Austrian Airlines paid out bonuses to management at the end of July 2020, even though countless customers are still waiting for the carrier to settle its debts in the form of justified repayment claims. However, the carrier weighs it down and shows that the AUA has paid debts to the management.

Group spokesman Peter Thier confirmed that the payments to the management were made at the end of July 2020. These were delayed variable salary payments for the 2020 financial year. “It is, so to speak,“ debts ”that the company still had outstanding with the management. Practically all executives receive parts of their salary depending on the economic success of the company. In 2019, Austrian Airlines generated an adjusted EBIT of +19 million euros, ”said Thier.

The Lufthansa subsidiary made a small profit in the previous year, but it was not a rock-solid success. The reason for this is said to have been the strong competition with low-cost airlines. Towards the end of 2019, a sharp austerity program was announced, which provides for the phasing out of the DHC Dash 8-400 machine and job cuts.

The bonus payments to the management should not have been particularly well received within the AUA workforce, because the carrier is turning the wage screw in almost all areas in view of the corona pandemic. Thier said: “At Austrian, executives also depend on the collective agreement, which means that any savings also affect the executives. Managers are also on short-time working at Austrian. It is well known that higher earners receive 80 percent during short-time working, depending on their income, low earners 85 percent or 90 percent (AMS staggering). "

When asked how bonus payments to management and state aid fit together, Thier said: “There are no bonus payments in the event of losses. This can also be assumed in 2020, as the Executive Board announced today. State money has not yet flowed. Here we are still waiting for the “ok” from the WSF. ”The AUA group spokesman means that Germany has not yet approved the AUA aid package. The government of the Federal Republic of Germany has anchored in the contracts for the Lufthansa state aid, some of which have already been called, an obligation to approve the aid in Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. The green light has not yet been given.