Ryanair's Austrian outfit, Lauda has strongly urged the Austrian government not to provide Austrian Airlines with state aid to help it cope with the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 and would rather see the airline go bust and its 7000 staff unemployed, simply because Austrian Airlines is owned by a German company.
The Lufthansa Group is, apparently, in negotiations with the German government about a possible bailout, however, this is just for the German operations of the group. It is also holding talks with the governments of Switzerland to help SWISS, with the Belgians to support Brussells Airlines and with the Austrian administration to help Austrian Airlines over the worst.
“We do not believe that Lufthansa should receive state aid from Austrian taxpayers in exactly the same way we do not believe that Ryanair should receive state aid from Austrian taxpayers,” Andreas Gruber, Lauda's managing director. However, he only said this after he had had a conversation with top officials from the Austrian government according to local sources.
Lauda has around 550 staff and has ranked an 8% of the market share, whilst Austrian Airlines employs around 7000 people and 43% of the market share.
However, Lauda has said it should get state-sponsored short term payroll support from the government, as should Austrian Airlines.
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