After two decades of legal battles and environmental protests, Flughafen Wien AG has abandoned plans to build a third runway. Co-CEO Julian Jaeger told national broadcaster ORF that updated demand forecasts show the €2 billion investment would not generate an adequate return, especially after Austrian Airlines and Ryanair withdrew support.
Airlines are up-gauging to larger, more efficiently filled aircraft, squeezing more passengers through the airport’s existing two runways. Rising construction costs and stricter sustainability targets further eroded the business case, leading the operator to write off €55.9 million in planning assets.
![Vienna Airport Scraps €2 Billion Third-Runway Project, Removing Long-Term Capacity Uncertainty]()
For mobility and travel managers the decision removes years of uncertainty over potential slot shortages, construction-phase disruption and curfew revisions—all factors that influence duty-of-care routing and expatriate housing choices in affected suburbs. Shares in the airport rose 4.5 percent on the news.
Management says growth ambitions remain intact, but future investment will focus on smarter air-traffic management, terminal refurbishment and digitisation projects such as biometric e-gates—developments that could dovetail with the new EU Entry/Exit System.
Companies planning regional headquarters or logistics hubs can therefore base medium-term travel budgets on the current infrastructure, while monitoring incremental upgrades that might improve on-time performance without major construction works.
Airlines are up-gauging to larger, more efficiently filled aircraft, squeezing more passengers through the airport’s existing two runways. Rising construction costs and stricter sustainability targets further eroded the business case, leading the operator to write off €55.9 million in planning assets.
For mobility and travel managers the decision removes years of uncertainty over potential slot shortages, construction-phase disruption and curfew revisions—all factors that influence duty-of-care routing and expatriate housing choices in affected suburbs. Shares in the airport rose 4.5 percent on the news.
Management says growth ambitions remain intact, but future investment will focus on smarter air-traffic management, terminal refurbishment and digitisation projects such as biometric e-gates—developments that could dovetail with the new EU Entry/Exit System.
Companies planning regional headquarters or logistics hubs can therefore base medium-term travel budgets on the current infrastructure, while monitoring incremental upgrades that might improve on-time performance without major construction works.
