Austrian Airlines in move to settle differences with Civil Aviation Authority

Austrian Airlines took last month the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to the High Court over its decision not to allow the airline to schedule three additional weekly flights on the Tel Aviv-Vienna route.
 
Lawyers representing Austrian Airlinescriticized last week the state's response to the suit arguing thatstate's response was misleading and a cover-up. Lawyers added that boththe antitrust commissioner as well as the Tourism Ministry support Austrian Airlines case.
 
In contrast,however, the Transportation Ministry supports the CAA in its stand. It had, nevertheless, become clear that the Civil Aviation Authority and representatives of Austrian Airlines were conducting talks in an attempt to resolve the long dispute out of court. The Israel Hotels Association (IHA) joined last March Austrian Airlines in its petition against the Transportation Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to allow the airline to increase the number of flights it operates to Tel Aviv.
 
The association said that through its limitations on Austrian Airlines, the government is preventing approximately 20,000 tourists and businesspeople per year from entering the country, mainly from Northern Europe and Scandinavia. By not granting the additional flights, hoteliers stand to lose out on some 120,000 lodgings per year, bringing a subsequent loss of $30 million to the economy.
 
Growth in the hotel and tourism industries, which are in a state of recovery, highlights the need to grant the extra flights to accommodate the rise in demand from potential tourists”.