AERO Industry and Trade Minister Martin €íman said Sept. 21 that he wants to suspend the privatization of aircraft maker Aero Vodochody and change its privatization method. He said the state should first sell the company’s airport, then its aircraft production. €íman said the privatization could be completed by the end of the year if the sale continues as planned.

âSA Czech Airlines (âSA) wants a 2 billion Kă ($89 million) increase in capital from the Finance Ministry, its biggest shareholder, company president Radomír La‰ák said Sept. 21. The government is currently looking for a way to raise the money without needing European Union consent, he said. La‰ák said the company would face bankruptcy if its performance continued unchanged for another two years.

VOUCHERS Nearly three in five employers offer food vouchers as a bonus to employees, according to an Economic Chamber poll released Sept. 21. More than 90 percent of employees who get vouchers said it is their favorite benefit, ahead of pension and vacation benefits. Employers spend an annual 13 billion to 14 billion Kă on vouchers.

LABOR The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry does not plan any spending cuts in an effort to lower the 2007 state budget deficit, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Petr Neăas said Sept. 21. The ministry plans to save money by lowering overhead costs and halting construction investment. Annual social benefits spending has increased 72 percent since 1999 to 198 billion Kă.

UNIPETROL Former Agriculture Minister Jaroslav Palas said Sept. 21 that he did not know that the Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGaz was eliminated from a tender for Unipetrol after it offered nearly 5 billion Kă more than tender winner PKN Orlen. Police questioned Palas for more than two hours in an investigation that aims to find out whether Unipetrol’s privatization to PKN Orlen was corrupt.

CONTRACTS Czech companies signed contracts worth nearly 6 billion Kă in Omsk, Russia, Sept. 24. The biggest contract — for equipment to produce bioethanol by Czech companies Alta and Chemoprag — is more than 4.2 billion Kă. Russia is the first leg of a 12-day foreign trip for President Václav Klaus and representatives of Czech companies.

PERMIT Many Czech food makers and farmers have not applied for the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit that is required by the end of October 2007. Companies without the permit, which often takes more than a year to attain, would be forced to go out of business. The permit is granted by regional offices and checked by the European Commission.

AIRPORT Prague Ruzynű Airport cleared nearly 1.3 million passengers in August, a year-on-year increase of almost 9 percent, airport officials announced Sept. 25. The number of takeoffs and landings rose 2.5 percent. The increase was due to lower prices for package tours that included air transportation.