From March 2024, there will no longer be any midday flights on the Austrian Airlines domestic route between Innsbruck and Vienna. The carrier is further thinning out the route and will only offer twice the daily edge in the future. This continues Tyrol's dependence on the Lufthansa Group's route network.

It was only recently announced that the sister company Air Dolomiti will no longer serve the hub connection to the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt am Main in the 2024 summer flight schedule. This means that Innsbruck Airport is losing an important route. The airport management hopes that the airline Skyalps will take over. But there is a catch: Although there is great interest on the part of the South Tyroleans, there is currently no cooperation agreement with Lufthansa. Passengers would have little benefit from a pure point-to-point connection, because then two separate tickets would have to be purchased and any luggage would have to be checked in again in Frankfurt am Main.

Since Skyalps has not yet obtained the so-called IOSA audit, it is unlikely that the Kranich Group will enter into a collaboration beforehand - regardless of whether it involves interlining, code sharing or wet leasing. A clear indication of this is that Austrian Airlines has already turned down its takeover of domestic routes. The AUA will not work with Skyalps - at least for the time being - but has instead looked for another cooperation partner. The die has not yet been cast for Lufthansa, but the subsidiary's decision to forego services from or cooperation with Skyalps on its routes may be an indication that the crane could make the same decision regarding the routes from Linz, Innsbruck and Friedrichshafen .

Austrian Airlines creates facts

Shortly after the bad news that Frankfurt flights from Innsbruck, Linz and Friedrichshafen will be discontinued, was announced, it became known in Tyrol that Austrian Airlines intends to discontinue its midday flight to Vienna. There was initially a lot of excitement because the AUA claimed that the route would not cover costs demanded financial subsidies a. However, the public sector cannot simply award these freely, but would have to put them out to tender. This means that any EU carrier could apply.

The discussions with representatives of the state government, the Chamber of Commerce, tourism and the airport obviously did not convince Austrian Airlines. The midday flight on the Innsbruck-Vienna route will be history from March 2024. The reason for this is that this should not cover costs.

Initially, the company confirmed to the Tiroler Tageszeitung as follows: “As already known, the midday flight from Vienna to Innsbruck does not currently cover costs. Morning and afternoon flights remain operational. The main reason for this is certainly the general decline in business travelers. “That’s why Austrian Airlines has decided to temporarily suspend the midday flight from March.” From March 2024, only a maximum of 14 round trips will be offered between the Tyrolean state capital and Vienna-Schwechat vv Airport.