Vienna International Airport (German: Flughafen Wien-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 km west of Bratislava. It is the country’s biggest airport and serves as the hub for Austrian Airlines and a base for Eurowings and Niki. 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. During 2015, the airport handled 22,775,054 passengers, a 1.3% increase compared to 2014, and it recorded 226,811 aircraft movements.
Originally built as a military airport in 1938, and used during World War ll 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.
