On Monday May 31 Austrian Airlines flew its last turboprop passenger flight with a Dash 8-Q400 travelling from Innsbruck to Vienna and back. From here on, Austrian Airlines fleet of aircraft will comprise only Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer jets.
The relationship with Dash-related aircraft began in 1985 when Tyrolean Airways – to be acquired by Austrian Airways in 1998 – took delivery of its first Dash 8-100, having flown its predecessor, the 50-seat De Havilland Canada DHC-7, from 1980. The Dash aircraft proved particularly popular on tricky short-landing runways, such as those at Innsbruck and Courchevel, and at the time of Tyrolean Airways takeover by Austrian Airlines, it was operating a combined fleet of 44 Dash 8-100s, -300s, and -400s. At Austrian Airlines, 18 Dash 8-Q400s were last in service on short-haul routes, for example on flights from Vienna to Milan, Warsaw or Zagreb.
“Austrian Airlines is well prepared for the fleet retirement of the Dash. With the comfortable, efficient Embraer and Airbus aircraft, we will continue to offer our passengers a good feeder service with Vienna as our hub”, said Austrian Airlines CCO Michael Trestl.
“The Dash has had an impressive career in our company, it is and will remain part of our history. We will not forget that. I would like to thank everyone who has served the Dash aircraft over the past decades, from the cabin and cockpit crews to the technician team and many more”, said Austrian Airlines COO Francesco Sciortino. “At peak times, the Dash 8-Q400 completed up to 44,000 individual flights per year”, says Austrian Airlines Dash fleet manager Thomas Bleimuth. “With this type of aircraft, it was also possible to fly to particularly demanding locations. For example, Tyrolean Airways used to fly the four-engine Dash 7 to Courchevel in the French Alps, an airfield at over 2,000 meters above sea level.”
