With the start of the winter season, the Austrian regional airports in Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Linz are once again moving into the spotlight of economic attention. In Innsbruck, in particular, two-thirds of the annual passenger volume is handled during the winter months, with holidaymakers from Great Britain and the Netherlands representing the most important customer group.
Against this backdrop, the tourism ministers of Tyrol, Salzburg, and Upper Austria are calling for the complete abolition of the national air passenger tax to safeguard the international competitiveness of their regions. According to these politicians, the ticket tax, which increases the cost of flights by approximately €12 to €15 per flight, burdens tourism and weakens the regions' global connectivity.
Transport Minister Peter Hanke has firmly rejected these demands. Citing the federal government's strained budget, his office told the Kurier newspaper that the revenue from the air passenger tax is indispensable. This tax generates approximately €168 million annually for the state budget. This political argument contrasts sharply with the current market situation: despite the tax, flights from regional airports to London or Amsterdam, with prices starting at around €130 for a round trip, are often cheaper than comparable train journeys within Austria. Industry experts observe that low-cost carriers have so far been able to largely absorb the tax costs without a significant drop in passenger numbers during the winter season.
Aviation experts are skeptical about the effectiveness of a potential tax reduction for connections to major hubs. While the elimination of the tax could attract additional low-cost carriers, the core problem for regional airports – the loss of crucial feeder flights – would remain. Innsbruck and Linz, for example, have lost their direct connections to the Frankfurt hub. Experts point out that Lufthansa is harmonizing its fleet strategy and phasing out smaller aircraft types that would be ideal for these routes. Global airlines operate purely on a profit motive; political appeals from the federal states have little influence on their network planning as long as the routes are not sustainably profitable.
In Upper Austria, efforts are currently underway to force the resumption of the Frankfurt route through so-called start-up funding. However, experts warn against the sustainability of such subsidies. They warn that once state funding expires, services could be discontinued immediately if profitability is lacking. The stabilization of regional airports therefore depends less on the air passenger tax than on the difficult search for partners who can meet the high quality standards of large alliances. While winter tourism is booming thanks to charter and low-cost flights, connecting to the global route network remains a long-term strategic challenge for business locations outside of Vienna.