Vienna International Airport (German: Flughafen Wien-Schwechat, Slovak: Letisko Viedeň-Schwechat; IATA: VIE, ICAO: LOWW) is the international airport of Vienna, the capital of Austria, located in Schwechat, 18 km (11 mi) southeast of central Vienna and 57 kilometres (35 mi) west of Bratislava. 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 as Vienna's (and Austria's) principal aerodrome. There was just one runway, which in 1959 was expanded to measure 3,000 m (9,843 ft). The erection of the new airport building starting 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 jetbridges. 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. In 1996 Pier West with 12 jetbridges got in operation.
It is the country's largest airport and serves as the hub for Austrian Airlines and Eurowings Europe as well as a base for low-cost carriers Lauda, Wizz Air and Ryanair. 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. In 2018, the airport handled 27 million passengers, a 10.8% increase compared to 2017.
FLICKR - GLOBAL PLANESPOTTING - GALLERY
1 -Infligth Videos