The management of the Ryanair subsidiary Lauda turned to Austria's Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) on Thursday with an unusual request: Austrian Airlines should only receive state aid from the Republic of Austria if the Vida union approves the new Lauda collective agreement. The Austrian Chamber of Commerce has already signed this, but the signature of the employees has not yet been signed.

In a broadcast, the Lauda management argues that around 95 percent of the pilots and around 70 percent of the flight attendants have already agreed to the terms of the new collective agreement. The union, however, criticized the fact that the basic salaries for the cabin crew should be below the Austrian minimum income and raised serious allegations in this regard to the Chamber of Commerce. If there is no agreement, the short-time work should be ended on Friday. As a result, the flying personnel at the Vienna base would then be terminated and Boeing 737-800, operated by sister companies Malta Air, Ryanair DAC and Buzz, should take over all routes.

In any case, Lauda calls on Finance Minister Gernot Blümel to make Vida's signature on the new collective agreement a condition for the controversially discussed state aid for Austrian Airlines, according to Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. In an internal employee letter available to Aviation.Direct, the workforce was asked to use all contacts with politicians in order to be able to influence the union and Finance Minister Blümel accordingly.