Frankfurt Airport is Germany's largest air traffic hub and one of the most important airports in Europe. In the first half of 2025, around 29.1 million people passed through Frankfurt Airport. Behind the seemingly smooth operation lies a highly complex system. Every travel day brings thousands of decisions: When should which gate open? How many staff are needed at check-in? Where might the boarding process slow down?
What used to be managed with experience, intuition, and generous staffing is now reaching its limits. Every passenger brings movement into the system, along with a multitude of decisions that need to be made in the background. Intelligent systems are needed to make operations more flexible, efficient, and forward-looking. FraAlliance is working on these topics in a collaborative approach with Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt Airport, and Lufthansa. “We were founded to improve product and service quality at Frankfurt Airport,” says Jörg Harnisch, Managing Director of FraAlliance. The joint venture between Lufthansa and Fraport brings artificial intelligence to where it makes the biggest difference: into the daily life of an international hub. Not as an abstract concept, but as a tool that makes processes transparent, identifies bottlenecks, and suggests solutions. The possible areas of application are varied, as Dirk Schusdziara, Managing Director of FraAlliance, explains: “One example is the security checkpoints, most of which are equipped with sensors to measure waiting times. We know exactly how long the waiting times are and can inform passengers via the Lufthansa app, so they can take this into account when planning their journey.”