Conversion of Austrian short- and medium-haul fleet completed

Austrian Airlines has completed the refitting of a total of 32 aircraft of the Airbus A320 family and type Boeing 737 with the new interior design and new, modern leather seats. Austrian Airlines finished refitting the 21 aircraft of its A320 family with the new cabin furnishings in July 2011. Since today, all eleven aircraft of the type Boeing 737 have been fitted with the new interior design and innovative leather seats. This will be followed in the first half of 2012 by the A320 aircraft which Austrian Airlines only incorporated into its fleet in the course of this year.

New seat provides more legroom
The core element of the new cabin is a completely redeveloped seat constructed from new, light materials. The new seat offers a range of different benefits: the seat is between 3 and 5 kilos lighter than its predecessor. This allows Austrian Airlines to reduce the overall weight of its aircraft, cutting kerosene consumption and providing an environmental benefit. The seat’s innovative construction gives passengers – there will be minor differences in this case, depending on the aircraft type – up to 10 cm more space for the legs and knees. The new seat, which is covered with high-value leather, also takes up less space, meaning an average of almost 5 more seats can be installed in each aircraft.

The colour of the new design differs clearly from the previous Austrian image. The seats and carpeting are to be in an elegant grey, set off by accents in a typically Austrian red.

Conversion of long-haul fleet in winter 2012/2013
The next step is to follow in the winter of 2012/2013, when Austrian Airlines will refit the cabins of its long-haul aircraft. The airline will also refit the ten aircraft of types Boeing 777 and 767 with new, modern Economy seats, a new in-flight entertainment system and new lie-flat Business Class seats. The overall interior design of the aircraft will be given a new optical design, and adjusted to the colour concept of the new Europe cabin.