Cheap Flights on Austrian Airlines

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Austrian Airlines is the flag carrier airline of Austria, headquartered in Office Park 2 on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Wien-Umgebung and a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Together with regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways (Austrian Arrows) and charter arm Lauda Air, it operates scheduled services to over 130 destinations. Its hub is Vienna International Airport, with a focus city at Innsbruck Airport.  It is a member of the Star Alliance. The airline was founded in September 1957, making its maiden flight in March 1958 when a Vickers Viscount 779 took off from Vienna for London via Zurich. Austrian Airlines was formed through the merger of Air Austria and Austrian Airways. It launched domestic services in May 1963. The airline's transatlantic services began in April 1969 with a Vienna to Brussels and New York service in co-operation with Sabena. A major focus in the Austrian route network is Eastern Europe and the Middle East, much of which is operated by subsidiary Tyrolean. In 2006, in a move to save about 40 million euros per year, Austrian decided to eliminate its A330 and A340 fleet, which consisted of four Airbus A330-200, two Airbus A340-200 and 2 Airbus A340-300. As a result in having less long haul capacity, Austrian suspended some of its long-haul flights to East Asia and Australia. Flights to Shanghai ended in January 2007 while flights to Phuket, Mauritius and Colombo and Malé ended in April 2007 and those to Kathmandu ended in May 2007. March 2007 also saw the termination of the airline's longest flights, the Vienna-Singapore-Melbourne and Vienna-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney routes, ending operations on the Kangaroo Route. This was Melbourne's last European-based airline connecting the city with direct flights to Europe.