Massive slump at Salzburg Airport in 2021
The year 2021 was virtually a total failure for Salzburg Airport, Austria’s largest federal state airport. With less than 300,000 passengers, just a sixth of the passengers from pre-Corona times were handled. The cash cow winter tourism – normally 40 percent of the annual business – ran out of milk completely in 2021: Instead of the common good 800,000 passengers there were only around 3,000, said airport spokesman Alexander Klaus on Thursday in an APA conversation.
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 still handled at WA Mozart Airport, compared to the previous year it’s only 299,846. Of course, the crisis engraved itself on the balance sheets as early as 2020. At that time the winter season could still largely be handled until the abrupt end of March 15, but field the summer into the water, ultimately only 669,790 passengers appear in the annual statistics.
The massive drop in passengers in 2021 can clearly be attributed to the total collapse of tourism. In the entire year, only 21,140 charter tourists (2020: 169,999) were handled, which is significantly fewer than on a single winter Saturday in earlier times: “On peak days it was up to 30,000,” said 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 is also evident in the flight movements (take-offs and landings together). Of the 3,677 movements in the previous year, only 256 were in the charter segment.
For the airport, however, it is primarily the Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) that is relevant, because this is the basis for the charges. In 2018 this was 540,232 tons, in 2021 it was only 125,028 tons.
According to Klaus, the airport has planned a “more or less normal winter” for the beginning of 2022. The registered flight movements are around 80 percent of the pre-crisis level. The planes from the strong touristic countries of origin Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia would also come now, but they are only 40 to 60 percent occupied, which means the planes arrive half empty.
The airport employees – including management and management – have been on short-time work for the last 21 months, with the exception of a very few key employees. “It will most likely stay that way in the season,” said Klaus. In order to cover up the personnel requirements on peak days, including Saturdays in winter, the administrative staff are currently also assigned to the apron.
On Thursday, Klaus was unable to provide any information on the financial impact of the development. The balance sheet would only be drawn up and will probably be available around the middle of the year.