Statement against statement: The Vida trade union warns that long waiting times can arise at Vienna-Schwechat Airport, especially during the summer holidays. Airport boss Günther Ofner rejects this in his function as WKO specialist group chairman.
The manager emphasizes that, in his opinion, many jobs have been preserved due to short-time work. “We owe the much better situation in Germany in international comparison above all to the high level of commitment and commitment of the employees, for which they deserve the highest recognition. Punctuality in air traffic in Austria is at a record high. The criticism that there are long waiting times in some places is absolutely incomprehensible and must be clearly rejected. It is very unfortunate that Vida trade unionist Liebhardt is spreading untruths, such as alleged waiting times, which unfairly put the great work of the colleagues in a bad light," says Ofner.
However, the Managing Director of Flughafen Wien AG also denies reality to a certain extent, because in recent weeks there have been repeated long waiting times at the check-in counters and security checks at the airport he manages. So far, however, these are isolated cases that have occurred during peak hours. Even before the corona pandemic, there were often very long queues in front of the security check in the record year 2019, especially in terminal complex 1/2. Spicy: Sometimes only a few lines were open.
The shortage of security personnel at Vienna Airport is therefore nothing new, but has at best been exacerbated by the corona pandemic. Many employees have reoriented themselves in other sectors, as the loss of income due to short-time work in these jobs was quite severe. In the case of flight attendants, too, it was evident that many have resigned for financial reasons - despite short-time work - and have reoriented themselves to other sectors.
However, Günther Ofner makes a kind of promise: “There will be no pictures of mountains of suitcases or aircraft that have not been cleared in Austria. However, it cannot be prevented that there will be delays or cancellations of flights, since aviation is an internationally closely interlinked industry. Staff shortages at airports outside Austria or at foreign airlines therefore also affect flight schedules in Austria. In any case, the domestic aviation industry is very well prepared for the holiday season in terms of personnel”.
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