Since 1954, Vienna Airport has been Austria’s gateway to the world! The first scheduled flights took off from Vienna Airport 70 years ago. This has been on the rise since then!
A small airfield became the international hub of Europe: It all started with the handover of the then spartan airport facility by the British occupying forces to the Republic of Austria in 1954. The take-offs and landings of the few aircraft set the course for an incredible development: in the first year of operation 64,000 travelers frequented the airport – today the number of passengers has grown to around 30 million passengers per year. Originally used as a military airfield for the German Air Force, the starting signal for Vienna Airport as we know and appreciate it today was only given after the end of the second world war. During the occupation, the British handed over the Royal Air Force Station Schwechat, which they had taken over in 1945, to Austria. January 1, 1954 was the hour of birth: Flughafen Wien Betriebsgesellschaft mbH began operations. At that time, 50 percent belonged to the federal government, 25 percent each to Lower Austria and Vienna. Era of growth In the late 1950s and 1960s, the aviation industry flourished. When Austrian Airlines AG was founded in 1957, Vienna Airport became its proud home base to this day. The first flight to London took place on March 31, 1958. In 1960, Terminal 2 was opened and is still in operation today. 14 airlines serve regular air traffic. Just six years later, the airport cracked the 1 million passenger mark for the first time. In 1969 – the year of the moon landing – Austrian launched its first transatlantic flight to New York. Dark times During the rule of the National Socialists, monstrous crimes were committed in what is now the area. A memorial designed by artist Arik Brauer commemorates the horrific suffering of thousands of concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers. They had to build Heinkel aircraft under inhumane conditions. The attack by the terrorist group Abu Nidal at the check-in counter of the Israeli airline EL AL on December 27, 1985 also brought dark hours. Three deaths and dozens of injuries were reported. A mood of optimism The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 is considered a positive milestone Airport even more into the center of Europe – it will be the leading hub to the east. This upswing was reflected in the IPO in 1992. Today, this share is one of the most successful airport shares in the world with a value of 4.3 billion euros.Continuous expansionBut the absolute flying height has not yet been reached. Another success story: the 20 million passenger mark was broken in 2011. At the same time, the location is also changing significantly. The construction of the highest airport tower in Europe to date, the opening of the new Terminal 3 and the expansion of AirportCity with Office Park 4 impressively shape the silhouette. The airport has received the 4-star rating from Skytrax several times for its high quality the award for “Best Airport Staff Europe”. In 2019, the highest passenger record to date was achieved with 31.7 million. A few months later, however, the pandemic brought things to a screeching halt. The biggest crisis in global aviation does not spare Vienna Airport: at the peak of Covid, passenger volumes are reduced by 99% to a few hundred travelers per day. New passenger boom But the airport is recovering quickly: as restrictions are increasingly relaxed, travelers are returning Passenger numbers continue to grow before the crisis. This year the airport is expecting around 30 million passengers. Currently, more than 60 airlines serve direct flights from Vienna to 190 destinations in 67 countries worldwide. With more than 23,000 employees in 250 companies, the location is the largest employer in the eastern region. The airport has been in good, solution-oriented communication with its neighbors for more than 20 years. With the commissioning of one of the largest PV systems in Austria and other measures, Vienna Airport has been operating CO2-neutrally since 2023. With the construction of the southern terminal expansion (planned to go into operation in 2027) and the legally binding approval for the 3rd runway, the course has been set the future posed. Experts expect the number of passengers worldwide to double by 2050. 80 percent of the world’s population have never flown and they also want and will travel. And hopefully many of them via Vienna Airport…All information online at viennaairport.com/70jahre
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