fwp provided advice and support to the City of Vienna as an advocate for the third runway in the proceedings before the Austrian Constitutional Court.

fwp advised the City of Vienna as one of the municipalities affected by the planned third runway for Vienna Airport and also represented it in the proceedings before the Austrian Constitutional Court (VfGH). Right from the start, the City of Vienna supported the realisation of the project provided that noise pollution was minimised. Following the court’s decision, this will now become possible.

The Austrian Constitutional Court overturned the ruling of the Austrian Federal Administrative Court with regard to the third runway based on a violation of the principle of equality before the law. In doing so, the court relied on key arguments brought forward by the City of Vienna in its statement drafted by fwp. “The ruling announced yesterday by the VfGH fully conforms to the legal standpoint of the City of Vienna. The reason cited by the court for its decision was a key argument put forward by fwp in the proceedings before the VfGH as well as in the parallel proceedings before the Federal Administrative Court”, says fwp partner Michael Hecht.

Now that the Constitutional Court has reversed the ruling of the Federal Administrative Court, the case goes back to the Federal Administrative Court, which now has to rule again, based on the ruling of the Constitutional Court. “We are confident that a re-evaluation of the project based on the ruling of the Constitutional Court as announced today will lead to a positive outcome”, concludes fwp partner Michael Hecht.