Stelzer plans Linz airport takeover and private investment

Upper Austria Governor Thomas Stelzer plans to acquire the City of Linz’s stake in Linz Airport and bring in private investors, ORF reported after its Upper Austria summer interview with him. “This year would be the plan,” Stelzer said when asked about the timetable.

The Linz to Frankfurt flight connection costs the state up to 36 million euros, while passenger numbers are well below the expected 60 percent capacity. Stelzer acknowledged that mistakes had been made at the airport in recent years.

He said the plan would be carried out in two stages, with the state taking over the city’s share before seeking private investors. Private participation could bring new momentum and business contacts, he said. Any sale of public-sector shares would have to be transparent and clearly documented.

Stelzer also said the ownership structure could help attract more airlines. He previously argued in the 2025 summer interview that ownership would make little difference to whether new airlines came to Linz.

The Upper Austrian Court of Audit has estimated that the airport will need an additional 28 million to 45 million euros by 2035. Stelzer said he would leave such long-term forecasts to experts.

Wind power regulations expected this year

Upper Austria’s 2023 climate strategy is not legally binding and contains neither binding targets nor a carbon dioxide reduction path. The Court of Audit made six recommendations, five of which the governing coalition rejected.

Stelzer said he supported reducing emissions but not at the expense of jobs. During the coalition’s 10 years in office, Upper Austria has added only one wind turbine. Styria, which has a comparable area, has four times as many turbines and six times the installed capacity.

Stelzer said regulations defining exclusion zones and accelerated approval zones for wind power should be adopted this year. “I assume that we can still adopt them this year,” he said.

Google data centre raises power supply questions

Stelzer described Google’s planned data centre in Kronstorf as a success for the location, saying the company could have chosen a site anywhere in the world. At full capacity, however, the data centre will require almost as much electricity as all households in Upper Austria combined.

Stelzer said Google would secure its electricity through contracts on the international power market and would have to procure it itself. The state would not act as the electricity supplier.

He also pointed to around nine wind power projects currently undergoing approval procedures. Energy company Energie AG is building a large pumped-storage power plant at Traunsee and investing in the Traunfall power plant to improve and expand it. Private investors are also continuing to develop agricultural photovoltaic projects.

ÖVP proposes ending household levy

The Austrian People’s Party has proposed abolishing the household levy that it introduced three years ago and financing public broadcaster ORF from the state budget instead. Stelzer described the proposal as part of a reform debate that is now beginning.

He called for all ideas to be discussed openly and said his goal was to maintain a public-service media offering in Austria so that democracy could function.

ÖVP faces difficult election outlook

One year before the 2027 state election, the ÖVP faces a difficult position. According to the APA election trend, the party has 19.7 percent support nationwide. In Upper Austria, the Freedom Party is seen as having a realistic chance of winning the governor’s office.