Austrian Airlines enacts operational transition to Tyrolean Airlines

Austrian Airlines announced commenced joint flight operations under the unified Austrian brand name, as part of the operational transition to Tyrolean Airways, as of 01-Jul-2012. From the upcoming weekend of 07/08-Jul-2012, all of the flight operations of the Austrian Airlines Group, and its fleet of around 80 aircraft, will be bundled at its 100% subsidiary Tyrolean Airways. At present, more than 50% of all Austrian services fly under the "operated by Tyrolean" slogan, particularly those in Austria and to Central and Eastern Europe. As of 01-Jul-2012, Tyrolean has also been operating the long-haul fleet. The "arrows" supplementary brand will progressively be phased out by the end of 2012. The reorganisation is a key component of the carrier's EUR220 million restructuring programme. Details include:

• Fleet: 22 A320 family aircraft, seven Boeing 737s, six 767s and three 777s changed operators within the Group on midnight of 01-Jul-2012. One 777 will stay with Austrian Airlines due to international traffic laws. Outplacement of seven 737 aircraft still on hand and the in-placement of seven A320s forms part of the medium-range aircraft fleet harmonisation. Austrian Airlines will temporarily wetlease five aircraft from Lufthansa, Augsburg Airways, Contact Air and Welcome Air;
• Organisation: Entire flight operations to be bundled in Tyrolean Airways. Austrian Airlines retains responsibilities for station management, technical, sales and management departments, including network planning, personnel, finances and marketing. There will be no changes in ownership with "Tyrolean Airways Tiroler Luftfahrt GmbH" remaining a 100% subsidiary of Austrian Airlines;
• Traffic rights: Austrian Airlines retains its operation authorisation and remains the user of traffic rights. No further permits or licenses need to be secured in a large number of countries. For countries outside Europe, requisite approvals have already been secured;
• Personnel: Around 460 pilots and 1,500 flight attendants transferred from employment at Austrian Airlines to Tyrolean Airways. 110 pilots and 214 flight attendants have left the company. Some pilots will be provided with work on a temporary/ case-by-case basis. As a whole, Austrian has 900 pilots and 2,000 flight attendants, including Tyrolean employees. Tyrolean currently has a work force of around 1,500 employees, which will increase to 3,500 employees under the operational transition. The Austrian Airlines Group employs approximately 6,700 people;
• Retraining: The removal of four 737s leaves 31 737 pilots available, who have already been retrained for A320 operations. The cessation of part-time work at Tyrolean has freed 36 Tyrolean co-pilots for other duties. These pilots, who were trained to operate Fokker aircraft, have also been retrained to handle Airbus aircraft. [more - original PR]