Klagenfurt Airport has been a political issue for many years. The majority sale to Franz Orasch's Lilihill Group did nothing to change that. The majority owner wants to build the so-called Aviation City, but the state of Carinthia is resisting the planned form of financing.

Specifically, Lilihill wants Klagenfurt Airport with the Construction of the Aviation City significantly upgrade. The recently announced plans are smaller than the majority announced immediately after the acquisition of the majority. The construction project is to be financed, among other things, with the sale of land that is not necessary for flight operations.

This is exactly what Provincial Councilor Martin Gruber (ÖVP) wants to prevent, because he has already announced that the State of Carinthia will oppose the sale of the non-operational land. Together with the city of Klagenfurt, the public sector holds the so-called blocking minority. Lilihill only wanted to take over Klagenfurt Airport completely a few months ago, but negotiations with the minority shareholders have so far not been successful.

The politically responsible argue that the sale of land with a total area of ​​around 48 square meters to a subsidiary would not bring in enough. Lilihill refers to an expert opinion and wants to put 17,8 million euros on the table for the space. Specifically, this means that another Lilihill subsidiary of the airport company would buy the land and then use the funds to invest in the airport. But the politicians are of the opinion that another real estate group would pay more money and therefore they resist the deal. Lilihill is willing to compromise and offers that the value of the land can be assessed again by an international appraiser.

On top of that, the state of Carinthia is of the opinion that the airport currently has sufficient liquid funds and that there would be no need to sell land. Alternative solutions such as leasing are brought into play, because these would secure permanent income for the airport. It is also a little to be heard that the Carinthian politicians, which have only made minimal investments in Klagenfurt Airport for decades, have not realized that there is a lot of catching up to do. Investment backlog.