Austrian Airlines is expanding its short-haul/medium-haul network for the 2023 summer season with seven new routes to Portugal, France, Italy, Montenegro, Lithuania and Scandinavia. The airline will have almost 120 destinations and more than 1,200 weekly flights in its schedule.
“The expansion of the short-haul network underlines our positioning as the clear No. 1 in Vienna and increases our presence in the European market. The aim is to provide our guests with a diverse portfolio of European destinations as well as an attractive flight schedule and excellent offers“, said Austrian Airlines CCO Michael Trestl.
On March 30, the airline began services to Palermo (PMO) with three weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) operated on Airbus A320s and A321s. For the northern summer the airline will have 35,524 seats per week on offer between Vienna (VIE) and Italy, this represents an increase of 16.2% compared to 2022 levels.
Austrian’s Italian network has services to Bologna (BLQ), Bari (BRI), Catania (CAT), Rome – Fiumicino (FCO), Florence (FLR), Naples (NAP), Olbia (OLB), Lamezia Terme (SUF), Venice (VCE) and now Palermo (PMO). According to data obtained by Aviacioline through the National Entity for Civil Aviation (ENAC), 2,039,192 passengers were mobilized between Italy and Austria in 2019, of which Austrian Airlines mobilized 813,898 travelers.
In France, the company started on March 31 its non-stop operations to Marseille (MRS) three times a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) on Embraer 195 and Airbus A320, this route will be complemented by its schedule to Paris – Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Lyon (LYS) and Nice (NCE).
The airline plans to offer 19,860 seats per week between Vienna (VIE) and four French cities, an increase of 9% when compared to last year’s summer season.
The company will resume non-stop services to Lithuania with the reactivation of the Vienna (VIE) – Vilnius (VNA) route as of April 26, which will be scheduled three times a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) on Embraer 195 and A320. The company ceased operations in the Lithuanian capital on March 22, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis.
In the Southeastern Europe region, the carrier will start a nonstop connection to Tivat, Montenegro (TIV) three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday) on Embraer 195 and A320 from May 15.
Austrian expands its network in Portugal with a new service to Porto (OPO) starting April 1 with three weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) on Airbus A320s. The airline also offers a weekly frequency to Funchal (FNC) during the summer.
In Scandinavia, the carrier will have new routes to Billund, Denmark (BLL) from April 4 operating three times weekly (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) on Embraer 195 and Airbus A320 and the winter service to Tromso, Norway (TOS) returns for the summer season from June 5 with a weekly frequency (Monday) operated on A320 and will be available until August.
The airline’s Scandinavian network also includes services to Stockholm – Arlanda (ARN) and Gothenburg (GOT) in Sweden, Copenhagen (CPH) in Denmark and Oslo (OSL) in Norway.
Austrian by the 2023 summer season will offer more than 200,000 seats per week and consolidates its position as the leading airline at Vienna Airport (VIE) in terms of seats per offered seat kilometer (ASK) with 46.2% market share according to Cirium. In addition, the airline is the only carrier to offer non-stop flights from the Austrian capital to Tromso (TOS) and Tivat (TIV).
See also: Austrian Airlines unveils its first Airbus A320neo
