Croatia Airlines unions warn of "alarming state"

Croatia Airlines' employees have drafted an open letter, the second in three months, addressed to the public concerning the present situation in the company. In it, the unions slammed the airline's management noting that half of all mechanics, a third of all pilots and a quarter of all cabin crew have left the carrier in recent months, resulting in over a dozen of flight cancellations during the past few days. Furthermore, due to the longer time required for aircraft to undergo regular maintenance as a result of a lack of staff, jets have been late in returning back to service, forcing the airline to arrange short-term wet-lease contracts for thirteen different aircraft from three airlines in Eastern Europe since March 23.

In its letter, the Croatian Pilots Union warned, "Due to a lack of mechanics, we will be in this state until May 15 when the last aircraft currently undergoing maintenance is expected to return to service, if there are no further delays. As a result, we have a significant number of flight cancellations. In addition, we have been forced to conclude extremely costly short-term aircraft leases. Due to the management's incompetence, we have lost significant revenue". It added, "Just in the last couple of days we have been forced to cancel eighteen flights, which is almost three per day. Since mid-March there have been only a handful of days when there were no cancellations".

The unions also noted that the recent sale of Croatia Airlines' assets, including its five weekly slot pairs at London Heathrow Airport, have left the company without the necessary resources to overcome its ongoing internal crisis. "Borrowing from the banks has also become difficult under extremely restrictive terms", the union added. Employees have urged the government to select the airline's new management team, which it has been delaying for over a year. "Due to a lack of institutional dialogue, we have been left with no other choice than to communicate our thoughts to the media before we undertake more drastic measures, which we would rather avoid", the letter concluded. Neither the management nor the Croatian government have responded to these latest claims. Croatia Airlines pilots are currently in talks over the future of their collective bargaining agreements after deferring industrial action, which was planned over the 2017 summer season, in order to allow for further negotiations to take place. Croatia Airlines posted strong financial results in 2017, primarily on the back of the sale of its assets.