Birmingham Airport has said that Austrian Airlines is planning to launch direct scheduled services to the Austrian capital of Vienna, and onward connections across Asia and Europe.
Starting from January 1, 2020, the new service will enhance the choice of connections for passengers travelling to Asia, particularly those looking for services to Beijing and Tokyo. Austrian Airlines will also provide greater onward connectivity to many capital cities such as Budapest, Sofia and Zagreb, plus regional connections to Graz, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt.
Known as the ‘City of Music’, Vienna is home to rich imperial architecture, a vast range of museums and coffee shops. The city has much to offer those travelling in both the summer and winter, with the winter markets taking place in November through to December.
During the winter season, Austrian Airlines will operate a four-weekly service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. From summer 2020, this will increase to a daily schedule. The flights will depart from Vienna at 11:05, arriving at Birmingham Airport at 12:30. Flights will then depart from Birmingham Airport at 13:15, arriving at Vienna at 16:35.
Tom Screen, Aviation Director at Birmingham Airport, said: ‘It’s great news that Austrian Airlines will become our newest carrier in January with services to Vienna, Austrian’s beautiful capital city. With services initially operating four times weekly, the carrier will grow to daily flights by the summer 2020 and we look forward to welcoming yet another Star Alliance carrier to Birmingham Airport which will provide more choice to onward destinations across Asia and Eastern Europe.’
Andreas Otto, Chief Commercial Officer at Austrian Airlines, said: ‘We will remain number one in Austria – in five, six or ten years’ time. Austrian Airlines will coordinate the flights from the Vienna hub, while Eurowings will handle the decentralised traffic. We will connect high-demand routes such as Birmingham more closely to our hub and increase the frequency of flights.’
The Austrian Airlines service will replace the current Eurowings flights, and will be operated by an Embraer 195 aircraft with a capacity of up to 120 seats. The aircraft is equipped with eight business class seats, and 112 economy seats.
Austrian Airlines is part of the Lufthansa Group, which is part of the wider Star Alliance group, and joins six Star Alliance airlines already operating from Birmingham Airport, including Lufthansa, Air India, Brussels Airlines, SAS, SWISS and Turkish Airlines.
