Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Infrastructure

  • Ryanair to waive its flight change fee for travels in July & August

    Ryanair to waive its flight change fee for travels in July & August

    Ryanair announced it will waive its flight change fee for all customers who book to travel in July & August in case their travel plans change.

    Ryanair plans to operate over 1.000 daily flights from 1 July.

    In order to provide as much confidence and flexibility as possible, Ryanair is now offering customers the following option:

    • From 10 June, customers who book to travel in July & August will be able to move their flights with zero change fee to travel until the 31 Dec 2020.
    • This flight date change will only apply to the route customers have already booked and trips must be completed before the 2020 year end.
  • Austrian Airlines to resume long-haul flights in July

    Austrian Airlines to resume long-haul flights in July

    • Bangkok, Chicago, New York and Washington back in the program from July;
    • Flights to other European cities and various Greek holiday destinations to resume.

    From July onwards, Austrian Airlines aircraft will take off to regular long-haul flights for the first time since mid-March.

    Bangkok, Chicago, New York (Newark) and Washington will then be available with up to three weekly flights. The first long-haul aircraft will take off for New York at 10:15 A.M. on 1 July.

    New destinations in Europe

    In Europe, the following destinations will be added to the almost 40 destinations already announced: Bologna, Florence, Moscow, Podgorica, Rome, Sibiu, Venice and Zagreb.

    Cairo will be added to the Middle East portfolio.

    In addition, Austrian Airlines will offer the following holiday charters as of July: Chania, Corfu, Heraklion, Karpathos, Kos, Rhodes, Santorini and Zakynthos.

    Keflavik is also back in the program as a charter destination.

  • Aegean expects to operate 1000 flights per week by July 15th

    Aegean expects to operate 1000 flights per week by July 15th

    Greek airline Aegean is announcing further adjustments in its network for June, July and August 2020. 

    From June 15th onwards, the frequencies of domestic flights to and from all airports in Greece, as well as international destinations and frequencies to and from Athens and Thessaloniki, will be gradually increasing.

    As of July 1st, and subject to further ease of travel restrictions, the summer network, both in terms of frequencies and number of destinations, will be resumed.

    The entire 31 destinations domestic network that recurrently operated throughout the lockdown, will be also increased progressively, in order to facilitate the connectivity of island destinations with the international network.

    By July 15th, Aegean will fly to 42 international destinations from Athens and 7 destinations from Thessaloniki.

    By June 15th, it will be further announced the direct international network from Aegean’s hubs in Heraklion, Rhodes and Chania with flights starting early in July. 

    Aegean expects, that by July 15th, about 1,000 flights will be operated per week

    Aegean expects, that by July 15th, about 1,000 flights will be operated per week, while by the end of August the number of operating flights, will reach 1,600.

    As a result, the total network at its peak, is estimated to be smaller by 50% from the initial planning before the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • Austrian Airlines will resume regular flights on 15 June 2020

    Austrian Airlines will resume regular flights on 15 June 2020

    • On 15 June 2020, Austrian Airlines aircraft will resume regular flights after a break of almost 90 days.
    • Subject to new official restrictions, the airline will thus take off to 37 destinations in the first two weeks of the new start. 

    Austrian Airlines will offer flights to the following destinations in the first week of resuming its flight operations: Amsterdam, Athens, Basel, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Dubrovnik, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Larnaca, London, Munich, Paris, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Varna and Zurich.

    In the following week, namely from 22-28 June 2020, the airline will operate flights to additional destinations, i.e. Belgrade, Graz, Innsbruck, Kyiv, Košice, Milan, Nice, Prague, Split and Warsaw.

    Austrian Airlines will offer an average of 5 percent capacity compared to the previous year.

    In the initial phase, the airline will primarily deploy smaller aircraft such as Embraer 195 and Dash 8.

    The airline is currently developing a flight schedule for July.

  • Where are the densest motorway networks across EU regions

    Where are the densest motorway networks across EU regions

    Most European capitals and large cities are surrounded by a ring of motorways in order to meet the high demand for road transport originating from these metropolitan areas.

