About Annette Mann
Annette Mann, CEO of Austrian Airlines, has been discussing the airline's financial and operational challenges in several media appearances. In a July 2026 interview on Ö3, she described the airline's per-passenger profit as approximately €5, contrasting it with Austria's €12 air travel tax and stating that total taxes and fees per departing flight from Vienna amount to around €45. She also discussed her management style, describing herself as a "systematic, logical person" who believes large companies require structure rather than rigid rules. Mann noted that she does not use a company car or chauffeur and works from a small office.
In a June 2026 podcast, Mann stated that the airline's kerosene supply is secure for the summer travel season and that customers can book with confidence. She announced a gradual rollout of Starlink internet on all flights and discussed the potential addition of a 13th and 14th long-haul aircraft, which she said would create 350 high-quality jobs per plane. In a May 2026 interview, Mann described 2026 as a difficult year for Austrian Airlines due to the Iran-Iraq war causing a global kerosene shortage and the suspension of flights to five destinations in the East, including Tel Aviv. She criticized Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary's approach to the Vienna hub, calling it "blackmail," and stated that Austria has become the second most expensive aviation location in Europe over the past five to ten years.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Annette Mann's recent appearances.
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Transcript (7 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
Well, speaking about traveling and pricing, we know and I see it myself when I travel, particularly the younger generation as well, wants also to travel sustainably. At the same time, travelers want cheap prices. So how is Austrian managing this very tiny balance between sustainability and affordability?
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Annette Mann0:29
First of all, I would say these are two very different topics. Because people say they want to fly more sustainably, 80 percent, but when you really look into how they make their decision, that's very different. It's a very tiny single-digit percentage of people who actually make their decision based on sustainability, and that's a challenge.
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Annette Mann0:57
So everyone talks about it, but hardly anyone in the end really wants to travel sustainably. However, we have a responsibility, and aviation of course has to become greener. So what we do, and that's back to 2011, Lufthansa was actually the first airline which was using sustainable aviation fuel. So Lufthansa was part of doing all the certification that you can blend it in with about 2,000 flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt. So we were at the very forefront of pushing all that development for sustainable fuel. And this is still going on with commitments, partnerships, and things like green fares. So if you want to make a sustainable choice, there are opportunities not just short haul but also long haul. We have developed solutions for business customers. When business customers want to reduce their scope 3 emissions for their duty travel, they can do deals with us where they use SAF for their duty travel, and they'll also get certificates to actually prove it. So we try to develop products for these people who actually make their decision based on sustainability. But the truth is, doing that on a broad base, like for every single traveler, every ticket, that's still not what the market wants.
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Interviewer2:42
Yeah. Still you aim and also communicate it to be CO2 neutral by 2050. Which steps are you taking to come to that goal, which is a quite ambitious one for all of us, I guess.
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Annette Mann2:58
Let's be systematic. As an airline, you have only three measures to reduce your CO2 footprint. First, you can buy new airplanes because every new airplane on average uses about 20% less fuel. That's a huge measure, but a costly one. At Austrian, it depends on how quickly manufacturers deliver, but the plan is still that by 2030 we will have 50% latest generation aircraft. So that does a lot. Second, you can fly more efficiently, using less fuel. It's like with your car: you can drive in a way that uses a lot of fuel, or you can drive saving fuel. It's the same with airplanes. There are things pilots can do themselves and things you can only do with air traffic control. It's about how fast you ascend and descend, at which flight levels you fly, and how direct you fly. In Europe, these measures could give another 10% efficiency, but if European countries would work closer together in air traffic control, that would give about another 10% fuel efficiency. It's quite political and tough to reach. Third, you use sustainable aviation fuel instead of fossil fuel. These three things together can reduce your CO2. Will it be zero in 2050? We don't believe so, and that was never the promise. Being neutral then means compensating somewhere else. We are looking into compensating with existing measures, and also exploring carbon capture. There are first partnerships, for example with carbon capture on Iceland. We are exploring that as one of the measures.
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Narrator5:41
Measures. Rheeisen Bank International, make it happen.
