Vueling announced the supression of the aircraft maintenance department, firing more than 100 people after the merger with the other low-cost airline Clickair. Maintenance duties will be transferret to Iberia, the main shareholder of the new merged company.
The aircraft maintenance department employed about 90 people in Barcelona, 15 in Madrid and 6 in Sevilla.
Two shirts for 30 euros, an apron for 8 or a shirt for 15 are some of the reduced prices displayed yesterday at the street fair promoted by Cor Eixample, the association of merchants and professionals of the right side of the Eixample. An exhibition that took out the Rector Oliveras street with huge offers from 25 shopkeepers, as a way to fight against the crisis that seems to be affecting everyone. Elisabet Prat, Cor Eixample manager, said that the customers are 'very happy': 'Many have said that we should do this more often. »
Soup kitchens and parishes that distribute food to needy people are facing a huge increase in the demand. The Food Bank Organization, which supply food products to over 500 organizations, warns that the beneficiaries increased 25% this year, an unprecedented leap. In addition, the profile of the users of the dining and charitable organizations is changing. Months ago, they were mostly immigrants. Now, they are more middle-aged natives, who have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis and not have enough income to cover their basic needs.
(Photo: Oriol Duran. A long queue in Pompeia parish)
Ryanair has no intention to open an operational base at Barcelona's El Prat airport, because of the high taxes imposed by the spanish airports authority, Aena. said yesterday in a press conference the chairman of Ryanair , Michael O'Leary. Based on Ryanair's own data, Barcelona could lose this year to 6 million passengers due to the crisis, a situation that the presence of the low-cost company would help to avoid. O'Leary confirmed the strong commitment with Girona and Reus airports and the strong role of the company in this situation. "We love the crisis," he said.
In front of the accumulation of film projects on the life of Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí warned the US film industry that "there are red lines that must be respected", in words of the manager of the foundation, Joan Manuel Sevillano. The foundation has authorized only the single film already filmed and ready to be unveiled, Little Ashes, in which Paul Morrison explores the relationship between the writer Federico Garcia Lorca and Dali. "There are things in the film we do not like, but the foundation is not a censor, and at least you can see the intention to be minimally rigorous", something that the foundation does not appreciate in projects like the one led by Al Pacino and Antonio Banderas. Yesterday, the foundation presented the report of 2008 and three new acquisitions.
In Barcelona there are 2,135 bus stops, of which only 335, ie 16%, are adapted for people with reduced mobility. Having achieved a bus fleet 100% accessible, the removal of architectural barriers at the bus stops is one of the major matters pending in the City of Barcelona. For this reason the Council has decided to dedicate 3.7 million euros from the State funds for local investment. The action must be completed by the end of the year, which means 39 adapted stops each week.
The tourism competitiveness' plan for Roman Tarraco is starting the engine. Four months before its official launch, the ambitious initiative was presented, with the support of the Spanish State and the Generalitat. The Catalan government will fund 4.2 million euros over the next three years to the project, to will create a ring of towns with Roman heritage -Tarragona, Constantí, Altafulla and Roda de Berà, and consolidate the area as a main destination of cultural tourism in the Mediterranean. Among the proposals, there is the creation of a Tourist Center to reinforce the Roman Tarraco heritage worldwide.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) believes that Barcelona is a world reference as an example of the fast economic transformation of a declining industrial city, which has managed to become "a dynamic economy with a world-class reputation.". The international organization puts the Catalan capital as a model to follow in the first in a series of meetings that will bring to Toronto, Cape Town, London and Glasgow, among others, in order to open a process of reflection on the local role and the role of local authorities in speeding up the economic recovery of cities. In October, they will be back in Barcelona to present the conclusions of the tour.
The organization presented yesterday in Barcelona a study that analyzed the policies of the city in the promotion of entrepreneurship and noted that the city has no outstanding weaknesses, but the need to increase the scale of their actions. Greg Clark, who is chairman of the Local Development Forum of the OECD, explained yesterday that Barcelona has managed to successfully develop its economy, but now another approach is needed. The focus should be put in the diversification of sectors (as has been done so far, where in fields such as fashion, design and food), now perhaps in areas where innovation and creativity are leaders.
