Vienna International Company News

Federal Chancellor: "The situation is still serious"

Austrian government presents details of the aid package designed to save jobs and businesses.

March 26, 2020

Climate Change - Austrian World Summit Postponed

Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious climate project in Vienna falls victim to the coronavirus and has to be postponed until autumn.

March 24, 2020

Voestalpine: Short-time Work in 50 European Subsidiaries

The biggest economic challenge of the past decade represented by the coronavirus pandemic has hit the Austrian technology group Voestalpine hard. Short-time work in Austria and other European countries such as Germany, Belgium and France is unavoidable due to the slump in demand.

March 24, 2020

Budget Statement: Do What Is Necessary

Finance Minister Blümel: "No one knows how long this crisis will last. No one knows what effects it will have. But we do know that we will do everything we can to maintain the health of Austrians, to secure jobs and to carry the location through the crisis. Whatever the cost."

March 20, 2020

Austrian Government Says It is Prepared to Pump Virtually Unlimited Money into Economy

The Federal Government announced today that an aid package of up to 38 billion euros is being prepared to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus.

March 18, 2020

Coronavirus Prohibitions in Austria - Which Shops and Services are still Open?

Many people are confused due to the short-term decision to prohibit access to the customer area of business premises of retail and service companies as well as leisure and sports businesses, and wonder which essential items and services of daily life are still available. Below is a current list in force since Monday, 16 March 2020.

March 17, 2020

Laudamotion Ceases Air Operations

Following today's announcement that Austrian Airlines will cease flight operations with effect from Wednesday, Ryanair's subsidiary Laudamotion will cease flight operations with immediate effect.

March 16, 2020

Austrian Airlines Terminates Flight Operations

Austrian Airlines is temporarily suspending its regular flight operations from Wednesday night. The last flight will arrive in Vienna on Thursday morning from Chicago. All further flights until at least March 28, 2020, or "until further notice" are cancelled. The airline is aware of its responsibility, will cooperate with the Austrian government and try to bring home as many Austrians as possible. One long-haul and one medium-haul aircraft will remain in use for emergency and relief flights.

March 16, 2020

Coronavirus Crisis in Austria: Four Billion Euro Package for the Economy

The Austrian government today cancelled the budgetary "zero deficit" for 2020 and announced the provision of four billion euros for immediate measures.

March 14, 2020

Coronavirus: Profit Warning Issued by Vienna International Airport - Reduced Working Time Planned

Travel restrictions and the resulting massive reduction in the number of scheduled flights at Vienna International Airport severely depress revenues and annual results for 2020.

March 12, 2020

Slump in Passenger Numbers at Vienna International Airport

While Vienna International Airport (Flughafen Wien Schwechat) recorded an increase of 8.3% in the number of passengers to 2 million in February, the coronavirus crisis led to a decline of roughly 30% in the number of passengers in March 2020, and this trend is expected to continue.

March 11, 2020

Etihad Airways Adds Abu Dhabi-Vienna Route to its Programme

In times of the coronavirus, when flights are being cancelled, it is encouraging that Etihad Airways will start a non-stop connection between Vienna and Abu Dhabi on 22 May 2020.

March 11, 2020

Rebookings: Austrian Airlines Responds to Customers' Needs

Since the number of cancellations and rebookings has risen sharply as a result of the coronavirus crisis, AUA Austrian Airlines is forced to be flexible in accommodating existing customers when rebooking. In the case of higher ticket prices, however, the differences must be borne by the customer himself.

March 9, 2020

Coronavirus: Air Travel via Vienna International Airport - Latest Update

Total and gradual restriction of air traffic to countries and territories severely affected by coronavirus is currently being implemented. On this website, Vindobona.org provides information on questions and answers regarding the current status at Vienna International Airport (Flughafen Wien-Schwechat) and the international airlines operating from there, as the relevant websites often contain hardly any updated information on the recently enforced flight bans and flight connection suspensions of individual airlines.

March 8, 2020

COVID-19: Travel Between Iran and Austria Declines Sharply

Iran Air has suspended all flights to Vienna. Additionally Austrian Airlines has suspended its flights to Tehran and the Austrian Foreign Ministry has issued a security level 6 travel warning and recommends leaving the country as soon as possible.

March 8, 2020

Austrian Airlines Cancels All Flights to Tel Aviv

Due to the new entry restrictions imposed by the Israeli government, Austrian Airlines is forced to discontinue its flight connection to Tel Aviv as of today, Sunday, 8 March 2020. An adapted flight programme will continue to take passengers from Israel back to Austria and other countries.

