Just a few weeks ago, things were looking pretty good in Graz, because KLM resumed Amsterdam and Austrian Airlines was again operating the non-stop routes to Düsseldorf and Stuttgart. But that was only a short interlude. In the meantime there is only a connection to the AUA hub in Vienna.

The stricter entry and quarantine regulations that Germany put into effect on November 8, 2020, are a good outlook on what could possibly also be imminent in Vienna. The federal state airports were hit hard a lot earlier, because Linz and Klagenfurt are currently completely without a line structure.

Things only look slightly better in Graz, Salzburg and Innsbruck: Innsbruck and Graz only have connections to the AUA hub in Vienna, which are only served sporadically, as Austrian Airlines cancels flights at short notice across the network. From Salzburg there are only a few round trips per week to Düsseldorf.

Various resumptions have been announced, but at the time it was not yet known that Interior Minister Karl Nehammer wants to make entry to Austria a "great hardship" from December 19, 2020 and that the government wants to quarantine everyone for ten days. Free testing is possible after five days at the earliest. This is likely to have an extremely detrimental effect on air traffic demand. It therefore remains to be seen which routes, which Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines, among others, have announced that they will be resumed for the Christmas season, will actually be more reactive.

First and foremost, it will hit the federal state airports again, because if the announcements there are not implemented, minimal operation will remain. Graz and Innsbruck could still happen that the Vienna connection is also suspended. Although this is unlikely, nothing can be ruled out in Corona times. The same applies to the Düsseldorf flights from Salzburg.

In Vienna, too, the red pen is becoming increasingly clear, because the announcement by the federal government alone has caused demand to collapse. Various airlines explained this to Aviation Direct more or less identically. Initially, bookings for the period between Christmas and December 6, 2021 are said to have risen sharply, but since the bad news was announced by the federal government, the number of tickets sold to / from Austria has plummeted to "almost zero". Both airlines and travel agencies also report that there are many phone calls in which passengers want to cancel their flights or package tours with reference to the new regulation, which, by the way, has not yet been published in the Federal Law Gazette.

The goal of the federal government, which was justified with racist motives (keywords: Balkans, Turkey), could thus put the airlines and airports under even more pressure, even though the European epidemic authorities think nothing of it. The ECDC literally embarrassed the Kurz government, because quarantines after trips abroad are ineffective in the eyes of the authority.