Earlier in the year, Austrian Airlines had a stylish celebration for its 50 year anniversary, but if the carrier will be able to survive another 50 years on its own is becoming doubtful.  The supervisory board of the airline said last week that they progressed in finding probable partners and were going to move toward a more in-depth analysis, hoping to have recommendations at the end of this month.  This is going to be a huge change for the carrier, which was seemed to be one of the more secure European airlines.

The inaction of the airline to renegotiate contracts for supply and labor, as well as cutting back on networks and fleets, like some of their neighboring airlines did, has turned out to hurt them now.  They had a loss of over €60 million in this year’s 1st quarter, which could become €90 million for the entire year.  In spite of the hurt from surging petrol prices, most of the causes for this are home grown.  The company had one ray of hope shine through, as Issa Al Jaber was to make a €150 million capital injection into the company, but then he pulled out, claiming that he was misled about the finances of the company.

Now the airline and the state, which owns about 43% of the airline’s shares, are obligated to look for another airline to partner with, but it is hard to find the right suitor.  However, the future of the airline is also political for the government of Austria.  Wilhelm Molterer has indicated that he is willing to sell the control of the airline, but Alfred Gusenbauer and his party are more hostile.

Go to www.aua.com to learn more about Austrian Airlines.