s at
Vienna Airport, date unknown 837 at
London-Heathrow in 1962 s in 1964, displaying their then new uniforms for the
1964 Winter Olympic Games held in
Innsbruck in 1972. in 1989 in 1997 at
Osaka-Kansai in 2001
Early years On 3 May 1923, Walter Barda-Bardenau received approval from the Austrian government to establish an airline. He participated in the newly formed Austrian Airlines (German:
Österreichische Luftverkehrs AG) with one percent, with the remaining shares going to the Austrian railway transportation company (50%) and the
Junkers-Werke (49%). The company's initial fleet consisted of
Junkers F 13s. On 14 May 1923, the first flight performed by the fledging airline was conducted between Vienna and Munich, piloted by Hans Baur. The landing occurred in
Jedlesee, followed by a conversion to a float and a subsequent flight to Budapest. Junkers Trans European Union was the company operating the flight. Its destinations included Munich, Budapest, Nuremberg, Graz, Klagenfurt, and St. Wolfgang. Seaplanes served targets in Austria. September 1926 saw the dissolution of the union. From 1927, the company procured new aircraft with support from the government. During the same year, it formed an operating partnership agreement with
Deutsche Luft Hansa. The two companies jointly planned and operated line connections and created a route network to Berlin, Budapest, and Milan. In 1932, Luft Hansa Junkers held a 49% interest in the company. Following its recovery from the
Great Depression, the firm expanded its fleet by adding several Junkers Ju 52/3 m. The firm's rapid growth throughout the 1930s led to it becoming the fourth-largest airline in Europe at one point. In 1938, the company began planning routes to Rome, Paris, and London, using a fleet of
Junkers Ju 90 aircraft. Following the
annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938, these plans were promptly abandoned. From 1 January 1939, the airline was fully under the control of Lufthansa. Lufthansa deleted the company from the commercial register in June 1939. During 1969, the airline broke new ground with the launch of its first long-distance route to New York City in the United States (early flights were made in co-operation with Belgian
Sabena with a layover in
Brussels). However, the operations ceased on 31 March 1971 due to low traffic. The Caravelle formed a core part of Austrian Airlines' fleet until 1973. Deliveries of the American-built jetliner, the
Douglas DC-9, commenced in 1971. On 13 October 1977, Austrian became the first customer for the
DC-9-80, placing an initial order for eight. The first MD-87 entered service at the end of 1987, as did the MD-83 from 1990, while six of the airline's MD-81s were upgraded to MD-82 standards. On 26 March 1989, Austrian Airlines inaugurated its first regular long-haul route, to
New York-JFK, using an
Airbus A310-300 (OE-LAA), aptly named "New York". In 1988, Austrian Airlines underwent an
initial public offering on the
Vienna Stock Exchange, although the majority of shares in the company remained held by the Austrian government at this time. Austrian and Lauda Air merged their flight operations departments into a single unit on 1 October 2004, leaving Lauda Air solely as a brand name for charter flights. It had 6,394 employees. Head office moved from Oberlaa in Vienna's
Favoriten district to
Vienna International Airport in 2007, whereas headquarters remained in Vienna. Following a modest profit of €3.3 million in 2007, the financial guidance for 2008 underwent several negative changes, culminating in an expected loss of €475 million by the end of November.
Takeover by Lufthansa In June 2008,
Merrill Lynch advised the Austrian government to sell the airline to a foreign company. Interest was shown by
Lufthansa,
Air France–KLM,
Royal Jordanian,
Air China,
Turkish Airlines,
Aeroflot,
S7 Airlines, and
Singapore Airlines. Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and S7 emerged as potential bidders. On 13 November 2008, state holding
ÖIAG announced that Lufthansa was selected. The German company was to enter Austrian Airlines' capital with a 41.6% share, for which it would pay €366,268.75. AUA CEO Alfred Ötsch and OIAG chairman Peter Michaelis were heavily criticised for revealing to Lufthansa that it had to take over the €500 million debt only when the deal had been made binding. Michaelis refused a new tendering procedure but was made a scapegoat with his shareholder rights removed, and Ötsch resigned on 29 January 2013. The European Commission began an investigation into the acquisition on 1 July 2009, suspecting a fraudulent tendering process that had already determined everything in favour of Lufthansa. Finally, following approval from the European Commission, Lufthansa purchased Austrian Airlines during September 2009. Shares in Austrian Airlines AG were suspended on the Vienna Stock Exchange on 4 February 2010. After a time of uncertainty following the demission of appointed CEO Thierry Antinori, the arrival of Jaan Albrecht as the new CEO in 2011 signalled the beginning of a new era for the airline, with improving passenger numbers and a more strategic position within the Lufthansa framework. The completion of extension works at the Vienna International Airport will give the airline more room for expansion. In January 2012, the airline implemented a new strategy that included the addition of 11 new aircraft in the next three years, resulting in a long-term fleet renewal, with Airbus planes serving medium-haul routes and Boeings serving long-haul routes. Despite eliminating 2,500 jobs, the company was still losing money in December 2011, prompting the revelation of a new cost-saving plan. Lufthansa refused to provide financial support. Austrians once again called for recapitalisation in March 2012. Lufthansa approved a capital increase of €140 million to address the structural deficiencies. The Lauda Air subsidiary was merged into Austrian Airlines on 1 July 2012.
