2025 is a special year for the Austrian city of Vienna, as it celebrates 200 years since the birth of Johann Strauss II on October 25th, 1825. Throughout the year, the city is marking the legendary composer’s 200th birthday in various different ways, with hometown carrier Austrian Airlines also getting in on the act. Indeed, the Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance airline has devised a special livery to mark the occasion.
Applied in Hannover
According to tracking data made available by Flightradar24, the aircraft in question (a Boeing
777-200ER registered as OE-LPF) flew from Vienna Airport (VIE) to Hannover (HAJ) in neighboring Germany for the application of the livery. As the scheme consists of several large decals rather than a full repaint, it only needed to stay for a handful of days, arriving on February 2nd and leaving on February 6th.
As pictured above, the special paint scheme features a black and white portrait of Strauss at the rear of the fuselage, in which he is seen wearing contrastingly modern and colorful headphones. Further forward, the design also features a violin, with this being the instrument that the ‘Waltz King’ was known for playing, and the front features a vinyl record inscribed with his years of birth and death, 1825-1899.
Passengers may not be aware of it, but one of Strauss’s most famous compositions, known as ‘The Blue Danube,’ is played onboard the Austrian carrier’s flights. As the Vienna Tourist Board explains, “each year, more than 200,000 renditions of The Blue Danube are played on Austrian Airlines flights before takeoff and after landing,” with Strauss continuing “to transcend borders and connect people worldwide.”
Welcomed by the airline and the tourist board
Austrian Airlines, which, as we shall discuss later, is no stranger to celebrating a special occasion with a unique livery, welcomed the new design. Indeed, CEO Annette Mann stated that “Strauss’s masterpiece clearly represents a great piece of tradition and home for us. It is, therefore, a great pleasure for us to carry a flying tribute to Johann Strauss and his works out into the world with our special livery.”
Photo: Austrian Airlines
Travel And Tour World notes that this special livery marks a small but important part of the wider celebrations concerning Strauss’s 200th birthday in Vienna this year. Indeed, the publication quotes Peter Hanke, the President of the Vienna Tourist Board, as saying that “65 productions [will be staged] on around 250 performance days in all 23 districts” to honor the legendary composer’s life. Hanke adds that:
“Johann Strauss is a major attraction for culturally interested audiences from Austria and abroad. The ‘Strauss Aircraft’ builds a symbolic bridge here: once again, the Waltz King crosses national borders and connects people all over the world. This strengthens Vienna’s connection to the world and provides an impetus for the visitor economy, the business location and the Viennese people.”
Not the first time that this aircraft has worn a special livery
As mentioned earlier, the Austrian Airlines aircraft wearing the Strauss-themed special livery is a Boeing 777-200ER that bears the registration OE-LPF. According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, the Austrian flag carrier has six of these widebody twinjets at its disposal, with an average age of 24.2 years old. OE-LPF itself is 23.3 years old, having entered service with Varig in 2001.
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The aircraft flew for Aeroméxico from September 2007 to November 2016, before joining Austrian Airlines in January 2018. As pictured above, it was given another special livery relatively soon into its career with the Austrian flag carrier, with Planespotters.net noting that the ’60 Years Flying’ decals were applied in May 2018. These were applied to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the formation of Austrian Airlines as we know it today, and it retained them until receiving the Strauss livery.