Klagenfurt Airport wants to attract new airlines in the coming year with the help of incentives. Around three million euros are to be raised to give airlines an incentive to fly to Carinthia Airport.

Majority owner Lilihill promised in the course of the purchase of the majority of Klagenfurt Airport, among other things, that by 2026 the usage will be increased to around 500.000 passengers per year. The corona pandemic resulted in this goal being scaled down a bit. According to a report in the monthly magazine, there are currently around 350.000 travelers who are supposed to fly to / from Klagenfurt with low-cost airlines. This would then correspond to around 70 percent of the total volume.

At the moment there are no other scheduled connections apart from the connections to Cologne / Bonn (Eurowings) and Vienna (Austrian Airlines). The incentive program, which is to take effect from January 1, 2022, is intended to change this situation. However, people are still covered in terms of possible lowcosters that are (re) adding Klagenfurt to the route network. In the past, Carinthia Airport, which was still publicly run at that time, attracted Hapag-Llyod Express (later Air Berlin) and Ryanair with grants. At times a Boeing 757 from Condor was chartered for flights to Germany.

“This is a common procedure at all airports in order to generate growth and successfully establish routes together with the airline partners in the long term. ith the introduction of an attractive incentive program from January 1, 2022, new destinations in particular will be promoted, but passenger growth on the routes currently served will also be incentivized, ”explains Lilihill spokesman Gerhard Seifried to“ Month ”.