Austrian Airlines has become the most recent customer of the Embraer E-Jets. The carrier launched today scheduled flight with the E195 from Vienna to several Central European destinations like Belgrad, Warschau, Hamburg, Thessaloniki and Tirana, among others. The airline started to incorporate 17 used E195s to its fleet last autumn.
"Following the same path that others carriers did in Europe, Austrian is replacing older and less efficient aircraft with the E-Jets, creating value for its owner and partners, and also offering a tremendous product for its passenger in terms of comfort," said Mathieu Duquesnoy, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Europe & Middle East, Embraer Commercial Aviation. "E-Jets are the most efficient and the lowest operating cost aircraft being delivered in the segment."
"We are very happy to welcome the Embraer Jets to our fleet. These 120-seater aircraft will use 18% less fuel per seat. Therefore in the future, flying with Austrian Airlines, will be even more environmentally friendly", said Robert Heusmann, project leader of the Embraer incorporation at Austrian Airlines.
The airline will use the E195s, which are former Lufthansa CityLine, to replace a fleet of Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 jets. Now, the fleet will have an average age of four years, replacing Fokkers with an average age of about 21 years. The E195 is configured with 120-seats.
Embraer is the only manufacturer to develop a modern family of four airplanes specifically targeted for the 70- to 130-seat segment. Since the formal launch of the program in 1999, Embraer has logged nearly 1,700 orders and over 1,200 deliveries, with the E-Jets redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft by operating across a range of business applications, with some 70 customers from 50 countries. The first E-Jet entered revenue service in 2004.
