"With Thailand as our Indochina hub plus the new Suvarnabhumi Airport scheduled to open, Austrian Airlines is confident of ... bringing in at least 100,000 tourists a year from our 101 European city routes, said Buranut Limjitti, the airline's country manager for Thailand and Indochina.

 "This will generate more than Bt3.5 billion for the Thai economy," he said.

Austria's national carrier will spend more than Bt10 million on the Fly Austrian Airlines to 101 European Cities campaign to boost brand awareness and bookings by 10 per cent. The campaign will not only attract Thai travellers to Europe but also from Europe to Thailand, Buranut said, adding that the airline continues to grow its business and expand routes.

"This is another landmark year of successfully launching flights connecting 101 cities in Eastern and Western Europe, with the airline carrying over 10.4 million passengers," he said.

"We are not deterred by the impact of the price of oil. We continue to implement our marketing efforts aimed at tour agents, travellers and the public and private sectors to boost business. We are introducing tailor-made activities to specific groups and exploiting innovative communications channels," he said.

Austrian Airlines' European Cities campaign offers the chance to win free air tickets worth more than Bt700,000 between now and October.