A resolution is planned

Upper Austria to Provide Airport with Additional Millions

The city of Linz has officially decided to sell its shares in the airport.(Bild: Flughafen Linz)

The Upper Austrian state government plans to allocate an additional five million euros to the struggling Linz Airport for the coming year. Meanwhile, the Linz City Council officially decided on Thursday to sell the city’s shares in the airport to the state.

The state government is providing additional funding for Linz Airport: up to five million euros are to be made available to the struggling airport in 2027—a measure the state government plans to approve on Monday. Next Thursday, the state parliament is also expected to approve the financial injection. According to the state government, the funding could take the form of a shareholder contribution, a shareholder loan, a capital increase, or a combination of these instruments.

Last year, the state already provided four million euros to offset the airport’s losses. The city of Linz is providing a financial injection of the same amount. And over the next four years, the state of Upper Austria will subsidize the Linz-Frankfurt route with up to 36 million euros.

City Council Voted in Favor of Airport Sale
The state government also plans to approve the planned purchase of the city’s shares in the airport on Monday— as reported by the “Krone.” Governor Thomas Stelzer and State Minister of Economic Affairs Markus Achleitner (both ÖVP) aim to “put the airport back on a successful footing” through this move.

The Linz City Council already approved the deal on Thursday: According to the agreement, the city will sell its 50-percent stake in the airport to the state of Upper Austria. There is a risk that the airport cannot be operated profitably in the medium and long term, according to the proposal submitted to the City Council by Finance Councilor Thomas Gegenhuber (SPÖ). This “cannot currently be reconciled” with the goal of responsible and appropriate use of public funds.

Purchase price could drop to as low as one euro
The purchase price of 1.325 million euros is based on the liquidation value determined in a KPMG appraisal —ranging from 1.9 million to 3.4 million euros—or on a valuation using the discounted cash flow (DCF) method, which results in a negative going-concern value of 17.3 million euros. Put simply, the DCF method calculates how much a company is worth based on expected future profits. An alternative calculation, which assumes that 50 percent of the costs for the necessary runway renovation will be financed by a public subsidy, results in a negative value of 9.5 million euros.

The purchase price the city receives could drop significantly: The final purchase price adjustment will not take place until the costs for the necessary PFAS remediation have been determined. Theoretically, according to the contract, the price could drop to as low as one euro. On the other hand, the city could earn more money if the state is able to resell the shares at a higher value over the next five years.

The city council ultimately approved the sale of the shares by a majority vote—following a discussion in which the terms “emergency brake” and “distress sale” were mentioned repeatedly. Only the Linz+ list and former MFG representative Norbert Obermayr voted against it.

Court of Auditors Expects Further Costs
For years, the airport has been struggling with declining passenger numbers; in the first half of 2026, they plummeted again by 15.3 percent—to 110,627 passengers. In addition, according to the State Court of Auditors, the airport will need an additional 27.6 to 45 million euros by 2035—and that does not include the costs of remedying past environmental damage.