Many Austrian Airlines employees have already entered Covid 19 vaccination dates in their April duty roster. At first glance it looks as if the AUA wants to “push ahead”, but the dates are not yet fixed. There could be delays as the national vaccination plan continues to give priority to high-risk patients and the elderly. Phase II has not yet been completed and the personnel of transport companies with customer contact is only planned for phase III.

At least in theory, you already have appointments in your pocket for the flying AUA personnel, but in practice it looks a little different. Depending on the progress of the phase II vaccinations and the availability of the vaccine, these will then be fixed or possibly postponed indefinitely. In theory, many older people also had vaccination appointments in their pockets, but in Vienna it happened repeatedly that even extremely elderly pensioners were sent home again for lack of vaccine on the spot. At Austrian Airlines, the organization prepares for the vaccination campaign and has already taken possible dates into account in the duty roster, only whether these are actually “piqued” depends on the decisions of the authorities. Thus “theoretically possible dates” were assigned.

The Lufthansa subsidiary did not respond to the allegation that the AUA is not a system-critical infrastructure, a hospital or a nursing home. At the moment it is the turn of these groups in phases I and II, and that in most federal states with a long delay. A spokeswoman referred to the national vaccination plan: “Phase 3 of the Austrian vaccination plan, which is due to start in mid-April, provides for prioritization for people with“ professionally essential cross-border travel ”, provided that appropriate vaccine availability is given. For obvious reasons, this applies to the majority of our employees. Since many details had to be observed during the vaccination campaign for our flight personnel, it was necessary to plan the vaccination dates for the cabin and cockpit crews in the duty roster as a precaution. This happens with the proviso that the dates can be postponed if the vaccine is not available. We anticipate that individual countries will soon be able to issue entry bans for people without a vaccination. For this reason, timely vaccination is important for those part of our staff who travel ”.

Many high-risk patients and retirees don't even have appointments

Im national Covid-19 vaccination plan (version from February 11, 2021) the passage used by Austrian Airlines as a justification can actually be found, but most of the federal states are delayed. In concrete terms, this means that the previous phases have not yet been completed and many people who should have been vaccinated in phases I and II still have no appointments, let alone have already received the vaccine. In this respect, it seems downright strange that fixed appointments have already been made for the flight personnel of Austrian Airlines, while at the same time high-risk persons and elderly people still do not know when they can get a vaccination. According to AUA, the appointments are not set in stone, because the delays in other groups of people could lead to the vaccination appointments intended for flight personnel being canceled and postponed. This is not in the hands of the AUA.

Since the Austrian competitors have indicated to uniso that they have not yet received any appointments for their employees, but the AUA has already entered them in duty rosters, the at least not unfounded assumption is reasonable that the state gives preference to the Austrian Airlines staff and the employees of other providers could be discriminated against. Fair and equal access to vaccines looks different. Conversely, however, there is also the at least not unfounded assumption that one or the other Austrian Airlines competitor may not have paid particular attention to vaccinations in the company.

AUA denies "pushing ahead"

“Austrian Airlines is by no means pushing itself forward with vaccinations. We are preparing for a vaccination campaign that will take place when it is our turn according to the Austrian vaccination plan. We will not take a vaccination away from anyone who is in front of us according to the vaccination schedule. If there are postponements due to delays, then these naturally also apply to Austrian Airlines. As emphasized, we will then also postpone the relevant dates. I would also like to deny that we have already secured fixed vaccination dates or that we prefer to receive contingents. Nobody can deny us that we will make appropriate preparations for the timing of the vaccination as early as possible ”, said a spokeswoman for Austrian Airlines.