The city of Frankfurt has been a major trading centre since medieval times and an important crossroads for more than twelve centuries.

Today, Frankfurt Airport plays a vital role in continuing this tradition on a global scale. FRA has an expanded catchment area of more than 38 million inhabitants - almost half of Germany's total population - located within a 200- kilometre radius of the airport, far greater than for any other European airport.

Employing more than 70,000 people, Frankfurt Airport is Germany's largest employment complex at a single location and has overtaken some
of the country's long-standing industrial complexes, including Volkswagen in Wolfsburg and BASF in Ludwigshafen.

FRA is the driving force of the dynamic Frankfurt/Rhine-Main- Neckar region - one of the European Union's leading economic performers. This
region was dubbed 'Europe's Silicon Valley' by the French firm Truffle Capital because of its high concentration of high-tech software  companies.

Frankfurt Airport City itself is a leading edge user and innovator of high technology solutions in today's increasingly mobile world. It acts as a giant magnet for implementing new technologies, products and ideas.

Between 2007 and 2015, Fraport is investing the vast sum of €7 billion in redeveloping and expanding Frankfurt Airport. In 2009, Fraport awarded contracts totaling €1.14 billion at FRA - a 39.5% year-on-year increase in the company's capital expenditures at Frankfurt. In 2010 and 2011, Fraport also plans to award contracts totaling about €1 billion.

"With our investments this year, we will continue to give decisive impetus to economic development in the region," stresses Schulte. "According to available estimates, €1 billion in annual investments at FRA secure more than 25,000 jobs at the contracted companies.

Particularly at this economically difficult time, Fraport's investments are of immense importance for numerous medium-sized companies and
thus represent a huge privately financed economic stimulus package," he adds.

More than €800 million or approximately 71% of all contracts in 2009 were awarded under competitive tenders to firms in the Rhine-Main region.

On the one hand, this development clearly speaks volumes for the competitive performance of regional businesses and underscores the important part FRA plays in the region's economy.