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Graz Airport (GRZ)

Florian Buechting Airports and Airlines No Comments

Graz Airport (GRZ)

Graz Airport (GRZ)
3.5

Rating

 3.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Nice, efficient regional airport
  • Nice watching terraces

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Too few connections lead to bad off-peak services
  • Downstairs toilets
  • Limited services airside

In summer 2021, I had a weeekend in Graz in Styria, Austria. Apart from meeting a wonderful friend again, I ran into a couple of really interesting places – a couple of them are still yet to be shared with you. This review is about how I got to and away from the city – a look at the one of the key travel hubs of Graz, Graz Airport (GRZ). Here is my review.

 

Graz Airport (GRZ) – Location & Transport

Graz Airport is located South of Graz’s city center, in the borough of Feldkirchen, which is also giving the airport its name. The location is rather commercial, there is some residential area South of the airport. Around the airport’s grounds, there are a couple of interesting places, though. For example, I visited the Austrian Sculpture Park and the Austrian Aviation Museum.

There are buses and trains to the airport, so that Graz Airport is in general rather well connected by public transport. The airport train station is a some 500 meter walk away from the terminal, which may be bothering, though. However, my flight from Frankfurt (FRA) arrived rather late, so that the ways to connect from the airport to the city were limited: the last train has already left and most of the car rental companies had closed their desks at that time. Instead of using the hotel close to the airport train station, I chose a rental with Hertz who offered a car rental with a night surcharge.

 

Graz Airport (GRZ) – Connections

Especially in recent times, Graz Airport (GRZ) is a bit of suffering in regards of connections. For example, their Turkish Airlines services, which were still operating during my visits, have taken from the schedule. Austrian is connecting to Vienna, there are Lufthansa flights from Germany and some minor airlines operations. I visited Graz on the first weekend of summer vacation time, so that there was also quite a bunch of typical holiday flights, e.g. to the Canary Islands, Greece or Turkey.

 

Arriving at Graz Airport (GRZ)

As said, my arrival from Frankfurt (FRA) at Graz (GRZ) was at a rather late time on a Thursday night. The plane stopped almost in front of the Schengen arrival gates, so that it was just a short walk to the arrivals area. The capacity of the airport felt to be fine for its needs – it may be slightly packed during peak times like the summer holiday season. The services were very quick and efficient.

 

Departing from Graz Airport (GRZ)

My flight was at the first summer holiday weekend in Styria, so that the check-in area was a bit more of crowded. Nonetheless, the check-in procedures went quite well. I have been at the airport earlier than two hours before departure, so that I had to wait for the check-in to open. All toilets are located in the basement – the same applies for the airside facilities. This is especially bothering for a single traveler with luggage, as you have to carry your luggage downstairs and upstairs.

Security was quite efficient. The airside part of Graz Airport is not overwhelmingly thrilling, it serves all your basic needs – there is a major shop and a restaurant. I loved the working booth-alike tables they had in the waiting area. The airport felt packed here and there at that day – nonetheless, the operational side felt to work well.

Again, there were only bus and walk-in boarding. I had a walk to the Lufthansa plane, which I generally appreciate, not only for the sake of being able to take some additional snaps. The boarding procedure went okay overall – the area around the gates is a bit of narrow, though.

 

 

Graz VIP Lounge

I already disclosed my review of the VIP Lounge at Graz Airport (GRZ) – a nice place to relax before your flight.

VIP Lounge Graz Airport (GRZ)

 

Graz Airport (GRZ) – Services

Apart from the lounge, there is also a visitors terrace and a restaurant, which both provide an excellent view of the runway. Unfortunately, I missed these opportunities.

 

Graz Airport (GRZ) – My View

The Austrian airport is a nice regional travel hub. The downstairs toilet are very bothering, but the terraces are a nice feature and the lounge is really nice. The key issue of the airport are connections of all kinds: there is simply not a sufficient volume of flights – which also causes that the traffic connections and services at off-peak times are too limited. Bad luck – Styria is indeed a beautiful region and deserves better.

 

Travel in Austria

Here are all my Travel postings related to Austria:

 

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