Austrian Airlines has transferred the first of 13 Embraer 195s to Lufthansa Group sibling Air Dolomiti as part of a plan to consolidate short- and medium-haul operations on Airbus A320neo-family jets. Four additional E195s in Austrian's fleet will be sold externally from early next year. The 17 E195s – all configured with 120 seats – will be replaced by six additional, 180-seat A320neos, the first of which is scheduled to join Austrian's fleet in the summer 2026 season, says the Star Alliance carrier. "As things currently stand, the Embraer 195 will be phased out by the end of 2028," it adds. The next E195 is set to leave its fleet in February. In addition to its E-Jets, Austrian's fleet includes 29 A320ceos, six A321ceos, five Pratt & Whitney GTF-powered A320neos, three Boeing 767-300ERs, six 777-200ERs and two 787-9s, Cirium fleets data shows. Three ATR 72-600 turboprops are operated for Austrian under a wet-lease agreement with Sweden's Braathens Regional Airlines. Austrian's GTF-powered A320neos will be phased out and replaced with aircraft powered by CFM International Leap-1A engines. Austrian's 27 on-order aircraft comprise 13 A320neos, nine A321neos and five 787-9s. The airline foresees a single-type long-haul fleet of a dozen 787s by the end of 2028 "as things stand at present". Its first E195 to join the fleet of Air Dolomiti has been registered as I-ENJA. The 2012-vintage aircraft, previously registered as OE-LWM, had been part of Austrian's fleet since 2016. In 2016, Austrian introduced E-Jets that had previously been part of Lufthansa CityLine's fleet. Used by Austrian to replace ageing Fokker 70/100s, the E-Jets "served us well and provided important services for many years", states operating chief Stefan-Kenan Scheib. Air Dolomiti has 17 E195s and nine E190s in service. It operates feeder services from Italian cities to Frankfurt and Munich.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the reorganisation plan submitted by Brazilian carrier Azul, which had filed for Chapter 11 on 28 May. Azul says that, with the plan's approval granted during a 12 December hearing, it will now "advance to the next phases of implementation in accordance with the terms previously disclosed". The plan "received overwhelming support from all voting creditors", adds the airline. It intends to conclude its restructuring by February 2026.

Ryanair plans to cut over a fifth of its capacity from Brussels for winter 2026/27 in response to higher aviation taxes in Belgium. It says this will remove one million seats, five based aircraft, and twenty routes from its base at the country's capital airport, representing a reduction of investment of $500 million. The move comes as the Belgian government doubled aviation tax to €10 ($12) per passenger from 2027, states Ryanair, which comes on top of previous tax hikes earlier this year. "These repeated increases to this harmful aviation tax make Belgium completely uncompetitive compared to the many other EU countries, like Sweden, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia, where [governments] are abolishing aviation taxes to drive traffic, tourism, and jobs," says chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness. Ryanair is also warning that a separate proposed €3 departure tax from the Charleroi city council could force deeper cuts as early as April 2026. The airline's decision to cut services is the latest in a series of reductions that it has made in response to higher charges in Europe, as it has sought to concentrate capacity in the lowest-cost operating jurisdictions. As part of this it has pulled back from Austria, Denmark, Germany and Spain, while other lower-tax locations are seeing significant capacity hikes.