Graz Airport

Graz is not a place for superjumbos, but one for the patient with a soft spot for history. The airport in the Grazer Feld is Austria’s oldest commercial airport, was for decades the home of the Austrian Armed Forces’ interceptors and today has a feature that many larger airports don’t offer: twelve official photo holes in the fence. If you know when the feeders from Munich, Frankfurt and Zurich arrive and which direction aircraft are currently landing, you get a relaxed spotting day here – including an air ambulance helicopter, light aircraft and an aviation museum at the edge of the apron.

From Imperial and Royal airfield to Graz Airport

The story begins in 1913. At that time the Imperial and Royal Army set up an airfield with hangars and a grass runway on the Thalerhof south of Graz, and on June 26, 1914, the first aircraft took off there. The airport therefore considers itself Austria’s oldest and celebrated its 100th birthday in 2014. The history of the place also includes a dark chapter, though: during World War I, the Thalerhof internment camp existed on the grounds, where the authorities held mainly Ruthenians as alleged Russia sympathizers. Thousands of people died there.

In the interwar period, Graz was part of the first domestic Austrian air network in 1925 on the Vienna–Graz–Klagenfurt line. After World War II, aviation in Austria was initially severely restricted; only from 1951 could Graz be integrated into international traffic again. In 1955 – the year of the State Treaty – the airport got a 1,500-meter-long, lit concrete runway. It grew to 2,500 meters in 1969 and later reached its present length of 3,000 meters.

A few events are still a talking point among Graz aviation fans: on March 29, 1981, a Concorde of British Airways landed at the Thalerhof, and for the 70th anniversary in 1984, a Lufthansa Boeing 747 came for the first time – in front of over 100,000 visitors. More on the supersonic airliner is in the history of the Concorde.

Fliegerhorst Nittner: Graz as a military airfield

For decades, civil aviation and the Austrian Armed Forces shared the site. The military part lay on the west side of the grounds and, together with the associated barracks, formed the Fliegerhorst Nittner. For spotters, Graz was thus long one of the country’s most exciting airfields, because the interceptors that policed Austrian airspace stood here.

From 1988, the Austrian Armed Forces used the Saab 35 Draken, used aircraft from Sweden. One of the two Draken squadrons of the surveillance wing was stationed in Graz, the other in Zeltweg. When the Draken was retired and its successor was not yet ready, Austria leased twelve F-5E Tiger IIs from the Swiss Air Force. These loan jets flew from the Fliegerhorst Nittner and took over all air policing from July 2005.

With the Eurofighter, the picture changed: the armed forces based the new jets exclusively in Zeltweg. Military flight operations in Graz therefore ended on October 1, 2008. The maintenance yard kept working until December 2013, and then the armed forces left the site. The former military site is now marketed for civil use under the name “Airbase One,” among other things for leisure activities.

One main runway, two grass strips

The layout is quickly explained. The paved main runway 16C/34C runs north-south, is 3,000 meters long and 45 meters wide. The Category II/III instrument landing system exists only for approaches from the south to 34C; in the opposite direction on 16C, 2,740 meters are usable. East and west of the main runway lie two short grass runways for light aircraft, which are closed in winter.

Which direction is currently in use is decided, as everywhere, by the wind: aircraft take off and land into it. If it comes from the south, takeoffs and landings are toward the south on 16C, with a north wind on 34C. For approach shots you have to stand at the right end of the field – the basics are explained in the article Understanding runway direction in use at airports, and with flight tracking via ADS-B you see live where the next aircraft is coming from.

Who lands in Graz today

Graz is not a hub but a feeder airport. The core of scheduled traffic is flights to the big connecting airports of the Lufthansa Group: Lufthansa and its Italian regional subsidiary Air Dolomiti connect Graz with Munich and Frankfurt, and Swiss flies to Zurich. Air Dolomiti relies on Embraer regional jets such as the E195; which type appears on the Lufthansa and Swiss rotations changes with the schedule.

A major change is coming in fall 2026: according to its own announcement, Austrian Airlines is discontinuing the Graz–Vienna domestic route with the winter schedule, with the last flight planned for October 23, 2026. The airline cited high losses on the route, which was used almost only by connecting passengers. In return, the group is using partly larger aircraft on the connections to Munich and Frankfurt and offering additional flights to Zurich in winter.

