Austrian leisure airline Laudamotion will increase its fleet to 25 aircraft this summer across its four European bases as it continues to expand its route network.
The Supervisory Board of Austrian Airlines first approved the purchase of 17 Embraer aircraft in June 2015 with the first example being transferred across to Austrian Airlines in mid-August this year and redelivered to the carrier at the end of last month following modification work and repainting into the Austrian livery. The aircraft was originally delivered to Lufthansa CityLine in March 2011.
The new route strategy into Italy will see airberlin introduce a new daily service from Stuttgart to Rome from March 29, 2015, operated by an Airbus A320, as well as a 17 times weekly, up to three times daily link from Stuttgart to Milan Linate from May 2015, flown by a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400. In addition, starting the same month, airberlin will expand its service on the existing Stuttgart to Venice route to a daily summer schedule.
airberlin is already the prominent carrier serving Sylt Airport and in 2013 had a 79.7 per cent share of capacity from the facility, also known as Westerland, a well-known part of the municipality of Sylt. This year, following a reduction in Lufthansa’s schedule to the island, the airberlin share has grown to 85.8 per cent.
The oneworld alliance member will launch a daily service between Stuttgart and Abu Dhabi from December 1, 2014 using an Airbus A320 configured with 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy Class. The service, which remains subject to government and regulatory approvals will be airberlin’s sole medium-haul link from Stuttgart, a market it currently mainly links to Mediterranean leisure destinations.
