Graz Airport

Graz Airport Flughafen Graz-Thalerhof
Graz Airport Terminal
IATA: GRZ – ICAO: LOWG GRZ Location of airport in Austria
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Grazer Stadwerke AG
Operator		Flughafen Graz Betriebs GmbH
Serves		Graz, Austria; Maribor, Slovenia
Location		Feldkirchen, Kalsdorf
Elevation AMSL		340 m / 1,115 ft
Coordinates		46°59′35″N 015°26′21″E
Website		www.airport-graz.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
17L/35R	640	2,100	Grass
17C/35C	3,000	9,842	Asphalt
17R/35L	760	2,493	Grass
Source: Austrian AIP at EUROCONTROL

Graz Airport (IATA: GRZ, ICAO: LOWG), also known as Thalerhof, serves Graz, Austria. It is located in the municipalities of Feldkirchen and Kalsdorf, 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) south of Graz city centre.

History

The construction of the airport began in 1913 with the construction of a grass runway and the first hangars; the airport saw its first flight in 1914. It was the site of the concentration camp, Talerhof, run by the governments of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Charles I of Austria. The first passenger domestic flight in Austria, in 1925, serviced the route Vienna–Graz–Klagenfurt. In 1937, the construction of a terminal building began due to increase in the number of passengers.

After the end of the Second World War, however, Austria was forbidden to possess an aviation fleet, either military or civil. After reopening of Austrian airspace in 1951, a new concrete runway of 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) was built in Graz. This runway was extended to 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) in 1962. The route network grew quickly and the first international scheduled flight started in 1966 with a connection to Frankfurt. In 1969, the runway was again extended, this time to 2,500 metres (8,202 ft), and construction of a new, more modern terminal building became necessary. Special highlights of the airport were the landings of the Concorde in 1981 and the Boeing 747 on the occasion of its 70th anniversary of opening in 1984. Ten years later, another new building was constructed with a capacity of maximum 750,000 passengers per year. The latest extension of the runway was to 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) in 1998.

In early 21st century, the number of passengers exceeded the 750,000-mark and in 2004 is just below 900,000. This led to the final extension of the current terminal building in 2003 and the construction of a second terminal in 2005.

Total passenger traffic numbers for the year 2012 were 930,617.

Airlines and destinations

The control tower of Graz Airport.

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Seasonal charter: Heraklion [begins 7 June 2013]
Air Berlin	Berlin-Tegel
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Vienna, Innsbruck Summer Seasonal: Chania, Corfu, Kos, Zakynthos
BH Air	Summer Seasonal: Burgas
Croatia Airlines	Summer Seasonal: Bol
InterSky	Friedrichshafen, Zurich
Lufthansa Regional operated by Augsburg Airways	Munich (ends 26 October 2013)
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Frankfurt, Munich (begins 27 October 2013)
Niki	Palma de Mallorca Seasonal: Antalya, Corfu, Edinburgh, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Rhodes, Santorini, Sharm el-Sheikh, Shannon, Skiathos, Tenerife-South
Pegasus Airlines	Seasonal: Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen
Sky Airlines	Summer Seasonal: Antalya
Tunis Air	Summer Seasonal: Enfidha

Ground transportation

The airport is within walking distance of Flughafen Graz-Feldkirchen railway station (about 4 minutes on foot, exit to the right of the platform), which lies on the Graz to Spielfeld-Straß line. The travel time to the airport from Graz main station is approximately 12 minutes by regional train.

External links

• Graz Airport
• Current weather for LOWG at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for GRZ at Aviation Safety Network