Chinese carriers eye Croatia Airlines

Croatia Airlines to be sold in direct talks with potential investors

Croatia Airlines will most likely be offered to potential Chinese investors through direct talks instead of an international tender, local media reports. The news comes after zero interest was shown for the carrier last year. According to sources from the Ministry for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, the government is planning to adopt legislation which would see it sidestep necessary tender procedures for the sale of Croatia Airlines. It is believed Chinese carriers have shown the most interest in taking a 49% stake in the airline, however, they seldom take part in tenders. Last year, both China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines were said to be interested in purchasing shares in the Croatian carrier but ultimately did not send in their bids.

Following last year’s failed tender, the Croatian government said it would make a fresh attempt this year after the carrier publishes its financial results for 2013, which are believed to be in the black for the first time in years. This month a government delegation is set to travel to China where they will present their new privatisation model for the national carrier in an attempt to garner fresh interest. The sale of Croatia Airlines has become a top priority for the government with the carrier recording sliding passenger numbers and increased competition from its Zagreb base.

Based in Guangzhou, China Southern Airlines, which is believed to have shown the most interest for Croatia Airlines, is Asia’s busiest and largest carrier as well as the sixth biggest airline in the world. It is a member of the Sky Team alliance, a rival to Croatia Airlines’ Star. It has previously been linked to Adria Airways’ privatisation process as well. On the other hand, Hainan Airlines is China’s largest privately owned company and the fourth busiest in the country. It boasts a fleet of 139 aircraft. Indonesia’s Garuda was the only other airline to publicly show interest in Croatia Airlines while both Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines denied any involvement in the privatisation process.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:07

    ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is the same reaction that many people had when it was announced that Etihad might get involved with JU, and now they are eating their words. JU was even worse than OU back then.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:22

      I hope everything turns well for OU!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:39

      Its unlikely to happen, btw.

      Current Government doesn't know what to do with the OU and trying to desperately to offload the carrier to any unsuspecting victim.

      At least this is the impression and signals coming from current government, and its sends really bad signals to potential future investors.

      What Minister of transport is doing with whole OU privatization at best could be considered an economic crime, Id' have him fired if I was in Milanovic's shoes, OU needs to be let alone to recover, build some reserves and than try to sell it off on back of 5 solid quarters of growth and profits.


      With OU being the largest carrier in ex-YU and valuable trade mark, government shouldn't piss around with carrier that has great potential in right hands.

      It angers me to see how Sinisa Doncic is desperately trying to off load carrier to any would be investor bypassing EU regulations and norms.

      U can't sell a state airline to a another state airline outside the EU, it flaunts EU competition rules on subsidies and monopolies and mergers under article 81, 83, 84 and 88 of the EU law.

      I mean its just ridiculous to start selling national assets to any dodgy characters under the table, reminds me of forigen exchange dealers in front of Gradska Stedionica in late 80s, they looked like criminals and you knew they were criminals, offering really bad exchange rates and if you complained they'd rough you up, that sort of folk our minister wants to sell our national airline to.

      Sickens and angers me a great deal, so much so I'd like to punch Sinisa's stupid face, what a stupid name to Sinisa, I mean seriously who names their kids Sinisa, I wouldn't name my dog that, let along a child. [/rant]



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    4. Anonymous19:02

      I agree, he just doesn't know his job! And I hope that Kucko will go to jail for the illegal jobs he does as a CEO!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:24

    " the government is planning to adopt legislation which would see it sidestep necessary tender procedures for the sale of Croatia Airlines "

    Great now the croats are getting in on the act of bending over and asking for seconds, I wonder if the potential deal will be a state secret ;)

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      It's nothing new. They sold INA that way as well.

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    2. Anonymous12:08

      Well, the Serbs could show us how to bend over and all about secret contracts ;-)

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    3. Anonymous13:43

      @AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 9:24 AM

      Sadly yes, our government unashamedly is trying despertly to unload family silver, fast!

      All against EU laws btw, I am sure Lufthansa and others will remind Sinisa stupid Doncic that you can't just go and do deals braking EU laws and norms.

      Delete
  3. Hassan09:34

    They are just buying the time. Lets see how long this propaganda will last.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      That is the same reaction that many people had when it was announced that Etihad might get involved with JU, and now they are eating their words. JU was even worse than OU back then.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:54

    There is nothing going on in the western balkan in the last twenty years.

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  5. Eight10:28

    I hope OU will find a suitable partner, that would support their further growth. Be it China Southern or any other airline.

