Austrian Airlines repays €60mn of COVID aid by year-end

Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna) will have repaid EUR60 million euros (USD68 million) or 20% of its EUR300 million (USD340 million) COVID-19 state aid by the end of 2021 with its liquidity remaining stable despite the ongoing pandemic, the airline announced.

The national carrier will make another EUR30 million (USD33.9 million) repayment on December 31, 2021, towards the state-guaranteed loan, following the first instalment of EUR30 million repaid in July 2021, it said in a statement.

“We are proud that we have already repaid a fifth of our financial aid and that we are fulfilling our responsibilities as promised. All of this in spite of the fact that the pandemic is going on longer than we all hoped,” commented board member Michael Trestl.

In June 2020, Austrian Airlines received a COVID-19 package totalling EUR600 million: EUR150 million as an equity contribution from parent Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int’l) and a further EUR150 million as state cover for damages. The remaining EUR300 million were guaranteed by the state as a loan through bank financing, to be repaid in half-yearly instalments by 2026.