Graz Airport expands feeder routes after Vienna link ends

Graz Airport is expanding connections to Frankfurt, Zurich and Munich after Austrian Airlines decided to end its Graz Vienna service this autumn, ORF reported. Airport chief executive Wolfgang Grimus said the additional capacity could largely offset the loss of the route, which carries about 60,000 passengers a year.

Eurowings, a Lufthansa subsidiary, recently announced that it would abandon Graz as a permanent base. Austrian Airlines followed this week with its decision to discontinue the Graz Vienna flights.

Grimus said the airport had worked with the Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines groups to increase capacity on the three key feeder routes. He said the airport regretted Austrian Airlines’ decision but believed the expanded services could compensate for most of the lost traffic.

He also called for Austria’s €12 passenger ticket tax to be abolished or significantly reduced. The fee is not charged in 19 other European countries, which Grimus said puts Austrian airports at a competitive disadvantage.

He cited the cancellation of the Graz Vienna route and Ryanair’s decision to move aircraft to Bratislava while withdrawing from Salzburg and Vienna as warning signs for the federal government.

According to Grimus, airlines also need to focus more on the shoulder seasons. He pointed to the growing importance of autumn holidays and Easter, as well as airlines beginning flights to warm-water destinations in the Mediterranean earlier in the year.