Chamber of Commerce intervenes in Carinthian airport dispute

Klagenfurt Airport (Photo: René Steuer).
Klagenfurt Airport (Photo: René Steuer).

Chamber of Commerce intervenes in Carinthian airport dispute

Klagenfurt Airport (Photo: René Steuer).
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The bickering about the future of Klagenfurt Airport has gained another facet, because Jürgen Mandl, chairman of the Carinthian Chamber of Commerce, has now interfered in the political discussion with a statement.

Within the state government, there is great disagreement between the governing parties SPÖ and ÖVP about how to proceed. The SPÖ does not want to change anything about the ownership, at least for the time being, but the junior partner ÖVP wants to take the call option. The supervisory board of the state holding KBV has already made a decision to that effect. However, this can only be carried out with the majority approval of the state parliament. As a precaution, Lilihill has already pointed out that the airport cannot be taken away and will use all legal means.

WKK chairman Jürgen Mandl, who himself sits on the supervisory board of KBV and who, according to his own statements, voted for the call option, is of the opinion that there has been a standstill at Klagenfurt Airport for the past four years. The functionary completely ignores the fact that the airport's decline began long before the majority privatization and that the public sector had literally run the gamut at Klagenfurt Airport. Add to that the fact that airline "buying" and chartering has achieved that the first question of many potential carriers is: "How much money are we getting?". Word has just gotten around that many “marketing grants” have been distributed in Carinthia in the past. The strategy was not sustainable, as only Austrian Airlines (Vienna) and Cologne/Bonn (Eurowings) remained on the line.

“For me, the debate about the airport is about its original purpose. The essence of an airport is the planes and the hubs they fly to. That's why it's all about the connections that passengers use and the airports they can reach - and not about parking garages or shopping centers, not about hydrogen, not about drones, not about technology parks and not about barracks," says Mandl clear. “For the business, tourism and living location, the flight connections are decisive, not the trappings; Example Trieste: There, a fund specializing in airport investments (F2I) paid 33,5 million euros for 55 percent of the airport company and brought in a further 30 million for future investments. In the middle of the biggest corona crisis, the strategic partner Fraport built a new terminal in Ljubljana for 20 million euros, from which a number of European capitals and also international destinations can be reached by direct flights. Fraport is the listed operator of Frankfurt Airport”.

The Carinthia Chamber of Commerce chairman does not want to speak of privatization either, because this would have been financed by a capital increase. Mandl: “So the citizens and taxpayers didn't get a cent for the sale of 75 percent of their airport. Quote from an audit report by the state audit office: 'The former shareholders K-BV and the city of Klagenfurt did not receive any money as a result of the partial privatisation.' Over the past four years, the new airport owner has made a name for himself with grandiose plans and impressive glossy brochures. But I still see very few planes at Klagenfurt Airport that fly us entrepreneurs to Frankfurt or Brussels for business meetings or bring holidaymakers to Carinthia. But that was the order of the new owner. And that's why, after careful consideration, I voted in the interests of Carinthia to pull the call option and end this experiment after four years of dynamic standstill”.

The private majority owner Lilihill sees the matter completely differently. This is exactly what Mandl uses as an attack surface to assert that Franz Orasch's group was never concerned with the airport, but only with the land. Incidentally, this is sharply rejected by Lilihill.

Next Monday, the ÖVP will bring the topic of “airport” to the state government meeting. Since the SPÖ is strictly against using the call option, it cannot be expected that a majority decision will be taken. In the state parliament, the People's Party would have to secure the approval of the opposition in order to be able to overrule the SPÖ. From today's point of view, that is also questionable, since the FPÖ, for example, would like to have clarified many open questions from their point of view before making a decision. It is therefore not to be expected that the chapter “possible pulling of the call option” will be settled quickly – no matter in which direction.

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