The increase is phenomenal. While a total of around 400,000 e-Com shipments per month were handled at Frankfurt Airport last year, the current monthly average is a staggering 8 million parcels and packages. It would be unfair to attribute this rapid increase solely to Fraport’s head of cargo, Denis Duarte, as it is the result of the entire team’s efforts, but he has certainly played a major role in further boosting this product segment.
As Max Conrady’s successor, the Brazilian-born executive has been responsible for the airport’s air freight business since 01JAN2025. In addition to the commitment of the airport’s cargo workforce, he particularly praises the local customs officials. “The cooperation works really smoothly, and shipments are cleared quickly, which cannot be taken for granted.”
Waiting for One Record
However, he sees room for improvement in another area: data consolidation. “We need to move away from isolated digital solutions and develop a digital highway that connects our FAIR&Link system with other messaging tools.” The platform is provided by the One Record data model, developed by IATA in collaboration with industry, which provides the air cargo players with a standard data structure that facilitates data integration with existing and new messaging services. According to Duarte, this is to be pushed forward in 2026 and will enable quick data consolidation. Once installed, it would increase the transparency of shipment flows and significantly speed them up.
Further to this, the manager announced additional roadshows and collaborations with other airports in the air cargo sector true to the Shanghai scheme for the coming year, CFG reported.
More partnerships to come
The roadshows serve to strengthen existing contacts and develop new business opportunities between the participating airports on the basis of common standards. Or, as Alexander Laukenmann, Senior Executive Vice President Aviation at Fraport AG, put it after his return from Shanghai: “Our partnership with Shanghai Pudong is part of the comprehensive Masterplan CargoHub, which provides for new cargo buildings and warehouses in order to further strengthen FRA’s competitiveness within Europe in air freight matters.”
His colleague Denis Duarte does not reveal which airport is next on Fraport’s wish list as a potential partner. However, he does hint at a target country: India. This would be the result of a series of cargo roadshows held in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad in April 2025. The aim of the Fraport Cargo delegation was to present its airport in a rapidly growing air freight market, promote its own interests, and, in discussions with Indian colleagues, shippers and forwarding agents, highlight the importance of FRA Cargo as a central European hub for pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, perishable goods, and high-tech items. In other words, a kind of first date meeting.
Followed by Air Cargo India
According to market experts, there are several reasons why a partnership between Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and Fraport would make sense. Lufthansa and Star Alliance club member Air India connect both destinations nonstop. And even though the German airport sold its 10% stake in Delhi Airport to majority owner GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited (GIL) for USD 126 million in MAR2025, FRA remains involved in DEL’s business thanks to an operator agreement. Thirdly, there is a large Indian community in the Rhine-Main region surrounding Frankfurt Airport, which also stimulates demand for Indian products and air connections. In addition, India is an important manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, medicines, and hi-tech items, which have long been among the top products handled in Frankfurt.
If all goes according to plan, a partnership between Fraport and an Indian airport in the air freight segment could be concluded as early as next February. That is when Air Cargo India will take place in Mumbai, with more than 300 exhibitors already registered. Among them is Frankfurt’s Fraport AG.