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  6. Anonymous10:38

    Short-term management contract would be more than enough, if followed by announcement on one day, perhaps, we may buy an ownership stake as well. Etihad paved the way and introduced the model.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nikola11:08

    if you look at the owner of MZLZ, it makes sense for CZ to buy OU. it will pave way for ZAG to become SkyTeam hub

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:03

      When will you people learn that no airport in the Balkans will ever become an alliance hub.

      Before Serbs jump at me, yes, BEG might obtain some sort of half-hub status over the years, but not within the context of an alliance. Not even an equity alliance.

      Delete
    2. Istanbul and Athens are real Balkan alliance hubs in my opinion.

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    3. Anonymous19:19

      Istanbul- yes
      Athens - no

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    4. And why do you think Athens isn't? I actually think it's the opposite.
      Before the crisis the airport handled around 16.000.000 passengers and was home to two significant carriers, Aegean and Olympic.
      Aegean could have never developed properly because it had Olympic taking away its market share and making its life difficult while operating without any concrete business strategy. Naturally deep recession made things even more horrible for the carrier.

      Once the merger is complete the carrier will become quite strong. Aegean is already adding new destinations such as Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Paphos, Copenhagen, Zurich, Birmingham... It operates a fleet of 35 aircraft with additional 5 on order.

      1 A319
      26 A320 (+5 ordered)
      4 A321

      In addition to all this, Athens airport has more than enough space to sustain their future growth since remote stands are not being used to full capacity and that satellite terminal has been closed off for several years now.

      It's also worth mentioning that before the crisis, Athens airport had very few real lowcost airlines. In other words, the 16.000.000 people that flew through the airport were either connecting passengers or O&D (which is rather high-yielding).

      Naturally, I am really curious to see what arguments you have against Athens.

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    5. Anonymous22:42

      OT:

      @NemjeeFebruary 4, 2014 at 7:51 PM

      Nemanja, Athens isn't a hub, nor it can be, its just a national airport, that is all.

      To be a true hub airport must maintain more than 20 million pax for a while, and be a home to a global airline.

      In Europe there are several hubs,

      London, (Virgin, BA)
      Paris (Air France)
      Frankfurt (Lufthansa)
      Madrid (Iberia)
      Amsterdam (KLM)
      Rome (Alitalia)
      Vienna (Austrian Air)
      (Stockholm if you include all 3 airports, there are plans to close the other two and move all operations to arlanda)
      Moscow (3 major terminals, aeroflot)
      Istanbul (Turkish Airlines)
      Munich (Lufthansa)
      Gatwick (BA, Virgin, EasyJet)


      Large Regional airports:

      Prague (Czech Air, smallest on the list, but very important airport)
      Warsaw (potential for a hub, LOT)
      Zürich (Swiss Int)
      Barcelona (Iberia, Air Europe, Velueing)
      Milan (Alitalia, Ari One)
      Copenhagen (SAS)
      Oslo (SAS)
      Helsinki (Finnair)
      Athens (Olympic, Agean)
      Düsseldorf (Air Berlin, GermanWings...)
      Manchester (BA, Easy)
      Stansted (Easy, Ryan, FlyBe)

      BTW few of the regional airports handle over 20 million pax, yet they're still regional airports at best. Barcelona, Manchester, Standsted...

      Major National airports is what under Belgrade and Zagreb are, yes numbes here aren't important as much, they could be anything between 1 and 10 million.




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    6. Anonymous00:36

      You forgot Brussels, which is an absolute hub.

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    7. JU520 BEGLAX01:49

      Vienna before ZRH??
      ZRH has 25 mio pax nonstop flights to all continents except Australia incl 2 daily A380s

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    8. JU520 BEGLAX01:55

      Plus ZRH has 17 daily North America flights!

      Delete
    9. JU520 BEGLAX03:25

      Airport ranking by international passengers ZRH is wordwide Nr 20.
      Top 20 fm the US is only JFK
      From Europe LHR LGW CDG AMS FRA MAD IST BCN FCO ZRH

      Delete
    10. JU520 BEGLAX03:33

      Plus MUC
      Other top 20s are HKG DXB SIN ICN KUL NRT BKK TPE

      Delete
    11. Anonymous04:35

      Europe guys, only Europe, and yes Zürich is slightly busier than Vienna, but Vienna is used as a hub for EE destinations, Zürich is more of a major national airport for Switzerland with less emphasis on specific market, same with Brussels airport, its a national airport and yes I forgot to put it on my list, sorry I missed it, letters are small, and can't see what I am typing in to these little chat boxes.

      Ideally hubs are over 30 million pax, anything bellow that isn't really a hub, there are few smaller hubs,example Sao Paulo in Brazil which only recently manged more than 30 mill pax, or Johannesburg in South Africa has less than 20 million i think.

