Austrian airports record summer passenger decline

Passenger numbers at Austria’s six airports fell 5.1% in July and August compared with the same period last year, to seven million including transit passengers, statistics agency Statistics Austria said, according to ORF. Despite the decline, passenger traffic remained high.

There were 4.9% fewer scheduled and charter flight movements at the airports in Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck, Linz and Salzburg. The passenger total was below the records set in 2025, 2024 and 2019.

Passenger numbers were above year-earlier levels during the first months of 2026, but fell below them each month from April onwards. Linz recorded the largest decline, at 13.5%, followed by Klagenfurt at 13%. Vienna Airport in Schwechat handled 6.3 million passengers, down 5.8%, while Graz was down 2.4%.

Passenger numbers rose in Salzburg, by 8.9%, and Innsbruck, by 5.6%. Innsbruck had not yet returned to its pre-pandemic level.

Airports recorded 50,511 take-offs and landings in July and August, the first year-on-year decline in flight movements for those months since summer 2020. Movements fell 23.5% in Klagenfurt and 16.6% in Linz.

Air freight volumes declined 1.9% to 42,183 tonnes. Airmail fell 19.4% to 618 tonnes.