Despite the corona crisis, the traditional light of peace landed in Austria again this year. Austrian Airlines brought this from Tel Aviv to the Alpine republic. AUA security officer Wolfgang Kerndler handed it over to ORF Upper Austria on Monday afternoon.
After this year no Upper Austrian child could travel to the Holy Land to pick up the light due to travel restrictions, nine-year-old Maria Khoury from Bethlehem took the glowing Christmas symbol from the grotto of Jesus' birth and handed it over to Wolfgang Kerndler in Israel. He brought the ORF peace light via Austrian Airlines flight to Austria and from Vienna on to Linz. The little light from Bethlehem shines throughout Europe on Christmas Eve as a symbol of Christmas peace.
The campaign was launched in 1986 on the initiative of the ORF regional studio in Upper Austria and has been supported by Austrian Airlines since the very beginning.