FLEET - Fleet rollover of Austrian Airlines’ short- and medium- haul fleet has begun

• First Embraer 195 with the registration I-ENJA transferred to Air Dolomiti in Italy
• The aircraft flew for nine years with the Austrian registration OE-LWM
• COO Stefan-Kenan Scheib: “We are saying goodbye to the first of 17 Embraer aircraft, which has served us well and provided important services for many years. We are delighted that a large part of the Embraer fleet will now continue to fly with Austrian’s sister company Air Dolomiti. I would like to thank everyone in the Austrian team who has made the start of the fleet rollover for Austrian Airlines’ short- and medium-haul fleet so quick, safe, and straightforward.”

A flight with the flight number EN9910 took off today at 05:04 pm, writing a piece of Austrian Airlines flight history: under the registration number I-ENJA, the Embraer aircraft, which previously flew for Austrian under the registration number OE-LWM, was transferred to Verona. It was given a send-off by Austrian Technik with a specially made banner. Today’s flight marks the start of the already announced fleet rollover for the short- and medium-haul fleet. The first step in this process is the decommissioning of the 17 Embraer aircraft in the Austrian Airlines fleet. A total of 13 of these 17 aircraft will go to sister company Air Dolomiti. The remaining four aircraft will be sold externally. The sales process will start at the beginning of 2026.

“We are saying goodbye to the first of 17 Embraer aircraft, which has served us well and provided important services for many years. We are delighted that a large part of the Embraer fleet will now continue to fly with Austrian’s sister company Air Dolomiti. I would like to thank everyone in the Austrian team who has made the start of the fleet rollover for Austrian Airlines’ short- and medium-haul fleet so quick, safe, and straightforward”, says Stefan-Kenan Scheib, COO Austrian Airlines.

The first Embraer 195 took off on its maiden flight for Austrian Airlines in January 2016. The 17 Embraer aircraft, each with a capacity of 120 passenger seats, joined the red-white-red airline at that time as replacements for the Fokker. The “Whisky Mike” that was retired today leaves the Austrian fleet after 30,393 operating hours – 21,417 of which were for Austrian – and more than nine years of service with the Austrian fleet. It began scheduled service with Austrian Airlines on April 18, 2016, with a flight from Vienna to Stuttgart, and was the fourth Embraer to be added to the fleet at that time.

Extensive fleet rollover

Instead of the 17 Embraer aircraft, Austrian Airlines will receive six additional brand-new Airbus A320neo aircraft, each with 180 seats. The first of these six aircraft is expected in summer 2026. This will bring the Austrian home carrier’s Airbus fleet to 46 aircraft.

All these measures are part of an extensive fleet rollover of Austrian Airlines’ short- and medium-haul fleet.

As previously announced, the long-haul fleet is also being renewed. In mid-2024, the first two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners were added to the Austrian Airlines fleet. As things stand at present, ten more of these aircraft will be added by the end of 2028. This will modernize the current long-haul fleet – which also consists of seven Boeing 777s and three Boeing 767s – and expand it to 12 aircraft.

The bottom line is that Austrian Airlines is harmonizing its entire fleet. Five fleets – Embraer, Airbus, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Boeing 787-9 – will become two in the future: the Airbus A320 family and the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

As things currently stand, the Embraer 195 will be phased out by the end of 2028. The next Embraer aircraft is expected to leave Austrian in February 2026.

Austrian