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It is not often that the SPÖ and FPÖ agree on an issue. When it comes to Austrian Airlines, both parties accuse the black-green federal government of making serious mistakes. In contrast to Germany, the state aid granted under the then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz did not provide security in the form of a shareholding.
In addition to government-guaranteed loans that have since been repaid by AUA, the aviation company also received 150 million euros in the form of a grant. In contrast to Germany, the state did not participate. The SPÖ explains in a broadcast that the government at the time did not make any money by rescuing the AUA, but rather did not sink money sustainably. Germany, on the other hand, made a lot of money from the dissolution of the investment.
“The current conflict over the AUA is the result of the ÖVP’s wrong economic policy, which is now taking revenge,” says SPÖ finance spokesman Jan Krainer. “The AUA received 150 million euros four years ago as a financial injection from taxpayers’ money. While Germany took a stake in Lufthansa back then and has now made a profit of 760 million euros for taxpayers, the ÖVP-led government gave a 150 million non-repayable subsidy from taxpayers' money - this money is gone and directly in the pockets of Lufthansa shareholders flowed. The value of the conditions allegedly agreed at the time is now becoming clear when the AUA management threatens to weaken the Vienna location. The deal is the result of the concentrated economic policy incompetence of the then 'chief negotiators' ÖVP Chancellor Kurz, ÖVP Finance Minister Blümel and ÖBAG boss Schmid. “Instead of government participation, as Germany did, an alleged 10-year location guarantee was promised. Apparently even that wasn't true when management is now threatening to weaken the Vienna location and cancel flights to and from Schwechat or replace them with other airlines. The fear is that the conditions were formulated so softly and vaguely that they have no effect in reality. It is not for nothing that the conditions for financial aid are still under wraps today.”
Christian Hafenecker from the FPÖ: “The fact that the employees demand a lot and the employer doesn't want to pay so much is the nature of such negotiations. The strike not only harms the airline, but also the domestic economy as a whole. If the Black-Green Party had not pushed aside all common sense when rescuing the AUA during the Corona period, the government would be in a position to intervene in this tricky situation today. However, the politicians responsible at the time, Kurz, Blümel and Gewessler, allowed the money to be transferred to the AUA without securing a corresponding right to have a say in the AUA's further path. We must not forget that despite the 150 million euro Corona aid, the AUA announced a year later that it would cut more than 650 jobs by the end of 2023. Here too, due to its mistakes in 2020, the government could only watch helplessly as people were thrown out onto the streets. As in so many other areas, the balance sheet of this black-green government is also disastrous in aviation: a lot of money has been paid in, but neither job nor location guarantees have been received. This could now take its toll in view of the hardened fronts in the collective bargaining negotiations.”
