NEW AUA BOSS BRANDS OWN COMPANY "DEAD PATIENT".
One of Austrian Airlines Group’s (AUA) two new bosses has called the airline a "dead patient" in need of revitalisation.
The Vienna daily "Der Standard" reports today (Thurs) that new AUA bosses Andras Bierwirth and Peter Malanik had presented a frank report on the airline’s financial situation to employees last week. The newspaper said it had seen a copy of a video-recording of the session.
The newspaper said Bierwirth had said AUA was "a dead patient that must be strongly revitalised." If measures to achieve that failed to succeed, he added, he could not exclude the possibility AUA would go bankrupt.
Malanik was quoted as saying he hadn’t imaged AUA would ever need 200 million Euros in state assistance to survive.
In addition to such measures as lower wages, route reductions and discounts by suppliers, the two bosses said AUA would lower ticket prices on monopoly routes to attract more customers. They said many tickets would be priced as low as 99 Euros.
The two men added they would be able to keep their jobs only if "we are successful" in achieving savings of 110 million Euros by the closing of the sale of AUA to German airline Lufthansa, which is not expected to occur before summer at the earliest.
AUA’s workers’ council wants management to downsize AUA subsidiary Tyrolean in Innsbruck to save money. The council says such downsizing is a pre-condition for its approval of AUA’s cost-cutting measures.
The council’s demand, however, has angered Tyrolean workers’ council chief Maria Gstaltmeyr. She claims Tyrolean is in better financial condition than AUA.
The European Union is still reviewing Lufthansa’s bid for the Austrian government's stake in AUA. Under the deal, the German carrier would buy the Austrian state's 41.56 percent share in the airline.
The Austrian government would assume up to 500 million Euros of the carrier's debt, which stood at 900 million Euros in November.
Austrian Times
http://austriantimes.at/index.php?id=11024
One of Austrian Airlines Group’s (AUA) two new bosses has called the airline a "dead patient" in need of revitalisation.
The Vienna daily "Der Standard" reports today (Thurs) that new AUA bosses Andras Bierwirth and Peter Malanik had presented a frank report on the airline’s financial situation to employees last week. The newspaper said it had seen a copy of a video-recording of the session.
The newspaper said Bierwirth had said AUA was "a dead patient that must be strongly revitalised." If measures to achieve that failed to succeed, he added, he could not exclude the possibility AUA would go bankrupt.
Malanik was quoted as saying he hadn’t imaged AUA would ever need 200 million Euros in state assistance to survive.
In addition to such measures as lower wages, route reductions and discounts by suppliers, the two bosses said AUA would lower ticket prices on monopoly routes to attract more customers. They said many tickets would be priced as low as 99 Euros.
The two men added they would be able to keep their jobs only if "we are successful" in achieving savings of 110 million Euros by the closing of the sale of AUA to German airline Lufthansa, which is not expected to occur before summer at the earliest.
AUA’s workers’ council wants management to downsize AUA subsidiary Tyrolean in Innsbruck to save money. The council says such downsizing is a pre-condition for its approval of AUA’s cost-cutting measures.
The council’s demand, however, has angered Tyrolean workers’ council chief Maria Gstaltmeyr. She claims Tyrolean is in better financial condition than AUA.
The European Union is still reviewing Lufthansa’s bid for the Austrian government's stake in AUA. Under the deal, the German carrier would buy the Austrian state's 41.56 percent share in the airline.
The Austrian government would assume up to 500 million Euros of the carrier's debt, which stood at 900 million Euros in November.
Austrian Times
http://austriantimes.at/index.php?id=11024
