Fraport and Lufthansa joint venture ‘FraAlliance’ formed to enhance services at Frankfurt Airport

GERMANY. In major breaking news, Fraport and Lufthansa have formed a joint venture named ‘FraAlliance’ to strengthen their existing cooperation on strategic and operational matters at Frankfurt Airport. Each company holds a 50% share in the new entity.

Frankfurt Airport already operates a retail joint venture with Gebr. Heinemann called Frankfurt Airport Retail.

Fraport and Lufthansa said they intend to use FraAlliance as a vehicle for deepening their long-standing partnership in relation to enhancing products and services at Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1.

More specifically, the joint venture seeks to improve aspects relating to business development and operations, customer experience, infrastructure, intermodality and sustainability.

Joint venture partners: Pictured left to right are FraAlliance Joint Managing Director Dirk Schusdziara; Lufthansa Airlines CEO Jens Ritter; Fraport Executive Director Aviation and Infrastructure Dr. Pierre Dominique Prümm; and FraAlliance Joint Managing Director Jörg Harnisch

The partners said these improvements are to be achieved by analysing and optimising processes in terminal operations, as well as by taking a joint, customer-focused approach to product development.

The goal is to bring about a journey-wide enhancement of processes and product offerings for flights, while boosting the airport’s competitiveness.

An initial outcome of the enhanced partnership is the availability of real-time updates for aviation security checkpoints in the Lufthansa App. This allows Lufthansa passengers to see checkpoint waiting times in Frankfurt via the app, enabling them to take these times into account when planning their schedule and travel arrangements.

In another project, passenger flows are being analysed and optimised with the aim of significantly reducing transfer times for around a million passengers per year by removing unnecessary, duplicate security checks.

A key focus for the new joint venture is to improve passenger flows through Frankfurt Airport

Fraport Executive Director Aviation and Infrastructure Pierre Dominique Prümm said: “With this joint venture, we’re creating a highly responsive and effective team that can pursue areas of mutual interest and to continue improving passenger services. It’s an important signal for the medium and long-term prospects of Frankfurt Airport.”

Lufthansa Airlines CEO Jens Ritter said: “We want to offer our customers a reliable, punctual, and first-rate travel experience. The joint venture will allow us to place stronger and more targeted emphasis on the projects required to realise these aims.”

He added: “The new partnership at our Frankfurt hub will deliver significant added value for our customers by implementing innovative, future-focused measures.”

The FraAlliance team is staffed equally by both companies. The new joint venture is being co-led by Dirk Schusdziara (previously Senior Vice President Commercial Affairs at Fraport’s Airside and Terminal Management, Corporate Safety and Security Central Unit) and Jörg Harnisch (previously Head of Lean Project Management & CoE Process Improvement at the Lufthansa Group).

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