Austrian pulls out of Australia

The Australian

HIGH fuel costs, increased competition and the tyranny of distance have all but wiped Australia from the world travel map as a destination for European airlines.
Confirmation last week that Austrian Airlines would stop flying here next March means just two European carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, will be servicing Australia with their own aircraft by the middle of next year.

And while many European carriers still offer seats on other airlines, none will be flying their own services to any city but Sydney. Austrian follows airlines such as Lufthansa, Olympic and KLM in choosing not to fly its own planes to Australia.

The Europeans have been squeezed out by competition from mid-point carriers such as Singapore Airlines, and more recently, Emirates.

The stiff competition has kept fares low while rising fuel prices have boosted costs.

This has increasingly made it more profitable for the Europeans to code-share on airlines such as Qantas, Singapore and Malaysia than to operate their own services.

Austrian’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Herbert Koschier, said yesterday that the decision to stop flying to Australia was “based on pure economics”.