Airline is the lifeline of world today as it provides air transport services for freight and passengers. There is an increase of about 700% in people travelling through air than 40 years earlier. This exponential growth in airways industry is a result of good services provided by the airlines. In this article, we will share the difference between Europe’s best airlines: Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines.

Lufthansa versus Swiss International Airlines versus Austrian Airlines

Lufthansa

Lufthansa is the second largest airline in Europe in terms of number of passengers. It is the flag carrier German airline. Lufthansa is one of the founding members of Star Alliance.

Swiss International Airlines

Swizz International Airlines is the flag carrier of Switzerland. It is a member of Star Alliance and a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

Austrian Airlines

Austrian Airlines AG is the flag carrier of Austria. It is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa group. It is a member of Star Alliance as well.

History

Lufthansa has come a long way from Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. (DLH). that was formed in Berlin. DLH was Germany’s flag carrier till 1945 when all services were terminated following the defeat of Nazi Germany. In 1954, Luftag got the name of DLH and started operating as Lufthansa.

Swiss International Airlines was formed after the previous flag barrier of Switzerland-Swissair went bankrupt in 220. It was build from Swissair’s regional subsidiary Crossair.

Austrian Airlines was formed in 1957. It was a merger of Air Austria and Austrian Airways. Austrian Airways was founded in 1923 as a state-owned entity. Subsequently, it purchased its own fleet and started performing its own scheduled service by 1958. The airline further expanded in 2000s through the acquisitions of Rheintalflug and Lauda Air. It gained its privatised stature in 2009 when Lufthansa group purchased it and converted into a subsidiary.

Founded

Lufthansa was founded on 6 January 1953. It commenced its operations on 1 April 1955.

Swiss International Airlines was founded on 31 March 2002. It was developed from Crossair.

Austrian airlines was founded on 30September 1957. Its focus cities are Graz Airport, Innsbruck Airport and Salzburg Airport.

Key People

 Lufthansa is headed by chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr since May 2014. He is a German airline executive.

Swiss International Airline’s CEO is Thomas Luhr.

Austrian Airlines is headed by three persons. Alexis von Hoensbroech is the CEO of Austrian airlines. Its CCO is Andreas Otto and CFO are Wolfgang Jani.

Hub

Lufthansa operates from two hubs. Its primary hub is in Frankfurt and secondary hub is in Munich, Germany. Lufthansa’s registered office and corporate headquarters are in Cologne.

Swiss International Airlines operate from Zurich airport. Its headquarters are in Euroairport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, Basel, Switzerland.

Austrian Airlines operates from its hub at Vienna International Airport. Its headquarters are in Schwechat, Austria.

Number of employees and net income

Lufthansa had 138353 employees in 2019. Its estimated revenue was 2 billion Euros in 2019. It generated a net income of 1021 billion Euros in 2019.

Swiss International Airlines had 9101 employees in December 2016. Its estimated revenue was 4.95 billion CHF in 2017. Its operating income was 561 million CHF in 2017.

Austrian Airlines had 7083 employees in 2018. It generated revenue of 205 billion Euros in 2017. Its estimated operating income in 2017 was 101 million Euros.

Fleet

Lufthansa has a fleet size of 237 aircrafts in service and 194 ordered. The in-service fleet includes Airbus A319-100, Airbus A340-300, Airbus A380-800, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-9, Boeing 787-9 and many more.

Swiss International Airlines has 89 in-service aircrafts. The airline has ordered 25 more aircrafts. In-service aircrafts include 9 Airbus A220-100, Airbus 20 A220-300, Airbus A320-200, 1 Airbus A320neo, 6 Airbus A321-100, 3 Airbus A321-200, 14 Airbus A330-300, 5 Airbus A340-300 and 12 Boeing 777-300ER.

Austrian Airlines had 84 in-service and 12 ordered aircrafts in its fleet by March 2020. The in-service aircrafts include 17 Embraer E195, 14 De Havilland Dash 8-400, 6 Boeing 777-200ER, 6 Boeing 767-300ER, 3 Airbus A321-200, 3 Airbus A321-100, 28 Airbus A320-200 and 7 Airbus A319-100 aircrafts.

Frequent-flyer Program: Miles & More

Lufthansa’s, Swiss International Airlines’ and Austrian Airlines’ frequent-flyer program is named as Miles & More. It is shared by Lufthansa’s subsidiaries also. It is the largest traveller loyalty program in Europe. It had 25 million members in March 2014.

There are 4 membership levels in Miles & More: Miles & More member, Frequent traveller, Senator, HON circle. Miles can be earned by travelling through Lufthansa and Star Alliance partner flights. Extra services, like lounge access and executive bonus miles, are offered to the members at various levels.

Accidents and incidents

Many fatal and non-fatal accidents have happened with Lufthansa flights. The most fatal accident happened on 20 November 1974 when a Boeing 747-100 lost power and crashed shortly after take-off at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It results in loss of 55 passengers and 4 crew.

Swiss International Airlines had not met with any accident since its formation in 2002. Its predecessor Swissair met with a heart-shaking accident on 21 February 1970 when Swissair 330 crashed shortly after take-off. This accident killed everyone on board. Number of deaths were 47-38 passengers and 9 crew.

Austrian Airlines have met with a number of accidents. Most recent happened on 5 January 2004 when an Fokker 70 crash landed on a snow covered field near Munich airport. The reason was failure in engines during landing descent due to icing. This accident proved to be fatal for the aircraft, but non-fatal for the passengers and crew. There were only 3 injured passengers.

Conclusion

Airlines have come a long way since its inception in 1909. All airlines have the sole purpose of providing the best services to their passengers. Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines are the best in their fields of specialty and provide world-class comfort to passengers. Before booking a flight, one should pay attention to one’s budget and safety. WHAT do you think is best airline?