Porr sackings underway

Categories
Business

Construction company Porr has started to lay off staff, new figures have shown.The Vienna-based firm, which is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange’s (WBAG) standard market auction, said today (Thurs) it had an average 11,560 employees in the first nine months of this year, down from 11,736 it had in the same period of 2009.This […]

Romania – Austria prostitution ringleaders face trial

Categories
General News

Four people accused of having raked in more than 100,000 Euros by luring girls into modelling before forcing them to work as prostitutes in Austria have been sent to trial in Romania.Scheming Relu Costan, 36, Ion Tamarjan, 34, Radu Nicola, 28, and Alexandru Voicu, 22, are due to appear in court in Ialomita later this […]

Most part time staff kept jobs

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Business

The vast majority of workers in Styria asked to work part time during the economic crisis have held onto their jobs, it has been announced.Thomas Krautzer, head of the Federation of Austrian Industries’ (IV) Styrian branch, said today (Weds) 95 per cent of the 17,000 staff who were made part time by dozens of industrial […]

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 […]

Prom treasurer squanders €3,500

Categories
General News

A young Styrian faces embezzlement charges for spending thousands of Euros of his schoolmates’ savings for their upcoming graduation ball.Colleagues reported the 18-year-old to police after finding out that he spent around 3,500 Euros of money collected by them to finance their upcoming prom (Maturaball).Police in Liezen said today (Weds) 87 students in their final […]

Air Berlin occupancy rate down as ticket tax dispute continues

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Business

The occupancy rate of FlyNiki’s most important cooperation partner has edged down.Air Berlin, which holds a 49.9 per cent with an option for the total takeover of FlyNiki, said today (Mon) it had 28.79 million passengers between January and October of this year, up by 3.4 per cent year on year.The company, Germany’s second-biggest airline […]

Doctors remove wrong kidney

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General News

Surgeons removed a cancer sufferer’s healthy kidney, it has emerged.Klinikum Klagenfurt officials admitted today (Thurs) that doctors removed the wrong organ when they were meant to take out the affected kidney in surgery earlier this week.Authorities claimed the mix-up did not occur due to overburdened staff doing too much overtime. They added a pathologist informed […]

Air Berlin starts Klagenfurt – Dusseldorf connection

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Business

Bosses at Klagenfurt Airport were relieved to hear the announcement that Air Berlin is launching a connection to one of Germany’s biggest airports today (Thurs), while the public debate about a planned tax on flight tickets intensifies.The German low cost carrier, which cooperates with Vienna-based FlyNiki, started operating between the airport in the provincial capital […]

Melzer named Sportsman of the Year

Categories
Sports

Tennis ace Jürgen Melzer has been awarded Austrian Sportsman of the Year.The 29-year-old, who reached the semi final at this year’s French Open, was honoured as best Austrian athlete of 2010 in a ceremony held in Vösendorf near Vienna last night (Weds). He succeeds ski jumper Wolfgang Loitzl.Skier Andrea Fischbacher was named Austrian Sportswoman of […]

AUA angered about brothel posters at VIA

Categories
Business

Austrian Airlines (AUA) co-chief Andreas Bierwirth has launched a scathing attack on Vienna International Airport (VIA).Bierwirth said today (Weds) “certain aspects” of the airport were “abysmal”.”Passengers experience the airport as part of our own services,” he explained.Asked what he was especially unhappy about, the businessman mentioned advertisement posters for brothels in VIA’s arrival area. Bierwirth […]