In the beginning of 2024 COLUMBUS proudly presents its brand new corporate design including a contemporary, modern logo! Since the establishment of the traditional company in 1932, the company logo has already undergone a few rebrandings. According to the motto "Timeless. Elegant. Modern by tradition.", the new logo represents the consistency and progress of the COLUMBUS brand in equal measure.
In October 2022, COLUMBUS proudly announces the takeover of AFT Travel Management. The travel company, which has been founded by Mrs. Astrid Fuchs in 2007, distinguishes itself with the planning of tailor-made travel routes and the realisation of challenging visions.
With the acquisition of the brand "RAM Congress + Event", COLUMBUS is further expanding the MICE business segment and is looking forward to a promising future, particularly in the areas of congresses and events.
COLUMBUS becomes licensee of the Austrian eco-label for Green Meetings & Green Events.
The COLUMBUS Group is taking over a new location in Wolfurt and is continuing its westward expansion with the takeover of the Sonne und Meer travel agency, which has been a fixture in the Vorarlberg travel agency market for years.
Just a few months later, a small, invisible virus puts all holiday plans on hold. With worldwide travel restrictions until 2022, the global COVID-19 pandemic is having a lasting impact on the global travel industry.
Although COVID-19 does not allow for an economic recovery, COLUMBUS succeeds in further strengthening the company portfolio and, with airtour austria, brings another successful niche product under the umbrella of the COLUMBUS Group.
Columbus expands its product portfolio and takes over the successful tour operator Reisethek in Kufstein. In cooperation with the daily newspaper "Die Presse", the Reisethek offers their readership selected trips, with a focus on an extraordinary variety of special travel experiences, which can now also be booked exclusively in COLUMBUS travel agencies.
The Columbus Liesing branch moves to Perchtoldsdorf and thus opens another location in Lower Austria. At the same time, after Ms. Renate Macho retired, Columbus took over the agenda of the Perchtoldsdorf-based travel agency Machos Reisewelt.
7cs Seven Seas Reisen will become part of the Columbus group and will strengthen the team at the Columbus headquarters on Universitätsring from January 2018. The 7CS company was founded by Martin Stacherl in 1996 and specializes in high-end leisure travel.
The company expands to Tyrol - Columbus takes over the Schenker travel agency in Innsbruck. The new branch not only offers a full range of services for private customers, but is also one of the most competent partners in the field of business travel organization.
Columbus expands its branch network. In Austria, the locations in Raaba-Grambach (Graz) and Baden near Vienna are opened. In addition, expansion abroad is being pushed ahead.
Columbus acquires Jetway Reisen Gesellschaft m.b.H. based in Linz. This company was founded in 1990 by Peter Keplinger and specializes in the destinations of Mauritius, Maldives and Seychelles as well as round trips in the USA.
The Columbus travel agency group is celebrating its 80th anniversary with a glamorous party for customers and employees in the Vienna City Hall.
KR dr Carl Ludwig Richard hands over the management of the company to his youngest son Mag. Alexander Wenzel Richard. The "Union Reisen" brand is abandoned in favor of the "Columbus Reisen" brand.
Union Reisen celebrates its 90th anniversary.
The Columbus business travel department is brought into its own Business Travel GmbH and is the exclusive partner of FCm Travel Solutions in Austria. With ten subsidiaries and more than 60 partner companies worldwide, FCm offers its corporate customers global travel management solutions based on the motto “Better travel ideas. Greater Savings”.
The TravelStar group is launched. Here, too, Columbus was and is a leading contributor. TravelStar is one of the largest and therefore most powerful travel agency groups in Austria.
"Austrobus Die Reiseprofis" is renamed "Columbus Your Travel Agency". In the following years, the travel agency network is expanded considerably and the business travel sector is expanded through the acquisition of travel companies in Vienna and Linz. Another new field of activity is the organization of incentive trips and event management.
The successful growth of the company is reflected in the expansion of the travel agency branch network. Incoming activities are being promoted with the Welcome Touristic offices in Budapest and Prague, as well as the acquisition of Imperial Tours in Vienna.
