Upper Austria had to wait for what felt like an eternity to be reconnected to Düsseldorf. The route once served by Austrian Airlines has been suspended since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The new operator Eurowings postponed the admission several times.

On Monday morning, the Airbus A320 with the registration D-AEWK landed at Linz Airport, opening the non-stop route Düsseldorf-Linz-Düsseldorf. The route is no longer served by Austrian Airlines, but by its sister company Eurowings. This maintains one of its largest bases in Düsseldorf.

While Austrian Airlines previously flew from Linz with turboprop aircraft of the type DHC Dash 8-400, the sister company relies on Airbus A319 and A320. The reason is simple: Eurowings simply does not have any smaller aircraft available. The flights are no longer ex Upper Austria, but ex Düsseldorf.

The switch to the Lufthansa Group's low-cost airline also has disadvantages for passengers, because, in contrast to Austrian Airlines, Eurowings has switched to the “Ryanair hand luggage system”. Specifically, this means that in the basic tariff, hand luggage in the IATA standard format must be paid for separately.

For the time being, Eurowings is offering up to five weekly flights between Linz and Düsseldorf. These are loaded into the reservation system up to and including October 29, 2021. What the flight plan will look like in winter or whether the carrier will even go into “hibernation” is still completely open at the moment. Much will depend on the workload that can be achieved in the next few weeks.