Vienna International Airport (IATA: VIE, ICAO: LOWW) (German: Flughafen Wien), located in Schwechat and 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of central Vienna, is the busiest and biggest airport in Austria. It is often referred to as Schwechat, the name of the nearby town. The airport is capable of handling wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340. The airport is the hub of Austrian Airlines and its subsidiaries, as well as budget airline Niki. [edit] History  Flughafen Wien AG manages the airport Originally built as a military airport in 1938, it was taken over by the British in 1945. In 1954, the Betriebsgesellschaft was founded, and the airport replaced Aspern as Vienna's (and Austria's) principal aerodrome. There was just one runway, which in 1959 was expanded to measure 3,000 metres (9,843 ft). The erection of the new airport building starting in 1960. In 1972 another runway was built. The airport received Olympic teams as Austria has twice hosted the Winter Olympics. Pope John Paul II also used the airport during his visits to Austria. On December 27, 1985, the El Al ticket counter was attacked by Palestinians. (See Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks.) The airport formerly featured a Harrods, but it closed in 2003. [edit] Terminals Presently, Vienna International Airport has three terminals: The main terminals 1 and 2 and a provisional terminal 1A, built to offer more space for low-cost carriers. In 2006, the airport started building a new terminal, SKYLINK, which will make the airport more capable of dealing with higher passenger volumes (2008: 19.7 million). This new terminal will also make the airport capable of handling bigger aircraft, such as the Airbus A380. All Terminals are operated by Fraport, Vienna Airport Handling, Swissport and Austrian Airlines. After completion of SKYLINK, Austrian Airlines and its partners will move to the new Terminal. [edit] Concourses Hall A ("Pier East"): Gates A1–A8 (only Jetbridges), A10–A19 (only Buses), A44–A50 (only Buses) International Flights
(Transit-Zone; Passport-control at entrance/exit of the hall; Gates with Jetbridges and Busgates) Hall B: B22–B43 Europe (Schengen) Flights
(Busgates) Hall C ("Pier West"): C51–C62 (only Jetbridges; Gates C55–C61 Transfer Gates), C71–C75 (only Buses) Europe (Schengen) Flights, partial international flights
(Gates with Jetbridges; Several gates are used for Europe (Schengen) flights and also for international flights; for international flights: Gates are called Transfergates; Passport control at the respective gates; passengers from international-to-international flights are going at arrival at one of the C-Gates, in front of the immigration-passport-control, to the transitzone to ground-floor, where they have access to other International Flights from the C-Gates and a shuttlebus-connection to the international hall A; Passengers arriving at the international hall A with an international connection-flight from one of the C-Gates use also the shuttlebus) New Busgates C71 to C75 opened on 2 April 2008, access via Gate C51, only Schengen-Operations [edit] Public transportation The Vienna S-Bahn S7 (Stopping at all stations from Floridsdorf Station until Rennweg Station, and usually all intermediate stops on the airport branch ) line stops at the airport. The more expensive CAT (City Airport Train) connects the airport directly to the Wien Mitte station close to the city center, where S-Bahn trains also stop but take a slightly longer time because of 7 intermediate stops. There are also many buses from the airport to various places in Vienna and to other cities; however, the S-Bahn line is the only means of transport from Vienna to the airport on which the standard integrated tickets for the Vienna region are valid (as a result, they also allow further travelling by underground, bus or tram, which the CAT tickets don't). After the construction of Main Railway Station, a line called "S70" is scheduled to be opened which will connect the airport to that railway station, so that the frequency of S-Bahn trains becomes higher than the current 30 minutes. There are no plans to extend any underground line to the airport although it has sometimes been proposed to extend line U3 (currently terminating at Simmering) there; this would be the first underground line extending beyond Vienna's borders. [edit] Masterplan 2015 Because of its constant growth in passenger numbers and freight, Vienna International Airport has decided to enlarge Austria's biggest airport with several new and respectively adapted buildings. - New Tower: A new Tower was built. With its 109 metres (360 ft) of height, it allows a free overlook of the entire airport area and it offers another spectacular sight: a night laser show, which should welcome the passengers even from the aircraft.
- New Terminal: Due to constant passenger and freight growth, Vienna International Airport has planned to build another Terminal, SKYLINK, which should be able to compensate higher passenger rates. Construction started in 2006 and was planed to last until late 2011. Construction has been suspended due to projected cost increase of more than 100% of the original estimate (400 million EUR to 830 million EUR)[2].
- Third Runway: Due to higher aviation rates, a third runway will be necessary for the airport. A mediation process was held, and the construction of the third runway will start maybe in 2010.
- Railway station: The underground railway station will be enlarged and a connection to Bratislava will be constructed. Additionally the CAT (City Airport Train), which connects the centre of Vienna with the airport in just 16 minutes, will receive a new underground railway station.
