- Half Year Result 2026: Adjusted EBIT of minus 93 million euros
- Crisis in the Middle East caused additional fuel costs of more than 60 million euros year-on-year, despite hedging measures
- Demand remains strong, and the summer travel season has started on a positive note
- More than 6.9 million passengers chose Austrian Airlines in the first half of the year
- CEO Annette Mann: “The war involving Iran has hit us hard through, in some cases, extremely sharp increases in jet fuel costs as well as route cancellations that became necessary. Higher ticket prices were only able to offset part of the financial impact through June. Internally, we have implemented a range of measures to mitigate the economic damage as effectively as possible in the short term, while explicitly maintaining our commitment to our long-term investments.”
Austrian Airlines was, as expected, significantly affected financially in the first half of 2026 by the consequences of the crisis in the Middle East. The airline reported an adjusted EBIT of minus 93 million euros for the period, representing a decline of 50 million euros year-on-year. Despite extensive hedging measures, fuel costs alone exceeded the prior-year level by more than 60 million euros in the first half of 2026. Furthermore, the temporary suspension of services to Amman, Erbil, Tel Aviv and Tehran for safety reasons had a substantial adverse impact on earnings, amounting to a double-digit million-euro figure. “The war involving Iran has hit us hard through, in some cases, extremely sharp increases in jet fuel costs as well as the route cancellations that became necessary. Higher ticket prices were only able to offset part of the financial impact through June. Internally, we have implemented a range of measures to mitigate the economic damage as effectively as possible in the short term, while explicitly maintaining our commitment to our long-term investments”, said CEO Annette Mann.
Examples of these internal measures include significant cost savings through adjustments to the project portfolio and enhanced efficiency initiatives in administrative functions. The latter are now being implemented faster than originally planned. At the same time, Austrian Airlines continues to recruit where necessary in the areas of flight operations, maintenance, and ground operations in order to maintain its traditionally high level of operational reliability.
To avoid losses on routes that are no longer economically viable due to the sharp increase in jet fuel prices, Austrian Airlines is adjusting its offering in the winter flight schedule accordingly. Within the Lufthansa Group, capacity adjustments had already been implemented with the summer schedule, for example through the discontinuation of Lufthansa Cityline.
Specifically, Austrian Airlines is taking the following measures: the Vienna – Graz route, which has been generating substantial losses for years, will be discontinued as of the winter flight schedule. This difficult decision was made after carefully weighing its impact on Graz as a business location. Graz will nevertheless remain well connected to the wider Lufthansa Group network through multiple daily flights, totaling 46 weekly connections, to the group’s hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, and Zurich. In addition, larger aircraft will be deployed on selected Frankfurt and Munich services during the winter schedule and there will be two more flights a week to Zurich than in the 2025/26 winter timetable. Through AIRail, passengers will continue to have access to Austrian Airlines’ international route network via Vienna.
Services to Tbilisi, Keflavik, and Porto will also be suspended temporarily. Furthermore, several night stops (the overnight positioning of aircraft and crews at destination airports following a late-evening flight) will be removed from the schedule. These changes affect Klagenfurt, Copenhagen, Warsaw, and Krakow. The night stop in Klagenfurt had already been suspended for cost reasons during eleven calendar weeks of the 2026 summer schedule.
“The difficult economic situation has made the streamlining of our winter flight schedule unavoidable, requiring a clear-eyed assessment of routes that have generated significant losses for many years. Externally driven crises in the aviation industry are nothing new, but they are affecting us at ever shorter intervals. This makes it all the more urgent to strengthen our financial resilience. In addition to numerous internal efficiency initiatives, a sustainable reduction in Austria’s high operating costs is essential”, summarized CEO Annette Mann in light of these figures. “Once again, we would like to emphasize the importance of a viable, long-term aviation strategy for Austria as a business and aviation location. Discussions with all relevant stakeholders are currently progressing constructively, and we are therefore optimistic that we can achieve tangible improvements by the end of the year.” Despite the challenging overall environment, the company aims to return to profitability for the full year 2026 through a combination of partial fare adjustments to reflect higher costs and significant internal efficiency efforts.
First-half results in detail
From January through June 2026, Austrian Airlines increased its revenue by 4%, from 1.12 billion euros to 1.22 billion euros. Capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, remained virtually unchanged at 13.53 billion (+0%). During the first half of 2026, 98.8% of Austrian Airlines flights operated as scheduled, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
This year, passengers made bookings at shorter notice.
