After Salzburg and Klagenfurt, Austrian Airlines will also give up ground handling in Linz, Upper Austria. Negotiations are currently in progress with the service provider ISS Ground Services, who could take over the staff. The AUA employees affected have already been informed in writing in a virtual works meeting.

From the cover letter available to Aviation Direct: “Against the background of the currently extremely challenging economic situation due to the Corona crisis, both for LNZ Airport and OS, we are with LNZ Airport and the ground handling service provider“ ISS Ground Services “Entered into trilateral discussions about the future setup of ground handling at the LNZ location. The content of these discussions is also a possible transfer of operations of the ground handling services to ISS Ground Services. "

In the autumn of 2020 it became known that Austrian Airlines would be the Ground services in Klagenfurt and Salzburg gives up. In Carinthia, a solution could be found with the airport, so that the AUA employees affected within the framework of a Transfer of operations to a subsidiary of the airport can switch. The situation is different in Salzburg, because negotiations on a transfer of operations have failed there. The airline employees have the opportunity to move to Vienna, which, however, is unlikely to be practical for most Salzburg residents.

“We can confirm that we recently started talks with Linz Airport and ISS Ground Services for the transfer of operations at the Austrian Airlines station there. The content of the talks is a transfer of operations to ISS Ground Services, which means that all 26 workplaces at the site can be retained. The talks are still at a very early stage. The exact time for the planned change has not yet been determined, ”explains AUA spokeswoman Tanja Gruber to Aviation Direct.

An exact date for the withdrawal from ground handling in Linz has not yet been set. Austrian Airlines is currently negotiating intensively with ISS Ground Services about a possible takeover of the staff. At the staff meeting it was said that an attempt would be made to secure a one-year employment guarantee. An AUA employee told Aviation Direct that the mood among employees in Linz is now "naturally down".

The cover letter also reads: “We are currently still at an early stage of the talks, but it was important for us to inform you in advance about the start of the talks. As soon as there are concrete negotiation results, we will keep you up to date on this as soon as possible. "