Austrian Airlines General Director Alexis von Hoensbroech does not expect the price war with low costers to calm down after the corona crisis. In an interview with the daily newspaper Kurier, he said that it “would be naive to believe that the low-cost airlines somehow change their minds”.

The manager also admits that Austrian Airlines has to “keep up with the price war”, because “otherwise our planes are half empty”. However, the cheapest ticket at AUA should still cost 40 euros one-way. Von Hoensbroech does not want to fall below this threshold. To this he said to the Courier: "We are certainly not involved in this dirty business".

As a result of the corona crisis, Alexis von Hoensbroech wants to reduce the workforce by 1.100. Before the crisis, it was planned to cut 800 employees. “It is true that Austrian never did really well. But it is also true that we have been in the black for seven years in a row. So we were a healthy company, if not profitable enough to finance new investments, ”the manager told the courier. In any case, the state loan should be repaid, at least that's what von Hoensbroech assumes. However, the AUA was surprised by the extent of the “second wave”.

When asked about the fact that Austrian Airlines consumes around two million euros a day, the company boss said that bankruptcy cannot be ruled out. But then it would be the ultimaratio, which “we only have to leave if we are forced to, but certainly do not want to”. This year, the AUA management learned that “it is wise not to rule anything out because sometimes very unlikely things can happen”.

However, he does not see a sale of AUA, which according to Alexis von Hoensbroech “is not exactly one of the profit pearls of the Lufthansa Group”. But there is pressure from Germany that the economic situation of Austrian Airlines will improve in the long term. When asked about the renewal of the long-haul fleet and the fact that Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr recently said that he sees “no future” for the AUA's Boeing 777 and 767, the Austrian Airlines General Director said: “What types of aircraft are flown with, is another question and probably does not matter to the government either. "