Late last week, AUSTRIAN released a summary press release that highlighted their commitment and focus on their Eastern European operations as well as their expansion into North America.

Following are the key points from a recent AUSTRIAN communiqué concerning Eastern Europe:

2013 will feature 130 destinations in 55 countries.

43 destinations will be within Eastern Europe (nearly a 1/3rd of all Austrian destinations).

St. Petersburg, Russia will see 7 extra flights per week.

Chisinau, Molodova will see 4 extra flights per week.

Kosice, Slovakia will see 2 extra Austrian flights per day (A BIG BIG BIG Personal Thanks for this one!!)

Each of the following destinations will see 1 extra flight per week: Amman(Jordan), Yerevan(Armenia), Sibiu(Romania), Skopje(Macedonia).

As far as North American activity is concerned, Austrian is obviously excited about it’s newest USA gateway with the beginning of service between Vienna and Chicago in late spring which will showcase their new cabin interior aboard their Boeing 767. With the addition of Chicago, Austrian will have 26 non-stop flights each week to it’s North American destinations (New York, Toronto, Washington DC and Chicago). To accomodate this timetable, Austrian has announced a code-share arrangement with United that will help Austrian passengers book their travel to dozens of cities throughout the USA.

Lastly, AUSTRIAN has announced new “Holiday” destinations that will be operated on a seasonal basis. Palma will see service 3 times a week, Palermo and Chios will see new once weekly service introduced throughout the spring. Additionally, Austrian has added an additional flight to Cairo each week. As part of there timetable adjustment, AUSTRIAN has reduced their service to Barcelona from 3 times a day to 2 times a day and has also reduced service to London from 4 times a day to 3 times day.

Considering the challenges that faced Austrian in 2011 and 2012, it is clear that the steps taken to help improve AUSTRIAN are now ready to yield fantastic dividends to her passengers!

Route announcements are coming in droves as airlines put their finishing touches on their Summer 2013 timetables. Today’s update again has several updates from a variety of Star Alliance member carriers:

AEGEAN:

ATHENS-GENEVA effective April 24 will BEGIN 3x/week service.
ATHENS-KIEV ZHULYANY effective April 3 will BEGIN 2x/week service.

AUSTRIAN:

VIENNA-ST. PETERSBURG effective March 31 will increase from 1x/day to 2x/day.

BRUSSELS:

BRUSSELS-WASHINGTON(IAD) effective June 18 will BEGIN 5x/week service (more details)

EGYPTAIR:

CAIRO-ATHENS effective June 1 will increase from 10x/week to 14x/week.

LUFTHANSA:

FRANKFURT-KAZAN-PERM effective April 1 is CANCELLED.

THAI (SMILE):

BANGKOK-AHMEDABAD effective March 31 will BEGIN 2x/week service.
BANGKOK-LAHORE effective June 1 will increase from 5x/week to 1x/DAY.
BANGKOK-SYDNEY effective between April 7 and May 30 will be reduced from 12x/week to 11x/week.
BANGKOK-TAIPEI effective March 31 will be reduced from 18x/week to 14x/week.
PHUKET-DELHI effective March 31 will BEGIN 2/xweek service.
PHUKET-KUALA LUMPUR effective March 31 will BEGIN 4x/week serivce.
PHUKET-MUMBAI effective March 31 will BEGIN 2x/week service.

TURKISH:

ISTANBUL(IST)-AQABA effective April 3 wilL BEGIN 3x/week service.

UNITED:

GUAM-TOKYO(NRT) effective between July 14 and September 29 will increase from 3x/day to 4x/day.

US AIRWAYS:

PHOENIX-CALGARY effective June 30 will be reduced from 2x/day to 1x/day.
CHARLOTTE-SAO PAULO beginning of new 1x/day service is delayed until June 8 (was to start May 5).

PREVIOUS STAR ALLIANCE ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Courtesy: www.AirlineRoute.net

With the return of AUSTRIAN’s service between Vienna and Chicago beginning on May 17, AUSTRIAN has entered into a codeshare arrangement with UNITED for certain flights operated by UNITED within the US from Chicago.

The codeshare agreement will take effect on May 17. This will allow for AUSTRIAN to provide passengers with more booking options to US destinations through their reservation systems.

The following cities that are served by UNITED from Chicago’s O’Hare will be part of the Codeshare arrangement and will have “OS” flight numbers associated with them:

Atlanta
Charlotte
Cleveland
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Denver
Houston
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Orlando
Phoenix
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tampa

Should this list be updated between now and May 17 (including flight numbers), I’ll update the list and post a follow up story.

