Vienna Airport: slot issues – expecting stellar growth to decline

Vienna International Airport's CEO, Julian Jäger, said recently that the airport does not anticipate double digit passenger traffic growth in 2020, after a 17% year-on-year increase to 32 million in 2019. He added that "slots in Vienna are becoming scarce", and the airport is anticipating 3% to 5% growth in 2020, and after 2020, "much flatter" growth still than in the past two years.

The airport has not only recovered from losing Air Berlin. Austrian Airlines has grown its connections, but low cost airlines are taking advantage of what appears to be a surprising pricing advantage over rivals that is offered by Vienna.

However, with an additional runway deferred the availability of slots is becoming a serious issue.