Shortage in the armed forces

Is the Austrian Armed Forces moving four Eurofighters from Zeltweg?

The tower at Hinterstoisser airfield in Zeltweg (pictured at the Airpower air show)

(Bild: Pail Sepp)

The Austrian Armed Forces are considering the partial relocation of four Eurofighters from Zeltweg in Styria to another location. The background: In the fall, the "Krone" revealed that the fleet was not operational for days. There is a lack of air traffic controllers. And that won't change any time soon: Only one applicant was suitable the previous year!

In November 2024, this information caused a stir: The military flight operations of the Eurofighters at the airbase in Zeltweg were not possible for several days. The 14 jets are supposed to be ready for alert take-offs at any time to defend the airspace over Austria. In the event of unknown aircraft or loss of communication, they normally take off within minutes. This happens around 50 times a year. "So for the first time in more than 50 years, not a single Eurofighter was on standby for several days during this November weekend," reported the "Krone" at the time.

The background to the problem: there were enough pilots and jets, but a shortage of air traffic controllers and firefighters. The consequence: the Austrian Armed Forces are considering moving a lot of Eurofighters from Zeltweg to Hörsching near Linz or Klagenfurt.

All Eurofighters are currently still stationed in Zeltweg.

(Bild: Pail Sepp)

Only nine applicants in 2024
The fact that the shortage of air traffic controllers cannot be remedied so quickly is shown by a recent response to an inquiry from Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP): according to this, there were only nine applicants to the Austrian Armed Forces last year, with only one person being suitable. The rest failed for psychological reasons, which is a rate of 89 percent! 

A look at the figures since 2020 shows that the failure rate has already been in this range several times. However, the number of applicants is falling dramatically. In 2020, there were still around 28. One reason: the top salaries for air traffic controllers in the civil sector. The starting salary at Austro Control is 6600 euros gross (without bonuses). 

Air traffic controller applicants:

• 2020: 28 applicants, 5 were suitable (failure rate: 82 percent)
• 2021: 23 applicants, 3 were suitable (failure rate: 87 percent)
• 2022: 19 applicants, 8 were suitable (failure rate: 58 percent)
• 2023: 12 applicants, 4 were suitable (failure rate: 67 percent)
• 2024: 9 applicants, 1 was suitable (failure rate: 89 percent)

The training period for military air traffic controllers is around six years (three years for the military academy are included). According to Tanner, it is not possible to fall back on other air traffic controllers in the event of bottlenecks in Zeltweg. The "tense personnel situation" stands in the way of this.

As a consequence, preparations are now being made to relocate some of the Eurofighters. So far, they have been operated at Vogler Air Base in Linz-Hörsching for a total of 40 days: the first time for a short period in 2013, then again in 2022. Last year, it was necessary on several long weekends, for a total of more than 30 days.