Return journey after skiing holiday: Busy airport
Traffic
Saturday is one of the busiest days of the winter season at Salzburg Airport. Up to 180 flight movements are counted in just one day. The end of the Christmas holidays also made itself felt with kilometers of traffic jams on the roads.
January 7th is a classic winter charter Saturday at Salzburg Airport with regular air traffic. Tourists from Great Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia in particular are returning from their Christmas holidays. According to Salzburg Airport, the number of take-offs and landings is moving back towards the pre-pandemic level, and the airport is currently recording 80 percent of the handlings compared to the 2019/2020 Christmas season. “But 90 landings and 90 take-offs on a day like today already correspond to a heavy traffic day. This is very reminiscent of the times before the crisis,” said airport spokesman Alexander Klaus.
1.2 million passengers last year
From an economic point of view, the airport is recovering from the effects of the pandemic period. In the last financial year 2022, around 1.2 million passengers were handled at Salzburg Airport. “That means we’re ahead of schedule – that’s a good thing. We are moving towards black zero and now everything that comes with it is a step up,” summarizes Klaus.
Normalization expected for 2024/2025
In 2024 and 2025, the airport expects things to return to pre-crisis levels. With 1.2 million passengers last year, the airport would currently be short of 600,000 passengers to build on economically successful times.
Heavy return traffic also on roads
The end of the Christmas holidays in Austria and parts of Germany is also noticeable on Saturday with kilometer-long traffic jams and delays on the transit routes, some of which last for hours. According to ARBÖ, the Tauern autobahn and the Walserberg border crossing were particularly affected in Salzburg.
Block handling on motorways and state roads
An accident on the Tauern Autobahn (A10) brought return traffic in the direction of Salzburg to a standstill on Saturday morning – several vehicles collided between Werfen (Pongau) and Pass Lueg.
Within a few minutes, a kilometer-long traffic jam forms that stretches back to the Pongau junction. Motorists had to expect a 50-minute delay, the traffic jam lasted until noon. Block handling was activated on the A10 in front of the Helbersberg tunnel near Pfarrwerfen (Pongau) because of the heavy passenger traffic.
Return travelers bring traffic in the Pinzgau to a standstill
Tin columns with a very slow advance were also between Saalfelden and Lofer (both Pinzgau) on the Loferer Straße (B311). In the direction of Zell am See (Pinzgau), traffic from the municipality of Maishofen was only processed in blocks.
In front of the Schönberg tunnel on the Schwarzach bypass in Pongau, block handling was imposed in the direction of Bischofshofen from 11:00 a.m. Drivers are also patient at the Walserberg border crossing in the direction of Bavaria – they had to wait between ten and 15 minutes.