2024-01-10 09:51:53
With 733,146 passengers, Graz Airport was able to serve around 31% more passengers in 2023 than in 2022. In terms of freight, the best result in history was achieved at 19,379 tonnes. The positive trend of the last few months and the flight submissions for 2024 suggest a further recovery towards pre-Corona levels.
The aviation sector continued to face multiple challenges in 2023. The followingeffects of Covid-19, the Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas conflict, general inflation and the development of energy costs are just a few of the external influences that are shaping air traffic.
“In this challenging environment, Graz Airport did well in 2023 because the forecast traffic figures were not only achieved, but even exceeded,” reported Wolfgang Grimus, Managing Director of Graz Airport. “The stationing of a Eurowings aircraft and the associated expansion of the route portfolio (new scheduled destinations Berlin and Hamburg as well as an expanded charter offer) was a big and important step into the future. Styria’s export-oriented commercial and industrial companies have once more increasingly replaced online meetings with face-to-face appointments with their business partners. In tourist traffic, the passenger numbers from 2019 have already been exceeded once more.”
“We have also achieved a lot in the non-aviation segment,” informed Jürgen LöschnigManaging Director of Graz Airport. “The number of events held at the airport in 2023 is almost back to the level of 2019. We were able to attract new tenants in the cargo area, in the parking garage and in the office building. And in the environmental sector, the first PV system has been producing electricity since spring, and more are in preparation.”
CEO Wolfgang Malik is pleased for Holding Graz as owner regarding the continuous “rise” of the airport, which is important for southern Austria and its neighboring countries, also with regard to a strategic outlook: “With the significant increase in passenger and freight traffic, our airport in Graz once once more underlines its attractiveness and, above all, its position in the economic and tourism area of an “Area South”. With the Koralmbahn from 2026 and the Semmering Tunnel two years later, Graz Airport will have the unique opportunity to act as a central hub of one of the largest new dynamic economic areas in Central Europe at the crossroads of the European Transversals.”
The development in 2023 in detail:
Scheduled and holiday flights:
576,277 passengers chose a scheduled flight for their business or vacation trip. The result for 2022 was increased by 30.5%. 156,869 passengers chose a charter flight to take off on vacation (+30.9%).
A total of 9,655 takeoffs and landings were recorded in scheduled and charter traffic, an increase of 12.2% compared to 2022. This shows that, fortunately, aircraft utilization has increased significantly.
Freight:
In terms of freight, the target figures were exceeded at almost 19,400 tonnes, with an increase of around 17% compared to the previous year, meaning that Graz Airport achieved the best freight result in its history in 2023. The settlement of two new tenants in the freight center reflects the good development and sends a positive signal for the future.
General Aviation:
In the general aviation sector, following the previous year’s decline of almost 16%, there was a comparatively small increase of 6.6% to 33,496 movements. In this area, training and education flights increased by around 30% compared to the previous year and have reached the level of 2021 once more. Commercial general aviation flights fell by 17% compared to the previous year.
Below is the preview of the summer flight schedule!
Preview of the 2024 summer flight schedule:
7 line destinations:
- Berlin – Düsseldorf – Frankfurt – Hamburg – Munich (at least 3x daily instead of 1x daily compared to summer 2023) – Vienna – Zurich (increased to 5x/week)
For economic reasons and due to the future planned reduction in total flight movements at Schiphol Airport, KLM will unfortunately discontinue the connection between Graz and Amsterdam at the end of March 2024.
15 holiday flight destinations:
- Antalya – Brac – Calvi/Korsika – Heraklion/Kreta – Hurghada – Karpathos – Kefalonia – Corfu – Kos – Larnaca – Palma de Mallorca – Paros – Rhodos – Skiathos – Stettin (neu!)
10 single flight/short chain destinations:
- Bordeaux (new!) – Funchal – Ibiza (new!) – Copenhagen (new!) – Las Palmas – Lisbon – Paphos – Sonderborg – Tenerife – Tivat
At the current planning stage, a total of 32 destinations in 14 countries will be served directly from Graz. “The high-frequency offering to four large transfer airports, the direct flights to attractive city break destinations and a varied tourist flight program will further strengthen our location,” shows up Wolfgang Grimus optimistic.
1704883176
#Graz #Airport #significant #increase
