The Vienna International Airport announced decreasing passenger numbers for 2013 but positive prospects for this year. Increased investments are planned for the infrastructure. The decision regarding the new airport hotel will be made in the second quarter.
Approximately 22 million passengers were recorded by the Vienna International Airport in 2013. That is a slight decline of 0.7% in comparison to the previous year. While there was a small increase for the local passengers, the amount of transfer passengers (-3.7%) dims the records.
The airport authorities however plan to generate more growth in 2014. New routes and expansion of the routes to Newark, Teheran (Austrian Airlines), Madrid, Malta (NIKI) or Manchester (Jet2.com) among others are supposed to improve the situation.
The board of the Vienna International Airport evaluated the business prospects for 2014 positively. An increase of the turnover to more than EUR 630 million is expected this year and an increase of the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of at least EUR 240 million is being aimed at. The result after taxes will amount to EUR 75 million from a present-day perspective. The net debt of the company shall further decrease to less than EUR 600 million.
"After digesting the Check-in-3 costs, it is now all about growth and result improvement," said airport chairman Günther Ofner. Approximately EUR 110 million will be taken in hand in 2014 on the way to "Airport City". Part of the plan is the expansion of the conferencing offers, the intensification of the location marketing and real estate strategy and the completion of the new Austrian Federal Railway main-line station which shall directly connect the western part of Austria to the Vienna International Airport.
The decision regarding a new airport hotel will be made early in the summer. 64 interested parties were registered during the bidding for the budget hotel which shall accommodate its first guests at the end of 2016.
