Austrian Reaction to US-EU 2nd Stage Air Transport

UNCLAS VIENNA 000167 SIPDIS, SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON AU SUBJECT: Austrian Reaction to US-EU 2nd Stage Air Transport Negotiations Demarche REF: State 9584 Sensitive but Unclassified - Protect Accordingly. ¶1. (U) Embassy representatives delivered reftel demarche in separate meetings with MFA transportation office director Andreas Schmidinger and MinTransport DG for Aviation Affairs Manfred Bialonczyk. ¶2. (U) Both MFA and MinTransport representatives expressed strong support for continuing the US-EU Open Skies agreement by reaching a timely second-stage agreement; both said the GoA will not pose roadblocks. Neither feels that U.S. ownership restrictions pose a particular challenge for Austria (though Bialonczyk noted with irony that Austria's flag carrier, AUA/Austrian Airlines, is now part of the Lufthansa group). Schmidinger expressed relief that civair relations with the U.S. have been easier than those with some other countries (notably Russia, with which Austria is currently battling for continuation of traffic rights after the AUA merger with Lufthansa). ¶3. (SBU) Noise issues present a potential public relations problem for Austrian bureaucrats and politicians, given Austria's record of vocal environmentalism and Euro-skepticism. While Bialonczyk opined that cargo flight timing works well in practice at VIE -- to the benefit of express carriers who operate feeder flights -- Schmidinger cautioned generally that the EU cannot lean forward on noise issues for fear of provoking a media backlash in some member states, including Austria. EACHO