Vienna International Airport

Vienna Airport (Template:Comma separated entries) is an international airport serving Vienna, the capital of Austria. It is located in Schwechat, Template:Convert southeast of central Vienna and Template:Convert west of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its official name according to the Austrian Aeronautical Information Publication is Wien-Schwechat Airport. It is the country's largest airport and serves as the hub for Austrian Airlines as well as a base for low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air. It is capable of handling wide-body aircraft up to the Airbus A380. The airport features a dense network of European destinations as well as long-haul flights to Asia, North America and Africa.

History

Early years

Originally built as a military airport in 1938 and used during World War II as the Heinkel firm's southern military aircraft design and production complex, or Heinkel-Süd facility, it was taken over by the British in 1945 and became RAF Schwechat under the occupation of the country. In 1954, the Betriebsgesellschaft was founded, and the airport replaced Wien-Aspern Airport as Vienna's (and Austria's) principal aerodrome. There was just one runway, which in 1959 was expanded to measure Template:Convert. The erection of the new airport building began in 1959.

In 1972, another runway was built. In 1982, the airport was connected to the national motorway network (Ostautobahn). In 1986, the enlarged arrivals hall was opened, and in 1988 Pier East with 8 jet bridges was opened.

On 27 December 1985, the El Al ticket counter was attacked by Abu Nidal, a Palestinian terrorist organization that simultaneously conducted a terrorist attack at Fiumicino Airport in Rome.

Template:Interlanguage link, one of the few publicly traded airport operators in Europe, was privatised in 1992. The state of Lower Austria and the City of Vienna each hold 20% of the shares, the private employee participation foundation holds 10%, with the remaining 50% held privately. The shares used to be part of the Austrian Traded Index but were removed in September 2017.

In 1992, the new Terminal 1 was opened and a year later the shopping area around the plaza in the transit area of the B, C and D gates was opened. In 1996, Pier West with 12 jetbridges became operational.

Development since the 2000s

In 2006, the Template:Convert tall control tower started operating. It allows a free overview of the entire airport area and offers a night laser show, which aims to welcome the passengers even from the aircraft. From 2004 to 2007, an Office Park had been erected offering Template:Convert of rentable space. A VIP and general aviation terminal, including a separated apron, opened in 2006.

To accommodate future growth, in 1998 Vienna Airport published a master plan that outlined expansion projects until 2015. These projects included a new office park, railway station, cargo center, general aviation center, air traffic control tower, terminal, and runway. Additionally, the plan called for streamlined security control. The centerpiece of the enlargement was the new terminal, dubbed Skylink during its construction. In 2002, the airport's management estimated that building the new terminal will cost €401.79 million. However, costs skyrocketed and in 2009 stood at an estimated €929.5 million. The Austrian Court of Audit then recommended that the airport implement several cost-savings measures, which in the Court's estimate brought down final costs to €849.15 million, still more than double the original plans.

On 5 June 2012, the new Austrian Star Alliance Terminal (Terminal 3, named Skylink during its construction) was opened, which enables the airport to handle up to 30 million passengers per year. Construction started in 2004 and was suspended due to projected cost increases in 2009, but resumed in 2010. The maximum planned costs totaled less than €770 million. Following concerns over the mismanagement of the Skylink project, chief executive Herbert Kaufman agreed to resign at the end of December 2010. The new building with its North Pier has 17 jetbridges and makes the airport capable of handling more aircraft, although the new terminal is not able to handle Airbus A380 aircraft. However, the older Concourse D will see an upgrade to accommodate the A380.

Since the opening of Terminal 3, a few terminals and concourses underwent refurbishment. Terminal 1 and Concourses B and D were refurbished between 2012 and 2018. Between 2018 and 2022, a refurbishment of Terminal 2 took place, which has now got a new security check for the C and D concourses.

Terminals

File:Austria schwechat vienna airport terminal1.jpg

Terminal 1 interior

File:VIE Terminal1A 2014.JPG

Terminal 1A interior

File:Vienna airport terminal 3.jpg

Terminal 3 interior

File:Vienna International Airport tower 01.jpg

Air traffic control tower behind the head office of Austrian Airlines

The airport has four terminal buildings named Terminal 1, 2 and 3 which are directly built against each other as well as the additional Terminal 1A located opposite Terminal 1. Terminals 1, 2 and 3 connect to the five concourses. The central arrivals hall for all terminal areas is located in Terminal 3.

