Airlines
Austrian Airlines Speeds Removal of Bombardier Q400s
The Vienna-based Lufthansa Group unit will acquire 10 Airbus A320s, close regional crew bases, and hand routes to other Lufthansa group carriers.
Austrian Airlines Bombardier Q400s line up in Vienna. (Photo: Austrian Airlines)
Austrian Airlines Bombardier Q400s line up in Vienna. (Photo: Austrian Airlines)

While remaining tight-lipped on the renewal of its long-haul fleet, Austrian Airlines will move ahead with the modernization of its short- and medium-haul fleet as part of a strategy to defend its position at Vienna airport and better compete with the low-cost carriers (LCCs). The new strategy, dubbed #DriveTo25, calls for a €200 million investment to expand its Airbus fleet to 46 aircraft over the next three years from the current 36 A320 family narrobodies—six A321, 23 A320s and seven A319s—and the earlier than planned retirement of its turboprops. Austrian Airlines currently flies 18 Bombardier Q400s, all of which it plans to remove by 2021.