A final decision will be made on Thursday whether the Lauda base in Vienna will remain open or not. Ryanair could already announce a "massive expansion" from the Austrian capital next week. One SPÖ MP describes the entire procedure as "a mess".

The Austrian Chamber of Commerce announced in a press release that the Vida union has been invited to a final meeting tomorrow, Thursday, aimed at reaching an agreement on the preservation of the Lauda base in Vienna. No solution could be found on Wednesday, although in the run-up to the discussion, the union told its members that Lauda and the WKO would not be willing to compromise.

"The matter is too important and we want to use every opportunity to come to a positive result," says the aviation professional group in the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. The Lauda management again sent out an internal circular on Wednesday evening in which the information on pay, which the Vida union is supposed to publicly disseminate, is literally a lie. It is also made clear that the only way to save the Vienna base is for Vida to sign the contract. Otherwise the base will be "irreversibly closed" on Friday.

The planes stationed in 21 in Vienna have already been flown to the “cheaper airports” of Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Palma de Mallorca and London-Stansted, since it is not expected that “Vida will be interested in keeping the jobs in Vienna”. Incidentally, the reason why Düsseldorf should be cheaper was not explained in the cover letter. If, however, the Vida union signs the new collective agreement on Thursday, all aircraft will be returned to Vienna in good time before scheduled flights are resumed.

If there is no agreement, the Ryanair Group wants to implement its "Plan B". According to the circular, this means that the Irish carrier will announce a “massive expansion from Vienna” in the coming week. The majority of the routes are to be served by airplanes stationed outside the Austrian capital. It is also made clear in the letter that the Lauda brand should not be used for this. Flights would then begin on July 1, 2020. The product is to be marketed under the Ryanair brand. If an agreement should be reached between WKO and Vida, the parent company would forego this step and Lauda would continue to operate from Vienna.

In the final sentence, David O'Brien and Andreas Gruber take a vigorous attack against the Vida union, because they accuse Vida of acting solely for the purpose of destroying Lauda to protect Austrian Airlines. A phrase that is well known from numerous previous letters. So it remains to be seen whether the final talks between Vida and the Chamber of Commerce will lead to a solution.

SPÖ MP calls procedure "a mess"

Incidentally, in the National Council, Rainer Wimmer (SPÖ) spoke favorably for state aid for Austrian Airlines “under clear conditions and requirements”. However, he criticized the fact that, in contrast to Germany, the negotiations between the government and the Lufthansa Group would be extremely intransparent. MPs would pay very little to nothing. He pleads for state participation.

When it comes to Lauda, ​​the SPÖ politician has a lot of criticism in store. Wimmer called the behavior of the Ryanair group literally "a mess". In particular, the fact that Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary is said to have received a bonus of 99 million euros in the previous year, but is supposed to squeeze out the employees, is "perfidious and shameful" for him. Wimmer demands that the Vida union should reject the requested collective agreement and strongly criticizes WKO President Mahrer for allowing the signing by the organization he heads to “pass”.