Austrian Airlines
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| Founded | 1958 | ||||||
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| Hubs | Vienna International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Innsbruck Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Miles & More | ||||||
| Alliance | Star Alliance | ||||||
| Fleet size | 35 (119 Austrian Airlines Group) | ||||||
| Destinations | 133 | ||||||
| Parent company | Austrian Airlines Group | ||||||
| Headquarters | Vienna, Austria | ||||||
| Key people | Alfred Ötsch (CEO), Thomas Kleibl (CFO) | ||||||
| Website | http://www.aua.com | ||||||
Austrian Airlines AG is the flag carrier airline of Austria, with its headquarters in Vienna. It operates scheduled sevices to over 130 destinations. Its main base is Vienna International Airport, with a hub at Innsbruck Airport.[1] In 2006 Austrian had 10 million passengers. [citation needed]
History
The airline was founded on 30 September 1957, making its maiden flight on 18 March 1958 when a Vickers Viscount 779 took off from Vienna for London, England. Austrian Airlines was formed through the merger of Air Austria and Austrian Airways. It launched domestic services on 1 May 1963. The airline's transatlantic services began on 1 April 1969 with a Vienna to Brussels and New York service in co-operation with Sabena. It became a member of the Star Alliance in 2000 and acquired Rheintalflug on 15 February 2001. Its name was shortened to Austrian in September 2003 when it rebranded its three constituent carriers.[1] On 1 October 2004 the Flight Operations Departments of Austrian and Lauda Air were merged into a single unit, leaving Lauda Air as a brand name only for charter flights.
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Austrian Airlines is owned by ÖIAG (39.7%), floating stock (43.5%), Austrian institutional investors (10.3%) and Air France (1.5%). It also wholly owns subsidiary airlines, Austrian Arrows and Lauda Air, and has a 22.5% share in Ukraine International Airlines. It has 8,468 employees[1]
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Destinations
In 2006 Austrian dominates the market for flights from/to Central- and Eastern Europe.
Due to Airbus fleet cuts in 2006 Austrian will suspend some of its long-haul flights. Flights to Phuket, Mauritius and Colombo and Malé will end from April 2007 and those to Kathmandu in May 2007. [2].
March 2007 also saw the termination of the airlines longest flights, the Vienna-Singapore-Melbourne and Vienna-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney routes, ending operations on the Kangaroo Route. This was Melbourne's last European-based airline connecting the city with direct flights to Europe.
New routes
It has increased the frequency of flights Vienna-Moscow by adding a third flight Mondays through Thursdays departing Vienna in the morning and operated with an Airbus 319. Since December 11, 2006, Austrian flies scheduled operations to Arbil in Iraq twice a week using an Airbus A319. It is the first European airline to launch scheduled services to Iraq.[2] A new flight from Vienna to Amritsar in India will start in 2007.
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New long-haul business class
Between July 2006 and May 2007, Austrian will be replacing the “Austrian Business Class” service on its Boeing long-haul fleet on a step-by-step basis. Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft will not be fitted with the new business class, as they are being phased out of the long-haul fleet.
Special security
The armed monitoring activity of Austrian flights by Cobra (police anti-terrorist-squad of Austrian Federal Ministry of interior) began already in November 1981. More than 40,000 flights “Austrian Airlines” and (starting from 1997) also “Lauda air” flights were accompanied; 1.425 alone in the year 2003, 2004 already 1,731. During each accompanied flight at least two armed air marshals are undercover aboard.
Fleet
The Austrian Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft as of June 2007:
| Aircraft | Total | Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-114 | 7 | Short and Medium haul | |
| Airbus A320-215 | 6 | Short and Medium haul | |
| Airbus A321-111 | 3 | Short and Medium haul | |
| Airbus A321-211 | 3 | Short and Medium haul | |
| Airbus A330-223 | 1 | Long and Medium haul | To be phased out at the end of 2007 |
| Boeing 767-300 | 6 | Long haul South East Asia and North America |
|
| Boeing 777-200ER | 4 | Long haul South East Asia and Oceania |
|
| Total | 30 (0 orders) |
Updated July 2007[3] |
At a board meeting in November 2006 plans were approved for the retirement of Austrian Airlines Airbus wide-bodied aircraft, to concentrate on operating a mixed fleet of Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 aircraft. Over the past year Airbus A340 aircraft have begun retiring, with the final two to leave the fleet in 2007. It intends to retire its four Airbus A330 aircraft by the end of 2006. As a result of the fleet cuts Austrian will suspend some of its long-haul services.[2]
Incidents and accidents
- On January 5, 2004, an Austrian Airlines Fokker 70 was forced to make an emergency landing on a field outside Munich International Airport. There were three minor injuries. [citation needed]
Events
It operated a "Life Ball 2006" flight New York JFK-Vienna which arrived May 2006 bringing 120 VIP passengers to the Life Ball. On board were international stars like singer Anastacia, Kool & the Gang, design duo Heatherette and Lady Kier. Models such as Cordula Reyer, Maggie Rizer, Liya Kebede, Tyson Ballou also arrived. For this flight Austrian Airlines created a specially branded Airbus A330 (OE-LAP) with the Life Ball logo and the logo of the main sponsor MINI. It will be flying for one month with the special branding not only to New York, but also to Toronto, Shanghai, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. [citation needed]
External links
References
- ^ a b c "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 81.
- ^ a b c Airliner World January 2007
- ^ Austrian Airlines
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