Austria: Vienna is now the cheap ticket hot spot for European aviation

Vienna has become the hottest ticket in European aviation as carriers pour planes and investment into a market once regarded as an industry backwater. A clutch of operators are ramping up capacity in a challenge to Austrian Airlines, sparking hefty price cuts. Europe’s top airlines are targeting Vienna after the collapse of Air Berlin left a gap in the market. Vienna has become “a bloody party,” according to Wizz CE Jozsef Varadi, while HSBC analyst Andrew Lobbenberg says the current rate of expansion is “too good to be true” and indicates an unsustainable, unstable and irrational market. “The strategic visions of the various major European carriers are all playing out on top of one another,” Lobbenberg said, predicting that at least 2 players will be forced to quit. <br/>