Only two figures can illustrate the significance of the last decade on Salzburg Airport as well as on the economy and tourist industry in the region: in 1986, 460,004 Passengers were counted and just ten years later it was three times as many.

The 1.13 million passengers in 1995 was the best result in the history of the airport. This traffic result put Salzburg Airport in the "Regional Component" group. This meant it belonged in the second of three EU airport categories.

The new strategy which was developed by the new airport management at the beginning of the 80’s and which was targeted to bring the English and Scandinavian charter guests to Austria via Salzburg really took off. From 1986 to 1987 the number of passengers increased from 460,000 to 612,000, and one year later reached 800,000. In 1990 the million mark was narrowly missed with the 934,000 passenger count.

The great Air Festival which took place from 14th to 17th August 1986, celebrated the 60th birthday of the airport with old timers, aerial stunt aircraft and military jets was watched by thousands of spectators. However, there were also massive complaints about the noise which just went to show how close enthusiasm lies to criticism when it comes to the subject of the airport. The learning process of the management was hard to avoid as politicians made the airport to be a great topic of interest for themselves. In 1990, the Ministry of Transport passed a new law about permissible noise level at the airport which resulted in the passenger figures decreasing from 934,000 to 766,000. This eventually made the airport start on a successful path oriented towards environmental protection. This was the beginning of the road to success which reached its peak in 1990 with almost 900,000 passengers. This excellent result was caused on the one hand by the incoming charter flights from Great Britain and Scandinavia and on the other hand the increasing popularity of Salzburg Airport as a starting point for the summer charter flights.

At present Salzburg Airport W. A. Mozart has a runway which is 2,850 Metres long and which allows operation during bad weather conditions according to CAT II/III within range of sight of just 200 metres. In addition, the flight security company Austro Control has the most modern radar and navigation equipment.
Lauda Air has been offering non-stop long distance flights to the Caribbean for many years. Almost 1000 jobs have been created for the airport and all the organizations belonging to it. More than 100 million Austrian Schillings have been invested in noise protection. In 2000 Salzburg Airport W. A. Mozart managed to reach the target record of 1,265,000 passengers.