Austrian Airlines and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) are to introduce AIRail 'train to plane' services on the route between Vienna and Graz from 13 December.
Four daily train services with an Austrian flight number will run daily between Graz Central Station and Vienna Airport and the journey will take just over three hours.
Currently, Austrian offers two or three daily flights between the two cities. When the companies introduced similar AIRail services from Vienna Airport to Linz and Salzburg, Austrian Airlines shifted its services completely from plane to train.
The sustainability initiative is not a new idea for Austrian parent Lufthansa Group. In July, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn (DB) expanded their train to plane cooperation significantly. Since then, Lufthansa Express Rail connects 16 German cities and Basel with Frankfurt Airport with up to 123 trains per day. All the trains carry a Lufthansa flight number.
Swiss is also offering intermodal services together with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). Selected SBB train connections are available between Basel, Lugano and Geneva to and from the Swiss hub at Zurich Airport.
In the case of delays, a connecting service is guaranteed, regardless of whether the journey is continued by plane or train. This means passengers who miss their connecting flight or train due to an unexpected late arrival will be rebooked on an alternative travel connection.