Austrian Court Approves Vienna Airport Third Runway

Austria’s Federal Administrative Court has approved Vienna Airport’s third runway after its previous decision blocking the project over environmental objections was overturned.

The country’s Constitutional Court annulled the Administrative Court’s initial rejection of the project in 2017 after Flughafen Wien, the airport operator, appealed the ruling.

Flughafen Wien said in a statement that it “welcomes the positive legal decision announced today by the Federal Administrative Court in favour of the third runway.”

It said the legal requirements contained in the ruling will have to be evaluated on “their factual and legal basis. It also remains to be seen whether opponents of the project will challenge this decision before the highest courts.”

It said a decision to go ahead with construction of the runaway is only possible when there is definite legal certainty.

The court ruling said that additional conditions have to be provided in areas such as greenhouse gas emissions, aircraft noise and construction site dust.

The conditions “will ensure that a CO2 neutrality of the airport is achieved within a maximum period of five years after the start-up of the new runway.”