First Additional Austrian Airlines A320 Aircraft Landed in Vienna

8th October 2019

• Ten additional Airbus jets designed to strengthen the flight hub in Vienna
• Upgrading of the Austrian fleet and capacity expansion to be carried out by 2021

The first of the ten additional Airbus A320 aircraft, which will strengthen the Austrian Airlines fleet at Vienna Airport, landed in Vienna yesterday evening at 8.29 p.m. local time. In January 2019, Austria’s national carrier announced a large-scale conversion of its fleet. Ten additional Airbus jets will replace 18 Dash 8-400 turboprops by 2021.

In July, Austrian Airlines already disclosed that the contracts had been signed for six additional jets. Up until that time, four Airbus A320 aircraft had been operated by Avianca Brasil, and two others are currently deployed by the Star Alliance Connecting Partner Juneyao Airlines. The first four airplanes are currently being modified i.e. the aircraft with the registration OE-LZD is now being concerted by Austrian Technik in Vienna, whereas OE-LZF is still in Jacksonville, USA. Aircraft OE-LZC just landed at Fokker in Woensdrecht, Netherlands over the last few days for remodeling work, and OE-LZE will take off towards the Netherlands in the coming weeks.

The very first of the jets was formally received yesterday evening by Austrian Airlines in Vienna. The aircraft with the registration OE-LZD was handed over by the leasing company Aviation Capital Group, departing in Jacksonville (Florida) and making interim stops in Bangor (Maine) and Shannon (Ireland) before landing in Vienna. The paintwork of the aircraft already featured the well-known Austrian Airlines colors. This A320-214 aircraft was first licensed in October 2012 and is equipped with CFM56-5B4/3 engines. Plans call for the Airbus A320 jet to be the first of the additional planes to be transferred to Austrian Airlines Operations and take off on behalf of Austria’s national carrier over the next few weeks.