The Croatian State Property Management Office (DUUDI) has commenced tender procedures to select a consultant to evaluate the value of a number of state-owned companies, among which is Croatia Airlines. This is despite the carrier's ongoing privatisation process, which could now be further delayed or discontinued. Based on the evaluation, the government will decide whether to go ahead with the sale. The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, previously said the airline should first stabilise its operations and business before it is privatised, noting that this can only be achieved by increasing the carrier's competitiveness and strengthening its market position. Once these conditions are met, Mr Butković said a strategic partner should be found with "extensive experience in the commercial aviation sector, which would ensure network expansion and market share growth".
Croatia Airlines completed a four year restructuring program on January 1, which has seen the company return to profitability. The previous government, which unsuccessfully attempted to sell the carrier once, selected the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s investment arm, to seek out potential investors by October 2015. At this point, it is unknown whether the IFC has come up with any prospective buyers. According to media reports last year, the IFC entered talks with Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Aegean Airlines over the possible acquisition of Croatia Airlines. Both Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines have denied such claims, while Aegean refused to comment. The current management, headed by Krešimir Kučko, is in favour of the airline being recapitalised, rather than being taken over by another carrier. Recapitalisation would entail changes to the airline’s capital. “The arrival of a strategic partner won’t generate much money for the state but will allow Croatia Airlines to develop at a quicker pace”, Mr Kučko noted in the past.
Croatia Airlines will expand its operations this summer with the lease of a Fokker 100 jet and the development of its European network. “For quicker growth and a return to the position we once held, but lost due to restructuring imposed by the EU, fresh capital is certainly welcome and it should come through recapitalisation. If we are to go at it alone, we will develop as well, but it will be at a somewhat slower pace", Mr Kučko previously said. Originally, the former government planned to decide on the carrier's privatisation model by this spring, following which an international tender would have been launched in order for interested parties to submit binding bids. As a result, the privatisation process would have been completed this summer.
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Oh, dear God, so the saga continues!
ReplyDeleteOreskovic is a businessman (as much as I don't like him), hopefully he'll do something with Croatia Airlines, they've already waited too long and who knows if they'll be able to sell it now.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget he is also a politician, and we all know what that means.
DeleteTrue dat.
DeleteHow much is the IFC being paid for this?
ReplyDeleteAnother delay :(
ReplyDeleteI don't understand that it is that hard to get interest for OU. The airline is generally in ok shape. Fleet is relatively modern, you have a nice domestic network which is supported by the government and huge market during the summer. The biggest issue to overcome is seasonality. But still, OU isn't a bad investment. I don't understand that they haven't managed to find anyone.
ReplyDeleteAgree, pax numbers rising, Zagreb terminal being finished soon, great potential and domestic network, IFC being paid... OU should have been sold long time ago!
Delete+1
DeleteThe issue is the market. Highly seasonal on the coast while mainland Croatia is still relatively poor and there is limited amount of p2p traffic.
DeleteIt also doesn't help that OU is located between JU, OS and AZ.
Croatia is (besides Slovenia) the richest country in the region, the number of tourists is huge (though I agree about seasonality), may of the routes simply don't exist (by this I mean Scandinavian countries), huge diaspora, a country is an EU member... I agree about all other things you wrote, Anonymous 10:03 AM!
DeleteI suppose you mean the ex-Yugoslav region as there are also Italy, Hungary and Austria in Croatia's region.
DeleteThough HR is quite well-off when compared to the other ex-Yu countries, let's not forget that mainland Croatia (without the coast) is not that rich- and this is ZAG's primary catchment area.
OU had a chance before major changes in the region. They have become far less attractive now. In my opinion they should start growing and make themselves attractive.
Saying that our country with its GDP per capita of $13.500 is among the "richest" in the region is a straight-out misrepresentation of facts. Among the least poor, maybe. Disposable income is still far from where it should be in order for the majority of our population to really enjoy the benefits of civil aviation.
DeleteWhich is why I corrected him that he meant ex-YU, not the overall region.
DeleteNot only in the ex-Yu region but in the Balkans as well.
Delete$13.500 GDP per capita is better than Romania, Bulgaria and Albania too.
What about the rest of the region that is Italy, Hungary and Austria? ;)
DeleteI was talking about Ex-Yu region, only an idiot would compare Croatia with Austria or Italy.
DeleteI think the problem here is the fact that gov. would like to make some money of of this sale which imo is not possible. What they should focus on is finding best partner to grow the bussines and they'll make their money eventually through taxes.
DeleteThey probably didn't find anyone and will say how it was evaluated that it should not be privatized.
ReplyDeleteIs there any indication that a new CEO will come?
ReplyDeletePurger, do you have any more info on this?
DeleteJedino šta on može da ima su dezinformacije.
DeleteАнон 9.39
DeleteNe budi zloban.
Anon 8:06
DeleteNaprotiv, samo sam realan.
Pa čovek sve što je reko do sad je bilo istina. Prvi je reko za Fokker 100 Trade aira da će da leti za Croatiu, prvi je reko za letove za St.Petersburg, Prag i Milano, prvi je reko za prodaju Pleso prevoza, prvi je reko za PSO Trade aira i novi predlog, prvi je reko za odgodu PSO, prvi je reko za Trade airov A320 i sve se to ostvarilo. Bilo je još toga, ali ne mogu da se setim.
