JEDDAH: Austrian Airlines’ first flight from Jeddah left for Vienna on Monday morning, marking the reintroduction of the carrier’s services after a gap of nearly 15 years. The first Airbus A320 flight left King Abdul Aziz International Airport at 1:20 a.m.
“Our services were discontinued about 15 years ago at a time when we were operating small aircraft via Larnaca, Cyprus, as against some European airlines that were using wide-bodied jets,” Ernst Leitner, Austrian Airlines’ country manager for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, told Arab News on the sidelines of a reception he hosted a day earlier at the Jeddah Hilton for the crew of the inaugural flight. The airline has a schedule of six flights from Vienna to the Kingdom, three each to Riyadh and Jeddah. Its flights will arrive in Riyadh on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, departing on the following days. The flights will arrive in Jeddah on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, departing on the following days.
The Austrian Airlines Group is well positioned in the Levant and Middle East regions. With above-average growth rates, high-revenue destinations and a strong passenger load factor, the group serves the region, which is among the most important ones, Leitner said, adding that due to the “ideal” geographical location of Vienna, the airline can serve longer-distance destinations with medium-haul aircraft.
“By re-launching our services from the Kingdom, we will also be increasing the volume of passengers transiting through our Vienna hub and offering the best possible connections to Central and Eastern Europe, a region becoming increasingly important for investments from the Middle East,” he said. “On our part, we are using medium-haul aircraft to improve our competitiveness.”