Austrian Airlines Retires Their Q400s

The Q400 is an excellent short-haul turboprop aircraft, seating up to 78 passengers at a maximum range of 2,040 km! In addition, the Q400 is a STOL (Short Takeoff And Landing) aircraft, which means that it can land at airports with small runways!

However, another airline has decided to retire the type today- Austrian Airlines. The last passenger flight by Austrian Airlines using the aircraft was on May 31, 2021, from Vienna to Innsbruck. The aircraft was painted in a special "Pfiat di, Dash!" livery, which means "Goodbye!" in Austrian. The aircraft operating on the flight was OE-LGI, a 16.5-year-old Q400. The aircraft is currently in storage and is waiting to be scrapped or bought by a second-hand owner. As a tribute to the Q400, Austrian Airlines released a book titled the "Dash Chronicle".

Here is a statement from Austrian Airlines regarding the event:

“Austrian Airlines is well prepared for the fleet retirement of the Dash. With the comfortable, efficient Embraer and Airbus aircraft, we will continue to offer our passengers a good feeder service with Vienna as our hub.”

“At peak times, the Dash 8-Q400 completed up to 44,000 individual flights per year. With this type of aircraft, it was also possible to fly to particularly demanding locations.”

Have you flown on an Austrian Airlines Q400 before?

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Image: Kurt Hoffman

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Written by: Sohail Sawlani

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