Austrian Airlines signs agreement with personnel, extends suspension of flights until 14 June

The corona pandemic and the ensuing grounding of our fleet made it necessary to create a restart plan for Austrian Airlines. Yesterday and this afternoon, an agreement with the representatives of the flight personnel as well as the commercial and technical personnel was reached.

The savings plan includes the use of short-time work until 2022, a partly socially staggered salary reduction and the suspension of salary increases. From 2024 on, repayments are to be made to the employees, if the company is able to do so. The management will also forego salary.

Austrian Airlines COO Jens Ritter said: “This agreement allows us to retain as many employees as possible in this crisis. We have taken a crucial step towards restarting flight operations. The employees are making a huge contribution to the crisis management of Austrian Airlines.”

The restart plan envisages cost savings of 20 percent for suppliers, business partners and personnel. Austrian Airlines also plans to reduce its fleet from over 80 to 60 aircraft. Smaller (14 De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400, 7 Airbus A319) and older (3 Boeing 767) aircraft are to be phased-out.

Austrian Airlines has also decided to extend the suspension of regular flight operations for another week, from 7 to 14 June. However, a restart in Mid-June has become more likely. Once the airline can confirm a restart date, it will publish a flight schedule for the first ramp-up phase.