Austrian Airlines To Begin Five Weekly Flights Ex-Mumbai

Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai

After having shifted their headquarters to Mumbai from Delhi, Austrian Airlines plans to launch its five weekly flights ex-Mumbai from September 1, 2005. Disclosing details about this new venture, Amey Amladi, regional sales manager for western and southern India, Austrian Airlines, said, "We already have daily flights from Delhi and would soon start our five flights per week ex-Mumbai from this September. However, we are also looking at increasing the Mumbai frequency to seven flights per week from our summer schedule in 2006."

Amladi added that the airline was also looking at adding a third destination in its circuit and was looking at a location in southern India in the second half of 2006. "Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad are some of the possibilities that we have narrowed down." He said that the reason for shifting base to Mumbai was due to the fact that western India, that is Pune and Gujarat, contributed a substantial amount of business along with southern India.

Elaborating further on the Mumbai connection, Amladi said, "We would be using the Boeing 767-300 aircraft with a configuration of 36 business class and 209 economy class seats."

Amladi said that the airline has identified student traffic as an area of concentration. "We have launched special return fares to Europe and the US for Indian students. Our other primary target would be the corporate segment for our business class offerings and special corporate deals that we will launch soon. We are working closely with the Austrian National Tourist Office to promote Austria as a preferred destination," he added.