After the Vida union has not signed the required new collective agreement by the deadline, the Lauda Airbus base in Vienna will now be closed on May 30, 2020. The Lower Austria Employment Service and the works council, which is not recognized by the company, are to be informed of the impending termination of all flight personnel at the Vienna base as part of the early warning system, CEO David O'Brien confirmed to Aviation.Direct. Short-time work will end today.

“We are now initiating all the steps that will lead to the closure of the Vienna base and the associated termination of all flight employees. It is a sad day for Lauda, ​​but also for Austria as an aviation location. Over 300 highly paid jobs are lost because the Vida union believes that this is how you can provide support for Austrian Airlines, ”said O'Brien.

What happens next for the flying Lauda personnel at the Vienna base? According to the company boss, the Lower Austria Labor Market Service will now be informed of the end of short-time work. The AMS and the controversial works council will then be informed of the termination of all employment relationships of the flight personnel at the Vienna base as part of the early warning system. In the next step, the employees should be informed of the formal termination of the employment relationship in writing. Due to the short-time work, employees have protection against dismissal until around June 30, 2020, so that the deadlines set in the contracts or in the KV only start running from July 1, 2020. The prospects for new jobs for pilots and flight attendants are extremely poor, especially in Austria due to the effects of the corona pandemic.

All tickets remain valid and will be taken over by Ryanair
The Airbus A320 aircraft currently stationed in Vienna will be relocated to other bases, primarily Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Palma de Mallorca. In Vienna, Boeing 737-800s operated by sister companies will take over all routes. Where possible you will fly to Vienna from other bases. "Unfortunately, there will then no longer be any Austrian employees on board, but rather foreign ones from the Ryanair bases," says David O'Brien. “If you have a Lauda ticket, you don't have to worry. The Ryanair Group takes over all flights and already holds the Lauda slots. All bookings are accepted and then no longer carried out with an Airbus A320, but with a Boeing 737 from Ryanair, Malta Air or Buzz. "

The flight plan is to be changed in the next few days. O'Brien did not want to answer directly whether Lauda will continue to fly to Vienna with the Airbus A320 from Palma de Mallorca or Stuttgart in the future. He just said that this is possible and if it makes sense from the perspective of the Ryanair Group's flight planning, it will also be done. The manager commented on whether the Lauda OE flight numbers will continue to be used or whether they will switch to FR (Ryanair), AL (Malta Air) or RR (Buzz): “These are detailed questions that will be clarified in the next few days. “When explicitly asked about Beirut, he confirmed that the OE flight numbers may remain due to route law reasons, but machines from a sister company in the group could fly in the form of a wet lease order. The flight schedule and the destinations that will be offered by the Ryanair Group from Vienna in the future are now being worked out.

David O'Brien described the behavior of the Vida union as shameful, because it had sacrificed more than 300 jobs in a kind of ideological battle with views that were prevalent in Moscow in the 1950s. In the direction of the Austrian government, the Lauda manager said: “It is unbelievable that the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wants to put around 800 million in the throat of the German Austrian Airlines, thereby creating massive distortions of competition and at the same time allowing the Vida union Our employees sacrificed jobs to help Austrian Airlines. It's just a shame and in my opinion the government and union should be ashamed of their behavior. It is a sad day for Lauda, ​​Austria as an aviation location, and especially for our flying employees at the Vienna base. But when Vida said that they have now helped Austrian Airlines by getting a competitor out of the way, they are mistaken. The sister companies within the Ryanair Group will take over and will compete with Austrian Airlines with very cheap ticket prices. "

Flughafen Wien boss Ofner appeals for renewed negotiations

In the last few weeks the management of Flughafen Wien has positioned itself very clearly and unequivocally for state aid for Austrian Airlines. Now the managers are absolutely shocked by the imminent closure of the Lauda base at their airport and appeal to all those involved to please sit down at the negotiating table and find a solution for the continuation. David O'Brien ruled this out in an interview with Aviation.Direct, because the Vida union had enough time for this and probably “speculated that there were empty threats”.

VIE boss Günther Ofner says: “Even if the fronts were hardened recently, a sense of responsibility is now required to prevent the closure of Lauda's Vienna location and thus the loss of 300 jobs and the associated added value in Austria at the last second . A return to the negotiating table is the order of the day, a refusal of the union would be a blow to its own members, because where should those affected, if their job were lost, find a new job now during the crisis? Should the Lauda branch in Vienna actually be closed, that would be a serious setback for the site and would also endanger other jobs as a result. In the face of this threat, there can only be a compromise ”.