Since March 2020, two Austrian Airlines Boeing 777s, OE-LPA and OE-LPC, have been "robbed" of their passenger seats and used as freighters. This is over now, because both machines will be "dismantled" and used again as passenger jets in the future.

According to Austrian Airlines, the long-haul fleet brought relief supplies from Asia to Europe 159 times. Among other things, there were around 200 million masks and around 30 million test kits on board. The goods were flown not only to Austria, but also to Germany and Italy.

“With our Prachtern we have responded flexibly to the requirements of the corona pandemic. There was great demand for relief supplies from Asia - we brought them to Europe. This shows how important a domestic airline with a long-haul fleet is for Austria. I am very proud of our team, which carried out this demanding mission efficiently and smoothly, ”says Austrian Airlines COO Francesco Sciortino.

The OE-LPA is now the last to get its cabin seats back in Austrian Airlines Technik. From July onwards, the machine will operate regular passenger flights again - including to North America. Austrian Airlines is therefore again concentrating entirely on its core business of passenger flights on long-haul routes.

Removing and reinstalling the passenger seats on the two Boeing 777s took around 1.000 working hours per aircraft. The aircraft's cargo capacity increased by over 35 percent - from around 160 cubic meters to up to 220 cubic meters.

Aviation Direct has what it looked like in the “Preighter” cabin of the OE-LPA shown in a comparison picture in this article.