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Graz Airport

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Graz Airport
Flughafen Graz
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerHolding Graz - Kommunale Dienstleistungen GmbH (93.9 %)
OperatorFlughafen Graz Betriebs GmbH
ServesGraz
LocationAbtissendorf, Feldkirchen and Thalerhof, Kalsdorf, Styria, Austria
Elevation AMSL340 m (1,120 ft)
Coordinates46°59′35″N 015°26′21″E / 46.99306°N 15.43917°E / 46.99306; 15.43917 (Graz Airport)
Websitegraz-airport.at/en/
Map
GRZ is located in Austria
GRZ
GRZ
Location of airport in Austria
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16L/34R 640 2,100 Grass
16C 2,740 8,989 Asphalt
34C 3,000 9,842 Asphalt
16R/34L 760 2,493 Grass
Statistics (2025)
Passengers831,095 Increase00+1.4%
Aircraft movements010,427 Increase00+1.7%
Cargo (metric tons)000,005 Decrease0-72.6%
Sources: Austrian AIP at EUROCONTROL,[1] Statistics Austria[2]

Graz Airport (IATA: GRZ, ICAO: LOWG), known as Flughafen Graz in German, is a primary international airport serving southern Austria. It is located near Graz, the second-largest city in Austria, in the municipalities of Feldkirchen and Kalsdorf, 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) south[1] of Graz city centre.

Location

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Graz Airport spans the village of Abtissendorf in Feldkirchen municipality and the cadastral community of Thalerhof in Kalsdorf municipality. The airport terminal is located in Abtissendorf.

History

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Early years

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Construction of the airport began in 1913 with the construction of a grass runway and the first hangars; the airport saw its first flight in 1914. It was the site of Thalerhof internment camp, run by the governments of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Charles I of Austria. The first domestic passenger flight in Austria in 1925 serviced the route Vienna–Graz–Klagenfurt. In 1930 Yugoslav flag carrier Aeroput started regular flights linking Yugoslav capital Belgrade with Vienna with stops in Zagreb and Graz.[3][4]

In 1937, construction of a terminal building began due to increase in the number of passengers.[citation needed]

After the end of the Second World War, Austria was forbidden to possess either a military or civilian aviation fleet. After the reopening of Austrian airspace in 1951, a new concrete runway of 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) was built in Graz. The runway was extended to 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) in 1962. The route network grew quickly and the first international scheduled flight started in 1966 with flights to Frankfurt.[citation needed]

In 1969, the runway was extended again, this time to 2,500 metres (8,202 ft), and construction of a new terminal building became necessary. Highlights were visits by Concorde in 1981 and by a Boeing 747 on the occasion of the airport's 70th anniversary in 1984. Ten years later, another new building was constructed with a maximum annual capacity of 750,000 passengers. The latest extension of the runway was to 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) in 1998.[citation needed]

Development in the 2000s

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In early 21st century, the number of passengers exceeded the 750,000 mark and in 2004 was just below 900,000. This led to the final extension of the current terminal building in 2003 and the construction of a second terminal in 2005.[citation needed]

In summer 2015, the airport received two new routes to European hubs: Swiss International Air Lines to Zurich[5] and Turkish Airlines to Istanbul Atatürk Airport.[6] Though Turkish Airlines discontinued their services to Istanbul in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swiss International Air Lines announced it would increase the frequency of flights between Zürich and Graz in summer 2023.[7]

In December 2022, Eurowings announced that it will establish an additional base at Graz Airport, starting in 2023. This major commitment to Graz features nine new routes, with two of them linking Graz to Berlin and Hamburg and the other ones being leisure routes. Furthermore, the overall frequencies of already existing services to Düsseldorf and Palma de Mallorca will be enhanced.[8] Yet with all these new routes, the route from Graz to Stuttgart, which was established in 2021, was discontinued in April of 2023.[9]

In 2024, Graz had recovered approximately 79 percent of its passenger numbers compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]

Facilities

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Terminal and apron

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The passenger terminal building features shops, travel agencies, a restaurant and cafés, conference facilities, a bank, car rental and service counters. The apron provides stands for aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 747 or An-124. There are no jet bridges, mobile stairways are used for boarding. The airport has a VIP lounge for business class customers and customers with priority status.[citation needed]

Freight

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The airport is equipped with cargo handling facilities including storage and customs. While there are no scheduled cargo flights to the airport, charter flights are regularly conducted, especially for time-critical cargo like automotive parts.[11]

Airlines and destinations

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The following airlines offer regular scheduled, seasonal, and charter flights at Graz Airport:[12][13]

AirlinesDestinations
Air Dolomiti Frankfurt,[14] Munich[14]
Austrian Airlines Vienna (ends 23 October 2026)[15]
Avanti Air Calvi,[16] Friedrichshafen,[17] Linz,[18] Paros,[19] Skiathos[18]
BA Euroflyer London–Gatwick[20]
Corendon Airlines Seasonal: Heraklion,[21] Hurghada[22]
Croatia Airlines Brač [23]
Eurowings Berlin,[24] Düsseldorf,[25] Hamburg[24]
Seasonal: Chania,[24] Corfu,[24] Gran Canaria,[26] Heraklion,[27] Hurghada,[28] Karpathos,[28] Kos,[24] Larnaca,[24] Olbia,[29] Palma de Mallorca,[28] Rhodes,[28] Salzburg, Tenerife–South[26]
Lufthansa Munich[30]
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[31]
Seasonal: Antalya[31]
SunExpress Antalya[32]
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich[33]