    As a result, dense motorway networks can be found around capitals such as Budapest (120 km per 1000 km2), Wien (109 km per 1000 km2), Madrid (96 km per 1000 km2), Prague and Berlin (both 91 km per 1000 km2).

    Since the motorways are generally concentrated in a ring close to the cities, the motorway density often decreases with the size of the area. For example, the motorway density reported for relatively small region of Wien is higher than for the much larger region of Île-de-France, even though the motorway network of Paris is larger per se.

    Other densely populated regions with high motorway density include the Randstad region in the western part of the Netherlands: Zuid-Holland (127 km per 1000 km2), Utrecht (125 km per 1000 km2) and Noord-Holland (108 km per 1000 km2).

    High motorway densities are also found around the major seaports of northern Europe: the motorway densities of the regions of Bremen (205 km per 1000 km2) with the port of Bremerhaven, of Zuid-Holland with the port of Rotterdam (127 km per 1000 km2) and of Hamburg (114 km per 1000 km2) are among the highest of all European regions.

    Another reason for the high density of the motorway network in some central European countries (such as Germany) is the proportionately high volume of transit freight traffic.

    The density of motorways on islands is generally low, as islands cannot be reached directly by road. Instead, they rely on sea or air transport. Even so, the motorway density of the Canary Islands appears relatively high at 37 km per 1000 km².

  • €1 billion of special-purpose grants for Austrian municipalities

    €1 billion of special-purpose grants for Austrian municipalities

    The Federal Government of Austria is providing municipalities with €1 billion in the form of special-purpose grants. Community investments are supported with up to 50% funding.

    The €1 billion municipal package supports investments by up to 50% and includes the construction and renovation of kindergartens, schools, retirement homes and sports facilities, as well as investment in public transport, energy saving measures, the construction of renewable energy production facilities and the expansion of the broadband network.

    Additionally, it covers renovations, such as of churches and museums. It will run until 31 December 2021. The allocation of funds will be based partly on the graduated population key and partly on the number of inhabitants.

    For example, the municipality of Sillian, which has about 2,000 inhabitants, can receive around €200,000 while the city of Graz can get up to €40.5 million.

    ”We intend to provide federal states and municipalities with the necessary funds to create economic incentives. That’s why we have launched this municipal package. It has a value of €1 billion in order to support both existing and future investments”, said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel.

  • Austrian environmental industry employed 182.963 people in 2018

    Austrian environmental industry employed 182.963 people in 2018

    In 2018, the Austrian environmental industry employed 182 963 people and achieved an output of €36.9 bn. The gross value added created by the environmental industry reached €14.3 bn and environmental exports amounted to €11.3 bn.

    These are the main results of Statistics Austria on the environmental goods and services sector (EGSS).

    If public transport is also taken into account, although it is not part of the EGSS, 211.204 persons were active in the environmental industry.

    As in previous years, the most important environmental domain was management of energy resources. This domain is mainly focused on renewable energies as well as heat/energy saving and management and generated 48.6% of the total environmental output, 43.1% of the environmental gross value added as well as 66.1% of the environmental exports with 34.3% of all employees in the environmental industry.

    The subdomain renewable energy includes, for example, the production of renewable energy and heat, the production and installation of renewable energy technologies as well as bio fuels.

    The subdomain heat/energy saving and management includes e.g. the production of low energy buildings and insulation materials, energy consulting and thermal rehabilitation of buildings.

    Further important environmental domains were protection of ambient air and climate, wastewater management, waste management as well as protection and remediation of soil, groundwater and surface water.

  • Transport volume at 402.2 million tonnes, in 2019, in Austria

    Transport volume at 402.2 million tonnes, in 2019, in Austria

    In 2019, 402.2 million tonnes (t) of goods on 30.1 million laden journeys were transported by goods road vehicles registered in Austria, according to Statistics Austria.

    Thus, the transport volume increased by 2.3% compared to the preceding year.

