The Maltese airline Lauda Europe can no longer rule out that there will be further cuts in the 2020/21 winter flight schedule at the Vienna-Schwechat location. Managing Director David O'Brien explains in a circular available to Aviation Direct that it is currently completely unclear how many aircraft can be used for Ryanair in winter. Ten Airbus A320s and three Boeing 737-800s operated by Ryanair are currently stationed at the former Laudamotion home base.

They are currently working with the parent company to work out an “optimal winter flight schedule”, but cuts are “very likely”. According to O'Brien, the focus is on “surviving this winter”. For the summer of 2021, the airline boss holds out the prospect of a possible expansion of the service from Vienna-Schwechat.

However, David O'Brien also indicates certain conditions: For example, he demands that “more competitive costs” can be agreed with Vienna Airport and that the government offers “fair and non-discriminatory support for jobs in aviation”. Should both be the case, "hopefully the cuts this winter" could be minimized.

The sister company Laudamotion caused a sensation shortly after the start of the corona pandemic with a real PR battle around short-time work. This was then simply ended because the desired collective agreement was not signed in time. Since then, Laudamotion, which has no legal connection with the new Lauda Europe, has cut numerous employees, especially in administration. Laudamotion will finally cease flight operations at the end of October 2020 and return AOC and OL. Lauda Europe will only have a very small administrative team in Vienna. There are talk of about ten people, but the carrier did not want to make a statement in this regard.

In the last paragraph of this circular, David O'Brien invites the workforce to take unpaid leave. Alternatively, "Job Share" could also be used under the conditions of the CLA / T&C document dated May 28, 2020. O'Brien wants to inform about further developments in a timely manner, but based on the content of the letter it is clear that the Vienna base could face significant cuts and cuts.