Austria's airports on the rise: A strong first quarter of 2024

The Austrian aviation industry is showing impressive recovery trends and marks an important milestone in the first quarter of 2024. With around 7,2 million passengers, which corresponds to an increase of 10,4% compared to the previous year, the six Austrian commercial airports are recording remarkable growth. What is particularly pleasing is that flight utilization is increasing and air freight volumes are already above the level of 2019, a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Julian Jäger, President of the Association of Austrian Commercial Airports (AÖV) and CEO of Flughafen Wien AG, the strong passenger growth underlines the important role of Austrian airports for the country's tourism and economic regions. The average aircraft utilization increased to 75,4%, an improvement of 1,7 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2023. These figures illustrate the high demand for air travel and the improvements in operational efficiency.

Development of passenger numbers at airports

Vienna Airport remains the heart of Austrian air traffic and recorded an increase of 5.910.251% compared to the same quarter last year with 11 passengers. The regional airports are also showing positive trends: Salzburg Airport registered growth of 3,9% to 613.149 passengers, while Innsbruck Airport recorded an increase of 526.716% with 9,6 passengers. Graz Airport grew particularly strongly, with an increase of 36,5% to 149.642 passengers. Linz Airport recorded a moderate increase of 5,7% to 20.703 passengers. Only Klagenfurt Airport suffered a decline of 42,3% to 17.327 passengers due to previously announced route closures.

Increase in flight movements

Flight movements have increased at most Austrian airports. At Vienna Airport, the number of take-offs and landings rose by 6,5% to 46.294. Graz Airport and Innsbruck Airport recorded increases of 4,0% and 4,6% respectively. There was also a slight increase of 1,1% at Linz Airport. However, flight movements at Klagenfurt Airport fell drastically by 42,5% to 248 and at Salzburg Airport by 3,2% to 4.906 movements.

Air freight on the rise

A particularly positive aspect is the development of air freight. At 85.219 tons, the freight volume was 16,0% above the first quarter of 2023 and even above the level of the record year 2019. This strong recovery shows that Austrian airports are asserting their importance as central logistics hubs not only in passenger traffic, but also in the freight segment Remove.

Norbert Draskovits, Vice President of AÖV and Managing Director of Flughafen Linz GesmbH, sees significant growth potential, especially for federal state airports. Connecting the federal states with scheduled air traffic is a high priority in order to optimally serve the export and tourism-oriented markets. The forecasts for the upcoming holiday season are extremely positive, indicating a further increase in passenger numbers.

The first quarter of 2024 was a complete success for the Austrian aviation industry. With increasing passenger numbers, improved utilization rates and growing air cargo volumes, the six Austrian airports are showing strong performance. These developments underline the central role of airports in the country's economy and tourism. The optimistic prospects for the coming holiday season and the potential for further growth give hope that the industry will continue to develop positively.

The numbers at a glance:

Passengers (arriving, departing and transit, scheduled and charter)