3rd Vienna runway is back on the cards
Print Edition
A ban on construction of Vienna Airport’s third runway was annulled by Austria’s top court yesterday.
The Constitutional Court said a ruling by the lower administrative court, which had blocked the expansion project for environmental reasons in February, was a “misguided decision.”
It “involved climate protection and land consumption in an unconstitutional way in its weighing of interests,” said Gerhart Holzinger, president of the Constitutional Court.
Airport expansion is a hot topic in Europe, pitting local residents and environmentalists against airlines, airports and businesses. Law experts see the Austrian case as trend-setting for other major infrastructure projects.
Holzinger ordered the administrative court, which said a third runway would run counter to Austria’s pledge to the Paris climate agreement and that the creation of 30,000 new jobs could not justify the extra pollution, to decide again on the issue.
Vienna Airport, which had said the ban ignored its fundamental rights, welcomed the decision. “An infrastructure project that is so important for the future again has a chance of realization,” said Guenther Ofner, a member of Vienna Airport’s management board.
The airport is the country’s biggest, serving as a secondary hub in the Lufthansa-Star Alliance network and focusing on Eastern Europe and on intercontinental destinations in Asia.
Austria’s Transport Minister Joerg Leichtfried also welcomed the ruling.
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