March 8, 2020

Air Travel to Austria: Further Flights Stopped Due to COVID-19 Spread

To contain the coronavirus, direct flights from Austria to Iran, South Korea and the northern Italian airports of Bologna and Milan will be discontinued in the next two weeks. Passengers from third countries require a medical certificate. This was announced by the Federal Government during a press conference broadcast nationwide. Details as follows.

March 7, 2020

Austrian Airlines Confirms Flight Irregularities Due to Coronavirus

The airline is aware of the danger and spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the fact that this is causing concern to passengers, but at the same time reaffirms that the safety of passengers and staff is always the company's top priority.

March 5, 2020

Coronavirus: Austrian Airlines Is Forced to Cut 20% of the Entire European Flight Schedule

The airline is cancelling 20 percent of the flights in the "entire continental network" during the month of March, i.e. the entire route network within Europe. Twelve short- and medium-haul aircraft will remain on the ground altogether.

March 5, 2020

Vienna Stock Exchange: Mayr-Melnhof and BAWAG on the Rise

BAWAG Bank, Austria's fourth-largest bank in terms of total assets, rises to become the fifth-largest listed company on the Vienna Stock Exchange. The cartonboard producer Mayr-Melnhof replaces FACC in the ATX.

March 4, 2020

Law Firm Wolf Theiss: Update on the Corona Virus Tests

The complete results of Wolf Theiss' corona virus testing of the employees in Vienna are now available: 3 employees positive, 293 employees negative.

March 4, 2020

Coronavirus: Vienna Law Firm Tests Three Employees Positive

The renowned law firm Wolf Theiss announces that three of more than 280 examined employees have become infected with the coronavirus.

March 3, 2020 · Updated: March 4, 2020; 19:10

Vienna Airport - Good Results 2019, but Coronavirus is Uncertainty Factor

Vienna International Airport (Flughafen Wien) is pleased to report an increase of +7.2% in revenues and +15.7% in net profit, but the strong growth in the number of passengers during the past year has now been countered by a major uncertainty factor with the corona virus crisis.

March 3, 2020

Austrian Airlines Cancels Further Flights to Italy, China and Iran Still Suspended

Due to falling demand for flights to Italy as a result of the corona crisis, Austrian Airlines is cancelling 40 percent of its flights to Italy in March and April. Flights to Tehran (Iran) will continue to be suspended until 30 April 2020 and flights to Beijing and Shanghai (China) until 24 April 2020.

March 3, 2020

Gambling: CEO Neumann Abruptly Left Novomatic

The Group has been in the limelight for a year because of a corruption scandal. Official reasons for the departure are "family reasons", but various media are reporting disagreements with Johann Graf, sole shareholder of the two parent companies Novo Invest GmbH (Austria) and NOVO Swiss AG (Switzerland). Ryszard Presch and Johannes Gratzl are jointly taking over his task.

March 2, 2020

Vienna Airport - Risk of Delays

There is currently a risk of major delays at Vienna International Airport (Flughafen Wien), especially when passengers have to be checked by the health authorities for possible coronavirus suspicion.

February 29, 2020

Austria - China Travel Warning: High Security Risk

The Austrian Foreign Ministry has raised its travel warning level for Mainland China to "security level 4", in other words "high security risk". Austrian Airlines offers rebooking and refunding options.

February 29, 2020

Austrian Coronavirus Summit: Population to Participate in Containment

In a meeting of Federal Chancellor Kurz, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer with the state governors in the Federal Chancellery, agreement was reached on uniform nationwide guidelines for dealing with the coronavirus. The Chancellor appealed to the population to actively participate in the containment of the virus.

February 28, 2020

No More Direct Flights Between Beijing and Vienna

Because of the coronavirus crisis, Air China has now also temporarily suspended all flights between Beijing and Vienna. AUA Austrian Airlines already suspended all flights to China on 6 February 2020 - provisionally until the end of the winter flight schedule.

February 26, 2020

Austrian Chancellor Kurz at 10 Downing Street

Chancellor Kurz met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London today. The discussion with Johnson focused on London's future relations with the European Union.

February 25, 2020

Italy-Austria: Coronavirus Emergency Measure Caused Chaos and Panic

A false coronavirus alarm paralysed train traffic between Italy, Austria and Germany. Meanwhile the far right Freedom Party demands that the National Security Council should discuss the situation and that travel to Austria from the affected regions should be restricted.

February 24, 2020 · Updated: February 24, 2020; 11:57

Business with China Slumps: Chamber of Commerce Sets Up Coronavirus Hotline

Because of the coronavirus crisis, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) is now also reacting and setting up an auxiliary hotline for the approximately 1,000 affected companies in the Austrian-Chinese trade.

