Cargo volumes at Blue Danube Airport Linz fell by almost 3% in 2018 with transit freight declining while local cargo traffic increased.

Volumes fell by 2.9% to 52,414 tonnes with the Ljubljana-Linz-Leipzig cargo connection being unbundled, with the entire capacity of the Upper Austrian market being made available.

The airport says this led to a decline in transit freight while local cargo trucking traffic increased by 0.9%.

Manfred Grubauer, chairman of the supervisory board says 2018 was a “good year” but aviation remains “volatile” with new challenges coming up all the time.

He says: “It is therefore important that the management and also the supervisory board always have their finger on the pulse of the times so that they can react quickly to current developments when needed.”

Markus Achleitner, state economic council member, owner representative of the state of Upper Austria says: “The Upper Austrian economy relies on good scheduled flights. The developed strategy is conclusive and aims to establish additional scheduled flight connections. The challenge for the airport will now be to implement this goal with appropriate acquisition measures.”