• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Tunia Cherian George

Mumbai , Feb. 11

AUSTRIAN Airlines plans to launch a five-times-a-week service between Vienna and Mumbai from May 1.

The airline plans to increase the frequency to a daily flight in the latter half of the year. Austrian is also looking to start operations from Southern destinations such as Chennai or Bangalore at a later date.

The airline said it would operate a Boeing 767 on the Mumbai-Vienna sector in a two-class configuration, with 36 business class seats and 209 in economy.

The new service is aimed at promoting tourism in Vienna and other parts of Austria, said Mr Amey Amladi, Regional Sales Manager, Western & Southern India.

According to Ms Ines Griesser from the Vienna Tourist Board, Austria has seen a steady growth in the number of Indian visitors.

The country drew about 20,000 Indian visitors last year. The board expects this number to grow significantly next year when Austria celebrates the 250th anniversary of Mozart in 2006.

The airline expects to fill up its seats with a mix of passengers including FITs (free, independent travellers), tours, incentive travellers and business travellers, especially from the diamond trade based in Europe.

Mr Amladi told Business Line that Austrian, with a number of connections to cities across Europe and an early arrival (6 a.m.) into Vienna, hoped to draw a cross-section of customers.

The airline already offers "convenient connections" to North America, with flights to New York, Washington, and Toronto.

While Austrian plans to come out with some promotional offers as a launch pad for its new service, Mr Amladi said it was early to give out the details of its fare structure.

The airline currently operates a daily service between Vienna and Delhi.

The response to this service, which was witnessing an average load factor of 90 per cent, had prompted the airline to being its service from Mumbai, he said.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Indian Airlines extends schemes

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line