[edit] Airlines and destinations [edit] Passenger airlines  The designed 109-meter tall control tower presents a unique laser show after dark  Exterior view of Hall A for international flights  Terminal 1 at the airport  Gates of Hall C, serving mostly Schengen countries  Interior of Terminal 1A, serves mostly low-cost carriers | Airlines | Destinations | | Adria Airways | Frankfurt, Ljubljana | | Aegean Airlines | Athens | | Aeroflot | Moscow-Sheremetyevo | | Aer Lingus | Dublin, London-Gatwick | | AirBaltic | Riga | | Air Berlin | Berlin-Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg | | Air Dolomiti | Rimini, Verona | | Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle | | Air Malta | Malta | | Air Moldova | Chiṣinău | | Air Transat | Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson | | Air Via | Burgas [seasonal] | | Austrian Airlines | Amman, Astana, Athens, Baku, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Beijing-Capital, Belgrade, Brussels, Bucharest-Henri Coandă, Cairo, Copenhagen, Damascus, Delhi, Dubai, Dubrovnik [seasonal], Düsseldorf, Erbil, Faro [seasonal], Frankfurt, Fuerteventura [seasonal], Funchal, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kiev-Boryspil, Lanzarote [seasonal], Larnaca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, London-Heathrow, Málaga, Malé, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, Naples [seasonal], New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Pristina, Rome-Fiumicino, Sarajevo, Skopje, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tbilisi, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Tenerife-South, Tirana [seasonal], Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Washington-Dulles, Yekaterinburg, Yerevan, Zürich | | Austrian operated by Lauda Air [3] | Antalya, Bodrum [seasonal], Catania [seasonal], Chania [seasonal], Corfu [seasonal], Dalaman [seasonal], Faro [seasonal], Fuerteventura, Funchal [seasonal], Heraklion [seasonal], Hurghada, Karpathos [seasonal], Kavala [seasonal], Kos [seasonal], Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lesbos [seasonal], Luxor, Malaga [seasonal], Malta [seasonal], Mykonos [seasonal], Naples [seasonal], Preveza [seasonal], Punta Cana, Rhodes [seasonal], Samos [seasonal], Santorini [seasonal], Sharm el-Sheikh, Skiathos [seasonal], Tenerife-South, Thessaloniki [seasonal], Zakynthos [seasonal] | | Austrian operated by Tyrolean Airways | Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Belgrade, Berlin-Tegel, Bologna, Bolzano, Brussels, Bucharest-Henri Coandă, Budapest, Chiṣinău, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Dresden, Dubrovnik [seasonal], Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Graz, Hamburg, Helsinki, Iasi, Innsbruck, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kharkov, Kiev-Boryspil, Klagenfurt, Košice, Kraków, Krasnodar, London-Heathrow [seasonal], Leipzig/Halle, Linz, Lviv, Lyon, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Minsk, Munich, Nice, Odessa, Oslo-Gardermoen, Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Rostov, Salzburg, Sarajevo, Sibiu, Skopje, Sochi, Sofia, Split, St Gallen, St Petersburg, Stockholm-Arlanda, Stuttgart, Thessaloniki, Timisoara, Tirana, Tripoli, Varna, Venice-Marco Polo, Vilnius, Warsaw, Zagreb, Zürich | | B&H Airlines | Sarajevo | | Blue Air | Baia Mare, Bucharest-Băneasa, Larnaca [begins 28 March], Suceava | | British Airways | London-Heathrow | | Brussels Airlines | Brussels | | Bulgaria Air | Sofia, Varna | | Bulgarian Air Charter | Burgas [seasonal], Varna [seasonal] | | Central Connect Airlines | Ostrava | | China Airlines | Taipei-Taoyuan | | Croatia Airlines | Dubrovnik, Split, Zagreb | | Cyprus Airways | Larnaca | | Dniproavia | Dnipropetrovsk | | EasyJet | London-Gatwick, London-Luton | | Emirates | Dubai | | EgyptAir | Cairo | | El Al | Tel Aviv | | EVA Air | Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Taipei-Taoyuan | | Finnair | Helsinki | | Free Bird Airlines | Antalya [seasonal] | | Georgian Airways | Tbilisi | | Germanwings | Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart | | Iberia | Madrid | | InterSky | Friedrichshafen | | Iran Air | Tehran-Imam Khomeini | | Jat Airways | Belgrade | | Jet Air | Łódź, Bydgoszcz | | KLM | Amsterdam | | KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper | Amsterdam | | Korean Air | Seoul-Incheon, Zurich | | LOT Polish Airlines | Warsaw | | LOT operated by EuroLOT | Kraków | | Lufthansa | Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich | | Lufthansa Regional operated by Contact Air | Stuttgart | | Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings | Düsseldorf | | Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine | Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich | | Luxair | Luxembourg | | Montenegro Airlines | Podgorica | | Niki | Barcelona [begins 26 March], Belgrade [begins 1 February], Bucharest-Henri Coanda [begins 1 February], Cagliari [begins 7 May, seasonal], Copenhagen [begins 26 March], Corfu [seasonal], Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Funchal/Madeira [resumes 2 March], Heraklion [seasonal], Hurghada, Ibiza [seasonal], Innsbruck, Jerez de la Frontera [begins 19 February, seasonal], Kos [seasonal], Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Luxor [ends 29 April], Malaga [seasonal], Marsa Alam, Milan-Malpensa, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, Nice [begins 26 March], Olbia [begins 3 May, seasonal], Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Reykjavik-Keflavik [seasonal], Rhodes [seasonal], Rome-Fiumicino, Samos [begins 2 June, seasonal], Sharm el-Skeikh, Sofia [begins 1 February], Stockholm-Arlanda, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos [seasonal], Zürich | | Norwegian Air Shuttle | Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen | | Olympic Air | Athens | | Pegasus Airlines | Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen [seasonal] | | Pegasus operated by IZair | Izmir | | Qatar Airways | Doha | | Rossiya | St Petersburg | | Royal Jordanian | Amman | | Saudi Arabian Airlines | Jeddah [ends 1 January], Riyadh [ends 26 December] | | Sky Airlines | Antalya | | SunExpress | Antalya, Istanbul [begins March 29] | | Syrian Air | Aleppo, Berlin-Schönefeld, Damascus | | Swiss International Air Lines | Zürich | | TAROM | Bucharest-Henri Coandă, Cluj-Napoca | | Transaero Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo | | Tunisair | Tunis | | Turkish Airlines | Ankara, Istanbul-Atatürk | | Ukraine International | Kiev-Boryspil, Odessa | | Vueling Airlines | Barcelona | [edit] Cargo airlines [edit] References [edit] External links |
