Frankfurt airport is celebrating the inauguration of its fourth new runway this Friday. But the festivities are likely to be marred by recent events at the Fraport-managed facility, which has also been ban night flights from 21 October. The growth of the German airport, which welcomed some 5.3 million passengers in September (+4%), could well be curbed by this "curfew" imposed by the Hesse Administrative Court between 11pm and 5am. Fraport, the airport operator, must now wait impatiently for the opinion of the Federal Court in Leipzig, which will have to confirm or overturn this ban at the end of 2011, or even at the beginning of 2012.
