ÖBB secretly reduces validity of return tickets

Categories
Business

Federal Railways (ÖBB) is in hot water after it emerged the company drastically reduced the validity period of return tickets.Austrian newspapers report today (Thurs) that return tickets are valid for just two days as of now instead of one month. Some dailies claim ÖBB did not inform its customers about the change at stations or […]

Rosenbauer targets €600mn turnover

Categories
Business

Fire truck and fire-fighting equipment maker Rosenbauer International AG has said it expected to achieve a turnover higher than 600 million Euros this year.The Leonding-based company, which serves customers across the globe, announced today (Fri) its turnover increased by 12.5 per cent year on year to 421 million Euros in the first nine months of […]

Ströck announces €11mn expansion

Categories
Business

Bakery chain Ströck is investing more than 10 million Euros in its production facilities.The company said today (Fri) that it had started improving and expanding its factories with an 11 million Euros investment.Ströck is one of the biggest bakery companies in Austria and especially strong in the Vienna region where it is competing with Anker, […]

Free apps outpace chargeable features

Categories
Lifestyle

Smartphone users prefer free applications (apps), according to a telecommunications businessman.T-Mobile Austria head Robert Chvatal said today (Weds) customers of his company using so-called smartphones downloaded an average 20 apps of which 14 were available free of charge.”Games are the most popular downloads,” Chvatal announced, adding that T-Mobile Austria so far sold 200,000 Apple iPhone […]

AUA passenger numbers up sharply

Categories
Business

Austrian Airlines (AUA) seems to be back on the road to recovery as it continues to serve more and more customers.AUA said today (Mon) it had 1.1 million passengers last month, up by 11.2 per cent year on year. The airline – which was taken over by Lufthansa last year after it was on the […]

VIG profit jumps amid tax woes

Categories
Business

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) reported increased profit today (Thurs).The company announced net profit had risen by 9.2 per cent from the first six months of 2009 to 194.4 million Euros during the same period this year. Profit before taxes jumped by 11 per cent to 255.6 million Euros, it added. Analysts had expected profit before […]

TA joins WAC as job cull fears linger on

Categories
Business

Telekom Austria Group (TA) has joined an internationally-operating union of telecommunication service providers.Technology media report today (Thurs) that the Austrian market leader has become a member of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), with TA chief Hannes Ametsreiter named board member of the body.WAC aims to be an international interface between creators of IT applications and […]

More than 80,000 watched World Cup on mobiles

Categories
Business

Mobile communications provider 3 said today (Tues) 86,000 customers watched World Cup live coverage on their mobiles.The company said last Sunday’s final between Spain and the Netherlands (1-0) received the biggest hits, with all of the matches of the German national team recording good market shares as well.The firm added that customers watched on average […]

Solid car registration figures reported

Categories
Business

The Austrian car dealers business has been stable so far this year with a 0.8 per cent year on year rise in registrations of all sorts of vehicles being reported.Statistik Austria said today (Fri) 223,247 vehicles were registered between January and June, up by 0.8 per cent compared to the first six months of 2009. […]

Skirt-clad women banned from fruit fields again

Categories
General News

A strawberry farm manager has come under fire for banning skirt-wearing women from picking the fruits for “hygienic reasons”.Reinhard Piribauer hit the headlines in 2008 when the rule was introduced for the first time at his “Erdbeerland” self-service picking farms across the province of Lower Austria.Now the businessman faces fresh pressure over his decision not […]