The union says the strike will start at 6 am on Monday.
The Organisation of Croatia Airlines Workers (ORCA) announced on Tuesday that a strike in the company would begin on July 9, 2018, at 6 am. They said that during the collective bargaining, trade union’s proposal for the collective agreement was not accepted and that this was the reason for the strike. The strike applies to all sections and departments within Croatia Airlines, reports Index.hr on July 4, 2018.
“The strike will begin on Monday, July 9, 2018, at 6 am and will last until the demands are met or the strike committee decides to discontinue the strike,” they said.
Croatia Airlines has long had problems. Cancellation of flights, the dissatisfaction among workers who will now launch a strike in the peak of the tourist season, the departure of pilots and engineers from the company are just the latest events at Croatia Airlines which show that the company is in complete chaos. And before that, everything started with the sale of the company assets. Croatia Airlines has sold landing slots at London Heathrow. It sold the engines, the most valuable assets, as well as Pleso Transport subsidiary, which brought money to the company. No new profitable lines have been opened, competition grew stronger and all this has led to the situation that Croatia Airlines, as the Croatian national carrier, has just an 18 percent share of air traffic in Croatia during the peak season.
Airplane analyst Alen Šćurić commented on the company’s problems. He said that everything went wrong with the purchase of too large aircraft, which spend a lot of fuel and are too expensive to maintain. First Airbuses were purchased, and later came the purchase of Q-400 Dash aircraft. Šćurić believes Croatia Airlines should have remained on ATRs because it already had pilots trained for flying this type of aircraft.
“In the early 2000s, many companies started using regional jets, which are smaller and lighter aircraft,” he said. “Such planes were used by Slovenian Adria and Polish LOT, companies that are much more successful and are growing faster than Croatia Airlines”, said Šćurić. But CA’s management continued to use Airbus aircraft with 144 to 170 seats, which are much more difficult to fill up with passengers to be cost-effective.
Problems continued with the sale of Pleso Transport subsidiary and the sale of landing slots at London Heathrow. He added that the company also has an inadequate fleet, does not follow trends in the industry and regularly opens services which should not exist.
The main problem is that all Croatia Airline managing directors have been selected on the basis of political criteria.
Disastrous business decisions have led Croatia Airlines to lose its market share. For example, for years it refused to fly to London and Scandinavia from Dalmatia, and today they are more than a dozen weekly flights to London and Scandinavia from Dubrovnik and Split, many by foreign companies. They are full of tourists, and Croatia Airlines has not recognized this opportunity.
He still believes that there is a chance to save Croatia Airlines since the company has great potential. But that will only happen if the company is headed by competent management and starts following aviation industry trends.
Translated from Index.hr.
