The money, collected through an auction, will go to the Ukraine aid program of Nachbar in Not (neighbor in need).
Not so long ago, airlines were resorting to all kinds of measures to raise cash. The pandemic saw carriers offer in-flight catering for home delivery, sell off cutlery, and create pop-up restaurants in parked Airbus A380s to earn some much-needed liquidity. However, this time around, Austrian Airlines has sold some of its seats and catering trolleys for a different charitable cause.
Together with the online auction house Aurena, Austrian Airlines auctioned 11 rows of no longer required economy seats from its Boeing 767 fleet. Furthermore, the carrier offered up more than 170 flight trolleys for sale. During the auction, more than 390 bidders placed 2.500 bids. It ended up collecting €58,587 ($63,000).
The money will go to the aid program of the Austrian NGO Nachbar in Not (neighbor in need), which will help refugees from the war in Ukraine gain access to everyday things we all mostly take for granted - food, water, medicines, and hygiene products. Austrian Airlines Chief Commercial Officer, Michael Trest, commented on the initiative,
“The immense suffering of Ukrainians makes us very concerned. As the red-white-red flag-carrier, which has been connecting Austria with Europe and the world for more than 60 years, we are very pleased to share a piece of aviation history – and thereby help people in need. With this charity project, we want to make at least a small contribution to ease the suffering of the Ukrainian people. We would like to thank all bidders, who have placed bids during the auction and thus contributed in helping people in need."
The seats came from Austrian's widebody fleet of Boeing 767s, predominantly in service on transatlantic flights. The airline removed them during a cabin upgrade in order to make space for the airline's premium economy product. Both the seats and trolleys have been renovated to their original standards. Austrian says they are now "looking forward to new tasks on the ground; as an extravagant piece of furniture, bar trolleys or sturdy toolboxes."
Austrian Airlines still maintains three Boeing 767-300ER in its fleet, with an average of 22.7 years. It waved goodbye to another three over the course of a few months last year. Along with six Boeing 777-200ER, the remaining three make up the current Austrian long-haul widebody fleet.
The Lufthansa Group carrier first launched a long-haul premium economy product in 2018, offering 18 seats in the category on its B767s. However, last year, the airline announced plans to increase the number of premium economy seats on the type to 30 to be ready in time for the summer 2022 schedule.
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It is not uncommon for pieces of aviation history to be sold for charitable causes. Last year, parts of the first-ever Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 were auctioned off to support flood-impacted communities in Germany. Earlier this year, the company responsible, Aviationtags, raised over $9,000 for other local causes by selling tags from different retired aircraft.
If you could own one piece of aviation history, what would it be? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Lead Sustainability Journalist - With a Masters in International Relations, Linnea has combined her love for current affairs with her passion for travel to become a key member of the Simple Flying team. With eight years’ experience in publishing and citations in publications such as CNN, Linnea brings a deep understanding of politics and future aviation tech to her stories. Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.