Thomas Kleibl, 48, Chief Financial Officer of Austrian Airlines AG has informed the Chairman of the Supervisory Board that he will be resigning from his post at the next meeting of the board on 12 March 2008. Subject to the agreement of the Supervisory Board, the Chief Executive Officer, Alfred ?-tsch, will take over Mr. Kleibl’s responsibilities on the Board of Management. Mr. Kleibl himself will remain available to the company in an advisory and support role throughout this period of transition of his responsibilities to Mr. ?-tsch.

Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kleibl made the following statement concerning his decision: “Having spent a number of intensive and successful years with Austrian Airlines, and accomplished the turnaround in the company, I have reached the decision to take this step, which is hugely important for me, after mature consideration and incorporating all the different factors. I have always enjoyed working for this company and I shall of course offer my complete commitment for the remaining time.”

Austrian Chief Executive Officer Alfred ?-tsch said the following: “I would like to thank Thomas Kleibl for his outstanding cooperation, and say how much I regret his decision. During his time on the Board of Management, he has significantly accelerated the development of Austrian into a commercially managed, modern company. The organisation has a huge amount to thank him for. I wish him all the best, and hope he enjoys every possible success in the future.”

Thomas Kleibl had been Chief Financial Officer of Austrian Airlines AG since 1 October 2001. Immediately after taking over his function, he successfully stabilised the company under the hugely difficult conditions in the wake of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, and he optimised costs and productivity in the challenging environment presented by the company’s location partnerships with Flughafen Wien AG, Austro Control and OMV.

As Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Kleibl and his team were able, amongst other things, to reduce the level of net debt of Austrian Airlines AG by approximately EUR 1.4 billion and to effect lasting reductions in costs of EUR 400 million.
From 1 April 2005 until 31 December 2007 Thomas Kleibl also took over responsibility as Board Member for the Austrian Technik. During this time he succeeded in concluding a contract with Lufthansa Technik AG. This became a solid starting point from which to secure the role of Vienna as a successful industry location whilst simultaneously producing annual savings of EUR 15 million.
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