Despite short-time work, the ground handler Airline Assistance Switzerland AG, which operates in Vienna, intends to cut a total of 106 employees. According to the company, this has already been registered with the public employment service for the early warning system.

“We have our backs to the wall and therefore unfortunately have to adapt our workforce to the actual needs at Vienna Airport despite short-time working. We are looking to talk to the works council in order to find a solution that is as socially acceptable as possible, ”said Nevena Dragosavljevic, spokeswoman for Airline Assistance Switzerland on Wednesday, pointing out that“ the dramatic global collapse of the aviation industry, the insolvency of our largest Customers, Level Europe, and difficulties with the previous company at Vienna Airport weigh like a mortgage and a millstone on the Austrian branch of Airline Assistance Switzerland. "

Even without the corona pandemic, the airline Level Europe would only have flown on the back burner in summer 2020. The carrier could never really gain a foothold in Vienna and suffered from the beginning and an extremely low capacity utilization. Specifically, this means: The Level Europe flight schedule published before the pandemic was significantly reduced and would have generated significantly less income for AAS.

Discrepancies with predecessor Celebi

At Vienna Airport, ground handling services may only be provided by one other company in addition to the management body of the airport. Following a public tender, Airline Assistance Switzerland AG was granted approval for this by the Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology with effect from January 1, 2020.

"From the start of our work at Vienna Airport, we endeavored to keep as many jobs as possible at the airport and to continue the operations of the predecessor company," explained Dragosavljevic. Despite intensive efforts by Airline Assistance Switzerland, discussions with the predecessor company did not lead to any result. "Nevertheless, we took over all 361 employees from the predecessor company," informed Dragosavljevic. However, despite a first partial judgment by the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law Matters, the predecessor company refuses to accept the severance payment claims of these employees that it has acquired. This means that Airline Assistance Switzerland also bears the severance pay claims of employees that were not acquired as part of the employment relationship with Airline Assistance Switzerland.

The talks with the predecessor company were unsuccessful, so that it was subsequently not possible to agree to take over the equipment and buses for the bus transfer in the short transition period after the approval and the start of ground handling services. In order to still be able to offer the transferred employees a professional perspective, Airline Assistance Switzerland retrained former bus drivers as baggage drivers. Ultimately, the number of employees was far too high for the existing demand. However, for social reasons in particular, Airline Assistance Switzerland refrained from restructuring operations, which would inevitably have been accompanied by extensive job cuts.

Talks with the works council are sought

In addition to the tense situation caused by the difficulties with the predecessor company, the entire aviation industry slid into its largest global economic crisis, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. From February 2020, sales collapsed by 75 to 99 percent. Airline Assistance Switzerland therefore applied for short-time working allowance for the branch at Vienna Airport in spring 2020 in order to avoid the layoff of all employees and also implemented all non-personnel savings potential immediately. Furthermore, the deferrals made possible by the tax offices and social security agencies were immediately noticed. With the insolvency of LEVEL Europe GmbH, the largest customer of Airline Assistance Switzerland at Vienna Airport, the situation worsened dramatically.

 "Last year, for social reasons, we refrained from making extensive job cuts that were already justified by the company at the time and tried to avoid the current step as far as possible," explained Dragosavljevic and finally emphasized: "We will now seek talks with the works council, in order to keep the social consequences of staff reductions as low as economically possible. "