It is Tuesday, January 30, 2024. I am currently in the car with my father as chauffeur on the way to Ljubljana airport. The planned departure with Lufthansa to Frankfurt and with a change to Denmark is at 10:40 a.m. and the departure took place at 8 a.m. sharp. The aircraft used will be a Bombardier CRJ 900 with 90 seats.

From Feldkirchen there are basically two routes as the quickest way to reach Slovenia's capital airport. Either you drive towards Villach along Lake Ossiach and along the motorway towards the Karawanken Tunnel or you drive over the Loibl Pass south of Klagenfurt up the mountain towards Ferlach and cross the state border with Slovenia. It should be mentioned that the route under the Karawanken Tunnel is the faster route, taking approximately 1h10 minutes, assuming everything works smoothly. Furthermore, apart from the Klagenfurt area, this route will also be preferred in most cases in central and western Carinthia, as in most cases it makes no sense to drive all the way east again to cross the Loibl Pass.

Traffic jams and detours are the order of the day

Shortly before departure at 3 a.m., a message is heard on Hitradio-ÖXNUMX traffic radio, which is actually no longer a rarity, but which throws a spanner in the works of the planned route just before departure. “The Karawanken Tunnel is closed in both directions due to a defective vehicle in the tunnel.” Daily radio listeners like me say “Again.”

The planned route under the mountain was canceled and the alternative route over the mountain was chosen. I reach the airport at 9:30 a.m. without much traffic. The newly built check-in terminal looks really good. On this Tuesday morning there is a real yawning emptiness and only two counters are open. The nice lady handed me the paper boarding card at my personal request and, after seeing my Austrian passport, asked me whether I had traveled over the “Karawanke”. I said no about the mountain because of the traffic jam as I had already heard that some passengers appeared to be stuck in traffic or had problems with the traffic report. Everything else such as security checks, boarding and departure went smoothly and on time. I arrived at Frankfurt Airport at around 12 p.m. on an almost fully booked plane and could hardly hear any Carinthian or Austrian dialect during the entire trip.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Slovenian capital airport

But the whole trip got me thinking again and that's why I'm now writing a long-awaited guest article about it, which explains the advantages and disadvantages of the... Ljubljana airport summarized from the perspective of a young Carinthian who is enthusiastic about aviation.

We start with the advantages:

• Takeover of Fraport in 2014 was probably the best thing that could have happened to LJU (German influence clearly visible everywhere)
• All important hubs available such as Frankfurt, Munich, Paris CDG, Zurich, London Heathrow, Istanbul and much more
• The airport is located far north of the capital Ljubljana and is therefore perfectly aligned with the Carinthian border, directly on a motorway
• There is constant investment, short distances, quick processing, clear
• Enough parking spaces available
• Some of the staff even understand a little German
• Under normal conditions, the airport can always be reached by car from Carinthia between 1 hour and 1 hour 30 minutes

The biggest disadvantages from a Carinthian perspective are:

• Slovenian toll (extra €16 for a week of car)
• Karawanken Tunnel toll (extra €8.20 per passage)
• Loibl Pass over the mountain, if you are not the driver yourself you can get really sick on this route. Furthermore, when it snows in winter there is usually chaos and snow chains are required or closed
• There is a minute-by-minute danger that the Karawanken Tunnel will be closed/traffic jam, very high risk!
• July - August during the summer holidays, complete traffic jams almost every day, especially on weekends
• Language (related to should something happen like loss of suitcase etc.)
• When it comes to things like this, I prefer to end up on German-speaking soil
• You always need a chauffeur/own car
• Public transport. Arrival from Carinthia is totally forgettable
• Prices are often much more expensive than flying from Graz/Salzburg, especially with the Lufthansa Group

From 2014 to 2018 there was the “Alpe-Adria-Line” project with a lot of taxpayer money, which connected Klagenfurt and Laibach airports four times a day using a bus connection. It was quoted in newspapers as a “ghost bus” or “a bus that only transports air”. On average, only five people used the means of transport per trip. The three-year project was subsidized by the state with 348.000 euros and, in retrospect, can probably be described as a complete failure

In summary, you could say that Ljubljana Airport is really a great little airport and can be seen as Carinthia's salvation. If Klagenfurt Airport is ever actually closed, it will of course accommodate many passengers from the Carinthian area. Business travelers from large industrial companies in particular, as I know from previous newspaper articles in the Kleine Zeitung, can be found there regularly.

