Austrian Airlines even more “Red-White-Red” in the future

“Our foundation walls have been strengthened again, and now we are giving ourselves a new coat of paint”, says Austrian CEO and trained architect Jaan Albrecht. Over the last two years Austrian Airlines has once again operated profitably. Today the red-white-red national carrier of Austria originally planned to present its new strategy and new uniforms. However, Austrian Airlines decided to forego any major presentation due to the tragic crash of an aircraft belonging to its sister company Germanwings.

“myAustrian“: Individualization and a new air fare model as the core of the new strategy
As of autumn of 2015, Austrian Airlines will launch a new air fare concept for its Austrian and European flight traffic, as previously announced. The new strategy involves more flexibility for passengers in the future to choose additional services. For example, travelers can individually book DO&CO à la carte dishes on board, additional baggage or other services independent of fare packages. The passenger will be able to put together “his or her” own customized flight. In line with this, Austrian Airlines will have the word “my” in front of its brand name – “myAustrian”.

“The brand name ‘myAustrian’ is designed to signal to customers that we want to more effectively respond to their individual product wishes in the future than in the past. At the same time we want to strengthen the identification of our employees and customers with ’their’ airline”, says Austrian Airlines CCO Andreas Otto.

In the future travelers will be able to choose from four air fare categories with different services. In addition to the existing Business Class, three new Economy Class fares will be introduced for flights within Europe as of autumn of 2015 i.e. “Light”, ”Classic” und ”Flex”. Sale of the new fares will begin in the summer of 2015. The “Light” category will comprise the least expensive fares for passengers taking scheduled flights in Europe, who only travel with hand luggage and do not require any possibility to rebook flights or have their fares refunded.

Austrian Airlines plans new destinations
Austrian Airlines plans a slight strategic shift towards focusing more on tourist destinations in its route network. The underlying reason is the trend towards more private trips, especially warm water destinations, as well as the airline’s strategy to compensate for the reduced seasonal business in the winter months. Starting on June 20, 2015, Austria’s national carrier will fly once weekly to Mahon, the capital of the Spanish Balearic island of Menorca, and also operate five flights per week to Miami as of October 16, 2015. A Boeing 767 will fly non-stop to Mauritius every Thursday and make the return trip on Fridays starting on October 29, 2015. In the near future Austrian Airlines will announce another new long-haul destination.