Direct flights from Hong Kong to Vienna could take off next summer, Austrian envoy says

Austrian Airlines is in talks with the Hong Kong government to start operating a direct flight to Vienna from next summer, the country's top diplomat in the city says.

But a shortage of take-off and landing slots at Hong Kong International Airport has created a stumbling block for the route, billed as a gateway to central and eastern Europe.

"It is a technical problem in that the capacity of Hong Kong airport is limited," said Claudia Reinprecht, Austria's consul general to Hong Kong and Macau. "From the Austrian standpoint, any efforts to increase capacity would certainly help us get a direct flight between Vienna and Hong Kong."

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Reinprecht pointed out Vienna's airport provides more connections to central and eastern Europe and the Black Sea regions than Frankfurt, to which Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa fly.

"Vienna is underestimated in Hong Kong. The direct flight is of strategic importance," she said.

Beijing is currently the only Chinese city connected to the Austrian capital, with flights operated by Austrian Airlines and Air China. Hong Kong-bound tourism is underdeveloped; just 26,000 Austrians visited the city last year, out of a total population of 8 million.

The consulate has no figures on Hong Kong visitors to Austria, but said the country received 7 per cent of Chinese visitors to Europe, with half of them staying in top-class hotels.