At Innsbruck Airport it is now being discussed that the ground handling currently operated by Austrian Airlines could be taken over by the airport. Nothing has been decided yet, but if this were to happen, this would mean the final withdrawal from handling in the federal states.

The now defunct regional airline Tyrolean Airways once provided passenger ground transport services at all Austrian federal state airports. The legal successor Austrian Airlines has largely withdrawn from this segment. In Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Klagenfurt, they have already been handed over to the respective airport or to third-party providers. The AUA only has its own staff in Innsbruck.

The Austrian Airlines ground station Innsbruck currently employs a total of 19 people. It is now up for debate that the Lufthansa subsidiary could also withdraw from passenger processing at the Tyrolean airport. Nothing has been finally decided yet, but the airport is already preparing for the fact that it will have to offer these tasks itself in the future.

During the previous closures of federal state ground stations, AUA employees had the choice of moving to Vienna or being taken over by the acquiring employer. In Klagenfurt For example, this was a separate subsidiary founded by the airport, which is now responsible for services such as check-in and it was in Linz the company ISS Ground Handling. It is to be expected that the situation in Innsbruck will be similar if the ground station is actually abandoned.

Innsbruck airport manager Marco Pernetta confirmed to the Tiroler Tageszeitung that it is an option for the airport to take over ground handling from Austrian Airlines. We can talk about it, but at the same time he points out that it is still too early to be able to make a concrete statement about it.

At the same time, an era would end at the Tyrolean airport, as it was once a kind of hub for Tyrolean Airways. This had its home base here and offered feeder flights from Austria and Europe. Only over the years - and also due to the gradual takeover by the AUA - did the offer shift further and further in favor of Vienna-Schwechat. Vienna is now the only year-round route offered by Austrian Airlines to/from Innsbruck.