Last year, not only did the number of passengers in Austria decline sharply, but also considerably less freight was handled. While a minus of 7,72 percent was recorded in the first quarter, the volume collapsed in the following quarter.

Again and again there is talk of passenger airlines like Austrian Airlines benefiting from an enormous freight boom and then flying packages and pallets instead of passengers in the crisis year. This assertion was definitely not applicable to Austria, because the available figures from Statistics Austria, which has already evaluated the first three quarters of 2020, show that the cargo volume in the Alpine republic has slumped massively.

In the first quarter of 2020, 53.635 tons of air freight were handled at Austrian airports. In direct comparison with the same quarter of the previous year, this means a decrease of 7,72 percent. The second quarter of 2020 saw a drop of 56,03 percent to 39.757 tons. In the third quarter of 2020, 44.448 tons of air freight were handled in Austria - a decrease of 39,06 percent. The figures for the final quarter are not yet available to Statistics Austria, but in view of the massive slumps in quarters 2 and 3, it is to be expected that the annual volume will be significantly below the value of 2019. In 2019, a five-year high was achieved with 247.200 tons handled.