Austria Airlines pictures

The airline was founded on 30 September 1957, making its maiden flight on 31 March 1958 when a Vickers Viscount 779 took off from Vienna for London, England via Zurich. Austrian Airlines was formed through the merger of Air Austria and Austrian Airways. It launched domestic services on 1 May 1963. The airline's transatlantic services began on 1 April 1969 with a Vienna to Brussels and New York service in co-operation with Sabena.
Austrian Airlines B767-300 with Star Alliance livery seen at Beijing Capital International Airport (2008)

Austrian became a member of the Star Alliance in 2000. That year, Austrian acquired Lauda Air, an airline whose operations included long haul flights, and acquired Rheintalflug on 15 February 2001. Its name was shortened to Austrian in September 2003 when it rebranded its three constituent carriers.[4] On 1 October 2004 the Flight Operations Departments of Austrian and Lauda Air were merged into a single unit, leaving Lauda Air as a brand name only for charter flights. It has 8,468 employees[4]

In November 2008 Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa announced that Lufthansa intended to acquire ÖIAG's stake and the 2% held by Austrian Airlines, giving Lufthansa a controlling stake in Austrian Airlines.[5][6] With approval from the European Commission, Lufthansa purchased Austrian Airlines in September 2009.[7]

Since the 4th of February 2010 the Austrian Airlines AG shares are suspended from the Vienna stock exchange.[8]
[edit] Corporate Design
Aua chevrons.jpg

The color scheme of Austrian Airlines was always held in red-white-red. The airplanes from the 1950s to 80s were silver at the bottom of the body, the upper part was white with the Austrian Airlines arrow and the writing "Austrian Airlines" (until 1972, 1995–2003) or "Austrian" (1972–1995, from 2003 onwards).

The typical Austrian Airlines arrow ("Austrian Chevron") had three versions. 1960 still looking like the body plan of a paper airplane, it got its now known shape in 1972. With the rebranding taking place in 1995, the "Chevron" was placed on the red-white-red tail-fin. But with the new Corporate Design since 2003, the "Chevron" form had a "renaissance": the old shape was used again, just this time in a more modern style and a drop shadow placed underneath.

Many special color schemes and surface varnishes have been used throughout the decades. Since joining the Star Alliance, a few airplanes already have been coated with Star Alliance motives on them. For the Mozartyear 2006, an Airbus A320 was coated with a Mozart-Design, also an Airbus A340-300 was coated with an homage to the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra and a Boeing 737-600 was coated in a glacier-look for a Tyrol advertisement. Right now three designs have been put on airplanes regarding the Euro 2008, and an Airbus A320 in a retro-livery on the occasion of the 50 year celebration of the company.

Austria Air
Austria Airline
Austria Airline
Austria Airline
Austria Airline

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