The Triwo group, which already operates several other airfields in Germany, will buy Frankfurt Hahn, the companies said.

An offer to buy the airport had previously been made by NR Holding, which owns the nearby Nürburgring race track and is backed by the Russian oligarch Viktor Kharitonin.

READ ALSO: Russian interest in Frankfurt Hahn airport sparks criticism

The German region of Hesse, a minor shareholder in the airport, had been critical of the potential sale.
Kharitonin, who co-founded the pharmaceutical company that produced Russia’s Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine, is not on the European Union’s sanctions list in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

But opposition conservative MP Sebastian Brehm had said the sale to NR Holding would risk “damage to Germany’s foreign and economic policy”.

Triwo’s chief Peter Adrian, who is also president of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), said the airport had a “good” future.

His group wants to “make targeted investments in the airport infrastructure, achieve further growth in passenger and cargo traffic and implement sustainable real estate development”, he said.

According to the insolvency administrator, Frankfurt Hahn is now “operating without losses” thanks to reorganisation measures.

While Frankfurt Hahn shares a name with the German financial capital, it is not the city’s main airport.

Almost 90 kilometres to the west of Frankfurt, it serves mainly as a hub for cargo and low-cost airlines.

The airport went under at the end of 2021, in the wake of widespread travel disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.