The possible renewal of Austrian Airlines' long-haul fleet has been a regular topic of discussion in aviation circles for many years. So far, all speculations have been wrong. Chief Operating Officer Francesco Sciortino now explained that a decision will only be made in a few years.

In an interview with CH-Aviation.com, the AUA board member said, among other things, that in future only one type of machine will be operated on long-haul routes. However, he did not want to commit himself to which model it will be. Only the long-haul versions of the Airbus A321neo were excluded from Sciortino.

The Chief Operating Officer of Austrian Airlines does not see the decision for a specific machine type before 2025. Sciortino does not expect to take delivery of new aircraft until towards the end of the current decade at the earliest. At the same time, he pointed out to CH-Aviation.com that the current long-haul fleet “is still very reliable and in good shape”. Therefore, Austrian Airlines sees no reason to replace the Boeing 767 and 777 quickly.

According to Sciortino, in the distant future they only want to operate a long-distance model. The only thing that is fixed is that it will not be an A321LR/XLR. The manager did not comment on the question of whether the possible new additions will come from existing Lufthansa orders or will be sourced elsewhere.

In the area of ​​short- and medium-haul routes, Austrian Airlines will soon start operating four Airbus A320neos. Sciortino sees the future in this pattern and believes that it could switch completely to the A320neo family. You want to proceed step by step, but the AUA board member did not give a timetable. It has also not yet been finally decided whether the new additions will be used to expand short and medium-haul routes or whether they will replace older machines.

"We have to start now, we can't afford 30 planes at once, so that's the first four, but that's just the beginning, the first step to renewing all these planes, which will take us several years," Sciortino said , which also assumes that the existing A321ceo fleet will be replaced by the successor A321neo.

Irrespective of this, the AUA board member rules out the possibility of entering the cargo market with pure cargo aircraft. Sciortino explains, among other things, that Austrian Airlines focuses on passenger flights. Cargo will continue to be transported as a so-called "belly hold", but no pure cargo machines will be flown in.