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Klagenfurt Airport

Coordinates: 46°38′34″N 014°20′14″E / 46.64278°N 14.33722°E / 46.64278; 14.33722 (Klagenfurt Airport)
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"KLU" redirects here. For other uses, see KLU (disambiguation).
Klagenfurt Airport

Flughafen Klagenfurt
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorKärntner Flughafen Betriebsgesellschaft m. b. H.
ServesKlagenfurt, Austria
Elevation AMSL448 m / 1,470 ft
Coordinates46°38′34″N 014°20′14″E / 46.64278°N 14.33722°E / 46.64278; 14.33722 (Klagenfurt Airport)
Websiteklagenfurt-airport.at/en
Map
KLU is located in Austria
KLU
KLU
Location of airport in Austria
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
10R/28L 710 2,329 Grass
10L/28R 2,720 8,924 Concrete
Statistics (2021)
Passengers29,577
Aircraft movements544
Cargo (including
road feeder service,
metric tons)		0
Source: Austrian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1][2]
Statistics[3]

Klagenfurt Airport (German: Flughafen Klagenfurt IATA: KLU, ICAO: LOWK) is a primary international airport near Klagenfurt, the sixth-largest city in Austria. It is located in the borough of Annabichl, 1.5 NM (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) north-north-east of the city centre.[1]

History

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Early years

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In 1905, Georg Count of Khevenhüller from Hochosterwitz Castle and in 1907 Dipl.-Ing. Joseph Sablatnig (Joseph Sablatnig was owner of the Fokker-Sablatnig, Deutsche Flugzeuge, Deutsche Motoren, Flugzeug Gesellschaft mbH, Berlin) were the first men in the sky over Carinthia and Klagenfurt.[citation needed]

In World War I and II, the airport of Klagenfurt was operated as a military airfield, and indeed Klagenfurt Airport was founded in 1914 as a military airport. The civil opening of Klagenfurt Airport on 17 May 1925, was an event for the City of Klagenfurt as well as for Carinthia. In June 1929, the pilot hero of World War I, Julius Fedrigoni Edler von Etschthal, has the function of flight director of the airport until 1939. After the end of World War II, Julius Fedrigoni was returned to Annabichl, he worked with low-budget flight operations. On 1 January 1952, Korv. Kpt. Julius Fedrigoni founded the Committee city of Klagenfurt and he was flight director until 1956.[citation needed]

From 1926 to 1938, seven airlines operated from Klagenfurt Airport. Countries like Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia and of course domestic flights to all major cities in Austria were connected with Klagenfurt.[citation needed]

Decrease of operations

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In the spring of 2014, the airport's home carrier, Austrian Airlines, announced the closure of their ticketing and service counters at Klagenfurt Airport due to decreasing demand. Services were instead to be provided directly at the check-in counters.[4] In April 2015, Austrian Airlines also announced that a closure of their domestic route to Vienna was under consideration within the next few years based on economic reasons.[5] In the same year, the state government announced plans to partly sell its stakes in the airport to private investors.[6]

As the airport suffered from a major decrease of passenger numbers in recent years, it was suggested by the management to establish major logistics and cargo operators here, which might be supported by the freight shipment operations handled at the relatively closely located harbours of the Adriatic Sea. The airport already features road and rail connections.[7] However, Austrian Airlines stated later that the airport would not work for cargo operations due to noise complaints and the night curfew.[5]

In October 2015, the Austrian Air Force announced it would end all operations and close its helicopter base at Klagenfurt Airport by the end of 2015.[8]

Developments since 2020

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In August 2020, Ryanair announced plans to leave the airport and terminate their route to Palma de Mallorca Airport, which had been operated as a wetlease by Lauda.[9] However, Ryanair returned with four destinations in 2023.[10]

In 2022, the airport's then majority owner, Lilihill Group, announced the creation of a new regional airline based in Klagenfurt, Liliair. With a proposed launch in April 2023, the carrier was supposed to expand the airport's connection with major European destinations. However the announced flights were not open for booking for any date on or before the day of the launch and no operating carrier had been confirmed.[11] Previously there was ongoing controversy between Lilihill and the state of Carinthia, which proposed to buy back the airport, leaving the Liliair project in doubt.[12][13] In April 2023, Lilihill Group announced that a Liliair home base in Klagenfurt has become unlikely due to the ongoing dispute.[14] In May 2023, the city of Klagenfurt and the state of Carinthia announced to execute a buy-back option and re-acquired the majority ownership of the airport after longstanding debate.[15]

Facilities

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Klagenfurt Airport consists of one small passenger terminal building which features some shops and restaurants as well as a visitors terrace. The apron provides several stands for mid-sized planes such as the Airbus A320 as well as smaller general aviation aircraft. As there are no jet bridges, buses are used for boarding.

