Andrew Doyle/MUNICH
A drive by Austrian Airlines shareholders to install Tyrolean Airways boss Fritz Feitl at its helm has stalled following a walkout by employee representatives from an extraordinary supervisory board meeting on 8 November.
The board did, however, succeed in authorising the airline's management to continue negotiations to acquire Lufthansa's 20% stake in Lauda Air as part of a bid to gain control of the loss-making leisure carrier as soon as possible.
Austrian confirms that its six employee representatives left the meeting in protest at a motion proposed by supervisory board chairman Dr Rudolf Streicher to appoint a third chief executive - understood to be Freitl - to the company's management board, alongside Herbert Bammer and Mario Rehulka.
Austrian wants the Austrian Airlines Group (composed of the flag-carrier, wholly-owned Tyrolean and 35.9%-owned Lauda) to be restructured under a streamlined management hierarchy, but employees are opposed to replacing Bammer and Rehulka with a single CEO.
Austrian is vehemently opposed to Lauda's plans for restoring short-term financial viability by selling and leasing back aircraft, and wants to secure control of Lauda by year-end to head off the move. It has the option of taking a majority stake in Lauda next July by buying out CEO Niki Lauda, but could win control much earlier via a deal with Lufthansa.
Lauda is incurring huge operating losses due to fuel costs and the strength of the dollar against the euro.
Austrian, too, is suffering, but still expects to end the financial year in the black. Analysts see significant scope for long-term cost-cutting, since Lauda operates an all-Boeing fleet while Austrian is standardising on Airbus types.
Source: Flight International
