At the Austrian Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines, the effects of the corona pandemic are increasingly noticeable in employees' wallets. For many, the loss of earnings is said to be so severe that they have to take on second jobs in order to make ends meet financially. However, it is not top managers who are affected, but low-income earners, such as flight attendants, reports the news magazine News in the latest print edition.

According to the media article, the youngest employees of Austrian Airlines are particularly affected by the loss of wages, which result from the short-time work, but also from significantly fewer flight hours. Their normal salary is just over 1.700 euros gross and includes many hours of flight. In order to benefit from the variable salary components, the cabin crew would have to fly more. This is currently almost impossible due to the low demand, so that personal earnings are missing. There are also no commissions from duty-free sales, as this was discontinued due to the pandemic. In addition, the short-time work reduces the actual net earnings again.

According to News, the real income of young AUA flight attendants has fallen by around 20 percent, in some cases even more. The approximately 2.500 cabin employees are not among the higher earners anyway, so that many of them will find it difficult to make ends meet with the greatly reduced “monthly budget”. But necessity makes inventive: Many are said to have taken on second jobs in order to be able to survive the crisis on their own as safely as possible, and so the next problem arose immediately:

Numerous flight attendants are said to have improved their low earnings in the catering and hotel industry as service personnel and were very welcome there, but this industry was closed by the Austrian government at the beginning of November 2020. The result is that some “AUA second jobbers” have lost their much-needed additional income. Short-time work is as good as impossible, and by the way, not because the landlords don't want it, but because the second jobs are often carried out in the context of marginal employment and these are not included in the short-time work programs. The consequence of this: the flight attendants affected again lack the money to make ends meet.

"A reduction of ten or 20 percent plus the elimination of the variable salary components that are not included in the short-time work regulation - that is not enough for many employees," explains Rainer Stratberger, chairman of the on-board works council, to "News". However, the employee representative expressly states that not only flight attendants have accepted second jobs in order to make ends meet, but that “it runs through all areas of the company”. Some would even help out as stewards on the ÖBB night trains in order to make ends meet financially. "All available options are used," said Stratberger further.

Variable salary components are not covered by short-time work

But why do AUA flight attendants get so much less salary on short-time work? According to Vida department head Daniel Liebhart, the “problem” lies in the structure of salaries, because variable earnings components are not covered by short-time work. As a result, only the low basic salary is used to calculate the short-time allowance. And that is exactly what is causing such serious financial losses for the AUA staff. Liebhart said: "We have always pointed out the problem that variable salary components are not covered by the short-time work regulation." The low-income earners are particularly hard hit, Liebhart told News.

Carrier burns 40 million euros a month

AUA boss Alexis von Hoensbroech would have the opportunity to increase the poor earnings of the low-income earners. He told the magazine: “Short-time work is a challenge for many. If someone earns something extra in his free time, we as an employer are happy with it, provided that all regulations are complied with ”. He did not want to give further details, but described the pursuit of additional jobs as "understandable".

Austrian Airlines would burn “one to two million euros” a day. In total, there should be a liquidity outflow of at least 40 million euros per month, according to von Hoensbroech. Since Austrian Airlines was able to successfully organize state aid, the financial situation should not be strained at the moment. The AUA boss told News: “We will definitely get through the winter with our liquid funds. We assume that 50, 60 or 70 percent of the business will come back in the summer. ”By 2022, the plan is to cut around 1.100 employees, but use natural fluctuation if possible. In any case, short-time work was extended until March 2021.