Flying a drone near airports in Austria

What the rules say

Each line is resolved from published facts of Austria. "Not resolved" means the corpus does not answer it in a machine-checkable way — never that the law is silent.

• Distance restrictionNot resolved
• Aerodrome permissionConditional
• Controlled airspace permissionConditional
• Protected facilitiesConditional
• Digital authorisationYes
• Altitude relationshipConditional
• ExceptionsConditional

What changes the answer

The published rules distinguish the open category of operation.

The rules behind this answer

• Binding lawNational rule

  Compliance with Military Air Traffic Control

  Responsible pilots of unmanned aircraft must comply with the instructions of the military air traffic control when entering, exiting, transiting, or operating within military reserved airspace.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Compliance with Military Air Traffic Control Instructions

  Pilots of unmanned aircraft must comply with the instructions of the military air traffic control when operating within, entering, exiting, or flying through militarily reserved airspace.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Flight Restrictions in Neusiedler-See Area (LO R 16)

  UAS operations within the Neusiedler-See flight restriction area (LO R 16) are prohibited from October 1 to July 31 unless authorized by Austro Control, conducted as emergency/military flights, or operated on designated model airfields under EU 2019/947.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Flight Restrictions in Neusiedler-See Restricted Area (LO R 16)

  UAS operations within the Neusiedler-See restricted area (LO R 16) are prohibited unless authorized by Austro Control GmbH or conducted on a model airfield designated as a geographical zone or authorized under Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Flight Restrictions in Rheindelta Area (LO R 18)

  UAS operations within the Rheindelta flight restriction area (LO R 18) are permanently prohibited unless authorized by Austro Control, conducted as emergency/military flights, or for specific airfield operations.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Right of Way for Unmanned Aircraft

  Unmanned aircraft must always yield the right of way to all other aircraft, and operators must maintain awareness of other airspace participants.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  UAS operation in aerodrome zones

  The operation of unmanned aircraft within aerodrome zones established in Annex E is prohibited without authorization from the competent authority.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  UAS operation in control zones (CTR)

  Operating a UAS within a control zone (CTR) requires the consent of the responsible air traffic control unit, unless the UAS weighs less than 250 g and is flown at a maximum altitude of 30 meters above ground.

  Open the requirementOfficial source

Official sources

• Luftfahrtgesetz (LFG) § 121 — Haftpflichtversicherung (RIS konsolidiert, XML) — Bundeskanzleramt — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS)Open
• Luftverkehrsregeln 2014 (LVR 2014) Anl. 2 — Anlage 2 (RIS konsolidiert, XML) — Bundeskanzleramt — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS)Open
• Luftverkehrsregeln 2014 (LVR 2014) § 18a — Betrieb über Menschenansammlungen (RIS konsolidiert, XML) — Bundeskanzleramt — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS)Open
• Luftverkehrsregeln 2014 (LVR 2014) § 18 — Betrieb von unbemannten Luftfahrzeugen und Flugmodellen (RIS konsolidiert, XML) — Bundeskanzleramt — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS)Open

Known limitations

• Binding law and official guidance disagree on airport_airspace.altitude_relationship; the binding position is published.
• Binding law and official guidance disagree on airport_airspace.exceptions; the binding position is published.
• 1 dimension(s) of this topic are not expressed in a machine-resolvable way by the published corpus and are reported UNKNOWN, never FALSE.

Other drone rules in Austria

• Do I need to register my drone in Austria?Registration in Austria is governed by a published mass threshold of 0.25 kg, alongside the further conditions cited below. Whether it applies to a given flight depends on those conditions, each cited to its rule.
• What is the maximum drone altitude in Austria?Drone flights in Austria are held to a published general height limit of 120 m AGL. The limit is not absolute: the published conditions that change it are cited below.
• When does a drone operation need authorisation in Austria?Whether an operation in Austria needs prior authorisation depends on the operational category, risk class or location: the published triggers below decide it.
• Do I need drone insurance in Austria?Drone insurance in Austria is published with a minimum third-party cover of 0.75 million SDR. Whether cover is required for a given flight depends on the published conditions below.

All drone laws in Austria