Commentary: Klagenfurt on the way back to political downsizing

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

Commentary: Klagenfurt on the way back to political downsizing

Klagenfurt Airport (Photo: René Steuer).
Advertising

The decline of Klagenfurt Airport began many years ago, because under the ownership of the city of Klagenfurt and the state of Carinthia, not only was management really run down, but with partly dubious subsidies and charter deals, the airport was given a dubious reputation to this day .

In the mid-2000s there was a lot of activity in Klagenfurt, because Hapag-Llyod Express (later Tuifly and Air Berlin) were present with several routes. Ryanair also had some routes from Carinthia Airport. However, the presence was bought at a high price, because the airlines were given a lot of money so that they could fly from Klagenfurt at all. Years later, the European Court of Justice declared the subsidies illegal.

As soon as the money stopped flowing to Air Berlin and Ryanair, the two carriers said goodbye. At the time, the German company even publicly demanded that the subsidies must be continued or that all routes would be discontinued. The Irish competitor described the action in Carinthia as an "outrageous fee increase" and made the fly.

The politically appointed management said they had found a solution for the Germany flights by chartering a Boeing 757 from Condor. A new limited liability company was set up to sell the tickets. The only winner of this promotion was Condor, because the German airline had no risk. No matter how many passengers were on board, Condor got the agreed charter rates. The fact that the Boeing 757 was far too big for the routes to Hamburg and Berlin was more due to the megalomania of the management at the time. Under the Haider state government, a few million euros were even sunk into the insolvent Styrian Spirit, whose presence in Klagenfurt was more of a short-term fad.

The blundering activities of state politics and the fact that local tourism is completely incapable of pulling together have left deep scars. The credo of airlines is “where there is money, you only go in if you get something”. Klagenfurt has been suffering from this for many years, because without subsidies hardly any carrier wants to take the risk. In addition, according to the fee schedule, the airport is exorbitantly expensive and therefore unattractive for costly experiments with new routes.

After it was recognized in state politics that the airport was run down and driven to the brink of ruin due to subsidies that were definitely not sustainable, a private company should do everything better. The problem is that politicians have not understood that the public sector is no longer the majority owner and believes that they still have to get involved in almost every project.

Lilihill wants the ÖVP to twist a real rope out of the fact that little or nothing has progressed due to the corona pandemic. In doing so, however, one ignores the fact that at the federal level, precisely this party, in cooperation with health ministers, who literally put themselves through the door, is responsible for the fact that people were frightened or were unable to fly at all due to entry requirements that could hardly be met. The airlines Eurowings and AUA, which operate in Klagenfurt, have repeatedly had to suspend their offers, which ultimately led to a drastic slump in passenger numbers. It was comparable at other airports in Europe, apart from Pristina.

ÖVP state councilor Martin Gruber and his party colleagues absolutely want to get rid of Franz Orasch and his Lilihill Group, which has the backing of SPÖ state governor Peter Kaiser. It is believed that the state of Carinthia can do better and that is why the airport should be bought back. Can the public sector really do better? A look into the past raises legitimate doubts, because Lilihill did not start the farming, but rather the state of Carinthia and the city of Klagenfurt. The Carinthian airport still has the reputation as an “airport from which you only fly if there is money” from the “political era” and will not get rid of it anytime soon.

As long as Carinthian politics does not recognize that an airport is not a political pawn, but an important infrastructure with a lot of potential for further development, the airport unfortunately has no chance. Should also the state parliament the latest decision of the KBV supervisory board confirm, standstill is to be expected, because Lilihill is unlikely to simply let the majority ownership be taken away “because of Corona”. Years of legal disputes through all instances are to be expected. Whatever the outcome, the losers are the airport, Carinthian tourism, but also business travelers and outgoing vacationers.

Leave a Comment

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked with * marked

This website uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn more about how your comment data is processed.

Editor of this article:

[ssba buttons]

Nobody likes paywalls
- not even Aviation.Direct!

Information should be free for everyone, but good journalism costs a lot of money.

If you enjoyed this article, you can check Aviation.Direct voluntary for a cup of coffee Coffee trail (for them it's free to use).

In doing so, you support the journalistic work of our independent specialist portal for aviation, travel and tourism with a focus on the DA-CH region voluntarily without a paywall requirement.

If you did not like the article, we look forward to your constructive criticism and / or your suggestions for improvement, either directly to the editor or to the team at with this link or alternatively via the comments.

Your
Aviation.Direct team
paywalls
nobody likes!

About the editor

[ssba buttons]

Nobody likes paywalls
- not even Aviation.Direct!

Information should be free for everyone, but good journalism costs a lot of money.

If you enjoyed this article, you can check Aviation.Direct voluntary for a cup of coffee Coffee trail (for them it's free to use).

In doing so, you support the journalistic work of our independent specialist portal for aviation, travel and tourism with a focus on the DA-CH region voluntarily without a paywall requirement.

If you did not like the article, we look forward to your constructive criticism and / or your suggestions for improvement, either directly to the editor or to the team at with this link or alternatively via the comments.

Your
Aviation.Direct team
paywalls
nobody likes!

Leave a Comment

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked with * marked

This website uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn more about how your comment data is processed.

Advertising