More passengers at VIA
Vienna International Airport (VIA or VIE) registered over six per cent more passengers last month than in May 2010, it was announced today (Weds).The aerodrome Austrias busiest airport and a key air traffic gateway to destinations in Eastern Europe (EE) counted 1.905 million customers in May 2010, up by 6.5 per cent compared to the same month in 2010. The number of arrivals and departures edged up by 0.2 per cent to 21,887.The number of people travelling to EE soared by 12.9 per cent while flights to destinations in the Middle East had 10.6 per cent fewer customers.The May figures mean that VIAs passenger volume shot up by 9.3 per cent to 7.737 million in the first five months of this year compared to the same period of last year.VIA is located south-east of Vienna. The airport is managed by Flughafen Wien AG (FW), a listed company in which the provincial governments of Vienna and Lower Austria both hold a 20 per cent interest. Most members of FWs executive and supervisory board are aligned to political leaders in the regions.FW decision-makers were in trouble the past years due to immense cost overruns and delays in building a new terminal called Skylink. The terminals launch was expected for 2008. The construction started in 2002. FW chiefs promised Skylink will start operating next year, explaining that costs will range around 800 million Euros.Meanwhile, Austrian Airlines (AUA) announced it had 1.028 million passengers last month, 1.1 per cent more than in May 2010. Around 51 per cent of all flights at VIA are operated by AUA or one of its affiliates.AUA which was taken over by Germanys Lufthansa nearly two years ago recorded 4.05 million customers in the first five months of this year. This is a 2.7 per cent improvement compared to the same period of 2010.