Unresolved Dispute: Austrian Airlines’ Flight Crew Strike Likely to Continue Without Acceptable Collective Agreement

On Thursday, the dispute over the collective agreement for Austrian Airlines’ on-board staff involving 3,500 employees remained unresolved. AUA spokeswoman Sophie Matkovits confirmed that discussions were ongoing at various levels, but there was no set negotiation date. The union also stated that talks were taking place, but there appeared to be no change in the airline’s offering.

After 20 rounds of negotiations, Austrian Airlines offered flying personnel an increase of 18 percent in the collective agreement. This included an eight percent raise this year and an additional five percent for both 2025 and 2026. Co-pilots were also set to receive up to a ten percent increase. However, the on-board works council and Vida union pushed to reduce the salary gap between AUA employees and Lufthansa parent company employees, where workers reportedly earned up to 40 percent more.

Vida Aviation boss Daniel Liebhart expressed disappointment with the management’s offer, stating that while there were some improvements, the extended time frame was not enough to address the underlying issues of underpayment and unequal treatment of Austrian employees within Lufthansa group. The AUA’s offer was rejected by the union cabin crew with a majority of 90 percent, prompting frustration from AI Austria who accused Vida union of persuading workers to reject a potentially acceptable agreement for the company.

As a result of this impasse, further strikes may loom as long as the collective agreement dispute continues. The longer it drags on, the greater damage it will do to Austrian Airlines.