1000 to go at Austrian Airlines
As the troubled airline sector reels from the crash of the American Airlines jet in New York on Monday, more bad news has been announced in Austria.
The Austrian Airlines Group has joined the lengthening list of airlines to reveal job and flight reductions, in the wake of the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
The group, which consists of the national carrier Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air, Tyrolean Airlines and Rheinthalflug, says it will have to cut 930 jobs by the end of next year.
That represents around 12% of its 8,000-strong workforce.
The job cuts, which will be affect all areas of the group, are designed to save 67 million euros ($59m).
Drop in demand
The group is also having to scale back scheduled services to destinations in the United States and the Middle East.
Austrian Airlines says the cuts are necessary because of a 3.2% drop in demand on scheduled flights in September and a further reduction of 9.1% in passengers in October.
Originally the group had hoped to record a balanced result or even a slight profit for 2001, but now it is expecting to post a loss of 150 million euros.
However Austrian Airlines chief executive officer Vagn Soerensen says he is confident that the group will survive - and not go the way of airlines like Swissair and the Belgian carrier Sabena.
Responding to fears that only the fittest and biggest European airlines would survive the current crisis, Mr Soerensen said there would also be a place for smaller firms with "strong regional positions".
One of those firms, he said, should be Austrian Airlines, which has "carved out a niche in Central and Eastern Europe".
Fear of flying
But he said he could not guarantee the survival of all four airlines in the group for more than five years.
And the latest crash in New York will not have helped matters.
One senior Austrian Airlines official, Josef Burger, said if Monday's crash indeed proved to be an accident, he did not expect any direct negative results.
But he said it reinforced a general fear of flying - just when the industry needs customers most.