UPDATED
Croatian aviation in chaos

Air Traffic Control joins striking pilots and crew

UPDATES

17.30: Strike expected to continue into a fourth day. Croatia Airlines will announce Friday’s cancellations after 18.00 CEST.

13.20: False hope! Croatia Airlines management rejects latest offer by pilots and cabin crew.

12.45: Pilots and cabin crew are willing to end their industrial action at 14.00 CEST if all 42 cabin crew members who were sacked after taking sick leave on May 1 and 2 are returned to work. Furthermore, they are demanding for no penalties to be given to striking employees. The news comes after union members met up with the Prime Minister.

11.00: The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, says the country will not give in to the demands of pilots and cabin crew

10.40: The Croatian Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović, says the only alternative to the restructuring program at Croatia Airlines is bankruptcy. The Croatian government is discussing the situation at the national carrier at a cabinet meeting which started at 10.00 CEST in Zagreb.

10.05: Air Traffic Control cancels today's solidarity strike following attacks from the media over high wages.
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Air Traffic Control in Zagreb and Split will today join striking pilots and cabin crew at Croatia Airlines, resulting in further delays for passengers. The strike has now entered its third day with yesterday’s talks between the carrier’s management and crew ending in failure. It is estimated that Croatia Airlines has lost some 300.000 euros over the past 48 hours due to the ongoing industrial dispute. “Unfortunately on Wednesday we didn’t reach any sort of an agreement. The talks resembled an ultimatum rather than rational dialogue”, Ivana Lojo from the strike committee said. “We don’t know what will happen today. We will gather in front of the head office but we don’t know if we will even be invited to continue talks. The management’s previous offer expired at midnight. We don’t know what will happen today”, Ms. Lojo added. Some 5.600 passengers are booked today on Croatia Airlines flights.

The Croatian carrier has today cancelled its flights from Zagreb to Brussels, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Vienna, Munich and Sarajevo. Furthermore, the airline has cancelled its flights from Split to Kassel and Munich and services between Zadar and Pula. Last night, passengers booked on the evening service from Zagreb to Sarajevo were bussed to the Bosnian capital. Foreign airlines and crew will once again be employed on several Croatia Airlines routes. Adria Airways, Air Explore, New Livingston and WDL Aviation will provide aircraft and cabin crew.

The Air Traffic Control strike in solidarity with their colleagues at Croatia Airlines is expected to result in delays for other passengers booked on flights other than Croatia Airlines. On the other hand, some Croatia Airlines employees have begun signing petitions to end the industrial action which has paralysed the carrier this week. The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, has said the national carrier is now on the brink of bankruptcy and called for an end to the industrial action.

Regardless of whether the strike continues tomorrow or not, EX-YU Aviation News will turn to other topics in the region, but will still keep you updated of the latest developments with the industrial action.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:06

    Sack another 300. Enough is enough. Don't these lazy people realise everyone will be out of a job shortly if this goes on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:27

    Thank you ex yu aviation for keeping us updated!
    My mother was supposed to fly Amsterdam-Pula (via Zagreb and Zadar)these days and you messages have kept us informed about the developments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:16

      Who in the right mind would want to fly through 2 airports for such a short distance between Pula & Zagreb?!!!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous10:09

    This is end of Croatian aviation...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:26

    OMG! With this actions there is no way to find any partner for Croatia Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
  5. DKinVXO10:46

    Hello Trade Air as Croatia's new flag carrier... This is what I would call SAS-ovanje, I remember (I live in Sweden) the circus when SAS almost fell this autumn... I really hope Croatia Airlines will sort this out, I've flown several times with them and they are for me at least, top notch! The best part? The crew!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:52

    I'm afraid, this blog will become: CTN Strike Aviation News.

    ReplyDelete
  7. OT: Anyone knows Jat's loads for BEG-SPU-BEG route in May (one weekly so far)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:01

      according to flightradar24.com, none of Jat's ATR's have flown for the last couple of weeks, however Jat report the planes as flying.

