Riga, 02.11.2005 Latvian airline airBaltic and Austrian Airlines have signed an agreement on the operation of codeshare flights. As from November 14, all airBaltic and Austrian Airlines between Riga and Vienna will be allocated both airlines' flight numbers. This agreement is given added significance by the fact that in 2002, after a dispute between the airlines over the number of flights each could operate, all cooperation agreements between them were cancelled. The new airBaltic and Austrian Airlines cooperation agreement gives the passengers of both airlines more access to both airlines' flights. As a result of the cooperation agreement, it will be easier for passengers to take advantage of both airBaltic and Austrian Airlines route networks, and to familiarise themselves with all the available flights. airBaltic's President, Bertolt Flick commented "we are very pleased to have renewed our cooperation with Austrian Airlines. The agreement means our passengers have a wider choice of flights to Vienna, as well as a convenient option to use Austrian Airlines route network to fly further". Austrian Airlines official representative in the Baltic States, Helēna Ruduša, noted that the increased number of flights and early morning departures are particularly advantageous for business people wanting to make more effective use of their time, as well as allowing quick and easy flight transfers at Vienna Airport. Altogether, both airlines will offer 11 flights a week to Vienna. Austrian Airlines operate daily flights, whereas airBaltic flies on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. airBaltic and Austrian Airlines passengers travelling on codeshare flights will gain the full benefits of the SAS Eurobonus and Miles and More frequent flyer programmes, respectively. As a result of airBaltic's early morning departures from Riga, Austrian Airlines can offer passengers the shortest travel time of any airline between Riga and Australian cities Sydney and Melbourne. By leaving Riga on the 07:10 flight, passengers can, without requiring an overnight stopover in Vienna, easily transfer to the Vienna-Melbourne flight at 11:00, or the Vienna-Sydney flight at 10:50. That makes the total flying time from Riga to Australia just under 25 hours. The new morning flights enable both tourists and business travellers to take advantage of additional connecting flights from Vienna to Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, Venice, Bologna, Munich, Düsseldorf, Budapest, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Timishuara, Sofia, Zagreb, Bucharest, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv, Minsk and Moscow. As a result of the cooperation agreement between the airlines, passengers from Riga can also connect to flights, without requiring an overnight stopover, to Athens, Salonika, Istanbul, Ankara, Larnaca, Barcelona, Cairo, Tripoli, Varadero. Cancun, Podgorica, Skopje, Varna, Kishinev, Odessa, Lvov, Kharkov, Rostov, Damascus, Toronto, New York, Washington, Punta Cana, Tobago Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Kathmandu, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. Corporate profile |
