Due to the inflationary expansion of entry and quarantine regulations in various countries, as well as delivery difficulties in the area of ​​vaccines, Austrian Airlines assumes that demand will increase more slowly from what was originally thought.

As a result, the offer will be smaller. For the 2020/2021 winter flight schedule, which will continue until the end of March, an offer of up to 50 percent compared to the pre-crisis period was originally planned. However, the Lufthansa subsidiary is currently only around 15 percent. At an employee event today, the Executive Board gave the Austrian Airlines team an overview of current developments and discussed long-term prospects.

“The short-term outlook for the next few months is gloomy and is well below our original expectations. The ongoing travel restrictions and sometimes tightened quarantine regulations unfortunately have a noticeable impact on flight demand. At the moment we are still assuming a noticeable market recovery in the summer, ”said the new Austrian Airlines CCO Michael Trestl. “We are currently preparing with high pressure to put together an attractive range of holiday destinations,” he explains. Catch-up effects are to be expected for the warm season, especially in the tourist sector; the organization is now preparing for this, they say. The demand for cargo flights is still great. "We will try to further expand our involvement in the cargo business in the coming months in order to be able to serve the international supply chains to and from Austria as best as possible".

DHC Dash 8-400 and A319 are leaving - no matter what the cost

Regardless of this, the board of Austrian Airlines is firmly committed to the decision to take the last eight DHC Dash 8-400 out of production. This step should be taken at the end of March 2020. The turboprops will fly out until autumn 2021.

Airlines fleet. These machines are also due to be taken out of service at the end of March. The reduction of the B767 fleet from six to three jets is ongoing and should be completed by the end of the year. It is currently also planned that an A2021 will leave the fleet every month from summer 319. The phasing out of the seven jets is expected to be completed by early 2022. After the adjustments have been made, the fleet of the red-white-red airline should now have around 80 aircraft instead of 60.

“Like all airlines, Austrian will be a smaller airline after the pandemic. The winner of the crisis will be whoever can adapt to the New Normal with the greatest possible flexibility. In any case, we are working at full speed on it, ”says CCO Jens Ritter.

Lockdown wave costs a lot of money

According to General Director Alexis von Hoensbroech, the second wave of lockdowns cost a lot of liquidity. “Thanks to the financing package from last spring and our consistent savings discipline, we still have a sufficiently filled cash register. But the second wave and the recent lockdowns cost us important reserves, "said the AUA boss." We have to take precautions if the summer turns out to be weaker than we had hoped and the longer-term recovery takes longer than previously planned. "

 The airline has set itself the goal of securing liquidity in the short term and earnings strength in the medium term in order to repay the loan as quickly as possible. As one of these countermeasures, the previously announced halving of the office space in the Austrian main building is to be accelerated and implemented by summer 2021 instead of by autumn.

Additional measures are currently being examined. The short-time work for the approximately 6.400 employees (as of December 31, 2020) is essential to relieve the burden on Austrian in the future. "The extension of the Corona short-time work is the decisive lever for us to secure as many jobs as possible in our company," explains von Hoensbroech.