      So the load on these flights is 0%, but Jat will report them as 100%.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:23

      Now that's what I call corruption!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:46

      You really should know that only SOME flights are logged on flightradar. JU is today using its ATRs to Athens, Vienna, Split, Tivat, Istanbul, Podgorica and Skopje

      Delete
    4. Nope, all 3 rotations have been made since May 2 (first flight), you could even see the planes on SPU webcam, flight stats on beg.aero etc, and all the flights were loaded in GDS with ticket sales 111€-up return. BTW, I have been using flightradar for some time now (web+mobile app) and I have never seen any turboprop operated flights there, just jet ones. So, as anymous 4:46PM said, there goes your reason.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:20

      There were 35 PAX on BEG-SPU and 37 PAX on SPU-BEG. On MAY2nd flights 39/5 PAX and on MAY9th flights 31/35 PAX. Pretty bad LF.

      Delete
    6. Thanks for this info, the reason I asked this is because I think that a month earlier start of the route this year is very poorly advertised, I live in Split and last year I flew on both OU and JU to BEG and back in June and September. A few days ago, some of the friends from BG almost bought a bus ticket to Split (11h30min) not even knowing that this route is already on sale for May. I guess the load factors will be better as the summer is approaching, last year both OU and JU did a good job.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22:45

      Older Turboprops have no ADS-B receiver/transmitter, so no signal will be picked up that is used for Flightradar.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous14:49

    I believe it wouldn't be hard to find new pilots and cabin crew, there is a lot of people looking for job...

    ReplyDelete
  9. marko14:58

    Any news about strike in Croatia Airways?Come on guys you are covering only one article per day and this month is all about bloody strike.Way too much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:28

      +1
      Really, too much!

      Delete
    2. Are you guys serious? This is pretty major aviation news for the Ex Yu region and deserves Ex Yu aviations attention.

      Delete
  10. Damn, JAT guys are getting left behind and starting to cry, THIS IS NEWS, way more important than a late JAT plane due the rain this morning :/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous15:24

    Where is CRO now, can someone tell me current price levels?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JATBEGMEL22:50

      Depends I guess on the city.

      I was last month in Split. I went to Konzum, or in Serbia branded as Idea. The amount I bought for 150 kuna (20 EUR / 2000 RSD) I could of bought in Belgrade, in Idea (Konzum), for around 1000 RSD max (75 HRK / 10 EUR). I remember Marlboro Red's were 24 kuna (350 RSD) where in Serbia its 180 RSD (1,80 EUR). In Vienna, Marlboro Red's were from memory 4,50 EUR. Espresso coffee was around 10 kuna (150 RSD / 1,50 EUR), roughly the same as in Belgrade. Just an example, but I guess it depends what you want to buy and with which country you want to compare it to.

      Delete
  12. Purger15:49

    ExYU, one mistake:

    "Adria Airways, Air Explore, New Livingston and WDL Aviation will provide aircraft and cabin crew."

    Yesterday and today Trade air flow flew for Croatia with all three Fokker 100, and tomorrow they will fly with two because one in Italy for contract signed earlier.

    Information is from owner of Trade air himself.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous16:24

    I am still waiting for someone to tell me current CRO price levels? Any thoughts?

    thx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Check at www.zse.hr, "uređena tržišta". Abbreviation RA (regular stock).

      Delete
  14. '13.20: False hope! Croatia Airlines management rejects latest offer by pilots and cabin crew.

    12.45: Pilots and cabin crew are willing to end their industrial action at 14.00 CEST if all 42 cabin crew members who were sacked after taking sick leave on May 1 and 2 are returned to work. Furthermore, they are demanding for no penalties to be given to striking employees. The news comes after union members met up with the Prime Minister.'

    Well, if this is true, than it looks like the Union and it's members were the first to crack. OU management have smelt blood and are now going in for the kill.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous21:51

    I think we might see Wizzair or Ryanair or Easyjet spreading in ZAG very soon....

    ReplyDelete
  16. JATBEGMEL23:06

    Their complaint about the Dash 8's are stupid, being dangerous to their lives, to their hearing, to their kidneys/liver/legs. I dont recall OS crew complaining about the Dash 8's that I flew with flying between BEG and VIE. Maybe not as nice and fancy as on lets say a B777, B787 or A380, but certainly its not Satans aircraft of torture and death. Higher pay should come with the airline making better profits, which is completely the opposite here. Just like all ex-YU airlines, they are a loss making government dependant airline. It is not like the EU suprised Croatia with membership, and will be interesting to watch for how long they will last without government subsidies. But then again, JP have held on well. Just have the feeling that theyre overstaffed with crew being able to fly more. I for example fly an average of 90 hours a month and wander how many hours they average.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous18:29

    Have they come to any agreements?

    ReplyDelete

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