The traditional tour operator Union Reisen is joining the travel agency group.
The expansion begins, the branch network of Austrobus (later Columbus your travel agency) is expanded. With the acquisition of the travel agency Capri, an almost twelve percent share in the long-distance tour operator Airtour Austria is also acquired. From the 1970s onwards, some of the well-known tour operator products from the house of Columbus were created - above all "bustours - austria", which over the years developed into the most popular bus tour operator in Austria. With Morgenland Reisen, an Orient specialist is founded, with Jet Tours, an operator that offers long-distance air travel.
The fierce competition in the tour sector in Vienna leads to cooperation between the competing companies. The “Vienna Sightseeing Tours-Wiener Rundtouren GesmbH” is founded; Austrobus has been one of the main shareholders from the start.
KR Dkfm. Dr Ludwig Richard, founder of the “Dr. Richard Verkehrsbetriebe” acquires the Austrobus company. From the start, Austrobus was managed by his son, KR Dkfm. dr Carl Ludwig Richard.
The Richard family founds their first travel agency at Franz-Josefs-Kai 11 in Vienna. The full license is extremely difficult to obtain at this point in time - after all, it includes the right to issue train, plane and ship tickets, to organize trips abroad and to arrange hotel and event tickets.
The central store at Universitätsring 8 is expanded to its current size.
The Richard family begins the regular operation of motor lines - initially in Vienna and Lower Austria, and subsequently in other federal states and abroad.
The Vienna – Oberwart – Güssing – Jennersdorf motor vehicle line is opened and converted trucks are used
In the early days of May, Austrobus resumes its journeys with two vehicles rescued from the war. The employees tackle the reconstruction with great enthusiasm. Austrobus will soon be looking forward to successful and growth-driven times again. Three months after the end of the Second World War and the loss of most of the vehicles, Ludwig Richard began transporting goods and people in Vienna and Upper Austria.
Ludwig Richard III acquires a haulage company with a few tricycles and an unrestricted haulage concession. The company founder soon realized that the transport of loads could hardly be managed cost-effectively due to excessive competition. He therefore decided, in accordance with the conditions and possibilities at the time, to convert the existing trucks to passenger transport and to set up regular transport services in Burgenland, which was underserved by passenger transport at the time.
The outbreak of the Second World War puts an end to Austrobus' first high-altitude flight. Practically all vehicles are confiscated and the tour service comes to a complete standstill.
Austrobus' upswing continues almost unabated. The fleet of modern buses has now grown to 42 vehicles. Contemporary photographs document the high level of comfort of the vehicles, which are mainly used for excursions and round trips.
Architects Kastner-Waage redesigned the external appearance of today's Columbus headquarters. The architectural design is acknowledged in illustrated books as a positive example.
Austrobus is granted the right to use the Austrian national coat of arms.
Four tour providers (the companies Wohlgemuth, Domjan, Bäumel and Krautstofl) merge to form the company "Austrobus". The newly founded company mainly runs tours in Vienna and the surrounding area. The very first shareholders' meeting took place in today's Columbus Reisen headquarters at Universitätsring 8 in Vienna and is considered the hour of birth of today's Columbus Group.
Sale of the "Golden Duck".
The Kolda company is founded as the oldest bus company in the Dr. Richard Group.
Built in 1577, the building is demolished and opened in 1888 as Carl Richard's hotel.
Wenzel Richard takes over the "Golden Duck" after the Tauscher family remained childless.
Josef Richard marries Franz Tauscher's daughter Theresia. Since then, the fate of the Viennese restaurateur and hotelier dynasty Richard has long been linked to the "Golden Duck".
Josef Richard came to Vienna as a 16-year-old journeyman from Weißenstein in Swabia and became a waiter for his future father-in-law Franz Tauscher in the “Ente” (Duck).
First documented mention of the inn "Zur Goldenen Anten" in Vienna's 1st district, Riemergasse 4.
