The Lufthansa First Class Terminal Expansion: What Changed in April 2026

The Lufthansa First Class Terminal at Frankfurt has always been the reference point for what an airport ground experience can be. A separate building. A dedicated immigration channel. A car to your aircraft door. When it closed for renovation in May 2025, a lot of people who care about this stuff paid attention. When it reopened on April 1, 2026 — after eleven months — it was noticeably different.

What did the FCT expansion actually add?

The headline number is 4,200 square metres of additional floor space — a 60% increase, taking the terminal from its original capacity of roughly 90 passengers per day to a stated capacity of 280. That expansion was driven by a real problem: HON Circle membership had grown significantly in the years after the pandemic premium travel boom, pushing the terminal well past its design limits on busy departure days.

The most significant addition is 18 private day-suites, replacing what used to be back-of-house storage. Each suite is 18 square metres and includes a daybed, a desk, a rainfall shower, and a television preloaded with the Sky Q catalogue. Reservations are 90 minutes per booking. If a suite goes unclaimed at the booked time, the next person in line can use it.

There is also a new quiet wing — a separate corridor running parallel to the main lounge, with 28 reading chairs in dark green leather, brass reading lamps, and an actively enforced no-phones rule. For anyone who finds the main lounge too social, this is the option worth knowing about.

What about the Tim Raue restaurant?

Tim Raue has been part of the FCT dining programme for some time. The expansion added a second restaurant space, giving the terminal more dining capacity without turning the main lounge into a restaurant. The food programme itself remains anchored in Raue's approach — precise, ingredient-led, German in sensibility but global in technique.

What is the Brass Bar?

One of the more specific additions: a dedicated whisky bar named after a brass cask that Lufthansa commissioned from a Cologne distillery. The bar carries 12 single-malt whiskies, including a 1997 Brora that costs the airline €740 per pour. Whether Lufthansa charges passengers for this or absorbs the cost is a reasonable question — the answer, based on current reports, is that the full FCT bar programme remains complimentary. That Brora is served if you ask for it.

How does the expanded FCT compare to the original?

The original terminal was built in 2004 to handle 90 passengers per day. It was running at 220 by the time it closed. The expansion addresses that imbalance, but 280 still isn't a large number for an international hub of Frankfurt's scale. If you have HON Circle status and are connecting through Frankfurt, the terminal remains genuinely accessible in a way that comparable facilities at other carriers often aren't. The Residence at Qatar, the private terminal concept at Etihad — these are different products. The FCT is its own category.

What stays the same?

The tarmac transfer to the aircraft — in a Porsche or Mercedes S-Class — remains. The immigration desk in the basement, used only by passengers departing the Schengen zone, remains. The rubber ducks remain. The building still stands separately from the main terminal, accessible by car or a short walk from Terminal 2.

The FCT opened in 2004. It has been through one significant renovation and now one major expansion. Twenty-two years later, no other carrier has built anything that directly competes with it.

Considering Lufthansa First Class through Frankfurt? The FCT experience — particularly after the 2026 expansion — is worth understanding before the trip is booked. We're glad to advise at bookmefirstclass.com

Sources: Business Class Journal · Simple Flying · One Mile at a Time · Lufthansa official