Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna) will seek assistance from local governments and from the European Commission’s Public Service Obligations (PSO) scheme to keep alive its four remaining domestic routes, most of which are loss-making, Air Transport World has reported.
Domestic routes play a vital role in the flag carrier's global network and feeder system as well as in the Star Alliance network, Austrian Airlines CCO Andreas Otto told ATW. The vast majority of domestic passengers are not travelling point-to-point within the country, he said, but transfer through Vienna.
“It is very important to proceed together with the local governments,” he elaborated, adding that the airline carries more than half a million passengers on its domestic routes.
Austria’s flag carrier currently operates 93 frequencies per week from Vienna to Klagenfurt (27 weekly), Innsbruck (26 weekly), Salzburg (21 weekly), and Graz (19 weekly), according to the ch-aviation capacities module.
In October 2018, Austrian transferred all of its domestic flights between Vienna and Linz Blue Danube to Austrian AIRail, a service it operates together with the national rail system ÖBB. It is now looking to transfer other domestic routes to the train, Otto said, adding: “Our long-term goal is also part of our environmental responsibility.”
Austrian Airlines revealed in January that it would close six crew bases around the country (in Graz, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg, and Altenrhein just over the border in Switzerland) as it replaces eighteen Dash 8-400s with A320s. It explained that the move, affecting around 200 flight crew, was part of a wider effort to improve performance.
