Austrian Airlines has quite a small wide body aircraft fleet considering it operates ten intercontinental long-range destinations. The airline operates only eleven wide body planes capable of serving these routes. Some of these are quite old and dated and the airline, in accord with the parent company Lufthansa, has decided to renovate introducing some Boeing 787s albeit not brand new. So, let's find out a little more about these jets and where the Austrian flag carrier flies them.
Where Did These Boeing 787s Come From?
The two aircraft are both mid-life planes. They both operated for another carrier, coincidentally the same carrier, before joining the Austrian Airlines fleet. Currently the two Austrian Airlines Boeing 787s are registered as:
- OE-LPL
- OE-LPM
Their prior owner was Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airlines. A carrier which following an aggressive route expansion hit economic issues and was forced to return all its wide body planes to the leasing companies. Austrian who had and still has some extremely old Boeing 777s and 767 was able to then snatch them in early 2024 and put them into their route rotations. They were in such a hurry to get these 2 Dreamliners operational they only had time to apply the Austrian Airlines livery to OE-LPM which was delivered in March. OE-LPL had to remain painted white as there was no time to squeeze in the paint job on the aircraft ahead of the summer season. Also, the two planes share the same age. They are both four years old.
Where Does Austrian Airlines Fly Its Boeing 787 Dreamliners?
As airlines often do when they receive a new aircraft, Austrian Airlines at first used the plane on shorter European routes. This is something carriers do to get crews accustomed to the new plane. Following this first phase the planes finally entered full service. Both planes are currently flying across the Atlantic on a regular basis, flying on these two routes:
- Vienna-Chicago
- Vienna-New York JFK
We'll have to wait and see if this status quo will shift moving into the colder months or should other Boeing 787 join the Austrian Airlines fleet.
