| You've
been the Country Manager for Austrian Airlines for about 3 years
now and recently you have shifted base from Delhi to Mumbai.
Tell us about your overall experience during these 3 years.
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the time I started my job out here in India, the feedback I have
got has simply been overwhelming. I have got a very warm welcome
in India about 3 years ago and it has been wonderful to work
with our trade partners in Delhi and I am glad to receive a
similar response out here in Mumbai as well. I had excellent all
round support. Initially I recall that we had four flights a
week from Delhi and within one year we started operating daily
flights. We've got excellent results and that gave us the
confidence to start the second route from Mumbai. My objective
to shift to Mumbai was that I should be around when the flights
start from here. At the same time, we have a Manager who takes
care of the operations in Delhi. What is important is that
Mumbai is the financial and business centre of India and we know
that there is a lot of potential for flights from western India.
It has been a wonderful experience to work here in India as the
people are extremely professional in what they do. |
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How has been
the initial response in the first 3 months since you started
flights out of Mumbai?
The
response has been very positive. Although we started flights in
the off-peak period which is around September, we had a very
good response with the inaugural fare we had of Rs 18900 and
furthermore, Austrian Airlines as you know has excellent
connections not only within Europe but also to North America and
this has also resulted in a large number of business travellers
opting for our airline. |
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business class has been so well accepted that right from our start
in September, all along we've had 70% load factor which
contributes a lot to the route and also gives the confidence to
our agents that we have an excellent product. We've got an office
here in Mumbai and we have an excellent and efficient team who
caters to the need of the agents as well as our clients who choose
Austrian Airlines. |
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| You've
also come up with some innovative ideas especially in matters of
the food available on the flight? |
| What
we realized is that a large number of our travellers are from
Gujarat and we have options of Jain vegetarian meal not only in
the Business but also in the Economy Class. At the time of
reservations itself, passengers can request for the Jain
Vegetarian Meal for the Mumbai-Vienna as well as Vienna-Mumbai
sector and this initiative has really worked well for us and it
has been well accepted and appreciated by our passengers. |
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What is the
number of passengers on your flight who are visitors to Austria
and what is the future projection?
Surprisingly, even though we started
flights in September which is not the peak season, we've had
around 15% of passengers on our flight who visit Vienna,
Innsbruck and Salzburg and the rest of them use Vienna as a hub
for their onward connection. This is indeed a big number as when
we launched our flights out of Delhi around 3 years ago we did
not reach such a high percentage in the low season. |
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| We expect the numbers to definitely grow especially
during the summer months of April, May and June when the
outbound travel season begins and at that time we are optimistic
to have a large number of passengers travelling to Austria with
the support of our travel partners especially the tour
operators. |
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| What
are your future plans as Austrian Airlines is the fourth largest
carrier in Europe? |
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plan to add a few more routes besides Mumbai and Delhi after
obtaining permission from the Ministries as well as the civil
aviation departments in India and we see a huge potential. Our
next objective is undoubtedly to have daily flights from Mumbai
and thereafter we could look at adding a few more routes which
could either be Bangalore, Chennai or Hyderabad. Importantly,
Vienna is located in the heart of Europe and has the best
connections to Central and Eastern Europe and Vienna is also a
strategic hub to west Europe as well as the American continent.
At Vienna we have excellent facilities with a minimum connecting
time of 25 minutes and the distance from one terminal to another
is barely 500 metres which in comparison to other airports in
Europe is extremely fast and efficient. Our next strategy is
also to offer connections to other Eastern European cities for
which Austrian Airline has the best connections out of
Vienna. |
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What way has
Austrian Airlines worked to bring tourists into India?
We
have organized joint workshops with the Indian Tourism
Department in Austria to enlighten Austrian Airlines staff and
enlighten travellers about India as a destination. As an airline
our role is not only to cater to travellers out of India but
also to ensure that there are visitors to India from Austria,
Germany, Italy and other countries of Europe. Our efforts have
yielded results and we have passengers who visit India
exclusively for holidays as well. |
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| The bottom line is that the
route should be profitable and when you join hands with the
tourism boards, whether it is the Austrian Tourism in India or
the Indian Tourism board in Austria, you have the results and we
are benefiting from these partnerships with various tourism
boards.
