Feldkirchen bei Graz, 10 December 2019: Yesterday evening, on the earliest date yet in its history, for the second time in a row and for the third time overall, the millionth passenger within a year was welcomed at Graz Airport. Wolfgang Schiefer was given a friendly and memorable send-off by Wolfgang Malik, Bernhard Hamela and Gerhard Widmann prior to taking off for Düsseldorf.
Bernhard Hamela, District Key Account Manager for Austrian Airlines AG: “We are delighted at the economic growth of the last two years, which shows through clearly in the figures for departures and landings at Graz. We’re equally delighted that we are able to connect Graz Airport and thus the whole region to all the important major cities through the global route network of the Lufthansa Group. We are proud, through our presence here, to be an important partner to the province and to Styrian business.”
Wolfgang Malik, Chairman of the Holding Graz Management Board: “This latest breakthrough of the million mark is assuredly a very important milestone in the airport’s development. It is also confirmation of all the work done in recent years to expand Graz Airport as a transportation hub and to position it even better.”
Not just Graz Airport, but also Mr Schiefer himself had grounds for celebration. To his surprise and delight, the millionth passenger was presented with a voucher for Austrian Airlines’ European network, a gift voucher worth € 200 for the Heinemann Duty Free Shop and a Graz Airport watch.
Graz Airport recorded a total of 1,030,929 passengers in 2018, which was the best passenger result in its history to date. It is anticipated that this number will be exceeded in 2019.
“I am pleased to note that the fact that we have welcomed our millionth passenger earlier than ever means that we will almost certainly break our passenger record again this year,” commented Gerhard Widmann, Managing Director of Graz Airport. “After the excellent increase of some 7.5% in passenger numbers last year, that is an excellent development.”
This means that the one million passenger mark has been exceeded three times now in the history of Graz Airport: 2008 (just before the major economic crisis began to bite), 2018 and now also 2019, with a new passenger record.