Gallery: Innsbruck Airport brings winter tourists to the the Austrian Alps

There are 10 parking stands in Innsbruck for narrowbody aircraft. This Transavia Boeing 737-800 must wait for a parking bay, which is blocked by a private jet.

The Innsbruck departure hall has been expanded recently. On this particular Saturday, the airport handled 16,541 passengers.

Skis and lots of luggage. Up to 200 airport employees and contract workers handle the operation on the busy winter weekends.

An Airbus A320 from Denmark-based DAT has just reached its parking position. On a typical Saturday, there are five flights to Copenhagen, 12 per day to London and many flights to other destinations

SAS has 10 flights every Saturday from Scandinavian destinations, bringing winter tourists to Tyrol. Here is a view to the west. Aircraft landing from this direction must use the required navigation performance waypoint system.

Innsbruck Airport has 15 snowplows to clean runways, taxiways and the apron. This snowplow can clear an 8-meter path.

The fire brigade is on permanent standby on Saturdays during peak season. Aircraft go-arounds are common at Innsbruck.

Innsbruck Airport CEO Marco Pernetta said that in three to four months during the winter, the airport reaches 50% of its total passenger numbers for the year.

Up to four air traffic controllers handle not only commercial airline traffic, but also general aviation traffic to and from Innsbruck, as well as some of the air routes crossing Tyrol.

Innsbruck handles around 1 million passengers per year. Every pilot needs to undergo a special rating to be allowed to land here.

Ranking airlines in terms of movements takeoffs and landings on a Saturday: Austrian Airlines (48), Thomson (18), SAS (10), Transavia (8), and Monarch, easyJet und Malmö Aviation (6 each).

An Austrian Airlines A320 and airberlin A321.