Austria established the world’s first regular international air connection on 1 April 1918, when it opened its route between Vienna and Kiev. Initially, this served only to transport post. In July 1918, the line from Vienna to Budapest was also opened.
On 14 May 1923, the first aircraft to be operated by ÖLAG (Österreichische Luftverkehrs AG) flew from Vienna to Munich. ÖLAG soon expanded to become the fourth-largest airline in Europe. Following the occupation of Austria in 1938, ÖLAG was forced to cease operations.
When Austria regained sovereignty over its airspace in 1955 with the signature of the State Treaty, two separate carriers were founded, Air Austria and Austrian Airways. Neither of the two began operating flights at this stage. On 4 April 1957, the two companies finally merged to form a single airline, Austrian Airlines.
On 30 September 1957, Austrian Airlines AG was founded, and the new company began to operate scheduled services on 31 March 1958.
The following is an overview of the most important milestones in the company’s history to the present day.