Despite the challenging geopolitical environment, the summer travel season has got off to a positive start for Austria’s home carrier and hub airline. “Throughout the first half of the year, we initially saw some hesitation in bookings for the summer season. However, demand picked up significantly at short notice, and we are currently very satisfied with load factors”, said Austrian Airlines CEO Annette Mann. Driven in part by this strong late-booking demand, Austrian Airlines increased its load factor by 3.5 percentage points, from 77.2% to 80.6%, during the first six months of the year. Passenger numbers also rose by 6% year-on-year, reaching 6.96 million travelers.
The targeted redeployment of capacity freed up by the temporary suspension of services to destinations in the Middle East also proved effective. During the summer schedule, Austrian Airlines was able to offer 800 additional flights to popular leisure destinations such as Palma de Mallorca, Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Nice, and Málaga.
The airline also entered the 2026 summer season with a strengthened network. Austrian Airlines launched service to seven new destinations: Ponta Delgada (Azores), Ohrid (North Macedonia), Bergen (Norway), Mytilini (Lesbos), Bastia (Corsica), Bilbao, and Alicante (Spain). Austrian Airlines currently serves more than 120 destinations across its network.
Investing in the future
The airline’s efficiency measures do not affect its long-term investment program. Austrian Airlines is therefore continuing with its fleet renewal strategy as planned. This year, the airline expects to take delivery of two additional Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, bringing the total number of Dreamliners in the fleet to five aircraft. In addition, another factory-new Airbus A320neo will join the short- and medium-haul fleet this autumn and will become the first Austrian Airlines aircraft equipped with Starlink connectivity. Over the coming years, Starlink is expected to be rolled out across the entire fleet. At the same time, the phase-out of the Embraer fleet continues. Four of the airline’s 17 Embraer aircraft have already left the fleet this year.
As a result, from 2029 onwards, Austrian Airlines’ fleet will consist exclusively of Airbus A320-family aircraft on short- and medium-haul routes and Boeing Dreamliners on long-haul services. “We are very satisfied with the progress of our fleet transformation. Only a few months ago, we welcomed the third Dreamliner into our fleet, which has since been operating for Austrian Airlines under the registration OE-LPG. This transformation represents a major efficiency gain for the airline and allows us to align our fleet even more closely with the needs of our network and our passengers. The current crisis once again demonstrates how important this is for maintaining and strengthening our competitiveness”, emphasized Austrian Airlines COO Stefan-Kenan Scheib.
In parallel, construction work continues on the new lounge facilities being developed as part of the Vienna Airport South Terminal Expansion. Covering more than 5,000 square meters, the new lounges are scheduled to open and welcome passengers in the second quarter of 2027.
Preparations are also entering their final phase for the renewal and expansion of the Premium Economy Class, which will be introduced beginning next winter.
Furthermore, from 2028, employees in the cockpit, cabin, and ground operations divisions will receive new uniforms for the first time in 30 years. Wear trials began in July, with more than 100 employees testing the new garments in daily operations through October to evaluate functionality, comfort, and fit.
“Austrian is investing across the entire travel experience to make journeys for our guests even more comfortable, modern, and enjoyable. Looking ahead to our 70th anniversary next year, this is also a clear statement that we believe in the long-term future of Austria as an aviation location and, with it, the future of Austrian Airlines”, said Austrian Airlines CEO Annette Mann.
Key figures for the first half of 2026 at a glance (rounded)
| 1-6 2026 | 1-6 2025 | Change vs. 2025 | |
| Revenue (€ million) | 1,221 | 1,177 | +4% |
| Adjusted total revenue (€ million) | 1,254 | 1,226 | +2% |
| Adjusted total expenses (€ million) | 1,348 | 1,269 | +6% |
| Adjusted EBIT (€ million) | -93 | -43 | |
| EBIT (€ million) | -94 | -44 | |
| Passengers (thousand) | 6,961 | 6,592 | +6% |
| Available seat kilometers (ASK, million) | 13,525 | 13,545 | +0% |
| Load factor (%) | 80.6 | 77.2 | +3.5pp |
| Number of flights | 56,865 | 58,011 | -2% |
| Fleet size (operating fleet) | 66 | 68 | -2 |
| Schedule reliability | 98.8% | 99.3% | -0.5pp |
| Departure punctuality | 83.0% | 85.7% | -2.7pp |
| Arrival punctuality | 86.2% | 88.4% | -2.2pp |
| Employees (headcount, as of 30 June) | 6,177 | 6,139 | +1% |
Key figures for the second quarter of 2026 at a glance (rounded)
| Q2 2026 | Q2 2025 | Change vs. 2025 | |
| Revenue (€ million) | 740 | 719 | +3% |
| Adjusted total revenue (€ million) | 759 | 748 | +1% |
| Adjusted total expenses (€ million) | 741 | 680 | +9% |
| Adjusted EBIT (€ million) | 19 | 68 | -72% |
| EBIT (€ million) | 18 | 68 | -74% |