Austrian Offers Private-Jet Charters from Vienna

Austrian Airlines' all-Boeing long-haul fleet of 777-200ERs (seen here) and 767-300ERs operates services from four U.S. destinations to Vienna. Now, using a new service called Austrian Business Jet, the airline's business-class customers can charter Cessna CJ2 and Citation XLS business jets operated by JetAlliance to fly them to secondary destinations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Western Asia. Credit: Boeing Photo

Austrian Airlines has launched a new service allowing business-class passengers to charter private business jets from its Vienna hub to destinations throughout Europe and the Middle East.

In cooperation with Austria's largest private-jet operator, JetAlliance, the airline has launched Austrian Business Jet. The new service allows passengers flying on Austrian's transatlantic flights from New York and three other U.S. destinations to charter six-seat Cessna CJ2 or eight-seat Cessna Citation XLS business jets operated by JetAlliance for private flights to and from Vienna's Schwechat Airport, said Christina Debbah, project manager for Austrian Business Jet.

Requiring minimum booking notice of 48 hours, the service offers a dedicated North American reservations number at (718) 670-8690. For an average one-way cost of around 50,000 euros, groups of three or four business-class passengers can fly on Austrian from New York to Vienna, connect at their leisure -- stopping over in Vienna if they wish -- and then continue their trip on a chartered private jet to their final destination in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or Western Asia, said Debbah.

At Vienna's Schwechat Airport, Austrian Business Jet customers connecting to private-jet flights are escorted by specially trained Austrian Airlines staff through special, separate passport control and security lines, after which they can relax in Austrian's or JetAlliance's hospitality lounges. Should customers wish to transfer immediately from Austrian's transatlantic flight to their chartered private jet, they can choose to be driven straight to their jet in a limousine.

The JetAlliance business jets available for charter are not painted in Austrian Airlines' color scheme, but the airline does place copies of its Skylines in-flight magazine on board each aircraft, as well as folders for each Austrian Business Jet passenger with information about the airline and its services, said Debbah.

Additionally, customers can order special meals for the Austrian Business Jet chartered flights. Although JetAlliance's Cessna CJ2s do not carry flight attendants, a flight attendant is carried on each chartered Citation XLS flight.

The airline expects its high-end Austrian Business Jet service "to broaden our feeder system, primarily for destinations which have not yet been opened by us or are not operated with high frequencies, therefore strengthening our market position," said Paul Paflik, Austrian Airlines' general manager for the Americas.

In launching its new service, Austrian, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its formation on Sept. 30, is emulating its neighbor and Star Alliance partner Lufthansa. For more than two years, the big German carrier has offered private-jet charters from its Munich and Frankfurt hubs -- as well the Zurich hub of its subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines -- to more than 1,000 European destinations, in a partnership with business jet fractional-ownership and charter operator NetJets. Lufthansa and NetJets recently extended their partnership, which is branded as Lufthansa Private Jet, for an additional five years.

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