airports” and “good news” don’t typically go in the same sentence. Along those lines, here’s perhaps the most exciting airport development for Germany since the opening of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER).
Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3 will be home to most airlines
Up until now, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) has had two terminals — Terminal 1 is home to Lufthansa and many Star Alliance partners, while Terminal 2 is home to most non-Star Alliance airlines, with the exception of Condor. Yes, I know some people might be surprised to learn that the Lufthansa First Class Terminal isn’t the only part of the airport departures area. 😉
Anyway, Terminal 2 in Frankfurt opened back in 1994, and it’s not exactly a premium-feeling facility. Not that Terminal 1 is great either, but Terminal 2 is just especially uninspiring, in my opinion.
The good news is that for several years now, work has been taking place on Terminal 3, which is the airport’s brand new terminal. That terminal has been inaugurated today, April 22, 2026, and the first flight from the new terminal should operate tomorrow.
Not only does this represent a much needed capacity increase, but the new terminal is also much nicer aesthetically than the other two terminals.
The plan is that all airlines in Terminal 2 will move to Terminal 3 — after all, the new terminal has the capacity for 19 million annual passengers, while the old terminal has the capacity for 15 million annual passengers.
Then Terminal 2 will undergo a redevelopment, and then we’ll see what happens from there. We know that Lufthansa wants to expand into Terminal 2 as well, but it’s anyone’s guess how that plays out, as it’s a long term project.
So, with what timeline are airlines moving from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3? Airlines are expected to transition to Terminal 3 on four sets of dates, starting on April 23, and ending on June 9, 2026.
Terminal 3 is located on the complete opposite end of the “field” of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 (across all the parallel runways), though there’s a SkyLine connection between terminals, operating every two minutes, with a journey time of up to 10 minutes.
What about the Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3 lounge situation?
With the opening of Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3, it’s interesting how little news there has been about lounges in the new terminal. Currently, Terminal 2 has the Air France Lounge, Emirates Lounge, Japan Airlines Lounge, Primeclass Lounge, and Priority Lounge.
So far, the only Terminal 3 announcement I’ve seen is that there will be a SkyTeam Lounge there, measuring around 550 square meters (6,920 square feet). However, this will be in the non-Schengen area, so it’s intended for passengers flying on China Airlines, China Eastern, Delta, Korean Air, MEA, Saudia, and Vietnam Airlines.
What about lounges beyond that? It’s my understanding that Air France is also opening a lounge in the terminal, though with the airline only moving in several weeks, that’s not quite open yet.
What I haven’t seen is what we can expect from lounges otherwise, including from oneworld airlines, as well as other lounge options. The oneworld alliance doesn’t need a Schengen lounge, but it does need a non-Schengen lounge.
We’ve seen the oneworld alliance start to open its own branded lounges, and you’d think that Terminal 3 would be a prime candidate for such a facility, instead of a lounge specific to Japan Airlines. I have heard rumors that Qatar Airways might be opening its own lounge in the terminal (which would be awesome news), but that hasn’t been formally announced.
I also have to imagine that Emirates will open a lounge in the terminal, given the importance the airline places on running its own facilities. Then there’s the question of what Priority Pass or contract lounges we’ll see — will Primeclass move over, and will there be a second lounge, maybe with different branding? Only time will tell…
Bottom line
Frankfurt Airport’s new Terminal 3 has just been inaugurated, and is expected to welcome its first flight tomorrow. Terminal 3 will initially be replacing operations at Terminal 2, and should represent a nice passenger experience upgrade.
While this hardly looks like the world’s most exciting new terminal, it does look like a big improvement over the rest of the airport. I look forward to passing through this terminal soon, and I’m curious what other new lounges we will see.
What do you make of the new Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3?
