After Germany, the Austrian government intends to stamp the United Kingdom with the classification "virus variant area" again. In the Alpine republic, there are no transport bans associated with this negative designation, but special entry regulations apply, which can be particularly detrimental to Innsbruck and Salzburg airports.

But that's not all, because Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are also to be classified as virus variant areas. Traditionally, a particularly large number of winter sports enthusiasts come to Austria from these states and the United Kingdom to spend their skiing or snowboarding holidays here. Classification as a virus variant area would mean that the foreign guests would have to be in quarantine for at least five days and then be able to "test themselves".

This not only poses problems for the airports, but also for the accommodation providers, because so-called “domestic self-isolation” is simply not possible for vacationers. In accommodation establishments, people in quarantine and normal vacationers must not be mixed with one another. Unless "quarantine hotels" are created, foreign guests are not allowed to leave their rooms. Merely going to a test station would be allowed without hesitation.

Vacationers would have to pay for tests themselves

The entry regulations also stipulate that the costs for tests of all kinds are to be borne by yourself. Participation in the free tests, which are carried out by the federal states, pharmacies and private providers, is usually linked to a valid Austrian social security number (i.e. e-card). Only the City of Vienna offers unconditionally free PCR tests to people without Austrian health insurance and also vaccinations against Covid-19. Outside the capital there is a patchwork of different regulations.

Landing bans are only associated with the classification as a virus variant area if Health Minister Wolfang Mückstein (Greens) would explicitly order this. It has not yet been decided whether the member of the government will leave the strict entry requirements for virus variant areas or whether it will also ban passenger flights departing from the UK, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. In the past, such bans were issued several times. Sometimes the airlines then legally flew with passengers from Vienna to London, for example, and then flew empty, i.e. ferry, back again.

All that can be heard from the Ministry of Health is that they are currently working on a new amendment to the entry regulations. This should be published in the Federal Law Gazette on Wednesday and come into force on Friday. Therefore, the exact text of the regulation by Wolfgang Mückstein has to be awaited.

Salzburg and Innsbruck faced another total failure

Another defacto total failure of the winter season is imminent for the Salzburg and Innsbruck airports. In the previous year, this was actually canceled due to the corona pandemic, because only a few charter flights landed at the two airports. These two airports make the majority of their annual turnover during the ski season.

Since vacations that are associated with at least five days of quarantine before the actual "start" on the ski slope are probably not very attractive, it is to be expected that package travelers in particular will approach their tour operators and ask for cancellation or rebooking in another country will ask. The bottom line is that significantly fewer tourists will come and that numerous charter flights will then be canceled without replacement. The airports in Salzburg and Innsbruck are again falling for vital income. The same applies to the airlines, provided they cannot use their capacities for other purposes.

In the past, tough entry and quarantine regulations or even landing bans did nothing at all. These came much too late or sometimes too hastily due to media pressure. For example, the "British variant" at that time had long been circulating in Austria and the situation was similar with the "Delta variant". Omikron has long since arrived in Europe and is spreading like the previous mutations. Where more is sequenced, more cases are uncovered, and where less scrutiny is carried out, there are fewer cases at first glance. Omikron has long since arrived.