We have also joined hands with domestic carriers here to offer
onward connections and with many more airlines coming in, we
plan to expand this network with other domestic carriers as
well. What we are also looking at is to offer boarding pass from
a town like Bangalore or Ahmedabad right thru to Vienna via one
of our two gateway points in India. |
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What is the ATB and what are the other events organized to promote tourism to Austria? |
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ATB is an annual event organized by Austrian Tourism Board which will be held in Vienna in 2006 and in one of the Austrian provinces in the following year. It is an excellent
opportunity for the inbound tour operators to interact with travel agents and tour companies from across the globe and showcase what Austria has to offer.
The Vienna Tourist Board on the other hand organizes a bi-annual event called “Asia meets Vienna” which primarily caters to tour operators from Asia such as Thailand,
Malaysia, China, India and other Asian countries. Here the focus is organizing events on a similar scale as the ATB and in addition they organize sporting events where
various teams are formed and they compete against each other. They organize a sporting event like golf and there are awards given. Primarily, this is a team building event
and it also gives the opportunity to connect with different countries in an informal way. |
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How do you see the growth of Austrian Airlines in the near future?
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We are very positive and optimistic about our presence in India as firstly the economy out here is strong and the outbound travel market is growing all the time. The traveller
today also wants to experience and visit new destinations and Vienna as a hub would be the best connection for the traveller not only for those who visit Austria but also
other neighbouring countries as well. Even the inbound travel to India is growing and expected to grow substantially in the coming year and we are sure that as more people
intend travelling on the Indo-European route, Austrian Airlines will play an integral part in offering the best connections on this route. |
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What are your comments on the infrastructure situation in India and how is it hampering the growth of the inbound tourism?
Infrastructure is a very critical issue and has
to be addressed on a war footing if you want to see
the business especially the tourism to grow in
India- you have to look at the development of roads,
how is business done, the availability of hotel
rooms and the expansion of the airport. What is
going on at the moment out here is very unhealthy.
There is a shortage of hotel rooms and as a result
the hotel rates are skyrocketing and even
businessmen would find it difficult to come and
explore markets here. |
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Take for
instance, a place like Bangalore, it is impossible to get any
hotel rooms. From the short term point of view, India is doing
well but in the long run it will result in a very unhealthy
situation as both tourists and businessmen will look at markets
where it is more affordable to travel and offer better value for
money. With shortage of rooms, limited infrastructure this would
be one of the most critical issues for India to establish as a
destination and become as popular as Malaysia or Thailand. |
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What are your comments on issues concerning the changes that are almost inevitable in the airline industry especially concerning e-ticketing and zero commission which
would eventually seems inevitable in the coming years? |
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The travel industry has to move from a commission base revenue to a management fee. You will have to charge the passenger a fee to issue the ticket as the airline industry
on one hand is facing stiff competition and hence lowering fares. Then there is the emergence of the Low Cost Carriers(LCC) as well as the increase in fuel costs. So the
agents along with the airlines have to work together. E-ticketing will not be a threat to the agent in any way as the agent could also issue the ticket for its passengers
promptly and could charge them a transaction or management fee. The changes are already happening in USA and most parts of Europe and with the changing scenario, it
would not be any different in India. |
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During your tenure did you have the opportunity to travel within India and also tell us which are your preferred holiday destinations in Austria? |
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Well I have travelled mostly on work and have travelled to certain places in the North of India such as Punjab as well as some places in Western India too. I would love to
travel extensively and see the country as it has a lot to offer. Although
I am from Graz, I have spent most of my time in Vienna and
whenever I got an opportunity I used to visit my home town to
see my parents. |
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On holiday, I prefer going to
Salzburg in winter for skiing and in summer I used to go to
Burgenland which is very close to Vienna and is good for hiking
and it's a good area for horse riding as well.
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Lastly, what is your message to readers |
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You must visit Austria and fly Austrian Airlines. We will be coming out with attractive offers in 2006 and being a very significant year, it would be an excellent opportunity for
travellers to visit Austria with direct non-stop flights on Austrian Airlines. |
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