Incidents and accidents

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Check-in area
Control tower
  • On 23 December 2024, Swiss International Air Lines Flight 1885, an Airbus A220-300 registered as HB-JCD, flying from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland, diverted to Graz Airport due to smoke development in the cabin.[34] The aircraft was evacuated using the emergency slides,[35] and 17 passengers and 5 crew members were hospitalized. SWISS announced on 30 December 2024 that one of the flight attendants had died in the hospital.[36]

Ground transport

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Road

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Graz Airport is accessible via motorways A9 (exit Kalsdorf) and A2 (exit Flughafen Graz/Feldkirchen). A bus stop can be found next to the arrival area. Regional bus line 630 operates service to Graz, the transfer to central Graz takes approximately 25-50 minutes.[37]

Rail

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The airport is within walking distance (approximately 420 metres, seven minutes on foot) of the Graz-Feldkirchen Airport Railway Station (Flughafen Graz-Feldkirchen Bahnhof). Line S1 (Mürzzuschlag via Graz to Spielfeld-Straß) connects the airport to Graz. The journey from the Graz-Feldkirchen Airport Railway Station to the Graz Main Station takes twelve minutes.[37]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 EAD Basic
  2. ↑ "Zahl der Fluggäste 2025 auf Allzeithoch gestiegen" [Number of air passengers rose to an all-time high in 2025] (PDF; 105 KB) (in German). Statistics Austria. 19 February 2026. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
  3. ↑ Drustvo za Vazdusni Saobracaj A D – Aeroput at europeanairlines.no
  4. ↑ "World Airlines Directory". Flight International. 10 August 1944. p. 150.
  5. ↑ "[Update 2] SWISS New European Routes for S15". Airline route. 7 October 2014. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Turkish Airlines Launches a New Route to Graz". Turkish Airlines (Press release). Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Summer 2023: SWISS increases Zürich-Graz" (in German). 21 November 2022.
  8. ↑ Gruber, Jan (6 December 2022). "Eurowings establishes base at Graz Airport (Eurowings errichtet Basis am Flughafen Graz)". aviation.direct. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  9. ↑ "Eurowings opens Graz base, becoming the airport's largest carrier in S23". 8 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Passengers, movements, cargo 1960 – 2023 [sic]". Graz Airport. Feldkirchen bei Graz: Flughafen Graz Betriebs GmbH. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  11. ↑ graz-airport.at - Cargo retrieved 2 April 2025
  12. ↑ "Summer flight schedule 2024". Graz Airport. Feldkirchen bei Graz: Flughafen Graz Betriebs GmbH. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  13. ↑ flightconnections.com - Flights from Graz (GRZ) retrieved 7 June 2025
  14. 1 2 "Snow causes flight cancellations to Vienna and Graz". Kronen Zeitung. 5 January 2025. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "AUA-Beben: Jetzt wackeln die nächsten Inlandsflüge". oe24 (in German). 4 August 2026. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "Neue Flugverbindungen ab Graz im Sommer". Vom Urlaubstraum Zum Traumurlaub (in German). 27 May 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  17. ↑ Lassetter, Jon (15 January 2026). "Germany has a new domestic airline: AIR UNIQON connects Friedrichshafen to three German cities". Air Service One. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Avanti Air hebt auch ab Linz und Graz ab". Austrian Wings (in Austrian German). 11 January 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "Wohin man heuer direkt ab Graz fliegen kann". Kleine Zeitung (in German). 28 March 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "British Airways adds Rabat, Graz, and expanded Madrid service to short-haul network". 9 July 2025.
  21. ↑ "Graz: Eight scheduled destinations and new holiday destinations in summer 2022". February 2022.
  22. ↑ "Corendon übernimmt Strecke Graz - Hurghada von Eurowings | aeroTELEGRAPH". aeroTELEGRAPH (in German). 29 June 2026. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  23. ↑ Anđelković, Katarina (16 December 2022). "Croatia Airlines: New Brac-Munich Connection for Tourist Season 2023". Total Croatia. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Neue Direktflüge: Eurowings verbindet Graz mit Hamburg und Berlin". Kleine Zeitung (in German). 6 December 2022.
  25. ↑ "AUA und Eurowings tauschen Strecken im Österreich-Deutschland-Verkehr". aviation.direct (in German). 28 September 2021.
  26. 1 2 "Eurowings: Neue Basis am Flughafen Graz" (in German). 3 May 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  27. ↑ "Eurowings präsentiert Sommerflugplan". Fliegerweb (in German). 6 December 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Lassetter, Jon (8 May 2023). "Eurowings opens Graz base, becoming the airport's largest carrier in S23". Air Service One. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  29. ↑ Orban, André (26 January 2026). "Eurowings launches new Graz–Olbia Route for Summer 2026". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  30. ↑ "Major airport promises changes after hundreds left stranded on planes". The Independent. 27 February 2026. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  31. 1 2 "Pegasus, 3 Yeni Destinasyon Duyurdu - HavaSosyalMedya". 26 March 2025.
  32. ↑ "Sommer 2024: Sunexpress kehrt nach Graz zurück". 11 August 2023.
  33. ↑ "SWISS plane back in Zurich after emergency landing in Austria". 10 January 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  34. ↑ SDA (30 December 2024). "Nach Notlandung in Graz: Swiss-Flugbegleiter weiter in kritischem Zustand". Blick (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  35. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "Accident Airbus A220-300 HB-JCD, Monday 23 December 2024". ASN. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  36. ↑ "Swiss cabin crew member dies after flight with smoke problems". Reuters. 31 December 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  37. 1 2 "Getting to and from". graz-airport.at. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
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