Thai Airways International (THAI) is resuming regular service to Vienna in November after a 24-year hiatus.
The flag carrier will offer four flights a week from Bangkok to the Austrian capital with Boeing 777-200ER jet starting on Nov 16, THAI acting president Usanee Sangsingkeo said on Thursday.
Bangkok-Vienna is the only long-haul new route launched by THAI since 2015 against the backdrop of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) red flag, which is still current.
The ICAO red flag, imposed for Thailand's aviation safety shortcomings, means Thai-registered airlines are not allowed to open new routes, raise existing flight frequencies to foreign countries or change aircraft types already deployed to foreign countries
But the European Aviation Safety Agency has no problem with THAI, enabling the airline to commence new flights to Vienna while maintaining its current services to 12 cities across 10 countries in Europe.
THAI had regular flights to Vienna from Bangkok from 1988 to 1993 before retreating due to weak traffic demand.
The Boeing B777-200ER for the resumed service is configured with 292 seats, 30 in business class and 262 in economy.
The flights operate every Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving Bangkok at 1.30am and arriving in Vienna at 7am local time. The return flight departs Vienna at 1.30pm to arrive in Bangkok at 5.20am local time.
The re-introduction of THAI's Vienna service will boost the long-haul offerings from Vienna airport in the 2017/18 winter flight schedule to 83 frequencies a week, said Julian Jäger, a member of the management Board of Flughafen Wien AG, the Vienna airport operator.
THAI will compete with Austrian Airlines, the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, which operates non-stop Bangkok-Vienna flights. Other European cities served by THAI are Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Stockholm, London, Rome, Milan and Moscow.