Frankfurt Airport, Germany's biggest hub, opened an extension of one of its two terminals on Tuesday as it seeks to boost capacity by six million passengers a year. Construction of the 800-metre (-yard) long complex cost 700 million euros ($900 million) and took about four years, the airport's management, Fraport, said in a statement.
The new gates will be used by Lufthansa and the German airline's partners in the Star Alliance, it added. The extension was designed for widebody aircraft, such as the Airbus A380 superjumbo and the Boeing B747, that serve the western German city, which is also Europe's third biggest airport.
"We've created additional space for up to six million passengers per year," Fraport executive board chairman Stefan Schulte said in the statement. "This extra capacity will allow us to meet traffic growth expected in the coming years and to strengthen our role as one of the world's leading aviation hubs," he added.