Public transport to surrounding airports in Carinthia: An analysis in 2024.
This fact-based report focuses primarily on the assumption that Klagenfurt Airport is closed and a nearby airport is to be reached. However, the "car" means of transport is deliberately excluded from the analysis and travel is only permitted by public transport. The Klagenfurt main station location is chosen as the starting point. The report aims to explain why a closure of Klagenfurt Airport in 2024 is simply not conceivable and which infrastructural construction sites would have to be resolved first in order to be able to justify this in any way.
Geographical map of Klagenfurt Airport
travel time calculations
In order to carry out a fair assessment, a normal working day (Monday – Friday) and a departure time in the range of 08:00 – 16:00 are targeted for all airports.
2 – Graz Airport
There are currently two ways to get to Graz Airport from the Carinthian capital.
Option 1:
The so-called ÖBB Intercitybus (ICB) runs on the Klagenfurt-Wolfsberg-Graz route and back: The bus runs 14 times a day between the two state capitals in the south of Austria and takes 2 hours, according to the ÖBB website. You then have to change to the S5 tram at Graz main station, which stops at Graz airport in 11 minutes. Total time: 2 hours and 36 minutes.
Option 2:
It is also possible to take the train along the classic southern railway line to the Bruck an der Mur station, change there to the train to Graz HBF and then take tram line 5 back to Graz Airport. Total time: 3 hours 12 minutes
| Figure 5: Option 2 Southern Railway Line |
However, it is recommended to choose option 1 because of the faster travel time and only one change. Option 2 could also be described with the saying "taking the church around the cross" due to the existing route of the train tracks.
Keyword Koralmbahn:
From December 2025, the entire Koralmbahn project will connect Graz and Klagenfurt in just 45 minutes. However, the Koralmbahn trains will travel past Graz Airport on a four-kilometer-long underground route, and a stop is not yet planned. This is regularly criticized by all sides, including business, politics and tourism. The ÖBB is open to building a stop at a later date.
Jörg Haider prevented the stop
Jörg Haider, who died in October 2008, prevented the stop because he believed it would only weaken the airport in Klagenfurt. This was his condition for agreeing to the construction of the Koralmbahn as the then governor of Carinthia.
(Former) Minister for Mobility Leonore Gewessler (Greens)
There will be no stop at Graz Airport. This is "not planned" in the plans. She said this in March 2023.
November 2024
Austria has voted and a new government is just around the corner. A new transport minister could undo all the years of blockades against infrastructure projects and bring a whole new impetus to the matter.
Finally, it should be mentioned that if the stop is also installed, Graz Airport will undoubtedly be the biggest competitor compared to all other airports in the Carinthia area.
3 – Ljubljana Airport
If you want to explain to a stranger the quickest way to get between Klagenfurt and Ljubljana Airport using public transport, you could just as well describe a small trip around the world, even though the two airports are only 48km as the crow flies separate!
Unless you have the necessary cash and can afford an extremely expensive taxi.
A quick call to a friend who works for a well-known taxi company in Klagenfurt assured me that you would have to pay at least an average of €200 or more to get from Klagenfurt to Ljubljana Airport.
Option 1:
Although this route cannot be found officially in any app, I will make use of my local Carinthian knowledge and make a recommendation here.
By train you travel from Klagenfurt main station to Villach main station and there you change to the train that travels the Villach – Ljubljana route. But be careful, instead of the capital city station Ljubljana you have to get off one stop earlier at the Slovenian town of “Kranj”.
Once you arrive there, you order a taxi and drive the last few kilometers to the airport. This takes about 12-15 minutes. In a city like Kranj, which has almost 40.000 inhabitants, you can hopefully expect a taxi to be available at the train station.
Why do they do that? Because the Slovenian airport Ljubljana is located far outside the capital, north of the capital, and people come from Carinthia from the north anyway. It simply wouldn't make sense to drive all the way down and then drive all the way back up again.
Total time: at least 2 hours 30 minutes (see graphic)
Option 2:
This route includes all other options offered on route planners. On Google Maps, the probably easiest route with two changes is to take the train to Villach, then take the FlixBus to the Ljubljana bus station and from there take a new bus to the airport in the north of the city.
Speaking of Ljubljana Airport
In terms of infrastructure, apart from the fact that you can get there by car, this airport is not as accessible as a European capital - you have to be critical. There is a motorway that runs past it, but no train station. Buses run several times an hour to the capital Ljubljana, Kranj and Bled.
What is even more annoying when traveling by car from Carinthia is that you have to buy your own Slovenian vignette for a short stretch of motorway.
In summary: A grotesque situation for 48km as the crow flies!
4 – Salzburg Airport
The train route through the famous Tauern Tunnel connects Klagenfurt with Salzburg. At the main train station you change to a city bus to Salzburg Airport.
