Future of the Klagenfurt Airport uncertain: Are we already at the end?

Future of the Klagenfurt Airport uncertain: Are we already at the end?

Developments at Klagenfurt Airport are an exciting and challenging story. After the aviation industry in Austria experienced a brisk growth of seven percent in 2024, the country's southernmost transport airport was not connected. Instead, he had to accept a decline from 10.2 percent to only 137,844 passengers, which corresponds to just 41 percent of the 2019 passenger volume. The reasons for this are diverse, but closely linked to the limited number of flight connections and the small catchment area of ​​Klagenfurt, such as reported.

However, the situation could brighten up a little by the efforts of the new airport manager Maximilian Wildt. Ryanair has increased its offer, and since May 2024 Eurowings and Skyalps have been heading for new destinations in Cologne and Hanover. However, despite these efforts, it remains questionable whether Klagenfurt Airport will be able to support yourself financially. The budget of the city of Klagenfurt currently does not allow any further grant of 2.4 million euros to maintain flight operations, such as aerotelegraph.com shown.

special ownership

The ownership of Klagenfurt Airport has been a controversial topic in recent years. Most recently, the Lilihill company held the majority with Peter Orasch. However, all planned construction and investment projects were never implemented, and only the dream remained from the airport's own airline Liliair. The public prosecutor's office is currently investigating orash, which brings additional uncertainties.

In order to secure the future of airport, the city of Klagenfurt has decided to transfer its shares to the state of Carinthia. This step could be a new perspective for the airport, but the risk remains: The positive trend that Klagenfurt is currently showing is fragile because the financial foundations are unstable.

The competition in air traffic

In the context of the entire Austrian aviation, Klagenfurt Airport cannot keep up. While Vienna triumphs with 31.7 million passengers and Salzburg and Graz, some of them, some of them present impressive growth, the decline in Klagenfurt raises questions. The need for collaborations with other airports and investment impulses are discussed more than ever, but so far, sustainable solutions have failed to materialize. It turns out that smaller airports such as Klagenfurt have to develop new strategies to compete.

With a total volume of 35.5 million passengers nationwide, Austrian air traffic is on the right track as a whole, but the future remains uncertain for Klagenfurt. The challenges are great, and the coming months will be crucial for whether the airport can stabilize its development or whether it continues to get into difficulties.