The Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) not only causes additional confusion with statements he made on Monday, but also drives Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) right in front of the bow. For example, the head of government said that landing bans are nonsensical because passengers would switch to connecting flights via other countries.

The order that passenger flights departing in the United Kingdom or South Africa was signed by Anschober and only recently extended. The fact that this measure makes little sense has often been discussed in the industry, because a simple changeover in another country means that travelers are no longer banned. Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz now publicly verbally drove his health minister to the bow and described the ban as "only partially useful" because in practice passengers would switch to transfer flights via other countries, so that the landing bans are "nonsensical".

It is noteworthy, however, that Kurz, as head of government, intervenes extremely frequently in the portfolios of his ministers and allows corresponding "adjustments" to be made according to his wishes and ideas. This is now the order of the day, especially in the health department. The fact that Kurz, who apparently supported the landing bans at first, is now criticizing them seems absurd. It was the Austrian Chancellor himself who lied to the population about the “Christmas entry requirements”. In a press conference he assured that these would only apply until January 10, 2021. It is well known that after this date a tightening was even prescribed, with the text being signed by Anschober.

But it is precisely with this topic that it becomes even more absurd, because of all people Sebastian Kurz, who just a few days ago sang a veritable song of praise to the “new entry regulations”, is now indirectly criticizing them. He is calling for the members of the European Union to create uniform travel regulations. Exactly that already existed, but countries like Austria, Germany, Finland and actually almost all EU countries preferred to continue to cook their own soup and to complicate the almost invisible patchwork. The Austrian Chancellor could have advocated uniform rules at EU level, but this has not been the case so far. The statement that there must be uniform travel rules therefore seems a bit like another shot across the bow for Rudolf Anschober.

Looking at the facts, the only serious relief Austria has created is that antigen tests are also recognized for entry. However, at the same time the regulations were tightened and the German entry model (“Zwangsquaranäne”) was copied, so that only a few groups of people who fall under exceptions actually benefit from it. Otherwise, absolutely nothing was done to enable the transport and tourism industries to survive. The effects of this can be seen every day at domestic airports: Air traffic has been greatly reduced and the load factor on most flights is catastrophic.