Did Austria fail to agree with Russia?

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   As BANKO discovered, the first program of weekly flight between Moscow and Insbrook, which should have been carried out by Austrian Airlines from the 24th of December till the end of March, is not meant to be launched. Recently the Austrian air company announced the cancellation of flights to Russian tour operators which were ready to conclude agreements for blocks of seats. ‘I’m quoting the document received from the carrier’, says Kseniya Rekshinskaya, commercial director of ‘UTE Megapolus group’. – ‘A decision about the complete cancellation of flights was taken because the Russian authorities gave their permission for only 4 flights’. According to Ms. Rakshinskaya, the Austrians were initially ready to agree even on these conditions but the short-term program became less attractive for companies interested in block flights, amongst which Mondial Booking Centre and ‘VKO Travel’ are mentioned.
   The seats on the flights would be more expensive. Besides without warranties for continuation of programs the travel firms would not be able to provide good depth of sales. These reasons announced by the potential block-buyers to the airline company, in the end, provoked it to delay the launch of flights to Insbrook.
   Moscow office of Austrian Airlines failed to confirm the credibility of this version, asking to send the written request. Meanwhile, the PR-manager of the airline in the conversation said that she does not exclude the launch of the program in the next season.
   You can read in the December issue of ‘Hot Line. Tourism’ magazine about what exactly caused the refusal to grant the permission to the Austrian Airline for the whole ski mountain season.