Groundwork at Frankfurt Airport is a mighty operation.
Two million tons of cargo and 58 million passengers are transported by more than 100 airlines carrying out 470,000 take offs and landings a year.
The third largest airport in Europe and 12th largest in the world, Frankfurt Airport has a total workforce of 78,000 people, ensuring that both the cargo and travellers are set on their way to 295 destinations.
Such an industrial process involves the use of an enormous amount fuel. Aircraft parked at Frankfurt are supplied with 14.7 million litres of fuel a day, and one Airbus A380 can hold a massive 310,000 litres. In total the airport has 10 storage tanks with a total capacity of 180 million litres.
Charged with the smooth running of the groundwork process is Fraport, leading airport operator which also runs ground work at Lima, Dakar, Hannover, St Petersburg, Varna, Antalya, Burgas, Dehli and Xi’an.
Fraport has 20,700 employees working at Frankfurt Airport, which in total has 78,000 workers making it Germany’s single largest employment base.
E-Port
Around 14 percent of the company’s total CO2 emissions are produced by its vehicle fleet, prompting an energised drive towards cutting fuel use and making operations more sustainable.
Its E-Port scheme, a joint effort between Fraport, the Federal Government and Europe’s largest airline Lufthansa, comprises several projects and products aimed at electrifying the thousands of vehicles used at Frankfurt Airport, from aircraft stairs to pallet forklifts.
The initiative was identified by the government as a lighthouse project in 2013 and is recognised as one which could save millions of euros and countless tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere.
In total Fraport has 23,133 vehicles and equipment at Frankfurt, ranging from cars, fire trucks and wheelchairs to mowers, trailers and monorail cars. It has 4,210 baggage carts.
In 2012 the company ramped up its efforts to electrify its fleet with an aim of having 42 permanent electric vehicles in operation on site every day in 2015. This is going to be supported by 15 charge points and will remove approximately 500 tonnes of CO2 each year when compared to keeping the diesel equivalents.
More details here.
