Austrian Airlines (AUA) continues to struggle with flight cancellations. At the weekend, almost 100 of 700 flights had to be canceled, of which 13,500 passengers were affected, an AUA spokeswoman told APA on Monday. 19 more flights are likely to be canceled today. The airline is now hoping for a stabilization of the situation on Tuesday. With the exception of a direct flight to Stuttgart, for which there is a replacement via Hanover, all flights are to take place as planned, the AUA said in the followingnoon. However, passengers should check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.
AUA boss Annette Mann had said before the weekend that there was no shortage of staff like other airlines – such as the AUA parent Lufthansa – thanks to short-time work and 150 new jobs for cabin crew.
“Golden Handshakes” for flight attendants
Meanwhile, the aviation portal Austrian Wings writes that AUA urged 50 flight attendants to leave the company with a financial bonus (“Golden Handshake”) in the spring. It was already foreseeable at the time that around 150 flight attendants would be missing.
A flight attendant is quoted by “Austrian Wings” without naming her as saying that the financial offer was only valid if someone left the company before the summer. Ultimately, the company parted with 50 experienced flight attendants, and another 100 young people left the company of their own accord. Now people are being urged to work on their days off.
“Was not foreseen”
The AUA says regarding the APA: “Due to the new circumstances of a changed and reduced fleet and the associated crew configurations, Austrian Airlines also had to make personnel adjustments. Mutual social packages were agreed with the employees concerned.” In principle, Austrian Airlines has sufficient human resources in the cabin for the planned flight program. “Unfortunately, short-term sick leave like now with another corona wave cannot be foreseen.”
Different countries, different reasons
AUA is just one of many airlines currently struggling with cancellations. But while at AUA it is mainly corona cases that lead to the cancellation of flights, other airlines often cancel flights due to a lack of staff at airports. In Germany, for example, thousands of passengers might not take off at the weekend because there were problems with handling. The AUA mother Lufthansa has already canceled around 3000 connections for the summer. Before that, there had also been problems with the handling of passengers in Amsterdam and London.
Strike at Ryanair
On the other hand, Europe’s largest low-cost airline Ryanair was stopped by a cabin crew strike. According to Belgian media, 127 flights were to be canceled at Charleroi Airport alone. According to unions, Ryanair employees went on strike in Belgium, Spain and Portugal on Friday, causing numerous flights to be canceled.
Almost two percent of the 9,000 flights between Friday and Sunday were affected, Ryanair said, which would be 180 connections. The unions criticized Ryanair for not complying with labor law in the affected countries and circumventing minimum wages, for example.
FPÖ wants aid money back
FPÖ traffic spokesman Christian Hafenecker referred to the support package of 450 million euros for the AUA in the context of the corona crisis in a broadcast on Monday. Nevertheless, staff were sent on short-time work or terminated. The AUA was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the federal government’s “no matter what the cost” corona aid policy. Hafenecker demanded that the company now have to examine all possibilities to get the money paid out back from the company.
