Austrian Airlines Presents Winter Flight Schedule 2025/2026: New Long-Haul Route to Dubai and More Comfort in Italy
Austrian Airlines (AUA) is gearing up for winter 2025/2026 and presenting an expanded flight schedule with new destinations and optimized connections. The focus is on the new long-haul destination, Dubai, and a significant improvement in the Italy program due to the change of Milan airport.
Austrian Airlines is increasing its service by 85 flights during the fall holidays. / Picture: © Austrian Airlines / Flickr Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
As a seasonal highlight, AUA is adding the route from Vienna (VIE) to Dubai (DXB) to its winter flight schedule for the first time. The connection will be offered five times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday) from December 2025 to March 2026 as the “Dubai Deal” or “Winter Experiment.” The choice of aircraft is interesting: instead of a long-haul jet, an Airbus A320neo will be used, whose cabin is designed for short and medium-haul flights and primarily offers economy seating. The airline aims to make Dubai an attractive destination for price-conscious travelers and is testing this concept in a limited phase. The flight time is approximately 5 hours.
More Italy: Milan Linate and increased connections to Rome
There is a welcome change for travelers to Milan: from the start of the winter flight schedule (October 26, 2025), AUA will fly to Milan Linate Airport, which is close to the city, instead of the more distant Malpensa. This will be made possible by the takeover of slots from sister company ITA Airways, also part of the Lufthansa Group, and will significantly reduce travel time to the city center. The metropolis of fashion and elegance will be served by up to four flights a day.
The Italian capital, Rome-Fiumicino, will also be strengthened. By the end of the summer flight schedule, the frequency will be increased to up to three times a day or 18 times a week. Thanks to a codeshare agreement with ITA Airways' hub in Rome, AUA passengers will benefit from additional long-haul connections to North and South America.
Strengthening the program
The trend toward “coolcations” continues. Destinations in the heart of Lapland, Ivalo, Rovaniemi, and Kittilä, which offer opportunities to observe the Northern Lights, for example, will once again be included in the flight schedule. Starting January 25, 2025, Ivalo (Finland) will be served once a week on Saturdays from Vienna.
The popular route to Bangkok will once again have a second daily connection in winter. Connections to tropical destinations such as the Maldives (up to five times a week) and Mauritius (up to three times a week) remain strong. North America continues to be well served, with up to eleven weekly flights to New York (JFK and EWR) and connections to Montreal and Boston, among others.
To meet the increased demand during the fall holidays (October 27 to November 1), AUA is offering 85 additional flights. The focus is on destinations with a mild fall climate and short flight times, such as Larnaca (Cyprus), Mallorca, Varna, Dubrovnik, Split, Rome, Catania, and Valencia.
For the third time in a row, the nonstop connection between Klagenfurt and Hamburg will be included in the winter flight schedule. From December 20, 2025, to March 14, 2026, the route will be served on Saturdays, thereby strengthening incoming tourism for Carinthia.
In total, AUA's 2025/2026 winter flight schedule includes 73 short- and medium-haul destinations with up to 980 flights per week and ten long-haul destinations with up to 48 weekly connections.