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Lufthansa’s Austrian Airlines said Thursday it will invest E200m ($228m) to expand its Airbus fleet to compete with fast growing low-cost carriers. Vienna Airport, one of Europe’s main hubs for eastern European destinations, introduced an incentive scheme after the collapse of Air Berlin to attract new carriers, which has proved particularly successful with low cost airlines. Budget carriers including Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, IAG’s Vueling and Level, and Lufthansa’s Eurowings have since launched or increased services and Vienna’s airport has reported a 10 percent increase in passenger numbers in the 11 months to the end of November. Austrian Airlines plans to increase its Airbus fleet to 46 planes from 36 in the next three years, it said in a statement. Although it will discard its 18 turboprop aircraft, the airline said its capacity will increase by more than 10% as the Airbus planes offer more seats. “This can be understood as a commitment to fight in an environment of increasingly tough competition in Vienna, and we are prepared to take further steps to defend our hub,” Austrian Airlines CEAlexis von Hoensbroech said.<br/>

Brazil's civil aviation regulator is withdrawing the registrations of 10 Airbus A320 family aircraft in Avianca Brazil's fleet. The withdrawals from Brazil's aircraft registry will occur within five working days, after which the aircraft must be returned, said ANAC. The move is in response to a request from lessor GECAS, it added. A GECAS spokesperson declined to comment. Avianca Brazil did not immediately comment. ANAC warned that flights scheduled in the coming days may be affected. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that GECAS manages 11 A320 family aircraft operated by Avianca Brazil, including 10 A320neos that range from one to just under two and a half years old. The move by ANAC to withdraw the A320s came a day after Avianca Brazil said it will return four Airbus A330-200s and end most international service effective 31 March, as it continues to negotiate with lessors during a 15-day relief period granted by a Brazilian court.<br/>

Air New Zealand has won international awards for its environmental initiatives and its SkyCouch seats in what it describes as an unprecedented double at "Oscars of the airline industry". In the Air Transport World Airline Industry Awards it was crowned Eco Airline of the Year and won the Passenger Experience Achievement award for recent upgrades to its Economy SkyCouch seats. The Eco-Airline of the Year award recognises Air New Zealand's portfolio of sustainability work. This includes the airline's commitment to reducing waste through its Project Green initiative, engagement with and support for regional New Zealand communities and reducing carbon emissions both within the airline's own operations and encouraging travellers to do the same through its voluntary carbon offsetting programme, FlyNeutral. During the past 12 months it has saved 7300 tonnes of carbon in the past 12 months by using electricity to power aircraft while at the gate and 8700 tonnes of carbon has been offset from Air NZ employee business travel. Close to 27,000 tonnes of carbon was voluntarily offset by customers in 2018 through the airline's FlyNeutral programme.<br/>