Currently, an estimated 56 percent of passengers travel to Vienna's International Airport at Schwechat via car - but that could be about to change, with the launch next week of a new connection from Wien-Mitte.
Business travelers are already well-catered for with the CAT service, a luxury train which goes every 30 minutes, and which takes only 16 minutes to reach Wien-Mitte. It also offers the convenience of luggage check-in directly in the city air-terminal station.
At €17 for a return ticket (€11 one-way), it's good value compared to most European destinations, such as the Heathrow Express which charges £34 (€43) for a return (£21 for a single) if you don't book seven days in advance.
The canny 'budget' traveler would usually opt for the Wolfsthal regional train (S7), which currently costs €4.10, although it tends to be much slower, and less frequent.
However, all this changes on December 15, when a new fare plan and timetable from the Austrian railway (ÖBB) goes into effect.
The change to the S7 service means that a special connection from Wien-Mitte taking 25 minutes will cost only €2.40, one-way - less than a quarter the cost of the CAT service.
Passau, Linz and St. Pölten will also benefit with a new two-hourly service that connects using Inter-City Express (ICE) trains to the Vienna Airport via Vienna's new main railway station (Hauptbahnhof). The ICE connection will link the Hauptbahnhof to the airport in only 17 minutes, for €4.40.
Among airport travelers currently 26 percent take a private car, 26 percent take a taxi, and four percent use a car-hire or car-sharing service. Around 22 percent take trains, eleven percent take the CAT, and eleven percent use buses. According to an airport spokesman, usage of the CAT has recently risen.
