[citation needed] At the end of the Cold War, the United States was left with a huge excess capacity of expensive airfields in Europe.

Lufthansa began legal proceedings against Ryanair in 2002, claiming the usage of "Frankfurt" in the name to be false advertising.

Ryanair was allowed to keep the name but was forced to clarify in its advertising that the airport is actually 120 kilometers (75 miles) by road from Frankfurt.

[11] Effective 1 January 2009, Fraport sold its 65% interest in the airport to the government of Rhineland-Palatinate for the symbolic price of €1.

[14] In January 2014, the airport announced it had accumulated debts of €125 million while passenger and cargo traffic were decreasing.

[21] In August 2016, RAF-Avia from Latvia announced basing two aircraft at the airport to operate ad-hoc charter flights.

[22] Also in June 2016, the government of Rhineland-Palatinate announced the sale of its 82.5% interest in the airport to Shanghai Yiqian Trading Company.

[25] In August 2017, HNA Group, a Fortune Global 500 company based in China acquired the 82.5% stake in the airport owned by the government of Rhineland-Palatinate for €15.1 million.

[26][27] In conjunction with the acquisition, the European Commission agreed to cover up to €25.3 million of losses between 2017 and 2021 while HNA makes improvements to the airport.

[28] In February 2018, Ryanair announced the shift of part of its operations from Hahn to Frankfurt Airport, where it opened a base in 2017.

[30] In July 2020, Ryanair announced plans to close their Hahn base by November 2020 after a labour union dispute.

[32] In June 2022, it was sold to a German investor,[33][34] which however did not transfer the agreed sales price by late 2022 raising doubt about the airport's future again.

[35] Shortly after, the administrator signed preliminary contracts with two new potential buyers, one of them being the owner of nearby Nürburgring.

This, combined with a large apron, allows it to handle some of the world's biggest aircraft, such as the Antonov An-124 or the Boeing Dreamlifter.

An Instrument Landing System is available, with runway 21 being category 3 approved; low-visibility conditions are a frequent problem at the airport, especially in autumn and winter.