Austrian pegs Dubai services
Originally published on www.businesstravellerme.com 11/04/2011 - Filed under: News »
Austrian Airlines is not going to take on Emirates and raise its daily Vienna-Dubai services to double daily.
Stephan Linhart, Commercial Director for Intercontinental and Middle East, said it had no plans to add frequencies or routes at the moment although it is always exploring regional opportunities.
Last year Austrian enjoyed load factors of 84% on the Vienna-Dubai route - a figure the airline admitted it isn't expecting to see this year.
Its five-a-week Tripoli services have been pulled until the end of April, although its Cairo services are now back to seven-a-week.
"The general situation in the Middle East means we're operating day by day," said Linhart.
Austrian, marking its 15th year anniversary flying to Dubai, operates a B767 on the route with lie-flat sleeper beds in Business Class.
The recent introduction of Emirates' double-daily Dubai-Vienna services caused consternation in Austria, although the dispute was resolved when the airline started six additional weekly flights, taking its overall services to 13 a week (click here).
Despite being owned by Lufthansa, Linhart said route operating decisions rested with Austrian. The airline operates 46 services in Central and Eastern Europe, a market where the German carrier is notoriously strong.
For more information, visit austrian.com
Report by Dominic Ellis
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