Vienna, Feb 11 (IANS): The Austrian government will start deporting rejected asylum seekers via the military transport planes within a month, Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil announced.
He made the comments on Wednesday during a visit to a hangar of the planes at Hoersching in the state of Upper Austria, Xinhua news agency reported.
Doskozil said each plane normally carries 92 passengers, though for the purposes of the repatriations it will need to be adapted and its eventual capacity is likely to be smaller.
He noted using the military planes will be "substantially cheaper" than commercial airlines or booking charter flights.
According to officials data, a total of 90,000 asylum seekers registered in Austria last year.
New regulations issued by the Austrian defence ministry will enable the country to use its army to stop refugees intending to transit through Germany. Over 1,000 migrants with forged IDs are being turned around at the Austrian border each week.