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TRIP REPORT: A Change of Scenery – The Frankfurt Airport XXL Tour

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The Frankfurt Airport XXL Tour
A Change of Scenery

Frankfurt Trip Report header

EDITORS WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY

In this adventure

Let’s skip back a few days

If you want to go on a tour, they  must be booked in advance, so plan accordingly. You can do this at https://www.frankfurt-airport.com/en/explore/airport-tours.html. Once you’re there, you can select either the Welcome back tour (45 Minutes) or the XXL Tour (2 hours). The Welcome Back tour is €8.23, whilst the XXL tour is €18.52

I chose the XXL tour… because… well… planes.

Back to the tour

With my “boarding pass” scanned, I followed the others through security and into the holding area to wait for the bus.

After a short wait, a bus appeared. With about 10 people on the tour, there is plenty of space to move between seats for the right shot of an aircraft.

The tour is carried out in German – so it’s a good idea to brush up on some basic German (or at least understand numbers 1 to 10 – least of understanding what a Boeing Seiben Seiben Sebien Dreihundrend is might help).

Everyone was socially distanced on the bus – even though everyone was wearing a mask.

a person sitting in a bus an airport with airplanes parked
A peek underneath

a person sitting in a bus looking out a window at an airplane
AirBaltic Airbus A220

The tour took us past the terminal areas, past various fire station points, as well as stopping to watch various aircraft depart (for example a Qatar 777-300 pushing back, taxing out and taking off),

a large white airplane on a runway a large white airplane with a red logo on it
I’ve forgotten how loud GE-90s are.

a plane on the tarmac
Air Canada Boeing 777

an airport runway with airplanes on the side
Crossing out to the fire station

a fire trucks parked outside a building
Already ready to help

a plane flying in the sky
Austrian Airlines Airbus A319

a plane on the runway
Didn’t I see you before…?

an airplane taking off from a runway
Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER

a plane on the runway
United Airlines Boeing 787-9

a plane taking off from a runway
Bye, Bye Qatar Airways 777-300ER!

a group of airplanes parked at an airport
United Boeing 787 in new colours

a white airplane on a runway
And in old colours

a plane on the runway
Lufthansa Airbus A320-200

a large white airplane on a tarmac
Close to an Airbus A330-300 under tow.

a plane on the runway
A320neo taxing out.

a group of airplanes on a runway
Waiting for their next turn

Our bus headed over to the cargo ramp as an Aerologic Boeing 777F was arriving and being made ready to unload its precious contents

a white airplane on a runway
Aerologic Boeing 777F

a yellow airplane on a runway
DHL Boeing 767-300

a plane on the runway a large white airplane on a tarmac

a plane with a large tail a white airplane with a ladder on the side

Meanwhile, traffic was continuing to arrive

a plane taking off from a runway
Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i

an airplane flying over a runway
MD-11 inbound

airplanes parked on a runway
Parked Narrowbody aircraft

a plane on the runway
Condor A321

two airplanes on a runway
Parked A320 aircraft

a field of grass with a plane in the background
Par trolling its home, the wild MD-11 stalks the cargo pad, seeking a place to unload its bound…

a plane flying in the sky
United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER coming in.

There’s also another side to the tour – how quiet the airport was, with Runway 18/36 being used to store part of the snow maintenance fleet, the arrival runway of 07L/25R being lightly used when I was there.

a field of grass with trees in the background
It’s a long way to the terminal…

a road with a yellow light on it
Snowfleet parked.

a plane flying in the sky
Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777F arriving

But there’s something else – with the airport being used to store Lufthansa Aircraft. Like many airlines in the world, Lufthansa is suffering, with aircraft parked up all over the airport.

And it’s a sad sight to see – when you’re expecting to see them flight. From the smallest CRJ-900 to the larger Airbus narrow-body family, through the to the A330, the A340, the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380.

a fence with barbed wire and airplanes in the background
Little and Large been parked

a plane parked on a tarmac a plane parked on the ground a large airplane parked on a runway a plane parked on a runway a plane parked in a fenced area

a plane parked behind a fence
Parked Airbus A380 aircraft. 

a large building with a large roof
Passing an active Technik Hanger.

There were also some private aircraft parked up too

a white airplane on a runway
SunAir Dornier 328-310 JET

an orange airplane on a runway
FCS Flight Calibration Services Beech 300 Super King Air 350

We also passed another cargo ramp – with lots of cars lined up

a group of cars parked in a parking lot
Going for export

Condor also had aircraft parked here – seemingly ready to go.

a plane on the runway
Condor Boeing 757-300

a large airplane on the runway
Condor Boeing 757-300

Speaking of Cargo, we passed a CargoLogic Boeing 747-400 Freighter too.

a plane parked on a tarmac

the tail of an airplane

From here, the tour went on to more of the parked Lufthansa fleet, this time looking at

a large white airplane on a runway
a large airplane on the tarmac
Boeing 747-8i and Airbus A320 

an airplane wing with a jet engine
Engines plugged in the 747-8i, and an A340-300

a plane on the runway
Airbus A340-300

a large airplane on a runway

a large white airplane on a tarmac
Boeing 747-400

 

a group of airplanes on a runway
Pick a tail

an airplane on the runway
Airbus A330-300 arriving

a large airplane on a runway
Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 in Star Alliance colours

a large white airplane on a runway
Airbus A321

 

a large airplane on the tarmac

a group of airplanes parked at an airport
Eurovwings Airbus A330

Even special aircraft are being stored – with the Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i being stored.

a large airplane on the tarmac

a group of airplanes on a runway

a large airplane on the tarmac

a large white airplane on a runway
Another parked A340-300

a white airplane on a runway
..and A330

airplanes on a runway
Awaiting their fates

a group of airplanes on a runway a large white airplane on a runway

It’s a sobering sight at this time – when airlines want to be flying, but the passenger doesn’t want to – forcing them to park up their fleets until demand returns.

The tour continued, taking in the perimeter off the airport, and looping back to Terminal, where there were signs of life…

a plane parked on the tarmac
TUI Boeing 737-800

a large airplane on the tarmac
Lufthansa Airbus A340-600

a white airplane on the tarmac
Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350-900

a plane parked in a terminal
ANA Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

an airplane on the runway
 Airlines Boeing 787-9

a large white airplane parked at an airport
Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i

The tour looped back into the main terminal area, with the end coming soon.

a large white airplane with gold wings
Gulf vAir Airbus A321neo

a plane with stairs going up to it
Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900

a group of airplanes on a runway
Alitalia Airbus A319

With the bus going into the tunnels of Frankfurt, it was clear the tour was ending, along with an applause for the tour commentator, who was giving a good explanation of everything we were seeing. And that’s a really important part of this tour – the commentary.

With the bus parked up, we were released to leave the bus, and head back to the terminal. Literally down one corridor – I was in the public area where I was a few hours ago

Overall

It was an interesting tour in interesting times – to say the least. Whilst there is less traffic around, it was great to see the airport active, with the day-to-day activities still running – be it receiving passengers, dispatching aircraft, having cargo delivered and so on. The part where I started seeing the parked aircraft was sobering… to say the least.

We all know the impact that the pandemic has had on the industry – and seeing all those parked aircraft (and there’s many more parked elsewhere), puts a little perspective on what crisis it is in.

One can hope that travel can be normalised sooner rather than later.

Next: Into Frankfurt.

 

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