Austrian Airlines is having a busy week of news.
The country’s flag carrier and subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group made a somewhat unexpected announcement when it stated that it had contracted the regional Braathens Regional Airlines to supply two ATR 72 turboprops under wet-leasing.
The aircraft will be used on routes where its Embraer E195 jets have proven too large. “On certain regional routes, demand has not fully returned after the pandemic. To continue connecting these routes to our Vienna hub in the future, we need adjusted capacity structures,” explained Michael Testi, CCO at Austrian.
The two ATR 72s will begin flying during the summer of 2024 from Vienna to cities such as Klagenfurt, Bologna and Košice, Graz, Leipzig and Warsaw, partially or completely replacing the E195 jets.
The capacity of the ATR is 72 seats compared to 116 for the Embraer, but which has an business class with eight seats.
Boeing 787-9 arriving early
Not yet official, Austrian Airlines is expected to receive two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in the coming weeks, through leasing.
The aircraft belonged to Bamboo Airways, from Vietnam, which, due to financial crisis, removed them from service last year. The two jets would belong to the lessor CALC.
The plan is for Boeing 787s to begin flying to New York (JFK) on June 15th and to Chicago on July 1st.
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n addition to these leased planes, Austrian has nine more 787 Dreamliners on the way, which will be transferred by Lufthansa as part of a previous order.
Austrian Airlines is expected to retire all of its Boeing 767-300e and 777-200 aircraft by 2028.
