Press Releases & News

Flughafen Wien to renovate Runway 16/34

Resurfacing work required for safety reasons – postponement would endanger aircraft take-offs and landings

Extensive information for residents from the Flughafen Wien homepage, environmental telephone and other sources

Maintenance work will be carried out on Runway 16/34 at Vienna Airport during the period from 8 April to 26 May 2013. This project is required for safety reasons: Runway 16/34 was built in 1976 and only underwent one general renovation 20 years ago in 1993. The surface and base courses as well as the shoulders over the entire 220,000 m² runway area must now be replaced. A single aircraft landing exerts several hundred tonnes of pressure on the runway surface, and nearly 270 landings take place each day on Runway 16/34. The failure to schedule this work would create a serious safety risk for aircraft take-offs and landings due to asphalt breakage.

Daily announcement of work schedule

Since this type of major resurfacing is not possible during the winter and in preparation for the heavier traffic during the summer season, the project is scheduled to start on 8 April 2013 and will be completed at the latest on 26 May 2013 ‑ or earlier if wind and weather conditions permit. Work can only be carried out during low-traffic periods in order not to disturb on-going flight operations. Renovation activities are therefore scheduled from 9:00 pm to 7:00 am on 25 nights and from Friday at 9:00 pm to Sunday at 4:00 pm on four or five weekends. Runway 16/34 will be shut down completely during these times and cannot be used for take-offs or landings. Decisions on the runway closing and construction planning will be made daily, depending on the actual wind and weather conditions at Vienna Airport, and will be announced on the Flughafen Wien homepage.

Daily announcement of decision on work scheduling

Take-offs and landings will be directed to Runway 29 during this time under westerly winds and windless conditions, whereby Vienna will generally not be affected during the night hours. On the weekends aircraft will use the customary routes during the day when the wind comes from the west, but there will be a higher number of flights. When the wind comes from the east, aircraft will only be able to land on Runway 11 ‑ which, for example, also means overflights over Vienna during the night. Changes in flight operations could generally be more noticeable in Schwechat, Fischamend, Kleinneusiedl and Enzersdorf an der Fischa as well as the following districts in Vienna: 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 23. The extent of these effects will depend on actual wind conditions at the airport. Alternative versions of the project realisation (no weekends, no approaches to Runway 11) were evaluated and would only have extended the length of the renovation work and resulted in an even longer disturbance for local residents.

Extensive information in the Internet and via environmental telephone

Efforts to minimise the effects of this project and to provide open and transparent information have top priority for Flughafen Wien. Detailed information on the runway renovation, the progress of construction and daily work updates will be available for review on the Flughafen Wien homepage under www.viennaairport.com in the coming weeks. Interested visitors can also register for free-of-charge visits to the construction site on weekends, whereby the related information will soon be published on the Flughafen Wien homepage. Flight movements can be reviewed under www.flugspuren.at. The detailed effects with respect to the mediation contract and noise measurements will be evaluated independently by the Dialogue Forum at Vienna Airport and published in an evaluation report.

The Flughafen Wien AG environmental telephone is available 24/7 under 0810 22 33 40 to deal with questions and complaints. Written inquiries can also be submitted at any time to the Flughafen Wien environmental homepage under www.vie-umwelt.at.