
Salzburg Airport on the road to recovery despite legacy issues and weather service debate
Salzburg Airport is showing a clear recovery from the pandemic-related slump and is presenting impressive figures for the past year. With around 1,61 million passengers handled last year, the airport recorded an increase of 31,3 percent compared to the previous year. Managing Director Bettina Ganghofer is optimistic about the future and is aiming for a further increase to 1,66 million passengers this year, which is close to the pre-crisis level of 1,84 million passengers. Impact of the pandemic on staff and investments However, the pandemic has not only affected passenger numbers, but also staff levels. During the crisis, there were no replacements despite retirements, which had an impact on the airport's operations. However, almost all positions have now been filled again. Financially, the airport was able to record a consolidated annual surplus of around 3,4 million euros, of which around six million euros went into investments. Contaminated sites: Contamination by PFAS firefighting foam A major unknown for the future remains the remediation of contaminated sites. The use of PFAS firefighting foam in previous firefighting exercises contaminated the groundwater around the airport. Research into the remediation of these legacy contaminations is still in its early stages, and the exact extent and costs of the necessary measures are still unclear. Debate about the aviation weather services: safety concerns and criticism Another challenge is the planned conversion of the weather services to remote observation. The Austrian flight control agency Austro Control plans to provide all meteorological forecasts and warnings for the federal state airports exclusively from Vienna-Schwechat from July 1st. This means that the local experts will lose their jobs or have to move to Vienna. Kajetan Uriach, regional manager of the