CROATIA: Strike by Croatian airline staff grounds 50 percent of scheduled flights

Record ID: 340675

  • Title: CROATIA: Strike by Croatian airline staff grounds 50 percent of scheduled flights
  • Date: 9th March 2012
  • Summary: ZAGREB, CROATIA (MARCH 8, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CROATIA AIRLINES HEADQUARTERS / PROTESTERS IN FRONT CLOSE OF SIGN ON PROTESTERS COAT, READING: "CROATIAN AIRCRAFT MECHANICS' UNION" PROTESTERS WEARING UNION COATS STANDING AROUND SIGN ON BUILDING READING: "CROATIA AIRLINES" PROTESTERS HOLDING PICKET SIGNS SIGN READING: "FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS - WE ARE GOING DOWN"
  • Embargoed: 24th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Croatia, Croatia
  • Country: Croatia
  • Topics: Business,Employment,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA3OM21R2G9O1BIZ59JUALVVBWG
  • Story Text: Around half of all Croatia Airlines' scheduled flights were cancelled on Thursday (March 8) after employees of the state-owned carrier went on a 24-hour strike, protesting against poor management and the possible loss of rights and entitlements.
    Members of the company's pilots' and mechanics' unions gathered in front of the company headquarters near Zagreb airport early on Thursday morning, carrying protest signs and claiming that poor management is the main reason why the company has consistently posted losses over the past ten years.
    The protesters also criticised a new collective agreement offered by management, which they say would reduce their rights and could jeopardise flight safety standards.
    "We are fighting for the survival of the company which employs these people, we are fighting for the survival of jobs, we are fighting so that Croatian pilots and Croatian aircraft keep on flying in the Croatian sky," the head of the strike committee Tomislav Kis said.
    Croatia Airlines, the only Croatian airliner and a major operator for holidaymakers and businessmen heading for the country's scenic Adriatic coast, is a member of the Star Alliance global airline network.
    The state-owned carrier posted a net loss in 2011 of 75.8 million kuna ($13 million), narrower than its 2010 loss, while passenger numbers rose 15 percent. Management has said it planned to reach profitability by 2013.
    "Unfortunately, with this management we don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. With this way of doing business - which has remained unchanged for the past 15 years - we are just sinking deeper and deeper," said the head of the Croatian Airplane Pilots Association, Andre Sarinic.
    The airline said that some 30 flights, or around half its schedule, had to be cancelled due to the strike, mainly affecting their domestic and regional routes.
    "The Zagreb-Zurich (connecting) flight is cancelled, obviously, so now I have to catch the (direct) one from Zagreb to Lisbon at 15:20. So I'm staying in here at the airport for 5-6 hours," passenger Ana Dishlieska-Mitova from Skopje said.
    "(Our relatives) were supposed to arrive on the flight from Frankfurt scheduled at 11, but they called us and said that they would be coming in on a replacement flight from Munich, so they will arrive in Zagreb an hour later than originally expected," Janez Krajnik from Ljubljana said.
    Croatia Airlines said it estimated the one-day disruption would cost some 200,000 euros ($260,000), with around 1,000 passengers missing their scheduled flights.
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