The Austrian federal ministry of social affairs, health, care and consumer protection has significantly expanded the list of landing bans for aircraft.

Starting tomorrow, no regular flights from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia will be permitted to land in Austria.

The landing bans for aircraft from Great Britain, Sweden and the Ukraine have also been extended and the decree is valid until July 31st.

Due to the official prohibition, Austrian Airlines is forced to cancel all flights between Vienna and the following destinations during this period: Belgrade, Bucharest, Cairo, Kyiv, London, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Sibiu, Skopje, Sofia, Stockholm, Tirana and Varna.

The landing bans will also impact the remaining Austrian Airlines route network, due to the fact that the affected routes are frequented by many passengers in transfer.

“Of course, we understand that health is a top priority in the current situation.

“It remains a common goal to contain the pandemic. However, cross-the-board travel bans for entire countries - with extremely short notice - are an enormous challenge for us and our guests.

“We advocate a uniform and stable travel policy within the EU so as not to weaken Vienna’s position as a flight hub in the long term.

“Business travellers and other transfer passengers will otherwise find alternative ways of getting to long-haul destinations,” said Austrian Airlines chief commercial officer, Andreas Otto.

“Together with the authorities and the airport, we want and must find a solution for transfer traffic in order to prevent uncontrolled entry as fast as possible.”

Passengers whose flights are cancelled will be able to take advantage of the flexible rebooking options and can take their rebooked journey up until the end of 2021.