Will there soon be no more internal flights at Austria ? Alexis von Hoensbroechthe company's CEO Austrian Airlines launched the debate over the summer, arousing the irritation of business circles, particularly regional chambers of commerce. On one of the channels of Austrian national radio ORF, the CEO of the Austrian subsidiary of Lufthansa has given us the runaround. " We don't like to operate very short flights because they are rather expensive. If there's a good enough ground infrastructure to replace them, we'll be happy to use an alternative. "said Alexis von Hoensbroech. This reflection by the CEO of the national airline should also concern very short international flights, which could be replaced by train journeys of less than three hours, such as Vienna-Budapest or one day Vienna-Munich, linked in 3.5 hours.
The airline has already pruned its domestic network in recent years. Starting with the Vienna-LinzIn fact, the two cities are only 150km apart. Trains run between the Austrian capital and the country's main industrial city in just 75 minutes on average. Specialists believe that the second line in the spotlight is certainly Vienna-Salzburg. The fastest trains link the two cities in just two hours and twenty minutes.
Despite a journey time of four hours by train, the Vienna-Klagenfurt is also threatened with closure, but this time because of the losses for Austrian Airlines. The airline has already taken the initiative, reducing the number of daily frequencies from three to two this winter.
In the short term, only the Vienna-Innsbruck and Vienna-Graz air routes will be maintained. The isolation of Innsbruck, surrounded by the Alps, forces trains to pass through Germany, a journey time of more than four hours. As for Graz, it would appear that the local councillors of Austria's second city are already on the warpath to prevent any closure. And this despite a train journey time of just 2 hours 35 minutes to theVienna airportAustrian Federal Railways already offers a number of direct services with its trains. Railjetthe equivalent of high-speed trains.
In fact, the key element in the decision toAustrian Airlines to remove these lines, will be theimproved airport rail connectivity. The current station mainly serves trains to Vienna. Passengers from the Austrian regions have immediate connections at Vienna Central Station for the fast City Airport Train (CAT) to the airport, which means an additional journey time of 15 minutes. There will eventually be a high-speed train project to Bratislava and Budapest.
The extension of the Salzburg-Vienna high-speed line to the airport would be a major factor in AUA's decision. As will the 2021 of Austrian's fleet of 18 Bombardier Dash 8-400 propeller aircraft with 70 to 90 seats. This could even be Austrian's argument for finally carrying out its 'threat'.
