Axial compressor

An axial compressor, comprising:

• a rotor rotatably arranged in a casing, the rotor comprising:
• a plurality of rotor blade stages;
• a multistage guide vane cascade arranged in a stationary manner in the casing on a discharge side of a rotor-blade final stage of the rotor and which has axially arranged guide vane rows without axial overlapping;
• wherein the guide vanes of a preceding guide vane row are at a same arcuate distance to adjacent guide vanes in the circumferential direction of the casing, as guide vanes in an axially following guide vane row
• and the axially following guide vane row is arranged in each case in a circumferentially staggered manner in relation to the preceding guide vane row in such a way that vortex streamers, which are created by the guide vanes of the preceding row, flow through in each case between adjacent guide vanes of the following guide vane row,
• wherein an arcuate distance U′2 from the vortex streamers to a leading edge of a convexly curved side of one guide vane of the following guide vane row is smaller than an arcuate distance U″2 from the vortex streamers to a leading edge of a concavely curved side of an adjacent guide vane of the following guide vane row in the circumferential direction of the casing and the two distances (U′2, U″2) are related to each other according to an order of magnitude of approximately 1:1>U′2:U″2>1:2.