70th anniversary

Vienna Airport: From 64,000 to 30 million passengers

The number of passengers is expected to rise to between 35 and 40 million a year over the next ten years.

(Bild: Flughafen Wien)

Vienna Airport celebrated its 70th anniversary on Thursday evening. In its first year, the airport in Schwechat counted 64,211 passengers - that's how many there are now on a single day. Around 30 million passengers are expected in the anniversary year 2024. The previous record of 31.7 million was set in 2019.

The agreement between AUA management and the trade union on a new collective agreement for cabin crew was announced during the event as a kind of birthday present.

This is "really, really great news for the site", said Julian Jäger, Member of the Management Board of the airport. "I am very pleased", said Vienna's mayor and governor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) in response to the agreement at AUA. The airport is also "strengthened by this".

Contemporary witness: "40 people at the Christmas party"
Emma Setzer (94) from Fischamend was invited to the anniversary event as a contemporary witness. She worked at the airport from 1954 to 1984. "40 people" attended the first Christmas party, recalled the employee from the very beginning.

It was a "generous gesture" that Great Britain returned Vienna Airport, the former Royal Air Force (RAF) Station Vienna, to Austria in 1954, she emphasized at the celebration. Airport CEO Jäger looked back on an "incredible journey". 30 million passengers are "as many as Prague, Budapest and Bratislava have together".

Milestones

The first highlight of the expansion was the extension of runway 12/30 (now 11/29) in 1959. This was followed by the opening of the new terminal building and the opening of the second runway (16/34) in October 1977. The IPO in 1992 is regarded as a "landmark event in the history of the airport". 2003 saw the launch of the City Airport Train (CAT), and in 2005 the 109-metre-high new tower went into operation. One year later, the new VIP and General Aviation terminal building was opened. Terminal 3 was opened in 2012 and Office Park 4 four years ago. Vienna Airport commissioned one of the largest PV systems in Austria at the beginning of 2023.

Investments planned
"We will continue to invest," announced Jäger. There is talk of four billion euros over the next ten years. The number of passengers is expected to rise to between 35 and 40 million annually by then. Jäger named growth, five-star quality and "no CO2 emissions (net zero CO2) by 2033" as three priority goals that are being pursued.