The Upper Austrian airport Linz-Hörsching had a total of 2023 passengers in the recently completed year 232.950, 12,1 percent more than in the previous period. The airport has not yet been able to match the volume it had in 2019.

Linz Airport was once again in high demand for holiday flights last year. This segment handled 27,4 percent more passengers. The management's forecasts were even exceeded.

In contrast, business travel volumes across Europe are still well below pre-crisis levels. The main cause is increased use of video conferencing and general cost-cutting measures among companies. This is particularly problematic for Linz Airport, as the scheduled flight connections are used almost exclusively by business travelers. The volume of scheduled air traffic fell by 13,6 percent.

“We can look back on a challenging year in scheduled transport. We were able to reactivate the connection to Düsseldorf, which was discontinued by Eurowings at the end of 2022, with SkyAlps at the end of October 2023. We are particularly pleased that we were able to convince SkyAlps to start their first scheduled flight connection outside of Italy with us. Demand for the Frankfurt connection has gradually recovered, but has remained below expectations. In addition to the general market situation, this is also due to the fact that the handling problems at the major hub airports have still not been completely resolved. This meant that the reliability and stability that is important for business travelers was not provided to the extent we would have liked,” said Norbert Draskovits, Managing Director of Linz Airport.

Passenger traffic in detail:

Freight volume 21 percent lower

In terms of air freight, Linz Airport achieved an annual result of 44.342 tonnes, a 2022 percent decline compared to 21, although special effects from medical supply transport were included in 2022. Without these special effects, freight volumes are at the same level as in 2019. The airport thus underlines its position as by far the leading federal state freight airport in Austria. Turkish Cargo has increased its weekly flights and plans to operate up to 2024 flights per week in 5.

More holiday flights, no Frankfurt hub connection

According to the current state of things, around 2024 weekly holiday flights will be operated in the 24 summer flight schedule. Avanti Air, Corendon Airlines, European Air Charter and Mavi Gök Airlines will be operating locally. In addition, the Upper Austrian tour operators have again included short and city trips from Linz in their program. European Air Charter will again station an Airbus 320 in Linz. In addition to Kefalonia, Rhomberg Reisen also flies to Lefkas/Epirus. Springer Reisen is going to Skiathos for the first time this year and Eurotours has included Stettin on the Baltic Sea in its program. These destinations are served by Avanti Air with de Havilland Dash 8-400.

However, there will be a painful cut on the route because the Lufthansa subsidiary Air Dolomiti will no longer fly between Linz and Frankfurt in the 2024 summer flight schedule. This means that the connection to the Lufthansa main hub is lost – at least for the time being.