Austrian Airlines flies the Vienna–Graz route for the last time today
Austrian Airlines is today permanently ending operations on the domestic route between Vienna and Graz, which the carrier has served since May 1963. The final flight OS 117 departs Vienna at 15:00 on an Embraer E195 registered OE-LWD and returns to the Austrian capital at 16:15.
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Austrian Airlines launched the Vienna–Graz route on 1 May 1963 with a Douglas DC-3 on a service continuing via Graz to Klagenfurt. At the time it was one of Austria's busiest domestic connections – according to English-language sources, the route generated around 230,000 to 250,000 passengers a year before the pandemic, making it the second-strongest domestic route after Vienna–Innsbruck.
In recent years, however, the number of flights gradually declined. Graz Airport chief Wolfgang Grimus said the cuts came mainly after Austrian retired its turboprop fleet, which was replaced by larger 120-seat Embraers. In its strongest years the carrier flew the route up to four times daily, but last summer only twice, and just before the route's cancellation the average had fallen to 1.5 flights a day, according to Graz Airport. As frequency dropped, so did passenger numbers – most recently around 60,000 people a year used the route, compared with an average of about 130,000 in the days of four daily flights.
- Last flight from Vienna
- 15:00, flight OS 117
- Last return flight
- 16:15
- Aircraft type
- Embraer E195, OE-LWD
- Route operating since
- 1 May 1963
- Final annual passengers
- approx. 60,000
- Domestic route losses
- €12m (H1 2026)
According to Austrian Airlines spokeswoman Annetta Mann, domestic routes have long been loss-making for the carrier. The Vienna–Innsbruck, Vienna–Klagenfurt and Vienna–Graz routes together posted a loss of €12 million in the first half of this year. This led to a decision in early August to scrap the Graz route entirely and also cut the number of rotations on the Vienna–Klagenfurt route, which, along with the Innsbruck service, will remain Austrian's only domestic connection.
Graz Airport said it had expected that the vast majority of passengers on the Vienna route – roughly 98 percent – were transfer passengers heading onward via the Vienna hub, rather than travelers to Vienna itself.
Austria's second-largest city, with 306,000 inhabitants, will thus lose its direct link to Vienna, 205 kilometers away (roughly a two-hour drive), though it will not be left without network-carrier connections. Graz Airport continues to be served by Lufthansa and Air Dolomiti with up to three rotations daily to both Munich and Frankfurt, Swiss once daily from Zurich, and British Airways three times a week to London Gatwick.
Graz Airport traffic
- Eurowings recently closed its single-aircraft base in Graz, but will still maintain regular flights to Berlin, Hamburg and Mallorca despite the winter season.
- According to map.flights data, the network at Graz Airport (LOWG) recorded a total of 490 movements by 15 carriers in the week of 16–22 October 2026, compared with 472 movements and 12 carriers the week before.
- The busiest carrier at the airport during this period was Air Dolomiti with 68 movements, followed by Eurowings with 31, Lufthansa with 24, Austrian Airlines with 22 and Swiss with 14 movements.
With the cancellation of the Vienna–Graz route, direct air links between the Austrian capital and Graz come to an end after more than six decades, while the city's international connectivity remains intact thanks to the network of other carriers.
Traffic at Graz Airport (LOWG) and other Austrian airports can be tracked on map.flights.