AUSTRIAN today announced the beginning of a great new contest that will award ONE lucky winner 2 round trip tickets to Chicago.

Beginning May 17, AUSTRIAN will begin new service between Chicago and Vienna making this contest a great way to celebrate AUSTRIAN adding another gateway city in the USA.

Here’s how the contest works:

Beginning today and continuing for the next 6 weeks, passengers who arrive in Vienna on AUSTRIAN FLIGHTS from the USA or Canada will randomly have a red LUCKY LUGGAGE tag placed on their checked bag prior to retrieving it from baggage claim. Three lucky CHECKED BAGS will be chosen from each flight.

For anyone who’s luggage is tagged with a LUCKY LUGGAGE tag, they’ll win an INSTANT PRIZE which can include Priority Check In and Lounge Access Vouchers among other great AUSTRIAN gifts.

In order to enter the GRAND PRIZE drawing, those who receive the LUCKY LUGGAGE tag will need to take the tag to the LOST AND FOUND and complete a contest entry card.

The lucky winner will be selected from a random drawing after the end of the contest.

GOOD LUCK…..This is a contest worth checking a bag for!!!

Earlier today, AUSTRIAN provided a brief update on the introduction of it’s new Long Haul Cabin that is being installed on all of their 767 and 777 aircraft. The new cabin introduces a completely redesigned seat for Business Class passengers which includes true “Lay Flat” seating, as well as improved comfort in Economy. A new In Flight Entertainment (IFE) system complete with video-on-demand compliments the new experience that awaits passengers.

Earlier this month, their first refitted 767 began flying between Vienna and Bangkok as well as between Vienna and Tokyo. Beginning on 22 January, another refitted 767 will begin service between Vienna and Dubai.

Over the next few months, we’ll see the new cabin introduced on routes from Vienna to Washington DC, New York (JFK), Male, Toronto, Delhi and Beijing.

In addition to the roll out of the new cabin, Austrian will return to Chicago beginning May 17 giving us another opportunity to experience Austrian’s fantastic hospitality from a US gateway. I think I need to be aboard that flight!

For more information on the look of Austrian’s new long haul cabins, please visit their dedicated webpage for the new cabin.

Earlier today, Austrian rolled out their latest product when they introduced “myHoliday”. Beginning with their summer timetable this May, myHoliday will offer passengers with theme-based trips to destinations throughout Europe and beyond. The motivation behind “myHoliday” is simply Austrian’s desire to introduce more passengers to the Austrian experience by providing turn-key trips at very attractive prices.

myHoliday will seek to integrate Austrian’s current charter operations and provide passengers the complete Austrian experience: Great hospitality and food on board, excellent service on the ground and in the air and ultimately a memorable travel experience.

According to Austrian’s CCO, Karsten Benz, “The objective is clear: AUSTRIAN myHoliday should become the leisure brand of the Austrians”.

myHoliday will offer several different trip themes: City Breaks, Beach Holidays and Luxury Holidays among others. Additionally, Austrian Airlines will offer trips based on golf, shopping, skiing, spa and romantic destinations. These targeted trips will be offered in cooperation with a variety of different tour operators.

Austrian projects that myHoliday will introduce 150,000 additional passengers to Austrian during the first year of myHoliday’s operation.

This week’s Red Monday fare special from Austrian offers €99 fares to Berlin and €109 fares to Altenrhein. These prices are valid for travel that originates from Vienna. Departing from other Austrian gateways will be approximately €50-60 more, depending on which Austrian city you depart from.

As is normal with Red Monday specials, fares need to be booked by Midnight(CEST) on Monday December 17. Travel needs to occur next weekend, between 21 and 24 December. There is no minimum stay required and the maximum stay is 4 days.

Fares sales like this make me wish that I lived in Europe, especially now with most of Europe in full Christmas celebration mode. With Airlines like Austrian offering great fares like this, it makes it easy to see some of Europe’s greatest cities without damaging your wallet. I certainly hope that you can take advantage of these great travel opportunities!

Please click here to be taken to Austrian’s Red Monday Fare Sale.

During their current Winter Fare Sale, Lufthansa and Swiss have some of the lowest fares that I’ve ever seen between Moscow and New York. Granted, Moscow may not be the most popular winter destination but for fares that range between $460 and $500, its a very attractive opportunity. These sub-$500 fares were readily available throughout February and March.

