Dubai: Emirates will offer four additional weekly flights to Vienna starting with the summer timetable, the Austrian branch of the company announced last week. In addition to the daily flight with a Boeing 777-300 the airline will deploy an Airbus 340-500 for additional flights on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
According to Martin Gross, Emirates country director for Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, the new flights "confirm the successful work we are doing in Austria." He added that the new additional flight schedules make it possible to connect Vienna with far more destinations. With the new flights, the seat number on the route will rise by 40 per cent.
The new flight from Vienna to Dubai leaves at 10.50pm and arrives in Dubai at 6.30am, which provides direct connections to 11 destinations in Africa and better accessibility of flights to India, the Far East and Australia, the airline said. In the other direction, the new connection will leave Dubai at 5.15pm to arrive in Vienna at 9.20pm.
Cargo boost
The new flights will also be used for extended cargo transport, as each flight can accommodate 15 tonnes of freight.
Meanwhile, Austrian Airlines, which also serves the Dubai-Vienna route, said it will continue flying to Dubai, but with a smaller plane. The Austrian carrier, which is part of the Lufthansa group, has already reduced its two daily flights to Dubai to one lately, and now says it will fly with a Boeing 767-300 instead of the 777-200, according to Austrian Airlines spokeswoman Ursula Berger. This means a reduction of seats by one quarter.
Last week, it emerged that Austrian airline Niki, a discount carrier founded by former Formula One driver Niki Lauda, and Emirates are in talks about a cooperation pact. Niki CEO Otmar Lenz confirmed to the Austrian Press Agency APA that the cooperation between Niki and Emirates will commence with the summer timetable.
No code sharing
However, he said that only onwards and connecting flights ("interlining") will be offered but no code sharing. There are currently no plans for code sharing between Niki and Emirates, he said.
Both Emirates and Niki will be tough competition in the future for Austrian Airlines, whose regional focus has been changed since it was taken over by Lufthansa group in 2009. Austrian Airlines, a member of Star Alliance, signed a code share agreement with Kuwait's Wataniya Airways in 2010, its first agreement of this kind with a Gulf-based airline.
Interestingly, Austrian Airlines charter arm Lauda Air was founded by Niki Lauda and sold to the airline in 2000. His new airline Niki, which now competes with Austrian Airlines, was launched in 2003.