Airlines and destinations

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The following airlines offer year-round and seasonal scheduled and charter flights at Klagenfurt Airport:[16]

AirlinesDestinations
Avanti Air Seasonal charter: Paros[16]
Austrian Airlines Vienna[16][17]
Seasonal: Hamburg[18]
Ryanair[10][19] London–Stansted[20]
Seasonal: Alicante,[16] Palma de Mallorca[21]

The nearest larger international airport is Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport in Slovenia, approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) to the south.

Statistics

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Annual passenger traffic at KLU airport. See Wikidata query.
Terminal building
Apron view
Traffic by calendar year. Official Statistics
Passengers Change Aircraft operations Change
1980 82,151 - 3,083 -
1990 148,062 Increase 80.23% 5,209 Increase 68.96%
2000 235,503 Increase 59.06% 8,325 Increase 59.82%
2005 522,697 Increase121.95% 8,907 Increase 6.99%
2010 425,933 Decrease -18.51% 7,482 Decrease -16.00%
2011 375,307 Decrease -11.89% 6,451 Decrease -13.78%
2012 279,045 Decrease -25.65% 4,576 Decrease -29.07%
2013 258,421 Decrease -7.39% 4,262 Decrease -6.86%
2014 224,846 Decrease -12.99% 3,920 Decrease -8.02%
2015 227,625 Increase 1.24% 3,922 Increase 0.05%
2016 193,709 Decrease -14.90% 3,392 Decrease -13.51%
2017 216,905 Increase 11.97% 3,700 Increase 9,08%
2018 228,372 Increase 5.29% 3,566 Decrease -3,62%
2019 209,278 Decrease 8.36% - Decrease
Source: Klagenfurt Airport's official website[22]

Ground transportation

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Train

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The train station "Klagenfurt-Annabichl" is a 5–10 minutes (750 meters) walk from the terminal and offers suburban rail services every half-hour to St.Veit (and beyond), to Klagenfurt main station, to the villages along Lake Wörthersee, and to Villach (and beyond).

Road

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The airport has its own exit named Klagenfurt Flughafen on the nearby motorway A2, which leads to Vienna and Italy. A regular suburban bus service connects the airport with the city centre including the Klagenfurt central station. There is also a coach connection between Klagenfurt Airport and Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, which is served several times a day.

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b "EAD Basic - Error Page". Ead.eurocontrol.int. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Passenger Transport". Statistik.at. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Kommerzielle Zivilluftfahrt 2021: Passagieraufkommen um 20,3% gestiegen, aber noch immer deutlich unter Vorkrisenniveau" [Commercial civil aviation 2021: Passenger traffic up 20.3%, but still well below pre-crisis levels.] (PDF; 66 KB). statistik.at (in German). Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich. 24 February 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  4. ^ "AUA schließt Ticketschalter auf den Bundesländer-Flughäfen". Austrian Wings. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Keine Garantie für Klagenfurt-Wien - Austrian Aviation Net". Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Klagenfurt könnte privatisiert werden". Austrianaviation.net. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Klagenfurt: Zweitkarriere als Frachtflughafen?". Austrianaviation.net. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Bundesheer: Adieu, Klagenfurt!". Austrianaviation.net. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  9. ^ austrianaviation.net (German) 27 August 2020
  10. ^ a b "Land Kärnten und Klagenfurt wollen Airport rückkaufen". 3 May 2022.
  11. ^ austrianwings.info 17 April 2023
  12. ^ aerotelegraph.com 10 March 2023
  13. ^ "Klagenfurt: Liliair did not start very quietly". 26 April 2023.
  14. ^ aerotelegraph.com - "Liliair flies in severe turbulence" (German) 28 April 2023
  15. ^ kleinezeitung.at 14 May 2023
  16. ^ a b c d klagenfurt-airport.at - Flugplan (German) retrieved 22 September
  17. ^ "Austrian Outlines Leased BRA ATR72 NS24 Operations". Aeroroutes.
  18. ^ "Austrian Airlines übernimmt Strecke ab Klagenfurt, die Liliar fliegen wollte". 6 September 2023.
  19. ^ "Klagenfurt: Ryanair adds Alicante and Málaga". aviation.direct (in German). 17 November 2022.
  20. ^ "Ryanair NW22 Network Additions Summary – 09DEC22". Aeroroutes.
  21. ^ "Ryanair NS23 Network Additions Summary – 26MAR23". Aeroroutes.
  22. ^ "Kärnten Airport – Flughafen". Klagenfurt-airport.at. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.

Bibliography

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  • Flughafen Klagenfurt, Paul Posch, P. 1995 Magistrat der Landeshauptstadt, Klagenfurt, Abt. Kultur, 182 p. ISBN 3-901591-00-1
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Media related to Klagenfurt Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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