Sometimes with fare sales, you need to be mindful of the airline operating the flights. Many times the lowest fares offered by Lufthansa are for flights operated by United or Air Canada and you miss out on the great Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian hospitality while onboard. However in this case, most of the Moscow fares are for flights that will actually be operated by either Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian, making the experience that much better!

As part of this fare sale, other cities throughout Europe are included and the prices range from $700-$1000 which is typical for this time of year. The Moscow fare is the really attractive one out of all the options. Just be mindful that the miles earned for this fare will generally be 50% of the actual miles flow.

To take advantage of the fare, please click here to be take to Lufthansa’s Fare Sale.

Terms/Conditions of this offer:

Ticket must be purchased by January 10, 2013
You must depart between January 5 and March 20, 2013
You must return between January 7 and April 20, 2013
Advance Purchase: 7 days.
Maxium Stay: 1 Month.
Weekend Departure/Arrival surcharges may apply.

Austrian Airlines today announced a new phase in their attempt to increase efficiencies and profitability that will take place throughout 2013.

After a thorough analysis during the preceding 2 quarters that involved reviews of their administrative and technical operations including those of Tyrolean Airways, Austrian has found ways to further reduce expenses by an additional €10 million above and beyond the savings they’ve already identified this year.

The savings does not come without a price. After the review, it was also decided that 150 administrative positions would be eliminated. This amounts to a 2.3% reduction in personnel. Austrian will have 6170 employees after these actions are taken. Austrian however is working with the “Works Council” to help those that will be affected by the job cuts.

The cuts do not come as a surprise since Austrian was aware of a fair amount of duplicity between the operations of Tyrolean Airways and Austrian. The biggest change will be that Tyrolean’s flight control operations will be merged with Austrian’s in Vienna, and all flight administration operations will be based in beautiful Innsbruck. Additionally, technical maintenance will be consolidated to Tyrolean since they technically hold the Air Operator Certificate that is required for an airline to function.

In the press release by Austrian today, CEO Jaan Albrecht added that “The difficult conditions prevailing on markets do not leave us any choice. We have to increase our organization’s efficiency and to eliminate redundancies in the entire Group. This especially applies to duplications in our organizations, of which we have been aware for a number of years.”

For all you Facebook Fans, AUSTRIAN is holding an interesting and rewarding contest that will help you determine just how good and loyal your Facebook Friends really are.

“Wish Yourself Around The World” is designed for contestants to provide a personal story about a “Dream Destination” and then hope that their “Facebook Friends” will vote enough times for their story so that their story can advance to Austrian Airlines’ “Selection Jury”. This jury will determine the winners of some fantastic prizes which include Business and Economy Class tickets to the Winner’s Dream Destination. Each story must receive a minimum amount of votes based on their ‘Dream Destination’ region in order to advance to the Jury Selection phase.

The minimum votes required are as follows:

Austria 50
Europe 100
Middle East 100
North America 150
India 200
South-East Asia 250
Far East 300

The contest is easy to navigate as demonstrated by these screenshots:

First, choose your "Dream Destination"

Then submit your story and share it with your Facebook Friends:

Make sure you have a good and creative story!

Of all the entries that are reviewed by the Selection Jury, 3 Winners will receive 2 Economy Class tickets each to their “Dream Destination”. A Grand Prize Winner will receive 2 Business Class tickets to a destination of their choice.

The contest runs from 3 December to 20 December (11:00a CEST).

The winning contestants must complete travel between 1 January and 31 December 2013.

PLEASE USE THIS LINK VISIT AUSTRIAN’s FACEBOOK PAGE TO ENTER!

For additional Terms and Conditions, you can read them here.

Zagreb and Istanbul are this week’s AUSTRIAN Red Monday Fare Specials for travel next weekend. To take advantage of the fare specials, you must book your ticket by midnight (CEST) on 3 December. The fares are valid for travel between 7 December and 10 December.

Vienna to Zagreb is only €129 and Vienna to Istanbul is only €139. Fares from to Zagreb and Istanbul from other Austrian gateway cities are approximately €50 for either destination.

We had visited Istanbul earlier this year and had an absolutely wonderful time. The people are wonderful, the sites are historic and the food is fantastic!! To read about our experiences, please visit my Istanbul Trip Reports. This link will take you to one of several trip reports on Istanbul, you’ll find links to others at the bottom of this report.

To take advantage of this Fare Special, please visit AUSTRIAN.COM’s Red Monday Fare Page.