Austrian Airlines is Austria’s largest carrier and operates a global route network of approximately 130 destinations, being particularly dense in Central and Eastern Europe with 35 destinations.
Thanks to its favourable geographical location at the heart of Europe, the company’s hub at Vienna International Airport is the ideal gateway between East and West. Austrian Airlines is part of the Lufthansa Group, Europe’s largest airline group, and a member of the Star Alliance, the first global alliance of international airlines.
Austria established the world’s first regular international air connection on 1 April 1918, when it opened its route between Vienna and Kiev. Initially, this served only to transport post. In July 1918, the line from Vienna to Budapest was also opened.
On 14 May 1923, the first aircraft to be operated by ÖLAG (Österreichische Luftverkehrs AG) flew from Vienna to Munich. ÖLAG soon expanded to become the fourth-largest airline in Europe. Following the occupation of Austria in 1938, ÖLAG was forced to cease operations.
When Austria regained sovereignty over its airspace in 1955 with the signature of the State Treaty, two separate carriers were founded, Air Austria and Austrian Airways. Neither of the two began operating flights at this stage. On 4 April 1957, the two companies finally merged to form a single airline, Austrian Airlines.
On 30 September 1957, Austrian Airlines AG was founded, and the new company began to operate scheduled services on 31 March 1958.
The fleet development announced in January 2019 is taking shape now: Austrian Airlines has now secured six additional A320 aircraft. The first of these jets is scheduled for delivery in August. Within the next few days, it will already receive the red-white-red Austrian color scheme in Jacksonville/USA. A total of ten additional jets are to replace the 18 Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft by 2021. Austrian will thus increase its Airbus fleet from 36 to 46 aircraft. As of June 30, 2019, the entire Austrian Airlines fleet consisted of 82 aircraft.
“These six additional A320s should also be understood as a strong signal towards low cost competition. We are defending our market position and are determined to fight for our customers”, Austrian Airlines CCO Andreas Otto explains the strategic fleet development.
Four A320 aircraft from Avianca Brasil, two from Juneyao
Four of the six additional A320 jets are leased from Aviation Capital and previously flew at Avianca Brasil. In part, these aircraft are already being subject to the necessary delivery check. The first A320 plane is expected to be transferred to Austrian Airlines in the middle of August. Additional planes will be supplied at the end of August as well as in September and October. Following the necessary modifications and adaptations, the first aircraft should be put into operation on Austrian Airline’s behalf in December of this year. Austrian Airlines will take possession of two other Airbus jets purchased from CDB Aviation, which are currently operated by Star Alliance Connecting Partner Juneyao.
Quality, reliability and creation of a positive travel experience for our customers are the core competencies of the Austrian Airlines Group. Thus we aim at inspiring our passengers. In this regard Central Procurement plays an essential role: We are searching for suppliers and partners, who support us in satisfying our customers’ needs. However, this gets surpassed by a continuous cost optimization process, quality improvement and especially by innovation through which we enthuse and amaze our customers.
Source: https://www.austrianairlines.ag