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Austrian Airlines has revealed that it maintained its passenger record of 2006 last year, despite a reduction in its long-haul route network.

The operator carried a total of 10.8m passengers in 2007 and filled its planes to an average of 75.5% capacity.

Austrian's short- and medium-haul segment was its strongest area of business last year, with around 8.2m scheduled passengers representing an 8.4% increase on 2006.

This offset a planned reduction in long-haul services that was designed to 'redimension' the segment.

'As planned, we have been able to compensate in full for the reduction in long-haul through our expansion in the short- and medium-haul route segment,' said chief executive officer Alfred Otsch.

'In 2008, we will continue to concentrate not only on our Focus East strategy, with new destinations and expansions of existing frequencies in the east, but also on the service and quality offensive, with the planned Premium Service concept due in the autumn of this year.'

Austrian Airlines recently claimed to offer the 'best connecting flights to the US', with services available via Chicago to 20 destinations in America thanks to a codeshare agreement with United Airlines.

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