“2020 will be the hardest and probably the most bizarre year in airport history,” these are the words with which Flughafen Wien AG's online PK began. And board member Julian Jäger is not entirely wrong with that. Because the past year threw the location back by decades - in the end, only 7,8 million passengers use the airport. Nevertheless, things should get better in the second half of the year at the latest.

The listed company thus recorded a decrease of 75,3 percent (2019: 31,66 million). This corresponds roughly to the number of passengers in 1994. Both the volume of transfer traffic (-79,2 percent) and the number of local passengers (-74,1 percent) have fallen. The number of take-offs and landings fell by 64,1 percent. The freight volume recorded a minus of 2020 percent in 23,2. How fatal this crisis is for VIE can be seen particularly well from a value: On the day with the weakest passenger numbers, just 154 travelers flew. In the previous year, however, this figure was 41.343 - the airport is currently dreaming of such figures. Because it still looks bleak. Because for the first time in history, the capital's airport is in the red. That should change quickly, in the new financial year the board would like to make profits again. From today's perspective, sales of around 430 million euros, an operating result (Ebitda) of 150 million and a net profit of four million are expected this year.

With around 5.000 visitors a day, the first few months of the new year remain challenging. But the upswing is in sight. From today's perspective, the airport expects this especially from the second half of the year. The start of vaccination as a beacon of hope should lead to a significant increase in the number of passengers. In addition to the vaccination, those responsible make future prospects dependent on the uniform approach of the European Union: “For the year as a whole, we expect around 12,5 million passengers at the Vienna location, more than 70 percent of which we expect in the second half of the year. The way out of the crisis can only be achieved with more freedom of travel: The prerequisites for this are an international vaccination coverage that is as extensive as possible and the establishment of EU-wide uniform travel regulations, ”said Julian Jäger, CEO of Flughafen Wien AG. The pre-crisis level could not be reached before 2023/2024. In addition, the board duo is pushing for an extension of the Corona short-time work. That is the prerequisite to continue avoiding layoffs.