Austrian Airlines Returns to Shanghai

Austrian Airlines will relaunch flights to Shanghai next year, nine years after it suspended the service.

The national carrier will commence the new direct service from Vienna to Shanghai's Pudong International Airport on April 4, 2016, initially with five weekly flights. The frequency will then be increased to daily on May 1, with the addition of new Tuesday and Saturday departures.

Flights will leave Vienna at 1:20 p.m., arriving in Shanghai at 5:40 a.m. the next day. The return service will then depart at 10:50 a.m., arriving back in the Austrian capital at 4:10 p.m.. Austrian will deploy Boeing 777 aircraft on the route, offering more than 300 seats.

Shanghai will become Austrian's second Chinese destination, following Beijing. Elsewhere in Asia, the airline also flies daily to Bangkok, Delhi and Tokyo, and will commence weekly services to Colombo on October 27, 2015.

"Shanghai will complement our offering to the most important cities of Asia very well," said Andreas Otto, Austrian's chief commercial officer. "In this way we are resolutely expanding flight service on long-haul routes."

Austrian previously flew to Shanghai from 2004 to 2007, but terminated the route due to fleet changes, which included the retirement of its long-haul Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft.

"Shanghai once again offers potential thanks to the significantly improved market environment and increased local demand," Otto added.