    The total transport performance, achieved on Austrian and foreign territory (i.e. the product of transport volume and distance travelled) was 26.5 billion tonne-kilometres (tkm) and therefore by 2.9% higher than in 2018.

    Around 18.9 billion tkm of this transport performance (+1.7%) took place on Austrian territory. The transport performance operated on foreign territory increased by 6.0% to 7.6 billion tkm in 2019.

  • Erlaaer Straße U6 station will be accessible from two sides

    Erlaaer Straße U6 station will be accessible from two sides

    The Erlaaer Straße U6 station will be accessible from two sides. From the beginning of school in 2021, in addition to the current access via Erlaaer Straße, the station will have a second staircase in the ”In der Wiesen” area.

    6.000 new apartments are currently being built in the urban development area “In der Wiesen”. The new subway access ensures that passengers get to the U6 faster and do not have to accept a detour to the existing entrance on Erlaaer Straße. 

    Wiener Linien is investing around eight million euros in the renovation and expansion of the station.

    ”The city grows and the public transport grows with it. As originally planned, the second staircase in Erlaaer Straße is now being implemented. This will make it easier for thousands of residents to access the station”, says Günter Steinbauer, Managing Director of Wiener Linien. 

    The Erlaaer Straße station will be expanded in several construction phases from the end of May. As part of the construction work, the platforms will also be completely roofed over to better protect passengers from the weather. 

  • Ryanair confirmed plans to operate 40% of its normal July flight schedule

    Ryanair confirmed plans to operate 40% of its normal July flight schedule

    Ryanair confirmed plans to operate 40% of its normal July flight schedule, as Spain announced it would remove travel and visitor restrictions from 1 July, mirroring earlier plans announced by Italy, Cyprus, Greece, and Portugal to reopen their hotels and beaches for the key July-Aug family holiday season.

    Ryanair will be offering daily flights from countries in Europe to the key holiday airports of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus from 1 July.

    To celebrate the lifting of these travel restrictions across Europe, Ryanair has launched a seat sale for travel in July & Aug with fares starting from €29.99 one way, but these seats must be booked by midnight Thurs 28 May.

    Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson said: ”Ryanair will be offering up to 1,000 daily flights from 1 July, and we have a range of low fare seat sales, perfect for that summer getaway, which we know many parents and their kids will be looking forward to as we move out of lockdown and into the school holidays.”

  • New freight train route links Yantai, China and Kiev

    New freight train route links Yantai, China and Kiev

    Xinhua shows that a new freight train left Yantai, a transport hub in eastern China’s Shandong Province, heading for Kiev, capital of Ukraine on Sunday.

    The train, loaded with 41 containers of mechanical equipment, home appliances, and other goods, will reach Kiev within 18 days.

    The opening of this line has shortened the transportation time of the goods produced by Shandong enterprise to Ukraine from 45 days by sea to about 20 days by rail.

    “Qilu” Europe-Asia freight trains have made 562 trips

    The Europe-Asia freight trains departing from Shandong are operated under the name of “Qilu”, another name of the province.

    Since the beginning of this year, the “Qilu” Europe-Asia freight trains have made 562 trips, a year-on-year increase of 41.2 percent. At present, the number of “Qilu” freight train lines has increased to 34, which can directly reach 42 cities in 14 countries along the Belt and Road routes.

  • EasyJet will restart flights from 21 European airports

    EasyJet will restart flights from 21 European airports

    EasyJet announced that it will resume some flights on 15 June. Services will be operating from London Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Belfast, and Isle of Man in the UK.

    In addition, flying will resume in France from Nice, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon and Lille, as well as from Geneva in Switzerland, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain.

    Flying will principally be on domestic routes alongside a minimal number of international routes. The airline expects to increase flying as customer demand continues to build and restrictions are relaxed.

    A new range of additional measures will be in place to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of all customers and crew onboard.

    These include enhanced aircraft disinfection for easyJet aircraft; customers, cabin and ground crew will be required to wear masks; there will also initially be no food service onboard flights, all of which operate on a short-haul network.