Airport: 2021 a “total failure”
According to the Austria Press Agency (APA), the cash cow winter tourism that used to be so excellent – normal 40 percent of the annual business at Salzburg Airport – “went out of milk completely” in 2021.
A comparison with the pre-Corona year 2018 shows how severe the slump was (in 2019 the airport was completely closed for five weeks due to a runway renewal): At that time, 1,844,362 passengers were handled at WA Mozart Airport, compared to the past year it’s only 299,846. Of course, the crisis was already engraved on the balance sheets in 2020. At that time, the winter season could still be largely completed until the abrupt end on March 15th, but the summer fell through and consequently only 669,790 passengers appeared in the annual statistics.
The massive drop in passengers in 2021 is clearly due to the complete collapse in tourism. Only 21,140 charter tourists (2020: 169,999) were handled throughout the year, which is significantly fewer than on a single winter Saturday in preferred times.
Line traffic has suffered somewhat less
“On peak days there were up to 30,000,” says airport spokesman Alexander Klaus. The decline in scheduled services was less pronounced. After 499,402 passengers in 2020, there were 278,546 in the previous year. The lack of tourism also becomes visible in flight movements (takeoffs and landings together). Of the 3,677 movements in the previous year, only 256 were in the charter area.
However, the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is primarily relevant for the airport, because this is the basis for the fees. In 2018 this was 540,232 tons, in 2021 it was only 125,028 tons.
Jets from many states only half full
According to Klaus, the airport had planned for the beginning of 2022 with a “more or less normal winter”. The reported flight movements are around 80 percent of the pre-crisis level. The planes from the strong tourist countries of origin Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia would now also come, but they were only 40 to 60 percent occupied, which means that the planes only came half full.
Short-time work for 21 months
Apart from a very few key workers, many of the airport’s employees – including the executive board and management – have been on short-time work for 21 months. “In all likelihood, that will remain the case throughout the season,” said Klaus. In order to cover the personnel requirements on the peak days, i.e. the Saturdays in winter, the administration employees are currently also being assigned to the apron.
On Thursday, Klaus was not yet able to provide any information on the financial effects of the development. The balance sheet would only be prepared and will probably be available towards the middle of the year.