Air Karnten

[mikkie4]

possible new route to AUSTRIA starting in MAY being advertised in AUSTRIAN PRESS 2x weekly to start, if good pax numbers will rise to 3x weekly will be using 50 seater jet

[Humberside]

Air Kärnten (Klagenfurt) is an Austrian start-up looking to commence twice weekly direct flights from Klagenfurt, Austria, to London Southend this May using a CRJ-200, which, Austrian Aviation Net reports, will be OY-RJC (cn 7015), sourced from Cimber (QA, Sønderborg).

In addition, Air Kärnten is planning to operate charter services from Klagenfurt to Girona, Kos, Lisbon, Naples Int'l, Rhodes and Palma de Mallorca Son Sant Joan as well as from Graz to Preveza/Lefkas on behalf of tour operator Gruber Reisen Kärnten. The new Austrian carrier is majority owned by its managing director Ingo Hitzenhammer, who also owns 51% in Gruber Reisen Kärnten. The remaining shares are owned by Fakete Shabani (20%), previously involved in failed start-up Fly Eth (Vienna), and Peter Eduard (10%).

www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/35243-austrian-start-up-air-krnten-to-launch-in-may-using-a-crj-200

Also Oska Travel are promoting holidays from SEN to the Klagenfurt area on their website. Maybe a bit early to be promoting these as the flights don't seem to be confirmed yet!
oska-travel.co.uk/cms/austria-best-value-holidays/

[Humberside]

From Austrian Aviation, put through google translate

The Start-Up Air Carinthia will not stand a report in the "Kleine Zeitung" under well in May with its own Austrian AOC. CEO Ingo Hitzenhammer told the newspaper that the attainment of the aviation operator certificate would not run out of time, but would not be a problem for his project.

Furthermore, the manager explained that one would be more flexible in the choice of the aircraft without its own AOC. In other words, it means that Air Carinthia should start as a "virtual airline" without its own fleet and own AOC. The aircraft, including personnel is provided in such a situation from another airline. What this will be, and what type of machine is to be used, not wanting to reveal Austrian Aviation Net inquiry Air Carinthia boss Ingo Hitzenhammer. Only this: "There will be greater, but less than the CRJ-200 in any case."

The local media report after the sale of the run "hot water destinations" very good, but the demand for the planned flight offer from Klagenfurt to Southend-on-Sea try extremely cautious. Whether they would actually accept the connection still up in the air like Ingo Hitzenhammer against the Kleine Zeitung stated: ". At the moment it is questionable, there are too few reservations"

Original article - www.austrianaviation.net/news-regional/news-detail/datum/2015/03/13/air-kaernten-startet-als-virtual-carrier.html

[expressflight]

I couldn't help but smile about the comment in the article about there being too few reservations on the Klagenfurt to Southend route. That seems hardly surprising when there is no way that you can make a reservation online. If you fill in the 'booking form' on their website www.airkaernten.at (note the spelling), which is in German only, you just get an automated confirmation of your inquiry - there is no schedule or fares information on the website. With luck you then get an email in German with fares information and flight schedule plus the line "derzeit ist noch alles Verfugbar" which I think translates as "all available at the moment". There is no actual invitation to make the booking.

The chances of this route commencing? Very slim indeed.

[Thames Gateway]

As i'm sure many will not be surprised, it seems that this route is not likely in the near future - perhaps the nearby Maribor/Adria service was the final straw not to progress:

AustrianAviation

[expressflight]

I'm surprised they had as many as nine bookings seeing as they had no reservation system in place!

It beats me how these start-ups attract any investment when the originators obviously have no idea how to go about things.

[EGMCfollower]

I'm no expert in aviation or business but even I know you need a booking system to get bookings! And agree that gaining 9 bookings is unbelievable, they didn't stand a chance without a proper system. However I don't think that this can really demonstrate just how much demand there is on that route, but the fares would have to have been a lot lower, but then on a smaller 50-seat aircraft its not viable.

[cwis]

Air Kärnten have scrapped plans to operate a service to Southend, they only had nine bookings

[devonian]

It didn't seem possible to book!

[tagron]

This is what wikipedia has to say: -

<The first flights should have commenced by 30 April 2015, however the website of Air Kärnten has been shut down a few weeks prior to this date without further information and the flights have been removed from the schedule of Klagenfurt Airport, where Air Kärnten was supposed to be based.[7] Therefore the current state of Air Kärnten remains unclear.>

The entry also refers to Air Karnten in the past tense. It looks like the end of the story. Hardly surprising really.