From spring 180, Austrian Airlines will no longer even be able to offer a free glass of water on flights of less than 2021 minutes. The carrier will charge you for food and drinks in economy class. This was already introduced once under the management of Vagn Sörensen in 2004 and the AUA literally fell on the muzzle with it. Successor Alfred Ötsch immediately reversed this step.

Group members Lufthansa and Swiss will also introduce paid catering in economy class on short-haul routes, but there passengers will at least receive a free water area. Austrian Airlines, always emphasizing on presenting itself as a “premium airline”, will not even allow its guests more water in the future. Since you are already asking for the baggage to be checked in anyway, the last distinguishing features compared to the lowcoster Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair are now lost.

But why is Austrian Airlines even a water bottle too expensive? The workforce was briefly informed that the competitive situation in Vienna was not comparable to that in Frankfurt and Munich. Therefore, it was decided that the catering had to be paid for and that was it. One does not go further into this aspect.

Internally, however, another reason can be heard: The experiences with paid catering at the beginning of the 2000s are said to have been particularly negative, because at that time a cup of water was still offered free of charge. This led to the fact that sales of the other drinks were almost at zero, since the spontaneous thirst was quenched by the free water anyway. Based on this experience, it was decided that Austrian Airlines - in contrast to Swiss and Lufthansa - will not have free water.

“In the future, too, we will be able to offer a basic product, the flight, at a reasonable price - and give those passengers who want more the opportunity to choose from a premium range according to their needs. As with a modular system, our guests choose the services that are relevant to them, ”says board member Andreas Otto.

At Austrian Airlines, paid catering will not differ that much from the concept of its competitors. Passengers can choose from a menu of food and drinks and then order and pay from the crew. The decision about which caterer will get the goods from has not yet been made. Specifically, this means that it is not yet clear whether Do & Co will get a chance when it comes to paid catering. Most recently, the competitor replaced DoN in the lounge area.

Austrian Airlines spokeswoman Tanja Gruber confirmed to Aviation Direct that Austrian Airlines will switch short-haul flights under 180 minutes to paid catering and that, unlike Swiss and Lufthansa, there will be no free water. With regard to the food on offer, she emphasized that there will be particularly high-quality specialties from Austria. The future range is currently being worked out. Austrian classics such as apple strudel or a board snack will be found on the menu. Cold and warm snacks as well as an extensive range of primarily regional drinks will round off the new catering concept.

“Air travel itself, and with it the expectations of our passengers, have changed in recent years. Instead of a package deal, Economy Class passengers in particular want to increasingly personalize their flight experience and decide for themselves which services are important to them, ”explains Austrian Airlines board member Andreas Otto when introducing the new offer on European flights. "With our new catering concept we take this request into account and invest in a high-quality range of food and drinks on board."

Austrian Airlines introduced paid catering once in 2004 under the chairmanship of Vagn Sörensen. At that time, attempts were made to literally copy the business model of the Slovakian SkyEurope, which had a lot of competition from Bratislava. Even before the Fokker 100 was stationed in the Slovak capital, they did not shy away from it. However, both projects really failed, because the offer in Bratislava was a failure and the cancellation of the included catering led to a collapse in the number of bookings. Alfred Ötsch, who otherwise showed little sensitivity, immediately reversed this step.

The quality of the catering in the economy class of Austrian Airlines has decreased significantly over the years. The temporary low point is currently that under the guise of the corona pandemic, only water, tea or coffee are offered and not even on all flights. For example, there is no longer anything for eco-guests on the domestic routes. From spring 2021, all economy class passengers on flights of less than 180 minutes will have to pull out their wallets again for food and drinks. This has always been the case with Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair and Austrian Airlines is on the same level. However, there is a high probability that prices will not be reduced.

The changeover will not change anything for Business Class passengers, the selection and range of services will remain unchanged. The current Economy Class service will also be available on flights with a flight time of more than 180 minutes. There are also no changes for Austrian Airlines passengers on Austrian Holidays charter flights (recognizable by the four-digit flight number beginning with 2 or 9, e.g. OS9103 to Rhodes). Snacks and drinks will continue to be distributed free of charge.