Freight traffic went well again, with a new all-time high of 62,600 tons. In addition to the regular freight flight connections with DHL Express and Turkish Cargo and the air freight replacement service, the good freight business was mainly due to the around 50 special transports that were handled last year.
To a large extent, this involved imports of medical goods, but also exports – such as parts of buildings that were flown to China. “We have earned an excellent reputation internationally in air freight. This applies in particular to the handling of special transports with wide-bodied aircraft,” says Managing Director Norbert Draskovits. In 2021, the world’s largest transport aircraft, the Antonov 225, visited Linz three times.
Just under 70,000 passengers, usually more than 430,000
Although passenger traffic increased by 33.5 percent compared to 2020 to 68,509 passengers, it is still well below the pre-pandemic reference year 2019, where 436,000 passengers were handled. The lion’s share in 2021 was accounted for by holiday flights (45,739 passengers), 21,762 in scheduled traffic and 1,008 in alternative traffic.
“Demand for holiday flights exceeded our expectations. Almost all planned charter chains were carried out,” says Draskovits with satisfaction. The winter destination of Gran Canaria was also well received. In business traffic there is again a connection to Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, but the fourth Covid wave has slowed down this development again.
Significant growth in passenger traffic is expected at Linz Airport this year. The tour operators have greatly expanded the charter offer, with 21 holiday flights departing from Linz every week. In scheduled air traffic, people are optimistic that the frequencies to Düsseldorf and Frankfurt can be gradually increased. “We have every reason to be optimistic about 2022, although we know that it will still take a while before we can pick up the pre-Corona passenger volume again,” said Draskovits.
Source: Nachrichten
