1980-1990

Blaguss expands both - its coach and its travel agency business

The Vienna travel agency UNION ran into economic difficulties in 1980. The following year Blaguss acquired a 50% stake in a successor company and was instrumental in putting this travel agency and tour operator back on solid financial footing.

In 1982 Blaguss made a major investment to build a modern travel agency at Wiedner Hauptstrasse 15 and moved from its previous location in Karlsgasse.

Blaguss began using its first double-decker, a Setra S 228 DT.

City tourism was booming, bringing on a steady rise in demand for travel agency and coach services.

In 1984 Blaguss began operating its first city bus lines, the 47A (Unter St.Veit - Baumgartner Höhe) and the 51A (Hietzing – Ottakringer Bad), under contract to the Vienna public transport authority Wiener Verkehrsbetriebe. The fleet grew steadily.

Blaguss acquired Springer Wien GesmbH from the retiring owner Otto Springer in 1986 and in the years thereafter merged the motor coach division and the two travel agencies with Blaguss Reisen. Instead of just having the one travel agency on Wiedner Hauptstrasse, Blaguss took its first step toward developing a branch network.

In 1987 the company opened a bus centre on a 140,000 square meter parcel of land in Vienna Inzersdorf, complete with garages, service and office buildings.

In the same year Blaguss entered into a joint venture with the largest Hungarian coach company Volan. Blaguss Volanbusz operated a travel agency on the Engel’s’ Square in Budapest (today’s Elisabeth’s Square). It took the lead in bus service on the Vienna-Budapest route.

Blaguss Reisen added new tourist destinations to its catalogue in 1988 and was highly successful with these special programmes for England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland and Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States.

ICOS (Congress Organisation Service GmbH) was founded in 1990. It is a specialist in organising congresses, incentives and special events. In a matter of years, it has become one of the leading professional congress organisers in Vienna.

In 1990 after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Austratrans Kraftfahrlinienbetriebs-gesellschaft added additional bus routes to destinations in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Poland.

A regular scheduled bus service to Poland was inaugurated. The company put into service the city lines 37A (Dänenstrasse - Engerthstrasse) and 41A (Pötzleinsdorf - Neustifter Friedhof).

The fleet reached a record size: 110 vehicles including 60 coaches.