Total time: 3 hours 38 minutes
Modernization of the Tauern Tunnel from November 18, 2024 to July 4, 2025
The ÖBB Tauern Tunnel is 113 years old and will therefore be comprehensively modernized within 2024 months from the end of 8. For long-distance traffic between Salzburg and Carinthia, this means rail replacement services with buses. But at the same time it also means that the original time can no longer be adhered to and a journey time of at least 4 hours by public transport must be expected.
A 10 Tauern Autobahn tunnel renewal until June 2025
Even if this report explicitly excludes cars as a means of transport, it should not go unmentioned in this context that extensive renovation work is currently taking place on the A10 Tauern motorway. Almost every day, the traffic report on Hitradio Ö3 runs over and over with reports of traffic jams on this very stretch of road.
Conclusion: Even if you travel by car, the journey time will be between 2 and 3 hours, depending on traffic.
5 – Vienna Airport
The federal state of Carinthia is the only one in Austria that is not connected to Vienna Airport by ÖBB with a direct connection.
From Carinthia you have to change at Vienna Central Station. During the day the train runs every two hours, during rush hour every hour. The journey time from Klagenfurt to Vienna Central Station is almost exactly 4 hours. Then, depending on your arrival time, you have to wait for the next train to the airport. In the best case, this means a few minutes of waiting, in the worst case, a complete change of platform and heavy luggage included.
Total time: 4 hours 18 minutes
In October 2023, Flixbus canceled the connection between Klagenfurt and Vienna, which led to an even worse public connection to the federal capital.
According to ÖBB, assuming everything goes according to plan, the Semmering Base Tunnel and the Koralm Railway will only be finished in 2030. Then a journey time of 2 hours 40 minutes between Klagenfurt and Vienna will be possible.
6 – Trieste Airport
This airport flies a little under the radar of the Carinthian population and does not receive nearly as much attention as Graz or Ljubljana. Trieste was actually under Austrian rule for centuries and only became Italian at the end of the First World War in 1918.
Option 1:
The fastest route with the ÖBB goes to Udine and has a transfer to Trieste Airport. The only drawback: this route with a quick transfer only works twice a day. Otherwise, you can expect to have to change trains two or three times a day.
Total time: 2 hours 47 minutes
Option 2:
This option includes all other possibilities offered on route planners. On Google Maps, the probably easiest route with two changes is to take the train to Villach, then take the FlixBus to the Udine bus station and from there take an Italian train to Trieste airport.
Total time: at least 3 hours 50 minutes
7 – Venice Airport
Three times a day, an ÖBB Railjet train travels directly from Klagenfurt to Venice. Far more complicated options with changes in Villach or the Italian city of Udine take longer.
Once you arrive at the “Venezia Mestre” station, the quickest but much more expensive way is of course a taxi. Otherwise, you can take an airport bus to “Venice Marco Polo Airport”. Total time: at least 4 hours
8 – Treviso Airport
Venice's second airport is located far to the north in the city of Treviso and is only served by low-cost airlines, but they do so very successfully.
Three times a day, an ÖBB Railjet train travels directly from Klagenfurt to Venice. One stop before that, you get off at “Treviso Centrale” and take a taxi the last five kilometers to the airport.
Total time: at least 3 hours 40 minutes
Conclusion
There is no alternative to the Klagenfurt – Vienna route and it must remain!
Without a car in Carinthia, you're still stuck in 2024. Unless you live in the center of Klagenfurt and have your entire life centered in the city center, where public transportation is sufficient. But beyond that, it will be difficult.
It should not go unmentioned that, depending on where you live in Carinthia, you would first have to reach the state capital Klagenfurt in order to achieve the analysed travel times to the airports.
The final word from politicians has not yet been spoken on the Koralm Tunnel. If the Graz Airport train station is subsequently built, Klagenfurt will be connected to an airport with four international hubs (Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich) in 4 minutes. If this does not happen, you will arrive at Graz Central Station, but will then have to change to the tram there and travel the whole way back on the S-Bahn.
The decisive factor will be how the two federal states of Carinthia and Styria coordinate with each other. It is conceivable that both airports will cooperate with each other and coordinate their services.
For business travelers from Carinthia, however, the early or late flight to/from Vienna will remain irreplaceable. Even if the sensational headline of 45 minutes sounds good at first, for a business traveler, not much has been achieved if they first have to drive to the train station, park their car there, take a train, check in and the first flight takes them to a hub airport. For leisure travelers who have plenty of time and are not under any time pressure, however, the Koralmbahn will offer many new options.
All other airports are not really a competitor in the near future due to the poor public transport connections and the complicated, lengthy journey from Carinthia without a private car.
This post was written by: Andreas Knoll
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