By the time I get around to posting this trip, the flight it covers will no longer exist. At the beginning of August 2026, Austrian Airlines announced that it would be axing the Graz route as one of the Lufthansa Group’s many measures to minimise their losses. However, how much cutting one daily rotation can contribute to that is a mystery to me…

Preamble

I take the Railjet train to get me from Vienna to Graz. Door to door from the Hilton am Stadtpark at Wien Mitte to the Centre of Graz takes me exactly four hours. I rather like Graz, and even have enough time to have a delectable lunch at the Café Herzog, formerly known as the Café Sacher. What you can see in the photos below is the slice of Esterhazy Torte I had for dessert.

Getting to Graz Feldkirch Airport

I exit the Café Herzog on the main square in the centre of Graz at exactly 13h00. It’s a walk of about 25 minutes back to the railway station. There are trams too, but it’s a lovely day and I certainly need a digestive walk after that spectacular piece of cake anyway. The S1 regional train runs from Graz Hauptbahnhof to the airport every thirty minutes, at 05 and 35 past the hour. The journey takes about ten minutes. A single ticket costs EUR3.-.

The railway station at the airport is not in the terminal building. It’s a walk of about five minutes. Currently, the station is still under construction or being renovated, so they’ve laid a provisional path through a field of sunflowers to access the terminal building.

Austrian Airlines Check-In

Austrian Airlines has three check-in counters open for the Lufthansa Group, with one counter for Business Class passengers and status card holders, and the other two for everybody else. The Austrian Airlines counters are in the privileged position of being closest to the entrance to the security checkpoint. Speaking of which, there is only one line open at the security checkpoint, and it’s moving at a snail’s pace. Security should not take 25 minutes to clear at such a small airport, even with all the old age pensioners that are, presumably, travelling on the Croatia Airlines flight to Brac or the Air Dolomiti service to Frankfurt.

Graz Airport Business Class Lounge

Graz Airport operates its own lounge for premium passengers. As a Miles & More Senator I’m entitled to enter. However, seeing as I only arrive at the airport thirty minutes before boarding begins and only make it through security five minutes before, it’s not as though I have time for a visit.

Austrian Airlines Boarding

Boarding for the flight starts on time. The load to Vienna is rather light today, with only 53 passengers on board. Much to my delight, there are only remote stands here in Graz, which means we’re going to have to walk across the apron to reach our aircraft. Although my status puts me in boarding group 2, I wait to board last, so that I can take my time and savour the pleasure of approaching my aircraft on foot.

Austrian Airlines Cabin & Seat

Given that the aircraft is very light and half empty, they’ve obviously had to pay close attention to where they seat passengers. As a result, most of them are seated from row eleven backwards. There are two passengers in the Business Class cabin on row two, one person on either side of row 7, and me on row 8. The seats on the Austrian Airlines Embraer 195s are not aligned that well with the windows, but it’s still good enough for a decent view. The seat pitch on row 8 is comfortable. If I’d known that they have a viewing terrace, I would have tried to be here earlier!

Austrian Airlines Service & Crew

While I can appreciate that the Graz-Vienna service may not be the most exciting flight in the Austrian Airlines network, I still think it would be nice for the cabin crew to make it less obvious just how badly they don’t want to be here. They’re dreadful and have some serious attitude going on. Luckily, the flight time to Vienna is only 20 minutes, so it’s not as though I’ll have to endure the three witches of Eastwick for long… The service consists of a glass of still water and, yet another, Mozart Kugel.

Arrival in Vienna

ATC brings us in for an arrival from the South on runway 34. From there it’s just a short taxi to our parking stand on another remote position. Behind me a group of French people is commenting on how surprised they are by the short duration of the flight. We’re bussed to the terminal building and I make my way to arrivals for Vienna. Only three passengers coming off the flight from Graz are exiting here in Vienna. The rest all make their way up the stairs to the transit area.

Conclusion – Austrian Airlines

This was not a bad flight, mainly because it was very short and interaction with the cabin crew and their foul mood was kept short. I have no idea how representative this flight was of traffic on the route, but I’m guessing that Austrian Airlines is probably on to something by cancelling the route if the load is always this light. In terms of journey time, I return to my room at the Hilton at Wien Mitte at 16h15, which means that the air service beats the rail service by 45 minutes. However, they’re currently working on a new tunnel that will go through the Simmering instead of passing over it. When the tunnel opens, I’m guessing it will be a tie on journey time.