In addition, Eurowings flies to Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg and, in summer, to numerous leisure destinations on the Mediterranean and in the Canary Islands. British Airways connects Graz with London Gatwick via its subsidiary BA Euroflyer, and Pegasus with Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen. In leisure traffic, SunExpress and Corendon are added, among others, as well as Croatia Airlines and the German Avanti Air with smaller connections. For summer 2027, the airport has announced a new route by Air Cairo to Hurghada.

Schedules change particularly quickly in Graz – individual routes often come and go with the change of season. Look at the airport’s departures and arrivals board before your visit.

Traffic: small but stable

With 831,095 passengers in 2025, Graz was 1.4 percent above the previous year according to Statistik Austria and was Austria’s fourth-largest airport after Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck. The airport has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic level, when Graz counted about one million passengers a year. In scheduled and occasional traffic, Graz had 10,427 flights in 2025 – that is, on average just under 30 takeoffs and landings a day. In addition come numerous general aviation movements.

For you, that means: operations come in waves. In the morning and evening the feeders fly to the hubs, and on vacation weekends in summer the charter flights are added. In between there are phases in which only light aircraft and helicopters move. Graz is not a cargo hub; pure cargo flights hardly matter.

Spotting in Graz: photo holes and observation deck

Graz is distinctly friendly to spotters. A few years ago, the airport installed a total of twelve photo holes in the fence at various points in the outside area – openings with a clear view of the runway and apron. The airport provides a map of the locations on its website in the “Planespotting & mehr” section. There is also an observation deck at the terminal; opening hours and conditions are available directly from the airport.

Which photo hole is the right one depends on runway direction in use and time of day. For approach shots, what counts is which side of the field is currently being landed on – base your choice on that. Spots along the runway deliver side views during taxiing and liftoff. Because traffic is manageable, it pays not to stay stubbornly at one spot but to change location between two waves.

How to get clean pictures at fences in general is explained in the article Shooting through the fence. What applies legally in Austria is summarized by Plane spotting in Austria, and tips for smaller airports with a thin schedule are under Spotting at small regional airports.

Helicopters, light aircraft and museum

What sets Graz apart from many regional airports is what happens alongside scheduled traffic. The ÖAMTC air ambulance helicopter Christophorus 12 is stationed at the airport. The police aviation unit also maintains a base in Graz. On the west side, several gliding clubs fly, in summer drop aircraft for skydivers take off, and the General Aviation Center has handled business and private aircraft since 2003. If you want to identify helicopters reliably, you will find help in the article Spotting helicopters.

In the southeast of the grounds lies the Austrian Aviation Museum, run by a private association and at home at the airport since 1981. In 1996, a museum hall collapsed under snow load – a severe setback for the collection. Exhibits include two Saab Drakens, a Hawker Hunter, variants of the MiG-21 and a Transall C-160. For fans of the military era, it is the best chance to see a Draken up close. If you are looking for even more Austrian aviation history, you will find it in the Aviaticum in Wiener Neustadt.

Graz compared

Within Austria, Vienna Airport plays in a completely different league: Austrian’s hub, long-haul and over 30 million passengers. Closer to Graz are the other regional airports. Salzburg Airport lives heavily on winter charter traffic, Innsbruck Airport offers demanding approaches between the mountains, and Linz Airport is shaped by cargo and Austrian Armed Forces air transport. Smallest is Klagenfurt Airport – historically closely tied to Graz, since the two cities were on the same air route as early as 1925.

To identify aircraft, the article on Austrian OE registrations and the overview of how to tell regional jets apart help as well.

Conclusion

Graz Airport is a regional airport with a long prehistory. From the Imperial and Royal airfield through the interceptor years at the Fliegerhorst Nittner to today’s Graz Airport, the Thalerhof has seen over a century of aviation. Today, feeders to the Lufthansa Group hubs and leisure airliners dominate, supplemented by helicopters and general aviation.

For spotters, Graz is not a destination for large volumes, but for quiet, well-plannable days. The twelve photo holes in the fence take away the biggest worry at small airports – a clean view of the runway. If you sort out schedule, wind and light beforehand, you stand at the right hole at the right time in the Grazer Feld.