Even before the Corona crisis, Austrian Airlines had a difficult time at its Vienna hub. Now she is hit harder. Competitor Lauda wants to prevent government aid.
No Lufthansa subsidiary has such a hard life as Austrian Airlines. At their hub, Easyjet, Lauda, Level and Wizz Air have established very potent low-cost airlines. They make life difficult for the domestic airline and drive ticket prices down.
The operating result remained positive in 2019, but fell from 83 to just 19 million euros. AUA responded to this with an austerity program. But the Corona crisis is destroying all improvements that have been made since then. The aircraft of the Austrian national airline have been on the ground since March 18 – and they will remain so until at least May 3.
Up to 800 million euros in financial requirements
This leads to huge losses. Austrian boss Alexis von Hoensbroech is therefore in talks with the state finance agency Cofag about help for his airline. The Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Finance in Vienna are apparently informed and involved, as the newspaper Der Standard writes.
To get through the fall, Austrian Airlines needs 750 million euros, the paper said. The radio station ORF names a number of 800 million. At the same time, all legally possible insolvency scenarios would be run through at the airline’s headquarters, the standard continues.
Lauda demands equal treatment
In response, Ryanair subsidiary Lauda urged the Austrian government to “reject any application by Austrian-owned German airlines for state aid from Austrian taxpayers, many of whom are Lauda employees”. Lauda managing director Andreas Gruber said that if there was any aid, Lauda would also have a right. “All support granted by the Austrian government must be granted to all airlines in Austria on an equal, transparent and non-discriminatory basis in accordance with EU state aid rules.”
Swiss is the first Lufthansa subsidiary to hope for state aid. A bridge financing for the aviation industry is being examined and the relevant ministries have been commissioned to draft measures, the Swiss government said on Wednesday (8 April). State guarantees are in the foreground.
Lufthansa negotiates over billions
Lufthansa is also negotiating state aid. This involves disproportionately larger sums of several billion. Lufthansa is currently burning one million euros of liquidity per hour. The reserve is still more than four billion euros. But even this cushion would be used up in about five months if it went on as before.
–
