Linz Airport

Early years

Air traffic used to take place at the Südbahnhofmarkt in the center of Linz where the zeppelin Estaric I took off on the 30th October 1909. In 1925 air traffic was established between Linz and Vienna. Starting in 1934, the air traffic operation was based in the Linz-Katzenau district (nowadays industrial center), which was later terminated by the NSDAP after 1938. The airport was then moved to Hörsching.

The following table shows some of the units of the Luftwaffe (air force in Nazi Germany), which were deployed from 1943 to 1945.

Since 1956 regular passenger air traffic takes place. Since 1966 daily flight connections to Frankfurt Airport are available.

Development since the 1970s

In 1972 a passenger terminal was built, which was officially opened in 1976. Since 1985 the flight path is equipped with an Instrument landing system, category IIIb. In the years 1998 to 2003 the passenger terminal was adjusted and enlarged. In 2005 a new instrument landing system (ILS) was put into operation at the runway 08/26.

Until 1989 the supersonic jet Concorde landed several times at the airport. Since the 90s some cargo flights were dispatched by the high-capacity transporter Antonov An-124 Ruslan. In 2003 the world's largest cargo aircraft Antonov An-225 landed in Austria. On 2 June 2010 a Lufthansa Airbus A380-800 landed at Linz Airport coming from Vienna and left for Munich.

Linz has been the second largest airport in Austria since 1978, although cargo transactions are mostly done by trucks. Amerer Air operated from the airport Linz from 1995 until 2009 and was the only cargo company in Austria. In June 1994 the cargo terminal 1 was finished. In October 2013 the cargo terminal 5 was put into operation. 6 Million Euro were invested in the new cargo terminal. With more than 100 companies, Linz Airport is the largest business park in Upper Austria. The Flughafen GmbH employs about 160 people.

According to the number of passengers, Linz Airport is the fifth largest airport in Austria after Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz. The airport is a shared property. 50% belong to the general state Upper Austria and 50% belong to the city of Linz.

In February 2015, Austrian Airlines announced to cut their domestic route between Linz and the capital Vienna from six down to two daily flights as most travellers are expected to use the newly improved rail link between the two cities. Since the inauguration of the new rail services in December 2014, the direct journey from Linz main station to Vienna International Airport takes only 1:47 without a change of trains. In September 2016, Austrian Airlines cut down their Linz-Vienna route again to only one daily flight per direction stating extremely poor passenger numbers. Most travelers between both cities are now using the aforementioned rail link as nearly one Railjet per hour departs Linz for Vienna on which Austrian Airlines sells AirRail tickets as well.

Because of geopolitical crises and terrorist attacks in holiday destinations, the demand for package holiday has declined all over Europe. The blue danube airport noted a drop in the destinations of Egypt and Turkey. In cooperation with ARGE "Flieg from Linz", Ibiza and Burgas were therefore included in the summer program 2016 and Tenerife in the winter program.

In January 2017, it has been announced that Niki will cease all operations to and from Linz on short notice due to restructuring measures. This announcement has been made after the 2017 schedule had already been made available for booking.

Facilities

Linz Airport is relatively small, with 11 gates. There is a shop and café in the entrance hall, connected to the check-in and airline desks. The airport restaurant can accommodate up to 450 people. On Sundays guest can book a special champagne brunch and on Friday the restaurant offers an Italian themed evening. In addition, the event "Dinner & Crime" takes regularly place at the restaurant. It is a typical Murder mystery game, which is held all over Austria, where the guests can participate and help to solve the murder case alongside professional actors. The Sky Gourmet Restaurant is the only venue for the event in Upper Austria. Beyond the security checks there is a duty-free shop and a small café accessible from both the domestic and international gate areas.

The airport also has a roof terrace, which can be visited during the summer months between 6 and 23 o'clock to observe the airplanes. For guests of the airport the access is free of charge. The rooftop also has a playground for children. For so called plane spotters special viewing spots were created, where visiters are able to take pictures of the planes from a wide range of angles without having to worry about any annoying obstacles.

The airport is equipped with a 3000 meter long precision runway with two instrumental landing systems, as well as a helicopter landing pad. For medium-haul aircraft 16 parking positions are available. Linz Airport is actually a military airport but with a civil right of use. The civil part is located north of the landing strip. To the south lie the second largest barracks of Austria as well as a military airfield named “Fliegerhorst Vogler”. On 1 November 2010, both runway 09/27 and helicopter landing pad 07/25 were renamed to runway 08/26 and helicopter landing pad 07/25 due to permanent changes in the magnetic declination. Since the submitted variation of the compass rose results in such a magnetic value which lies closer to 08/26 than the existing identification code 09/27, the Austrian flight control Austro Control initiated the tracking of the new runway designation.

