Austrian Airlines expands fleet at the Vienna hub by repatriating four Q400s leased to SWISS

In an initial step, Austrian Airlines will deploy four additional aircraft at its home base at Vienna Airport in order to strengthen its own route network. The 76-seat DH8-Q400 aircraft currently in operation for the Lufthansa Group sister company SWISS within the context of a wet lease agreement will be relocated from Switzerland to Austria. The recall of the first jet already took place at the end of October, and the three other aircraft will be successively returned to the Austrian flag carrier in the first half of 2019.

“We will not make it easy for the low-cost carriers at Vienna Airport,” says Andreas Otto, Chief Commercial Officer of Austrian Airlines. “We are well prepared when it comes to service and very well positioned with our worldwide route network”, he adds.

Austrian Airlines already expanded its European route network when the winter flight schedule took effect. More than 40 additional flights to fourteen destinations have been operated each week since October 2018.

The increase in the number of flights offered to North America in addition to the increase in European flights.

The number of passengers transported by Austrian Airlines in October 2018 rose 11.7 percent to more than 1.3 million. On an accumulated basis, Austrian Airlines has flown more than 11.9 million passengers to their destinations in the period January-October 2018. This corresponds to a year-on-year rise of 8.6 percent.