New Fleet Planning: Austrian Airlines will be flying Boeing 787s as early as May

It's now official: Austrian Airlines will get new long-haul aircraft sooner than previously expected. Annette Mann confirmed on Tuesday (February 6) that the first two Dreamliners will be received at the end of February. As the airline's CEO revealed, this is not a temporary solution. The Boeing 787-9 is here to stay.

As a result, Austrian Airlines will expand its fleet more than previously planned. Austria's Lufthansa currently operates nine long-haul aircraft: three Boeing 767s and six Boeing 777s. Until now there has been constant talk of replacing these aging aircraft with ten Boeing 787-9s. Now, according to Mann, there will be a total of 11 aircraft, all Dreamliners.

From the end of June or beginning of July towards North America

First, the current fleet of nine older aircraft will be supplemented by two Dreamliners in the coming weeks. This is a “huge challenge,” Mann asserts. But we are all very excited to do it,” the AUA president said. As has been said in Vienna aviation circles, and aeroTELEGRAPH has already reported, two Boeing 787-9 aircraft were available at short notice for Austrian Airlines, having previously flown for Bamboo Airways.

The two additional aircraft serve, on the one hand, to consolidate the existing flight schedule, but on the other hand, to accommodate the new destination Boston, explains Mann. The two Boeing 787-9 aircraft are scheduled to be used regularly in North America from the end of June or beginning of July.

Firstly on short trips

Austrian Airlines pilots are currently being trained on the new model in the simulator. From May onwards, the first of these flights will be short-haul flights using a Boeing 787-9. Lufthansa is also initially using its Dreamliner aircraft on domestic or European routes in order to train its employees.

In the original plan, AUA was to receive ten Dreamliners to replace its nine Boeing 767 and 777 aircraft. Five new aircraft are scheduled to come from the Lufthansa Group's existing order from Boeing. The other five were supposed to switch from Lufthansa to Austrian. These are the aircraft that Lufthansa has already acquired and which Boeing originally intended to sell to the Chinese group HNA.

Proper cabin layout

Based on the new fleet layout, Austrian Airlines will likely continue to take delivery of the previous five HNA Dreamliners as well as the two Bamboo Dreamliners, but only four directly from the Boeing factory. Both Bamboo and HNA aircraft have 26 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 247 economy class seats.