Austria to bill air rescue by flight time from 2028

Vienna and Lower Austria will change how they finance the ÖAMTC air rescue service, ORF reported on Thursday. Instead of splitting the costs equally, the two states will share them according to each mission.

The rescue helicopter is based at the ÖAMTC headquarters next to the Tangente motorway in Vienna. It responds to emergencies in Vienna and the surrounding area, as well as as far as the Weinviertel region. Lower Austria now accounts for 80 percent of the helicopter’s missions.

Under a transitional agreement for 2027, Lower Austria will pay an additional 500,000 euros. From 2028, missions will be billed according to flight minutes.

Vienna’s health councillor Peter Hacker of the Social Democratic Party said a long-term agreement would take effect in 2028 to provide legal certainty for the new financing arrangement.