Concept
Vienna Airport (formerly branded as Vienna International Airport, Flughafen Wien-Schwechat; ) is the international airport of Vienna, the capital of Austria, located in Schwechat, southeast of central Vienna and west of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The Austrian Aeronautical Information Publication calls the airport the Wien-Schwechat Airport in English. 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. 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 Aspern Airfield as Vienna's (and Austria's) principal aerodrome. There was just one runway, which in 1959 was expanded to measure . 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. de, 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 are part of the Austrian Traded Index. 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.
