Fraport to Increase Slot Capacity at Frankfurt Airport in 2004 / AirportCoordinator of Germany Determines Allocation of Slots to Airlines

Frankfurt, Germany (ots) - Fraport AG (FSE: FRA), the owner andmanager of Frankfurt Airport (FRA), and its main customer DeutscheLufthansa have agreed on the number of aircraft movements (take-off andlanding slots) that should be available for the 2004 Summer Timetable -for all airlines not just Lufthansa. Specifically, the compromiseagreement calls for two additional slots per hour in the morning and oneadditional slot per hour in the afternoon, commencing with the newsummer timetable that goes into effect in the spring of 2004. Slots arethe scheduled time windows for take-offs (departures) and landings(arrivals) of aircraft at an airport. At FRA and 16 other Germanairports, slots are allocated by the Airport Coordinator of Germany(www.fhkd.org). This organization is directly accountable to the GermanFederal Ministry of Transport. The planned increase in slots now has tobe approved by the responsible government departments.

Fraport creates but does not allocate slots. Utilizing itsoperational and technological know-how, Fraport has been able toincrease incrementally the coordinated hourly capacity of the existingrunway system at FRA in recent years. Under the agreement, FRA'sofficial coordinated runway capacity for flight scheduling will increasein the next summer timetable period: to 80 aircraft movements per hour(up from 78 per hour currently) between 06:00 and 14:00; and to 81aircraft movements per hour (up from 80 per hour) between 14:00 and22:00. The Board of Airline Representatives in Germany (BARIG) alsosupports this arrangement.

Fraport's executive board chairman Dr. Wilhelm Bender said that withthis compromise agreement both parties have underscored their mutualinterest in demand-oriented growth at Germany's biggest airport. Heindicated that the need to increase the capacity of FRA's existingrunway system - through optimizing infrastructure and implementingincreasingly sophisticated handling procedures before the planned newNorthwest Landing Runway goes into operation - was already emphasizedduring the mediation process on airport expansion.