At the beginning of this year, it was established that a reduction of 968 personnel positions would be necessary by end-2002 for the extensive restructuring programme to succeed. In the event, this reshaping exercise has been completed by the end of November. The number of people employed by the Austrian Airlines Group has been reduced to its present level of around 7,500.

Chief Executive Officer Vagn Soerensen made the following statement about current personnel management: “We have achieved the vast majority of this reduction in the equivalent of 968 posts by means of natural wastage, fluctuation and part-time working models. Only around 150 colleagues have had to leave the company due to joint dissolution of their contract of employment or, in very few cases, on the basis of a termination. This has given the Group a new and streamlined basis for success in 2003.” Thomas Kleibl, Chief Financial Officer of the Austrian Airlines Group, added to this forward-looking perspective. “For us, it will always be of the utmost importance to adjust staffing levels to demand and current production in all sectors.”
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