Terminals

• Terminal 1 was built in 1990, operating as the second terminal of the airport. It underwent refurbishment in January 2013 and is now mainly used by some Oneworld and SkyTeam airlines along with Turkish Airlines, Ryanair and Wizz Air.
• Terminal 1A, a standalone building opposite Terminal 1, originally built as a temporary complex in 2005. It hosts check-in facilities for a all kind of carriers, including leisure airlines like Condor or SunExpress, along with legacy and long haul carriers like Hainan Airlines or China Airlines. For renovation purposes the terminal had been temporarily closed in early 2025 and was reopened in modernized appearance April 2025.
• Terminal 2 was finished in 1960, when it was the only terminal of the airport. A huge extension was built in 1993, when the Plaza opened. Because of the opening of the new Terminal 3, the check-in area of Terminal 2 stopped operating in 2012. It was refurbished between 2016 and 2022 and now features new security screening areas and a revamped baggage reclaim, which is connected to the baggage reclaim of Terminal 3. The original Terminal 2 is now used as the entrance of Concourses C and D.
• Terminal 3, also referred to as the Austrian Star Alliance Terminal, with its adjoining Concourses F and G is the airport's newest facility. It was built between 2006 and 2012. It is used by Austrian Airlines, most Star Alliance members, and a number of other carriers including Emirates, El Al, Korean Air and Qatar Airways. A planned expansion has been postponed indefinitely.

Concourses

• Concourse B was on ground level, adjacent to Concourse C and featured Gates B31–B42 (boarding by buses) for Schengen destinations. From 2021 it was temporarily used to handle non-Schengen bus arrivals. In 2022 it has been refurbished to assume that role permanently.
• Concourse C (pier west) was finished in 1996. It is used for Schengen destinations; features Gates C21-24) (boarding via buses), C31–C42 (jetbridges) C71–C75 (boarding via buses)
• Concourse D (pier east; formerly Concourse A) opened 1988 and is used for non-Schengen destinations with shared passport control at the entrance of Pier East; features Gates D21–D29 (boarding via jetbridges), D31–D37 (boarding via buses), D61–D70 (buses). Concourse D has been closed and partially refurbished during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Concourse F (Level 1 of pier north) was finished in 2012, when the new Terminal 3 opened. It is used for Schengen destinations and consists of Gates F01-F37 (jetbridges and buses) and Gates F71-F75 (bus gates)
• Concourse G (Level 3 and basement of pier north) for non-Schengen destinations; shared passport control at the entrance of Level 3; features Gates G01-G37 (jetbridges and bus gates) and G61-67 (boarding via buses).

Expansion projects

Terminal 3 expansion

In addition to the aforementioned refurbishments of existing passenger facilities, a completely new building is under construction as of early 2024, which is supposed to connect the existing pier east and pier north. The so-called T3 Southern Enlargement will be offering Template:Convert of leisure area, 10,000 m² of which will be used for shops and restaurants etc. The building will also feature 18 new additional bus gates, including 9 gates for Schengen Destinations and 9 gates for Non-Schengen Destinations. The opening had originally been planned for 2023, however, the project had been delayed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2023 it was announced that the construction of the new building was then set to start in mid-2023. Construction for the new terminal annex subsequently started in February 2024 with a completion date expected for early 2027.

Third runway

File:Vie-planned third runway.svg

Map with planned third runway

Vienna Airport originally projected that it would need a third runway by 2012, or 2016 at the latest, in the event of cooperation with nearby Bratislava Airport. The third runway is planned to be parallel to and south of the existing runway 11/29. It will be designated 11R/29L, with the existing runway being renamed 11L/29R. The new runway is planned to be Template:Convert long and Template:Convert wide, and equipped with a category III instrument landing system in one direction (29L).

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the airport projected that a third runway will be necessary by 2025, however, environmental organizations and some local communities oppose construction. These groups have attacked the decision of Lower Austria (the state in which the airport is located) to move ahead with the first phase of construction. A verdict from the administrative court that has taken up the lawsuit was expected later in 2015. As of September 2016, there were ongoing public protests while no legal decision had been made. On 28 March 2018, the Austrian Federal Administrative Court ruled in favour of a third runway.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Vienna Airport:

Statistics

Traffic figures

Traffic by calendar year. Official ACI statistics.

