Make money, change planes, or get out.

Where is he gay today?  Frankfurt Airport.
Frankfurt might once have been a fine city.  Today, it's a pimple on the rump of Frankfurt Airport.

More than half the people who land at Frankfurt Airport don't actually want to go to Frankfurt.  They change planes to get to nicer places.  Today, I'm one of them.

I have passed through Fraport (as they call it) many times.  But I never stopped to think what effect the airport had on the city itself. 

With a population of around 600,000, Frankfurt is a provincial capital that nestles into the larger Rhine-Main conurbation.  It's a little over half the size of Adelaide, South Australia—another provincial capital, and my ultimate destination. 

Six million passengers a year pass through Adelaide Airport.  Fifty-three million pass through Frankfurt. 

(Adelaide Airport rather pretentiously calls its main building Terminal One, ignoring the fact that there is no Terminal Two.)

A giant airport, that can get you to pretty much anyplace in the world, attracts businesses with a high fly-in-fly-out factor.  Technology, pharmaceuticals, finance.

Frankfurt is the only German city with a real skyscraper district. A city with only 600,000 inhabitants doesn't really need to build skyscrapers.  But all those banks and ad agencies feel more at home in them.

Manhattan am Main

Fraport authorities try to keep up with increasing terminal traffic, endlessly building extensions and renovating older structures.    The result is functional, if not thoroughly efficient.  And a bit soulless.

Compare it to Singapore's Changi Airport, where I'll change planes.  Changi has indoor tropical gardens, waterfalls, free cinemas, a butterfly  house, and several Rodeo Drive's worth of luxury shopping. 

Travel thrills people.  But you'll find no thrills in Frankfurt Airport.  Here, flying is all business—the aeronautical equivalent of a cubicle farm. 

An uninspiring place to start a vacation.  But things will improve. 

Comments

[Michelle]

While I don't get panic stricken when I have to connect through Frankfurt airport (as I do when I have to go through CDG, LHR or AMS), you are right that it is rather soulless. Usually it takes my entire connection time to cross through the whole airport (arrival and departure gate are inevitable as far apart as possible), go through security again and usually passport control. I never mind though as there is nothing that particularly wants to make me stop. It is all about the business of connecting. I do appreciate that it works and even on tight connections they are unlikely to lose your bags for example. I guess that is better than missing connections, losing bags but having a really fun place to hang out.

[arizaphale]

Most Souless Airport Ever: Zagreb circa 1985. Diverted there due to fog. Unable to leave for 8 hours. *snooooorrrrrrrre*

[Andrea]

Frankfurt is not a pleasant place. It's confusing and just extremely poorly planned. No food (except candy) beyond security? Eh? Like I said not well planned when you have two starving children.

Happy Vacationing!

[Kevin C Jones]

Adelaide had two terminals until they combined the International with the Domestic in one building. But Terminal Two is under construction atop the IKEA store, where you get great bargains.

[naturgesetz]

25 years ago the city had the nickname Bankfurt. I wonder if they still call it that.

The thing I always liked about the airport — after my three seconds of initial shock — was all the soldiers strolling around with their rifles. I figured no terrorists were likely to strike there. And before the days of suicide bombers the procedure of lining the luggage up on the tarmac and having passengers designate what was to be placed aboard was very reassuring. No one could check a bomb through to New York and "miss" his plane. I never saw it done in the U.S., but it really made sense.

[headbang8]

Natugesetz,

I dimly remember that. I think you may be referring to increased security in light of an incident on Cathay Pacific CX101 sometime in the 80s.

As the flight was about to take off from Frankfurt for Hong Kong and then onward to Australia, a flight attendant noticed that someone had written the flight number and the word "bomb" on a mirror in one of the lavatories. The plane was searched heavily before being allowed to take off.

From then onward, for a considerable time, Cathay made all their passengers identify luggage out of Frankfurt. Perhaps they did it on other airlines, too.

I recall the flight number, simply because I cauht the exact same flight some months later, and has to pick out my bag from the ID lineup, too.

And yes, most German police are quite thoroughly armed. Notice how much less often they seem to need to pull the trigger, though, than their American counterparts.

[Kevin C Jones]

I think the "balloon boy" incident proved the safety of this type and popularity of air travel once and for all. You can take off, fly heavily monitored for several hours, and then be gently guided to the ground.
All from your attic space.