Gateway · Vienna
A record 32.56 million passengers in 2025 — and a deliberate plan for fewer in 2026. Vienna’s airport is the most instructive case study in Europe on how aviation taxes move traffic across a border.
Vienna International handled 32,559,115 passengers in 2025, an all-time record and +2.6% on 2024’s 31.72M — and above 2019’s 31.66M. Guidance for 2026 points to roughly 30M: the new national aviation tax has pushed Ryanair and Wizz Air to shift capacity to Bratislava, 60 km east.
The airport itself keeps investing: €330M is earmarked for the current programme, including the Terminal 3 Southern Extension, betting that the tax debate, not the market, is the temporary variable.
Austrian Airlines remains the home carrier with about 14.92M passengers (45.8%), followed by Ryanair at 6.66M (20.5%) and Wizz Air at 1.83M. Leisure leaders are Antalya, Mallorca and Barcelona; the long-haul spine runs to Bangkok, New York and Taipei.
The airport sits ~18 km from the centre. The City Airport Train (CAT) reaches Wien Mitte in 16–18 minutes; the cheaper S7 and S-Bahn take ~25. Revenue hit a record €1,128.9M in 2025.
THE TIO READ
Watch Vienna closely in 2026: it is running a live experiment on whether a €12–€60 aviation tax reroutes a catchment. The early evidence says yes — Bratislava is the beneficiary, and Vienna has budgeted for ~30M passengers rather than pretending otherwise. That is unusually honest planning. For travellers the practical read: fares out of VIE may firm up on low-cost routes, so compare BRATISLAVA as a real alternative — the two airports are under 80 minutes apart by direct bus, 45 times a day.
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