New Linz airport chief warns of difficult years ahead

Jörg Ebbighausen took over as head of Linz Airport on 1 October and has given a bleak assessment of its position. In an interview with the Austrian broadcaster ORF shortly after starting, he called the current situation precarious.

The Upper Austrian regional airport is now fully owned by the province of Upper Austria and has been making losses for five years. Austrian Airlines withdrew from the Vienna route in 2018 and from the Frankfurt route in October 2025. In 2025 the airport counted 262,347 passengers, about 40 percent fewer than in 2018.

Ebbighausen previously worked at Munich Airport. He said the next year or two would be turbulent, rating them around eight or nine on a scale of one to ten. To break even, the airport would need to attract 500,000 to 600,000 passengers, he said, a figure it is far from reaching. The previous target of breaking even by 2031 is now in question and must be reviewed, he added.

Linz lies about 200 kilometres from Vienna Airport and 130 kilometres from Salzburg. The report also indicates the airport needs fresh capital and low-cost airlines, though further details were not available in the extract.