Austrian Airlines is closing its Boeing 767 chapter in 2026. Aero.de reported on September 24 that the Lufthansa Group carrier has sold its last three Boeing 767-300ERs — registrations OE-LAE, OE-LAY and OE-LAZ — to U.S. parts specialist Cobra Aviation Services for teardown in Arizona, confirming an Aviation Week account from September 21–22.
According to an Austrian spokeswoman quoted by aero.de, OE-LAZ is due to ferry to the United States during October, with the other two airframes following toward year-end. Aviation Week separately said the final commercial 767 flight is expected on December 1, 2026, ending 38 years of twinjet flying that began when Lauda Air introduced the type in 1988 before the airline was folded into Austrian in 2004.
Nine 767s have worn Austrian or Lauda colors over that span. One airframe, OE-LAW, was already retired after the COVID-19 downturn in 2021 after logging more than 137,000 flight hours, a figure Austrian long-range fleet leadership highlighted in recent Aviation Week coverage as among the highest on the type worldwide.
Replacement metal is already on the property. Aero.de noted that Lufthansa has just handed Austrian another Boeing 787-9 — previously D-ABPA and soon to fly as OE-LPI — taking the Vienna Dreamliner count to four. Austrian plans seven 787-9s in service by summer 2027 as the 767 bank disappears and the six 777-200ERs continue their own longer glide path toward a Dreamliner-only long-haul fleet later in the decade.
For passengers, the practical change is a quieter cabin story rather than an overnight route wipeout. Austrian’s long-haul map keeps shifting onto the 787-9 product, which the group has already used on New York and Chicago flying as Dreamliner deliveries land. The sale-for-part-out decision simply locks the retirement calendar that earlier planning documents had already pointed toward December 2026.
Part-out in Arizona is a familiar end-of-life path for mid-life widebodies whose residual value sits in engines, landing gear, and rotables rather than a second airline career. Cobra Aviation Services will strip the three twins after ferry; Austrian has not disclosed the purchase price.
The retirement also simplifies Austrian’s maintenance and crew-training footprint. Moving from a mixed 767/777/787 long-haul fleet toward a 787-centred operation cuts type ratings and spare pools, which is the same efficiency logic Lufthansa Group has pushed across several subsidiaries.
Network planners should still watch how Vienna frequencies to North America and Asia are retimed as the last 767 rotations fall away in the fourth quarter. Dreamliner gauge and range change how banks connect through Vienna, even when the city-pair list looks familiar on the surface.
As of aero.de’s September 24 report and Aviation Week’s September sales confirmation, Austrian’s 767 story is no longer a soft target — it is a contracted part-out with October ferries and a December 1 commercial close. Source reporting: aero.de, September 24, 2026; Aviation Week, September 22, 2026.
Spotters chasing a last look should focus on the autumn Vienna long-haul banks before OE-LAZ leaves for Arizona, because once the ferry window opens the type will disappear from Austrian’s active fleet list for good.
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