FRA/EDDF (Frankfurt Airport) runway usage

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Hello everyone,
as Frankfurt Airport is the busiest airport in Germany and of great importance in Europe, it is also frequently used in IF.

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However, there are certain restrictions at the airport, which not everyone is aware of. The use of the runways is specified for each runway. The following describes it better:

07L/25R (runway south) - Used for arrivals only, from both directions. No A380,747 and MD11 planes arriving at this RWY due to noise restrictions. The preferred runway for all US flights (UA, DL, AA, LH, DE) and flights arriving from northern Europe like Icelandair, Finnair, SAS, Aeroflot or WOW Air.

07C/25C (Center runway) - Mainly in use for departures (especially flights to North America and Asia). Some arrivals are possible when there is less traffic.

07R/25L (runway northwest) - Used for arrivals in both directions (departures are very very rare). Runway for all flights opb. A380,747 or MD11, cargo airlines located in the cargo city south and general aviation. Preferred runway for charter flights coming from the south opb. SunExpress, TUIfly or Bulgarian Air Charter.

18 (runway west) - Used for departures only, 36 is not in use! Preferred for flights with a southern direction like Spain, Italy, Africa, India, Southern Asia. If there are too strong crosswinds from the north-east/east, the runway will be closed for operations.

First of all, thank you for reading. Secondly, I’m not too sure if this belongs in “General”. If it belongs to “Features”, I’m sorry and I kindly ask you to move it there.

Especially today (Sunday, 28th October 2018) where EDDF is covered by IFATC, the airport gets a lot of attention and maybe those informations about which aircraft is allowed to use which runway (or which runways are ONLY for departure or arrival) could be displayed in the general airport information slide (and in the ATIS section, in case there is one active). There also is a night curfew from 23:00 - 5:00.

(Source: http://www.spotterguide.net/planespotting/europe/germany/frankfurt-fra-eddf/ , my own observation, Fraport Information)

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Thanks for posting this. It’ll really help with today’s Germany theme.

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Nice, just some additions:
07R/25R is referred to as South runway.
And 07L/25R as Nortwest runway.
South and Center could not used same time both for arrivals or both as departure. They are to close together.
Change of use ocures often for short time if there is an issue with one of them so that you can see runway swaps on arrivals from south to center if south gets closed as well as when it reopens. If center gets closed traffic will be transferred to 18 west if possible.
Noise abatement are a complex issue at EDDF, departure routs ar changed on daily basis and there is a night closure from 2300 to 0500 local time.

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@Moritz can you make one for EDDM for everyone to just ignore it?

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Thanks for your post. Depending on the controller and the level of traffic at the airport, you may or may not see those runway configurations being used.

However, if it’s busy, us IFATC are told to use all available runways for departures/arrivals. The amount of traffic in IF (and the skill/knowledgeability of some pilots) can sometimes be unrealistic, and we have to accommodate that. So don’t be shocked if you see one runway that’s typically only for arrivals being used for departures as well, etc.

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I get that some pilots are not aware of the “rules” but if it was added to the airport information, the pilots as well as IFATC could acknowledge that (and simply don’t open rwy 36 for DEP/APPR and 07L/25R not for DEP)

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Echoing what I said

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