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Austrian Airlines is to launch direct flights between
Vienna and
Thailand's southern resort province of
Phuket,
a move which the airline expects will help pull in an extra 14,000 European
visitors to the southern resort island each year.
Announced yesterday by Mr. Josef Berger, the airline’s head of commercial
operations, the twice-weekly flights will commence on 4 November.
A third flight per week will be introduced the following month for the
12-hour journey.
The airline has acknowledged that the launch of the new service is a
means of helping Phuket rebuild its tourism industry in the wake of the
Boxing Day tsunami.
Yesterday Mr. Berger expressed confidence that the new route would help
attract an additional 14,000 European visitors to Phuket and the Andaman
provinces each year, boosting foreign revenue in the region by no less than
Bt400-500 million.
Visitor numbers in Phuket and the Andaman region have slumped since the
massive waves hit on 26 December last year, leading to the loss of over
8,000 lives in Thailand alone.
The decision by Austrian Airlines to launch the direct flights has been
applauded by Mrs. Suwalai Pinpradap, Director of the local Tourism Authority
of Thailand (TAT)’s southern region office, who described the move as an
excellent way in which to promote local tourism.
She also expressed confidence that other European airlines would follow
Austrian Airlines in its decision to resume flights to the southern island,
which has seen a huge loss in the number of airlines operating there since
the tsunami.
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