	Passengers	Change from previous year	Aircraft operations	Change from previous year	Cargo (including road feeder service, metric tons)	Change from previous year
2005	15,859,050	Increase 7.26%	252,988	Increase 3.42%	180,066	Increase13.77%
2006	16,855,725	Increase 6.28%	260,846	Increase 3.11%	201,870	Increase12.11%
2007	18,768,468	Increase11.35%	280,912	Increase 7.69%	205,024	Increase 1.56%
2008	19,747,289	Increase 5.22%	292,740	Increase 4.21%	201,364	Decrease 1.79%
2009	18,114,103	Decrease 8.27%	261,758	Decrease10.58%	198,407	Decrease 1.47%
2010	19,691,206	Increase 8.71%	265,150	Increase 1.30%	231,824	Increase16.84%
2011	21,106,292	Increase 7.19%	266,865	Increase 0.65%	291,313	Increase25.66%
2012	22,195,794	Increase 5.02%	264,542	Decrease 0.87%	265,467	Decrease 8.89%
2013	21,999,926	Decrease 0.75%	250,224	Decrease 5.41%	268,155	Increase 1.03%
2014	22,483,158	Increase 2.20%	249,989	Decrease 0.09%	290,116	Increase 8.19%
2015	22,775,054	Increase 1.30%	226,811	Decrease 1.70%	272,575	Decrease 1.80%
2016	23,352,016	Increase 2.50%	226,395	Decrease 0.20%	282,726	Increase 3.70%
2017	24,392,805	Increase 4.50%	224,568	Decrease 0.80%	287,692	Increase 1.90%
2018	27,037,292	Increase 10.80%	241,004	Increase 7.30%	295,427	Increase 2.60%
2019	31,662,189	Increase 17.10%	266,802	Increase 10.70%	283,806	Decrease 3.90%
2020	7,812,938	Decrease 75.32%	95,880	Decrease 64.06%	217,888	Decrease 23.23%
2021	10,405,815	Increase 33.19%	111,567	Increase 16.36%	208,010	Decrease 4.53%
2022	23,682,133	Increase 127.59%	188,412	Increase 68.88%	208,713	Increase 0.34%
2023	29,533,186	Increase 24.70%	221,095	Increase 17.3%	245,009	Increase 17.39%
2024	31,719,836	Increase 7.4%	234,138	Increase 5.9%	297,945	Increase 21.6%
Sources: (Years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 2023 and 2024

Busiest routes

Busiest routes at Vienna Airport (2019)Template:Update inline

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Frankfurt	1,109,585
2	Berlin–Tegel	966,659
3	Paris–Charles de Gaulle	944,404
4	Amsterdam	943,705
5	Zürich	940,410
6	London–Heathrow	833,930
7	Düsseldorf	771,175
8	Hamburg	720,332
9	Barcelona	640,052
10	Bucharest	634,044

Busiest intercontinental routes at Vienna Airport (2019)Template:Update inline

Rank	Airport	Passengers	Operating airlines
1	Template:Flagdeco Tel Aviv	596,989	Austrian Airlines, El Al, Wizz Air, Lauda, Malta Air
2	Template:Flagdeco Dubai–International	415,169	Emirates
3	Template:Flagdeco Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi	340,639	Austrian Airlines, EVA Air, Thai Airways International
4	Template:Flagdeco Taipei–Taoyuan	301,982	China Airlines, EVA Air
5	Template:Flagdeco Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen	299,778	Pegasus Airlines, AnadoluJet
6	Template:Flagdeco Antalya	273,000	Austrian Airlines, SunExpress, Lauda, Corendon Airlines
7	Template:Flagdeco Doha	228,502	Qatar Airways
8	Template:Flagdeco Chicago–O'Hare	163,006	Austrian Airlines
9	Template:Flagdeco Toronto–Pearson	152,583	Air Canada
10	Template:Flagdeco Cairo	147,210	Austrian Airlines, Egyptair

Ground transportation

Train

File:Bahnhof VIE - Bahnsteige Ost.JPG

Vienna Airport railway station

The Vienna S-Bahn line S7 provides a local service to the city centre taking approx. 25 minutes. The more expensive City Airport Train connects the airport directly to Wien Mitte railway station, close to the city centre, in 16 minutes.

Additionally, the underground railway station has been expanded to accommodate long-distance trains. Since December 2014, the first trains passing Vienna's new main station, ICE services from Germany, terminate at the airport. Since December 2015, ÖBB Railjet services operate to the airport as well. Long-distance train rides between the airport and the main station take approx. 15 minutes.

Car

The airport lies directly adjacent to motorway A4 which leads from central Vienna to Budapest. It has its own exit named Flughafen Wien-Schwechat. Bratislava can be reached via motorway A6 which splits from the A4 in the east. Taxis and car rental facilities are available at the airport. There are also several taxi companies that operate at the airport.

Bus

Buses operate from the airport to various places in Vienna and to other cities including Bratislava, Budapest and Brno.

Accidents and incidents

• In 1955, a Convair CV-340 crashed on approach to the airport, killing 7 of the 29 passengers and crew on board. This is the last fatal aviation accident to occur at Wien-Schwechat Airport.
• On 27 December 1985, 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks
• On 12 July 2000, Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378 crashed short of the runway at the airport on the final approach of its diverted flight due to fuel exhaustion. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

See also

• Transport in Austria
• List of airports in Austria
• Wien-Aspern Airport

External links

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• Template:Official website
• Template:NWS-current
• Template:ASN