The Cargo sector of the airport operates worldwide under the brand Air Cargo Center. Linz Airport had a growth rate of 0.9% in terms of cargo transactions in the year 2012. 43.357 tons of cargo were handled. Besides the daily rotation of DHL Aviation (Ljubljana – Linz – Leipzig) extra cargo transactions are often handled. The first cargo terminal was completed in 1994. A year later the new extensions was already in progress and opened finale in 1996. In 2000 followed the opening of the third cargo terminal. In June 2014 DHL Global Forwarding transported 9.5 tons of steel tiling from Linz to Mumbai by a Boeing 747-400F. Following the ongoing expansion of the cargo facilities and the opening of cargo terminal 5 on the 17th October 2013, a building the size of 70x35 meters, a 2.900 m² cargo hall, 12 loading bays as well as two sawtooth ramps were created. Linz Airport is also equipped to dispatch jumbo jets.

The General Aviation Center is housed in a separate terminal and coordinates among others the following points: Passport and customs checks, refueling, cleaning, defrosting as well as several other passenger and crew services.

Accessibility

The airport has special parking spaces for passengers with reduced mobility. These pitches have a 20% discount. In addition, there are telephones which can be used to contact the airport personnel and request a free wheelchair, if necessary. The airport itself has elevators and ramps which make the changing of levels easier. Important places such as: Toilets and laundry rooms, as well as the airport restaurant are either on the ground floor or accessible by elevator.

Ownership

Linz-Hörsching airport is operated by Flughafen Linz GmbH, which is owned by equal parts of 50 % by the OÖ VERKEHRSHOLDING GMBH and the City of Linz. Gerhard Kunesch is the Managing Director since 1998.

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Linz Airport:

Statistics

In terms of passenger figures the airport is ranked as number five of the six commercial airports in Austria. These numbers are quoted according to Austria’s traffic statistics.

Accidents and incidents

The database of the Aviation Safety Network collects all fatal flight accidents worldwide since 1943. There are no registered accidents in the closer area of Linz Airport since the last update in 2014.

Car

The airport can be reached via federal highways B139 (which connects to motorway A1 Vienna – Germany) and B1. Taxis and car rental facilities are available at the airport. There are three short-stay and schedule car parks, which offer place for 1,050 cars. Additionally, there are two large car parks with 2,300 parking spaces which are located at the side of the terminal. Passengers can use a shuttle service that takes them to the departure hall.

Public transportation

Bus line 601 connects the airport within 20 minutes with the city centre of Linz. There is an additional free shuttle service for travellers from Hörsching railway station which itself can be reached from Linz main station.

URIS

The blue danube airport Linz gets support from the URIS (Umfeld Rückkoppelungs- und Informations-System)- Council in its environmental concerns. The Council was founded in 1999 and works as a neutral contact point for all neighboring communities. In the URIS-council following interest groups are represented:

Aircraft noise measurement

At the end of 2003 three new noise monitoring stations have been set up in the region of Linz airport, which measure and record around the clock the current sound level. The two stationary stations (Oftering and Traun) as well as the mobile measuring trailer were purchased from the Blue Danube Airport to complement the existing aircraft nose measurements. The stationary stations are 2,500 m (fire brigade Oftering) or 3,000 m (cemetery Linz) away from the nearest slope. The environmental protection department of Upper Austria analyzes the results and documents them in regular reports. The current maximum value is 87.2 dB (civil) and 93.7 dB (military) in Oftering, 89.2 dB (civil) and 94.0 dB (military) in Traun and 81.8 dB (civil) and 87.0 dB (military) at the mobile station (status 2014).

Safety

The airport has its own fire department whose area of responsibility is stated in national and international guidelines. The fire department has 6 cars with a total of 37,000 liters of water and 4500 kg foam or powder.

Trivia

The Runway Night Run is a 5 km long marathon which takes place on the slopes of the Blue Danube Airport in Linz. Participate can individual athletes as well as teams of three people. The starters of the teams are also included in the individual competition. The start and finish of the marathon are located at the Northwest corner of the shelf. The route runs along the apron of the taxiway "Foxtrot" to the runway. In the east at the end of the runway "08" is the turning point. Then it goes south to the runway "26" which leads you west to the taxiway "Golf" and finally to the finish line. Apart from the location, the beginning at exactly midnight is another special feature of the marathon.