February 23, 2020

Patrick Zehetmayr Appointed Boss of Erste Group's Commercial Real Estate Activities

The Salzburg native, who has almost 30 years of experience in banking and real estate business with Erste Group, was chosen to lead Erste's commercial real estate coverage and financing.

February 19, 2020

Austrian Airlines Extends China Flight Ban as Coronavirus Toll Climbs

AUA Austrian Airlines extends its flight suspensions to mainland China (Beijing and Shanghai) until the end of the winter flight schedule on 28 March 2020. Most recently the flights had been suspended until 29 February.

February 16, 2020

Follow-up Meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chancellor Kurz

Following Alexander Schallenberg's visit to Mike Pompeo just a few days ago, the Federal Chancellery has now confirmed, according to various media, the fact that Sebastian Kurz will also be travelling to Washington, D.C. at the beginning of March.

February 14, 2020

Nuclear Safety: Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Power are Major Challenges

The international community currently faces numerous challenges in the field of nuclear safety. At the ICONS - International Conference on Nuclear Security Conference of the IAEA in Vienna, these issues were discussed at policymaker level.

February 13, 2020

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in Vienna

The 82-year-old United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who has been in office since February 28, 2017 and was nominated by Donald Trump, visited Vienna and met, among others, US Ambassador Trevor Traina, WKO President Mahrer, Finance Minister Blümel, Environment Minister Gewessler and Economics Minister Schramböck.

February 11, 2020

Digital Tax: Google Charges Customers

The search engine operator Google wants to collect the new digital tax, which has been levied in Austria since January on income from online advertising by international corporations, in its entirety from its advertising customers.

January 31, 2020

Russian Embassy: Economic Networking Russia and Austria

In order to promote economic relations between the two countries, Ambassador Dmitrij Ljubinskij invited about 160 members of the Wirtschaftsforum der Führungskräfte (WdF) to the Russian Embassy in Vienna (Nassaupalais - Palais Simon Vienna).

January 31, 2020

Corona Virus: Austrian Airlines Suspends Flights to Mainland China

AUA Austrian Airlines will suspend its flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai. Also its parent company Lufthansa, and Swiss International Air Lines will suspend their flights to and from Mainland China until February 9th.

January 29, 2020

Austrian Airlines: Passenger Record, Eight New Destinations and Fleet Concentration in Vienna

The Lufthansa subsidiary registered a record 14.7 million passengers last year. A new promising US route to Boston and seven additional destinations to Rome, Barcelona, Birmingham, Nuremberg. Zadar, Kavala and Samos are on the agenda for 2020.

January 21, 2020

Aircraft Crash: Austrian Airlines Cancels Tehran Flights

Austrian Airlines flights to the Iranian capital are cancelled for the time being. The reason is the unclear security situation in Iranian airspace.

January 10, 2020

Foreign Ministry Advises Against Travelling to Iran

There is currently no official travel warning from the Austrian Foreign Ministry, although it advises against travel that is not absolutely necessary.

January 10, 2020

Vienna Energy Forum 2020 as a Hub for Innovative and Sustainable Energy Solutions

During high-level talks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25), Maria Patek, Austria's Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism, announced the hosting of the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) 2020.

December 11, 2019

Upward Trend in Foreign Trade Between Uzbekistan and Austria

With 33 million inhabitants, Uzbekistan is the most populous country and Austria's second largest export destination in Central Asia.

November 18, 2019

EXPO 2020 Dubai: Groundbreaking Ceremony at the Austria Pavilion

Preparations are in full swing for the first world exhibition in an Arab country. The construction phase of the Austria Pavilion has also begun.

November 18, 2019

OPEC Headquarters Vienna: World Oil Market Outlook 2019 Launched

OPEC's Chief Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo released its 2019 World Oil Outlook, in which the OPEC states that the oil market may have upside potential in 2020.

November 17, 2019

Another Electric Rental Scooter Has Arrived in Vienna

"Emmy", a Berlin-based start-up and electric scooter sharing company is rolling into Austria. The scooters are now also available for short-term rental in Vienna in addition to major German cities. Further Austrian cities are to follow.

November 15, 2019

Austrian Airlines Sacks 10% of Its Workforce

AUA Austrian Airlines is planning drastic job cuts. Of the current 7,000 jobs, one in ten will be cut by the end of 2021. 700 to 800 employees are expected to be affected. EUR 90 million should be saved annually.

November 7, 2019

Austro-Arab Chamber Secretary General Receives “Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Province of Vienna”

The AACC Austro-Arab Chamber of Commerce in Vienna announced that Secretary General Dipl.-Ing. Mr. Mouddar Khouja was awarded the "Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Province of Vienna", in recognition of his dedication and devotement to the province of Vienna through his personal initiatives and in his professional capacity as Secretary General of AACC.

November 4, 2019