DeleteMnogo je veci spisak dezinformacija koje je takodje, prvi izneo.
DeleteOT: inaugural flight IST-DBV May, 10th now planned with A321, the days after a lot of A320 ops.
ReplyDeleteNew flights should be in the evening regarding connex eastwards.
QTR seems a bit late in this market.
According to TK themselves, flight seems to sell well but mostly from the turkey market. They apparently plan to fly during winter as well, again expecting turkey to be main source of passengers. Not sure that QR and TK have the same interest and priority for DBV at this point so it is very unlikely that anybody is late. The point is who is interested and having more reasons to start flying it in my opinion.
DeletePlus, as far as I know, QR doesnt have a single seasonal destination in its network so maybe they are just nit into seasonal flying. Even TK with turkey p2p market is not feeling really extatic with extending DBV to year round, but they will do it. Guess city of DBV will also provide some subsidies to help make that viable.
Dubrovnik is very popular city break destination in the Turkish market. Enough potential visitors have Schengen visas in their passports or they buy packages from tour operators who then take care about visas. The route should work well with p2p passengers but I am sure the residents of Dubrovnik and its catchment area will use it as well - especially for travel to Africa, Asia and Far East.
DeleteI understand there is some turkish P2P traffic worth mentioning, DBV mainly as destination. So they can realize some interesting mix P2P/transfer. 3 flights per week a.m. and 4 in the evening could be realistic in main season.
DeleteQTR would have to rely mainly on transfer pax from Asia and Oceania.
And you're right regarding QTR's seasonal operations.
As far as I know, all airlines get subsidies in DBV in winter time.
Nevertheless I am sure that with TK launching DBV changes of seeing QR there rose. Since they do not do seasonal (at least till now) they will probably take a look at how and where TK fares well, namely during winter. Next year could be interesting, actually QR may have more opportunities in SPU (again we are having that too strong seasonality problem) since that sees a lot of potential from Australia with no 1 stop competitor in sight.
DeleteBoje bi bilo da se dovede neki dobar Manegment pa neka je i skup ali Drzava HR bi imala sigurno vise od toga nego da se proda nekom Evropskom Gogantu.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
Slazem se s tobom. Trenutno su turisti najbrojniji putnici, ali ako standard poraste, onda ce i Hrvati vise putovati.
DeleteKako to mislite? CA pravi gubitke i prodaje masine kako bi bila u plusu. Tesko da ce vam porasti standard pre nego ode CA na dobos. Vi ste na dnu EU lanca ishrane.
DeleteCroatia sad ima oko 1.9milijuna putnika. U losoj ekonomskoj situaciji. Ako bi se to diglo na 2.2-2.5 miis da nebi mogli samostalno funkcionirat?
DeleteNaravno da ne, imate predugi deo slabe sezone. CA je ovakva osudjena da umre. Mogla je da postoji uz dotok drzavnih para. Kao sto je i JAT isao ka svojoj neminovnoj sudbini. Pogledaj Adriu.
DeletePa to i govorim. Kad poraste standard u Hr, onda će i Hrvati putovati više, pa će se smanjiti sezonalnost. Normaalno, ogromno je pitanje kad će, i dali će se uopće to desiti. Ali ako pretpostavimo da hoće, mislim da CA može poslovati samostalno.
DeleteKoliko motora imate u hangarima?
DeleteWhat do you, guys, think if Croatia Airlines will add some new routes next year?
ReplyDeletesome of those new seasonal routes could be year round, first MXP and PRG
DeletePrimjecujem da veceras OU632 ide A319 i ne DH8.
ReplyDeleteDali je to neka iznimka, jer koliko se sjecam uvijek sam letio ZAG-ZAD sa DH8
krivo primjećuješ, leti DH8
DeleteFlightradar je cijelu vecer prikazivao A319, sad sam vidio da je promjenilo na DH8. Stvarno cudno :)
DeleteOvaj Butković je inace telac, nema pojma o nicemu, postavljen je bez ikakvih kompetencija za ministra prometa. Jos prije 2 mjeseca je trubio kako ce on uvesti vinjetu u HAC, dok telcu netko nije objasnio, da je nemoguce uvoditi vinjeti za autocestu koja ima vise razlicitih koncesionara, jer se dobit ne moze dijeliti po dionicama od vinjeta.
ReplyDeleteSad kad je poceo da prica gluposti za Croatia Airlines, da treba kompaniju prvo dovesti u red i stabilizirati poslovanje i onda tek prodati, onda tek vidis da nema pojma. Ako se kompanija uspije stabilizirati i poceti poslovati pozitivno uz ovakvu nisku cijenu goriva, onda i nema smisla prodavati.
Da stranacke trube nisu vodile ovu firmu kako jesu, moglo je i bolje stanje biti nego sto je...
+10000
DeleteOU 668A DUBROVNIK 23.04 17:45 Otkazan Let
ReplyDeleteJel zna tko zasto je taj let otkazan ?
Avion je poletio i nakon 20 minuta letenja kod Banja Luke napravio zaokret i sletio natrag na ZAG. Ocito opet u pitanju kvar na kanti....
DeleteA opet, taj avion je nekoliko sati kasnije poletio za Zadar, pa onda i za Pulu. Očito je bio neki manji kvar kad su ga tako brzo otklonili. Ali definitivno liči na kvar.
Delete