AUA to end flights to Hanover

Austrian Airlines (AUA) is to cut its service to Hanover in Germany on the back of weak demand, the company has said to Austrian Times.

Officials announced it would stop operating the route as of 25 October.
AUA said Hanover, to which there have been 19 flights weekly, was one of "two to four" destinations to which flights would be cut.

AUA said customers who had already purchased tickets for flights to Hanover after 25 October could rebook on another airline without additional cost, obtain a voucher in the value of their tickets or get a refund.

The move comes as part of cost-cuts at the airline as it bids to turn itself around from large losses in the first half of 2009.

Bosses at the firm have been buoyed by recent figures showing the slump in passenger numbers at AUA is slowing.

Passenger numbers fell at a slower rate in August, dropping 7.2 per cent year on year to 983,100, according to the airline.

There was a decline of 12 per cent year on year during the first eight months of 2009.
AUA co-chiefs Andreas Bierwirth and Peter Malanik said it was too soon to talk about a trend change but added they were "very satisfied" with the August seating capacity ratio of 81.8 per cent. They said it was the first month this year in which it had exceeded 80 per cent. It was 73.6 per cent for the first eight months of 2009, two percentage points below the ratio during the same period last year.

The AUA ratio was still below that of German airline Lufthansa (83.5 per cent), which has purchased AUA, and its subsidiaries Lufthansa-Passage (83 per cent) and Swiss (87.7 per cent).

Source: Transportweekly