Operational transition to Tyrolean from 2012 Tyrolean Airways, a subsidiary, took over AUA operations on 30 April 2012 after negotiations over cost-cutting measures failed. Tyrolean operated all Austrian flights after this date. However, 110 pilots and 250 flight personnel chose not to go to Tyrolean but to leave the group. In April 2013, Austrian Airlines retired its final
Boeing 737, a 737-800 variant in Lauda Air markings, as part of its fleet consolidation exercise. The recent negotiation of a new labour agreement led to this move. Ahead of this merger, Austrian announced an overhauled concept, initially called "my Austrian", on 26 March 2015; it included a new corporate design, a revised aircraft livery, and several new routes. However, in January 2016, Austrian Airlines announced it would revise its new branding introduced in spring 2015 by dropping the word "my" in front of Austrian; this new feature had been severely criticised. In June 2015, Austrian Airlines announced the purchase of 17
Embraer 195s from within the Lufthansa Group. These Embraer aircraft, which had been owned by
Lufthansa CityLine, replaced the ageing
Fokker 70s and
100s. By August 2016, the fleet had received eight of the 17 Embraer aircraft and nine of the 23 Fokker aircraft. By late July 2017, all of the remaining Fokker 70s had been phased out; the Fokker 100s followed by the end of the year. The new identity was jointly designed by the airline and the Viennese branding agency Brainds using the Portada font to make the brand "more modern and fit for the digital future". The new brand identity was honored with the
Red Dot Award in 2019. By March 2021, Airbus A320s replaced all
Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft, shutting down all crew bases outside Vienna and moving all routes not passing through Vienna airport to either Lufthansa or
Eurowings. In January 2020, Austrian announced the further retirement of three of its six
Boeing 767-300ER.
Developments since the COVID-19 pandemic From 18 March to 15 June 2020, Austrian Airlines officially suspended all the regularly scheduled flights as the
global air traffic collapsed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. With regular operations suspended, the airline carried out several repatriation flights to carry home Austrians stranded abroad, as well as freight flights to carry medical supplies. Such flights were launched to
Abuja,
Bali, Lima,
Mexico City, and
Sydney. In the summer of 2020, the airline received €600 million in financial aid from Lufthansa and the
Austrian government to help it weather the pandemic; in return, Austrian Airlines committed to, among others, reducing emissions in Austria by 50% by 2030. Overall, the airline ended 2020 flying 3.1 million passengers, a 79% drop from the prior year. Austrian Airlines announced in September 2021 that it will terminate all its remaining scheduled services originating from Austrian airports outside of Vienna. These will be either cancelled or transferred to sister company
Eurowings. In the fall of 2023, Austrian was ordered by an
Austrian court to stop advertising flights carried out with SAF as "CO2 neutral". Starting in the early 2020s, Austrian embarked on a fleet modernisation program. First, in the autumn of 2022, Austrian announced an order of four new
Airbus A320neo. In October of the same year, Austrian welcomed the first of the four new Airbus A320neo into the fleet, with the remaining three slated for gradual introduction until spring 2023. Austrian further announced in April 2023 that they will replace their current long-haul fleet of 3 Boeing 767-300ER and 6 Boeing 777-200ER with 10
Boeing 787-9 from early 2024 to 2028. Five of these jets will be transferred from
Lufthansa, and the other five will be delivered to Austrian from the existing Lufthansa Group order. In early 2024, Austrian confirmed that the airline will receive overall 11 Boeing 787-9s, two of which were pre-owned by
Bamboo Airways and were to be delivered by March 2024 with a start of scheduled operations planned for summer 2024.
Repatriation Flights ==Corporate affairs==