Vienna-phuket Direct Flights Debuts

[george]

Vienna-Phuket direct link debuts

PHUKET: -- Austrian Airlines has become the first and only carrier to fly direct scheduled flights from Europe to Phuket after the Dec 26 tsunami.

With 245 European holiday-makers on board, flight OS021 touched down safely at Phuket airport last Saturday, after a 10-hour journey that heralded the return of European tourists to the Andaman Sea resort after an absence of nearly one year.

Australian Airlines' inaugural Vienna-Phuket on a Boeing 767-300 ER jet was full and the airline reported that about 90% of seats on the route had been booked since the end of September.

Reservations on the flights from December through February, the peak season, are more than 90% full, Buranut Limjitti, Austrian Airlines' manager for Thailand and Indochina, said yesterday.

The passenger load on the Austrian jets bodes well for the recovery of the tourism industry in Phuket, which was battered by the killing waves.

Though their numbers could not be verified, chartered flights carrying Scandinavian tourists have also begun to resume flying to Phuket.

But it is scheduled flights, like those of Austrian Airlines, that feed a steady and large number of high-spending tourists to the Phuket and nearby resorts.

Mr Buranut is confident that the airline can bring back at least 40,000 European tourists a year to Thailand which can generate an income of more than 2.5 billion baht per year to the Thai resorts.

He attributed the return of European tourists to Phuket, at least on board Austrian flights, to their confidence that the southern Thai resorts have fully recovered from the effects of the disaster.

"They know that our hotels, beaches and other tourist infrastructure are now ready, yet the tsunami-warning system is in place," he explained,

"Basically, I think Phuket gives them what they are looking for with good value for money," he added, ruling out that the airline used a fare-cutting strategy to lure Europeans.

The heavy booking for Austrian Airlines' Vienna-Phuket services was partly driven by the airline's early commitment to start the service, back in February and March this year. The move enabled the airline to systematically market the product.

The airline has been spending about 15 million baht on advertisement, public relation and activities to publicise the Vienna-Phuket service this year.

In fact, the launch of the Vienna-Phuket direct flight was initiated by Josef Burger, chief commercial officer of Austrian Airlines, who travelled to Thailand during the tsunami catastrophe and saw a good opportunity to open a new route to Phuket though most carriers terminated their flights to the island.

Suwalai Pinpradab, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Southern Office Region 4, said the opening of Austrian Airlines' Vienna-Phuket service will help stimulate tourists from eastern Europe, especially those with high purchasing power.

Austrian Airlines will increase its Vienna-Phuket flight frequency, once a week every Saturday this month, to twice a week next month with another flight on Tuesday.

--Bangkok Post 2005-11-08

[asanee]

[ja, das war einmal LAUDA, aber via BKK, better service, und more times/week

Why, why does the whole of the BKKpost need to be copied here? Co\pyright laws? is not just a short link/mention enough/genug?