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Asian route network grows steadily to make Austrian fourth-largest
European carrier to Far East ‘Ten years ago, following the
commissioning of two new Airbus A340-200, scheduled flights from Austria to
Tokyo switched to non-stop connections, while the Chinese capital of Beijing
– another direct service – was integrated into the route network of the
Austrian airline for the first time. This was a highly significant step in
the development and expansion of flights to the Asia-Pacific region,’ stated
Austrian Airlines Group Chief Commercial Officer, Dr. Josef E. Burger, on
the occasion of the anniversary to mark the inception of the two Asian
services. ‘Over the past decade, our existing programme of long-haul
services heading towards
Asia and
Australia
has been expanded to include a number of other important cities for both
business and tourist travel destinations. Today, we are able to provide
services to no fewer than 16 destinations in this dynamically growing
economic region.’
The company’s scheduled programme has been steadily expanded with the
addition of the Airbus A340/A330 and Boeing 777 and 767 to the long-haul
fleet. After the capital Tokyo, the second Japanese city to be incorporated
into the route network was Osaka in 1996, while a regular service to
Shanghai
was relaunched last year. This connection will be increased to five flights
a week this year. The company has also expanded the frequency of its
services to Australia and South-East Asia: the programme currently includes
six flights a week to
Kuala
Lumpur and
Sydney, alongside three frequencies to
Singapore
and Melbourne.
Daily flights are provided to
Bangkok in Thailand and Delhi in India. Meanwhile, Austrian offers one
flight per week to the centres of Kathmandu, Colombo and Male. During the
winter season, services operate to Yangon in
Myanmar and
Phuket
in Thailand. From September 2005, India’s second city Mumbai ( Bombay ) will
be served by five weekly flights on the Austrian Airlines Group schedule.
With its Focus East strategy, the Austrian Airlines Group is not merely
focusing on Central and East European destinations but also developing its
services to the Far East at an exponential rate.
Its expansion in the region has already made it Europe’s fourth-largest
carrier in the Pacific Rim region over the past ten years, and the Austrian
Airlines Group is the only Continental European carrier to offer direct
flights to Australia.
With its steadily growing programme of long-haul services, the Austrian
Airlines Group has significantly developed the West-East and East-West hub
function of
Vienna International Airport, both within
Europe and at
the intercontinental level. The flight programme of the Austrian Airlines
Group includes a route network of 130 destinations in 66 countries on every
continent of the world.
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