To just under 181,000

Passenger numbers at Linz Airport plummeted

Ryanair has been flying twice a week from Linz to London Stansted since the end of October.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

Since the end of October, Ryanair has been connecting Linz with London-Stansted, Austrian Airlines has started flights to Frankfurt with the help of Braathens Regional Airlines - all good and important signals for Hörsching Airport. However, this could not save the previous year's balance sheet. Passenger numbers plummeted - to just under 181,000.

At the end of March 2024, the connection between Linz and Frankfurt was discontinued because aircraft became scarce due to a recall campaign - this temporary end was also reflected in Hörsching Airport's figures. In the previous year, only 180,694 passengers were handled in Linz - a drop of 22.4 percent compared to 2023.

No additional flights in the high season
"The vacation flights were well received by the market. However, aircraft bottlenecks meant that tour operators were unable to offer additional capacity for the high season," says Norbert Draskovits, Managing Director of Linz Airport, who has already registered an upward trend in recent weeks.

Because Frankfurt and London-Stansted returned to the flight program at the end of October, passenger numbers increased in November and December on scheduled flights, reports Draskovits: "We expect to achieve a significant increase in passenger numbers in 2025 in combination with our charter flight program."

Things are going well with DHL Express and Turkish Cargo
With regard to the development of cargo, the airport managers are looking at a positive trend. Last year, flown freight increased by 25.5 percent compared to 2023. "The growth is based on our close cooperation with DHL Express and the increased services offered by Turkish Cargo," says Draskovits.