Austria's Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) announced that she would like to ban domestic flights between Graz and Vienna as part of the planned expansion of the ÖBB-Südbahn route. Only Austrian Airlines would be affected, because there is no other operator.

The flight between the two cities belongs to the category “ultra-short haul” and is only used by transfer passengers. There is no real point-to-point volume on this route. Austrian Airlines and the Austrian Federal Railways have been offering cooperation trains on selected domestic routes for some time. These carry an AUA flight number and serve as a substitute for flight connections.

Austrian Airlines intends to withdraw from domestic business in the long term. This does not apply - at least for the time being - to the Innsbruck route, as a train journey to the capital of Tyrol is very time-consuming for geographical reasons. Linz-Vienna and Salzburg-Vienna have already been discontinued. Klagenfurt-Vienna and Graz-Vienna are in acute danger, because both routes are pure feeders and stand-alone uneconomical. This is also exacerbated by the fact that the AUA will soon have no turboprop aircraft in its fleet.

The Styrian Chamber of Commerce is resisting the ban plans by Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler. “This connection is used almost exclusively as a feeder. We believe that threatening bans here is anything but sensible from an economic as well as an environmental point of view, ”emphasize WKO Styria President Josef Herk and Director Karl-Heinz Dernoscheg. As a result, Graz Airport would lose a lot of its attractiveness as an international hub, while many flights would be diverted to Germany or Graz business travelers would commute by car to Vienna Schwechat. “Setting a political course like this cannot be in the interests of our country,” criticize Herk and Dernoscheg, but announce massive resistance from the economy. “In times of a pandemic-related economic crisis, other signals than additional bans are really needed.” In addition, of course, the expansion of the southern runway as an important transport axis for Styria is welcomed.