Ryanair to close Lauda unit’s Vienna base after union clash

Ryanair’s Laudamotion unit will close its base in Vienna, following through on a threat to cut more than 300 jobs after it failed to reach a deal with unions over cost reductions. The Austria hub, the main base for the carrier founded by the late race car driver Niki Lauda, will close on May 29, Ryanair said in a statement on Friday. Other Ryanair group airlines will operate flights to Vienna instead, said David O’Brien, Lauda’s joint CEO. Lauda’s operations in Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Palma de Mallorca will continue to operate, O’Brien said, while the 15 Airbus A320 jets based in the Austrian capital will likely be moved. The carrier blamed labor group Vida for the decision, saying that pilots and cabin crew had agreed to the terms of the deal before the union scuttled the plan. “The tragedy of this particular situation is that our pilots in Vienna didn’t need to lose their jobs,” said O’Brien. “Today, we were hoping that we’d be planning on the resumption of services in Vienna. Now we have to work on an alternative plan.”<br/>