Airline operator Austrian Airlines increased its market share by 2% last year, to an 8% share of the local air transportation market of regular flights.

"We hold 8% of the BSP market," said Heinrich Vystoupil, the general manager of Austrian Airlines for Romania and Moldova.

BSP is an IATA system (The International Air Transport Association) that facilitates the sale, account and discount of plane tickets for agents accredited by IATA. Over 80% of tickets are sold through travel agencies accredited by the IATA and through the BSP system.

"Because the domestic air transportation market will become increasingly fragmented as more new air companies begin to enter, we intend to increase our market share by 1-2% this year," said Heinrich Vystoupil.

The domestic air transportation market for regular flights amounted to approximately 305 million euros last year, and this year it is expected to rise to 360 million euros, according to the IATA Romania representatives.

Taking into consideration the market value and Australian Airlines' market share, we can estimate that the turnover derived by the company last year exceeded 24.4 million euros, compared with 2005 when this figure stood at 23 million euros.

Austrian Airlines operates 56 flights every week from different Romanian cities to Vienna. The company has the largest coverage of the domestic market among all other international airline operators.

There are five Romanian cities in which Austrian Airlines operates flights - Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj (in collaboration with Tarom), Sibiu and Iasi. The Sibiu - Vienna and Iasi - Vienna flights were introduced last year and contributed to the increase in the company's market share.

Austrian Airlines has considered introducing other cities to its flight routes' to Vienna, namely Bacau and Suceava, but none of these options has mate