Austria to deport rejected asylum seekers within one month: defense minister

The Austrian government will start to repatriate rejected asylum seekers via the army's Hercules transport planes within a month, Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said Wednesday.

He made the comments during a visit to a hangar of the planes at Hoersching in the state of Upper Austria, Der Standard newspaper reported.

Doskozil said each plane normally seats 92 passengers, though for the purposes of the repatriations it will need to be adapted and its eventual capacity will likely be smaller.

He noted using the military planes will be "substantially cheaper" than commercial airlines or booking charter flights. Endi