Austrian Airlines, owned by Germany’s Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), plans to lay off around 500 staff as part of efforts to reduce annual costs by about 100 million euros ($112 million), a person familiar with the plan said on Monday, reports Trend referring to Reuters.
The carrier has faced increasingly stiff competition from low-cost carriers including easyJet (EZJ.L), Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) and Ryanair’s (RYA.I) Laudamotion on short-haul routes out of its base, Vienna.
The plan to reduce costs is due to be officially announced on Thursday, when Lufthansa publishes its third-quarter results.
Austrian Airlines declined to comment.
Austrian media reported the cost-cutting plan last week. Austrian Airlines now has just over 7,000 employees, roughly 1,200 more than after the last round of job cuts in 2012.