Austrian Boosts Winter Flights to Toronto

Austrian Airlines is to add an extra weekly rotation on its Vienna – Toronto services this winter to meet increasing demand on the route. The European flag carrier is to offer four weekly flights from October 30, up from its normal three times weekly schedule offered during previous winter schedules. The flights will be operated using a Boeing 767-300ER.

There has been a notable rise in demand for air services between Europe and Toronto with O&D traffic up 9.5 per cent in the past year to approximately 3 million passengers.

Austrian Airlines has just a 2.6 per cent share of this traffic, handling an estimated 76,000 passengers in the past year – although passenger demand has increased slightly over the past year Austrian’s market share has slipped slightly due to increasing flights between Toronto and other points across Europe.

Austrian Airlines traffic on the route is supported by transfer traffic at its Vienna International Airport hub as in the last year the estimated O&D demand between Vienna and Toronto was just 47,000 passengers.

The Star Alliance member holds a 41 per cent share of this market handling around 19,000 travellers, a figure that has grown by around 16.4 per cent when compared with the previous 12 month period, faster than the market average. Importantly, Austrian Airlines has also seen a positive rise in yields as average one-way fares have grown by 10.0 per cent to $577.

Alongside Austrian Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa offer codeshare options on their Star Alliance partner’s flights, while Air Transat also provides non-stop services between Vienna and Toronto, albeit of a seasonal nature.