Austrian Airlines History

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Austrian Airlines is the international airline of Austria. The airline was established on September 30, 1957, with its headquarters in Austria and main hub at Vienna International Airport, in Wien-Umgebung. Its first flight took off from Vienna on March 18, 1958, when the Vickers Viscount 779 flew to London, via Zurich. Austrian Airlines began its domestic services on May 1, 1963 and kick-started its transatlantic services on April 1, 1969, when it flew from Vienna to New York in co-operation with Sabena. Go through the following lines to check out the history and profile of Austrian Airlines.

Acquisitions
Austrian Airlines was found through the merger of Air Austria and Austrian Airways. With the passing time, the airline has managed to dominate the skies over Central and Eastern Europe. Austrian Airlines acquired Tyrolean Airways in March 1998 and took over Lauda Air, an airline based in Vienna that plied long haul flights, in 2000. Thus, the three airlines formed a group named as 'Austrian Airlines Group'. In the same year, Austrian Airlines became a member of the Star Alliance, the world's first and largest airline alliance. On February 15, 2001, Austrian Airlines also acquired Rheintalflug, a regional airline based in the European country of Austria.

Recent Developments
The focus of Austrian Airlines is on scheduled flights to national as well as international destinations, while Tyrolean Airways (also called Austrian Arrows) specializes in regional business, and Lauda Air flies chartered flights. Austrian Airlines was re-branded in 2003 and came to be known as 'Austrian', since then.

On October 1, 2004, the Flight Operations Departments of Austrian and Lauda Air were merged and thus, they formed a single unit. Thereafter, Lauda Air remained as merely a brand name, only for the operations of charter flights of the Group. Austrian Airlines has done a code-sharing deal with AirBaltic, Air India, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, El Al Israel Airlines, Jat Airways and Lufthansa.

Fleet And Destinations
Austrian Airlines has a fleet of 36 aircrafts. These include Airbus A319-114, Airbus A320-214, Airbus A321-111/211, Boeing 737-600, Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 767-300ER and Boeing 777-200ER. The airline covers a number of destinations across the globe. The African destinations covered by Austrian Airline Group are Egypt and Libya. The Group covers a number of cities in Central, East, South (including India), Southeast and Southwest Asia. Major cities in Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Switzerland are also covered by the Group of airlines. It also plies flights to important cities in Eastern, Western and Southern Europe as well as North America (Canada and United States) and Carribean.