Of course, the disadvantages mentioned are really annoying and will not be solvable in the near future. The second tube of the Karawanken Tunnel will not be ready until 2028 at the earliest, according to Asfinag's construction plan. The path over the Loibl Pass will not change geologically. What remains is always good planning and early arrival so that you have enough time in reserve if the worst comes to the worst. Every time you travel to the airport it feels a bit like you're in a casino. Sometimes you win and everything goes well, sometimes you lose and, in the worst case, miss your flight.

It would also be possible to complete the entire procedure on the Slovenian side at no extra cost by driving over the Loibl Pass and through all the towns next to the motorway to the airport. However, I believe that if someone can afford a flight, they will certainly still have the necessary change for a vignette/tunnel, purely for the convenience of the route.

What about other airports in the Carinthia area?

In all of these negative aspects mentioned, this is simply the winner Graz Airport opposite the one in Ljubljana. The only thing you need is an Austrian motorway vignette and you can drive off without any worries. In addition, the route to Graz on the A2 Südautobahn is much more “friendly”. There are very rarely problems, with a maximum of half a meter of snow on the pack. The airport is also located very west of Graz, which in turn benefits Carinthia.

It offers everything you need to get out into the world in a single transfer. In addition, everyone speaks German, which certainly gives people who rarely fly and are not very familiar with the English language a more relaxed start to their trip. From Carinthia's perspective, it is really to be hoped that the Koralmbahn stop will still be available at Graz Airport. This would provide another alternative, especially in terms of public transport, which Ljubljana has not been able to score points with at all so far. The traveler would then only have to be dropped off at the Klagenfurt main station and travel the 45 minutes alone to Graz. Same game on the return journey.

On the subject Salzburg Airport It should be mentioned that this is mostly of interest to residents from the west of Carinthia (Spittal an der Drau and the surrounding area). Nobody from the Eastern Carinthia area will voluntarily choose Salzburg over Graz Airport. In addition, the A10 Tauernautobahn motorway towards Salzburg is once again a section of the route that constantly causes problems and is omnipresent in the traffic news. In addition, the route toll for the Tauern Tunnel now costs €13.50 per direction, which is not without its costs.

Trieste, Venice & Treviso: Personally, I have never used Trieste airport, the only one of the six mentioned. However, another major investment by Ryanair has just been announced. In addition, Rome and Frankfurt are served as hubs several times a day. From Carinthia it is about two hours to the airport by car, although surprisingly this has never received much attention from Carinthia and is more of a hidden option.

Venice Marco Polo are almost three hours away, but are regularly used by many Carinthians, especially for holidays. Of course, this is hardly an option for business travelers if you have to drive south for hours.

Treviso is a pure Ryanair + Wizz Air Airport and in turn attracts many holiday travelers from Carinthia due to the great variety and low prices of the direct destinations offered throughout Europe.

However, all of the three Italian airports mentioned have one negative disadvantage in common. There is a border crossing to cross, in summer this route can be very congested and a route toll must be paid on the Italian motorway.

Conclusion for Carinthia

Carinthia has an incredibly weak infrastructure. There is a lack of every nook and cranny. Regardless of whether you are going to Ljubljana, Graz or Salzburg, you basically need a car or a chauffeur for everything. In addition, they cause unpleasant additional costs. I've been flying a lot for years, but what has never changed is the fact that every trip to Carinthia is a trip around the world, no matter in what respect. The whole day is gone.

Carinthia is nestled in the mountains and this causes major problems, especially when business travelers have to move quickly and the route to the airport has to be “safe” and without any problems. Be it to Slovenia, Italy, Salzburg or Graz, if something happens along the route, the whole travel plan collapses like a house of cards. This once again underlines how important it would be for Carinthia to have a functioning regional airport in its own federal state, which every resident can reach from all directions!

This guest post was written by: Andreas Knoll from Feldkirchen.