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Austrian Airlines will reduce frequencies to Zagreb, Belgrade, Skopje and Dubrovnik during the upcoming summer season, while increasing operations to Podgorica and Pristina. The Star Alliance member will cut five weekly services between Vienna and Zagreb, maintaining a daily rotation between the two capitals. On the Belgrade route, frequencies will be reduced by three weekly flights in May, June and October, resulting in eighteen weekly services, and by five weekly during the peak summer travel period in July and August, for a total of sixteen weekly. At the same time, competition on both routes is intensifying. Croatia Airlines is doubling frequencies on the Vienna service from five to ten weekly for most of the season, while Air Serbia will add four weekly flights between Belgrade and Vienna this summer, bringing its total to 21 weekly services.
In Skopje, Austrian Airlines will scale back operations outside the peak summer period. In April and May, frequencies will be reduced by two weekly flights, for a total of eleven weekly rotations, while in October the carrier will cut two weekly services, operating twelve per week. During the remaining months, services will continue to run twice daily, in line with last summer’s schedule. Dubrovnik will also see reductions, with the airline cutting three weekly flights during the peak summer months of July and August, for a total of fourteen weekly services.
The changes follow Austrian Airlines’ decision to terminate its wet-lease agreement with Braathens Regional Airways, citing a decline in operational reliability. A total of twelve routes had depended on the wet-lease capacity, including services to Zagreb and Belgrade. The carrier has since introduced alternative wet-lease partners and deployed its own aircraft on the two routes, although with significantly greater capacity than originally planned. This summer also marks the rollout of the Lufthansa Group’s “Matrix Next Level” program, a restructuring initiative designed to centralise operational planning across the Group’s network. Under the new framework, route planning decisions are now coordinated from Frankfurt, with the objective of optimising schedules from the Group’s feeder traffic from European markets.
However, Austrian Airlines will boost frequencies to both Podgorica and Pristina this summer. Services between Vienna and the Montenegrin capital will increase by between two and three weekly flights, resulting in a total of sixteen to seventeen weekly services, depending on the month. In Pristina, frequencies will be raised during the peak summer period in July and August, with the addition of three weekly rotations, for a total of seventeen weekly flights.
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