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Newsworthy Photo of the Day – May 17, 2013

Travel Service Airlines (Czech Republic) Boeing 737-8Z9 WL OK-TVX (msn 33833) (Prague loves you – Prague Airport) AMS (Ton Jochems). Image: 912156.

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Austrian Airlines/Tyrolean Airways retires the last Boeing 737 on April 2

Austrian Airlines (operated by Tyrolean Airways) (Vienna) retired its last Boeing 737 with the last flight being operated with Lauda Air (Vienna) Boeing 737-8Z9 OE-LNK (msn 28178). This also retires the Lauda brand although Lauda was officially merged into Austrian on July 1, 2012.

The company issued this statement:

The final Boeing 737 in the Tyrolean Airways fleet celebrated its departure on April 2. The aircraft, which bears the registration OE-LNK, is the last to bear the Lauda Air design. This means the fleet harmonization, during which eleven Boeing 737 aircraft have been replaced with seven Airbus A320 over the last seven months, is now complete. Tyrolean Airways now has a unified fleet on its medium-haul routes, consisting of 29 aircraft of the Airbus A320 fleet family. The company Lauda Air was merged with Austrian Airlines already last year. In the private travel segment, the power of the Austrian brand has been used to greater effect both nationally and internationally since the beginning of this year, with the launch of the ‘my Holiday’ product.

“This is an important milestone for our future competitiveness,” declared Austrian CEO Jaan Albrecht. “The fleet harmonization is an essential building block in the restructuring program of the Austrian Airlines Group.” Thanks to the unified fleet on medium-haul routes, Tyrolean Airways can enhance a number of essential synergies. Double costs for maintenance and spare parts are no longer necessary, for example, training for pilots can be standardised, and the aircraft can be deployed more productively in the network schedule. This all results in savings of around
17 million euros.

Airbus on medium-haul routes

There were a variety of different reasons for the decision to opt for Airbus on medium-haul during the fleet harmonization. The Austrian Airlines Group had twice as many Airbus A320 in its fleet as it did Boeing 737. This meant the phasing out of the Boeing 737 involved lower costs, because fewer pilots and technicians needed to be retrained.

In addition to this, the Austrian Airlines Group already had larger sub-fleets within the Airbus A320 fleet, which could be operated more efficiently than the Boeing 737 sub-fleets. As well as this, the Austrian Airlines Group can benefit more from synergies within the Lufthansa Group by using the A320 on its medium-haul routes.

Dates, facts and the history of the Boeing 737 in the Austrian Airlines Group The first Boeing 737-200, registration OE-ILE, took to the air for Lauda Air in the autumn on 1985. In the years that followed, Lauda Air incorporated a succession of Boeing 737 aircraft into its fleet, but each in different versions. After the takeover of Lauda Air, Austrian Airlines had a total of eleven Boeing 737 “Next Generation” and one Boeing 737-400 “Classic” in its fleet. The final Boeing 737-400 “Classic” was phased out of the fleet in 2004.
The Boeing 737 was mainly used to carry charter traffic at Lauda Air and Austrian. Since the spring of 2010, it has also been used on scheduled routes of Austrian Airlines. To make this possible, the Boeing 737 was repainted in the Austrian colors. Just one Boeing 737-800, bearing the registration OE-LNK, continued to fly under the Lauda Air colors, to enable the company to retain its AOC, or “Air Operator Certificate”.

The Boeing 737 “Next Generation” used at Lauda Air and Austrian Airlines flew over 300,000 flight hours in total between 1998 and 2013. The Boeing 737 was used for around 8 flight hours every day in the Austrian Airlines Group. That corresponds to 4.5 landings a day.

Before the fleet harmonization, the Austrian Airlines Group had seven Boeing 737-800s, two Boeing 737-600s and two Boeing 737-700s in its fleet.

Overview of the fleet of the Austrian Airlines Group :

The Austrian Airlines Group currently has 74 aircraft in its operative fleet (all except one operated by Tyrolean):

• Long-haul:

4 Boeing 777-200 (one operated by Austrian)
6 Boeing 767-300

• Short- and medium-haul:

6 Airbus A321
16 Airbus A320
7 Airbus A319
14 Fokker 100
9 Fokker 70
12 DHC-8-400

Copyright Photo: Andi Hiltl. Pictured at Zurich, Boeing 737-8Z9 WL OE-LNK (msn 28178) wore the Lauda colors until the end.

Austrian:

Lauda:

Austrian Airlines sets its restructuring platform for 2013, won’t ask Lufthansa for any more money

Austrian Airlines (Vienna) has outlined it restructuring plans which will be fully implemented in 2013 including moving all operational administration to Innsbruck under Tyrolean Airways which operating all Austrian aircraft (except one). 150 administrative jobs will also be eliminated. Struggling Austrian Airlines will not ask its parent Lufthansa for any additional money, after receiving $119 million to upgrade the fleet according to a report by Reuters. The company issued this statement:

Austrian Airlines Group has initiated a further step in the restructuring program announced in spring. This step will eliminate redundancies in its organization. These were identified through the conducting during the second half of 2012 of analyses of the operating procedures employed in the flight operations of Tyrolean Airways, in technical processes and in administrative departments. The result is potential savings somewhat greater than €10 million. 150 administrative positions out of the Group’s 6,320 employees will be cut.

Gaudenz Ambühl, managing director of Tyrolean Airways, states: “This is a highly painful move. However, it is one that our restructuring makes inevitable. This makes it possible for us to realize all of the savings in costs enabled by the operational transition. These measures have been widely expected. They will now eliminate the redundancies found in operations.”

The following measures were resolved upon:

Flight control operations are currently managed from two centers. These operations will all be handled by the Vienna hub.
The headquarters of all flight administration operations will be set up in Innsbruck. This essentially involves the establishment of a Shared Services Center in the city, to which nine departments will be assigned.
The planning of personnel, resources and rotation will be concentrated in Innsbruck.
Redundant operations will also be eliminated at Austrian Airlines. The “Part M” responsibilities forming part of technical maintenance – with these including the engineering, the planning and the management – will be grouped in Tyrolean. Tyrolean is the holder of the official AOC (Air Operator Certificate). The technical maintenance of the fleets will continue to be undertaken at a variety of stations. Innsbruck will handle the maintenance of the Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft; Vienna, of the Fokker, Airbus, and Boeing airplanes, and Bratislava, the overhauling of the Fokker fleet.

Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Austrian Airlines says: “The difficult conditions prevailing on markets do not leave us any choice. We have to increase our organization’s efficiency and to eliminate redundancies in the entire Group. This especially applies to duplications in our organizations, of which we have been aware for a number of years.”

All measures will be implemented in 2013. The grouping of operations at a set of centers will result in a reduction of up to 150 jobs. These will be in Austrian Airlines’ administrative operations. The Austrian Airlines Group has resolved to set up a social plan for the employees affected. Details of it are still being worked out with the works council.

Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Boeing 737-8Z9 OE-LNS (msn 34262) departing London (Heathrow) now carries “Operated by Tyrolean” sub-titles.

Austrian Airlines:

Austrian Airlines moves ahead with the phase out of its seven Boeing 737-800s

Austrian Airlines (Vienna) is planning to acquire seven additional Airbus A320s in order to replace its remaining Boeing 737s by the summer of 2013. Austrian currently operates seven Boeing 737-800s.

Read the full story from Fox Business: CLICK HERE

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