For a long period of time, Klagenfurt Airport had only two scheduled destinations, Cologne/Bonn and Vienna. While the start of seasonal Ryanair flights was celebrated in autumn 2022, the airport is now getting bad news from the Eurowings headquarters.
The non-stop connection between Klagenfurt and Cologne/Bonn, still under the Germanwings brand, remained in the flight schedule for many years. Although the route was repeatedly discontinued during the corona pandemic and then reactivated, Eurowings has so far relied on Carinthia. This will end on March 6, 2023, because the Lufthansa subsidiary will finally give up Klagenfurt due to "frequently fluctuating demand".
As a result, the airport loses another route, because all year round there are only connections to Vienna-Schwechat and London-Stansted. The own brand Lilihill has so far announced Frankfurt, Munich, and Hamburg, but has neither started selling tickets nor served a single circulation.
Eurowings is not thinking of a short-term return to Klagenfurt this time. Among other things, the carrier points out that the general framework conditions at this airport would have to change. This not only means that demand will stabilize over the long term, but there is also apparent disagreement on other parameters. A very risky strategy on the part of the airport management, because they are dependent on the Lufthansa Group to a certain extent, because Austrian Airlines is the last hub connection, albeit served with suboptimal flight times. For several years it has been more or less clear that on the part of Austria Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) set the course so that domestic flights will be a thing of the past in the current decade.
Whether Klagenfurt Airport will try to compensate for the loss of the Cologne/Bonn route with the help of another carrier, such as Ryanair, or its own brand Liliair, is completely open. In any case, passengers and especially the Carinthian economy will lose their connection to the Eurowings hub Cologne/Bonn as of March 6, 2023.
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