      Although Emiraties are desperately trying to create a major hub out of Dubai and now Abu Dhabi, I have great reservations due to major security concerns for the entire region and stability of the region in a long term is another thing we must consider here.

      But that is another story.

      Delete
    12. With 66M pax, I highly doubt there is anything desperate about DXB. It is simply a global hub. Same goes for IST which btw is in Europe.

      Delete
    13. Well, if we want to split hairs then any airport which is home to an airline which has most of its facilities there is considered a hub.
      Now, when it comes to aviation, at least the one in Europe, there are three kinds of hubs: large, medium and small.
      The whole point of our discussion should not be whether Athens is a hub but what kind of hub it is.
      I would place Athens in the group of medium sized hubs. Belgrade is, in my opinion, a small hub.
      Mind you, before the crisis Athens welcomed far more intercontinental flights than Vienna did with airlines such as Thai, Singapore Airlines, Continental/United, Air Canada US Airways, Delta... all having scheduled flights. Aegean being a Star member meant that they fed Star Alliance intercontinental flights out of there (US Airways, Continental, Air Canada, Singapore).
      My guess is that if there was no crisis and if Aegean was immediately allowed to merge with Olympic (before it was sold to the Arabs) then Athens today would have been at around 20 million passengers.

      Another thing we should not forget is that due to Greece's geography, for Aegean it's practically impossible to feed its primary hub in Athens with passengers from the country's second airport, Thessaloniki. With all that in mind, I believe Aegean is running a very good business and that's why I do not believe that this codeshare with Etihad will mean anything but that. Aegean has just reported healthy profits and they are not considering selling the airline. Their ongoing expansion just goes to show how serious they are about their future.

      By the way, for those who do not know, Aegean was in the same situation Croatia Airlines is today- that is to serve Lufthansa and its family around Europe. Five or six years ago Aegean started growing regardless of what Lufthansa thought and look at them today. They have 160 routes to 28 countries from 12 Greek airports. This summer they will add three more when they launch Belgrade from Athens, Heraklion and Rhodes.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous20:10

      Since you started debating about a correct hub definition very obviously in order to avoid the fact that nobody agrees with you that Athens is a hub:
      An important part for an airport to be considered as a hub is if its served by other airlines for connecting flights starting from this airport... and from Athens-there are none.. or perhaps you fly to LAX or LHR via Athens?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous20:16

      and P.S.:

      could you please stay in the present?
      (and stop telling us stories about times long gone)

      Delete
  8. Anonymous12:48

    What will the Ceo K. Kucko think about it as it will cost him his position as Ceo .

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:58

      He already worked hard against deal in first tender!

      Delete
  9. Anonymous12:57

    I hope they will find a good partner that will invest in fleet expansion as they need much more planes to meet high demand during summer season. Also OU posted around 65 mil. profit in 2013 - to be announced in late March official.

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    1. Anonymous13:02

      That is without paying the open standing bills because if they pay those then they end the year with losses .It depends how you want to do the books.Dont make me laugh I to can make profit if I don't pay open standing bills

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:55

      @AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 1:02 PM

      No, OU made profits after all the expenses, no open staning bills w/e that means.

      OU has commitments, these are lease to won 6 Dash 8400Q and 2 lease to own options for same aircraft.

      Than order for 4 A319, that has been paid half upfront (reason for OU mess to start with) and remainder to be paid before aircraft are delivered, I always thought aircraft should have been bought on lease to own package right now OU is paying over the top, first with 1.0 billion kuna outright deposit and than another 125 million that is being paid annually for 8 years from 2008 through to 2016.

      6 A319/320s have been paid off fully, and are now owned by OU. 2 A320s were returned to their owners, one last year and one in 2011.

      OU now has a fleet of 12 aircraft with 4 more to join the fleet in 2017, but current management has plans to acquire 4 more aircraft on lease to own in 2015, at least this what they're saying.

      OU made will make clean after tax profit of around 30-40 million kuna or pretax profit of around 60-65 million. Results should be announced in early April when financial year ends. So far for 2013 OU had a good year, year of profits for the first time since 2007.





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    3. Anonymous14:01

      What about open standing bills to airports and fueling company's in Croatia, or those we don't pay because they are in Croatia .Get serious less flights same amount of staff the only thing they did was close Amsterdam office ,that's just to cover extra money that the Ceo receives to justify his trips to Amsterdam so please.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:05

      I suppose that "open standing bills" is a twisted Balkanised translation of "current liabilities", just in case anyone was wondering.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:03

      @AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 2:01 PM

      OU isn't JAT or Air Serbia, it pays all its dues.

      Only outstanding liabilities OU has are 6 Dash 8 that are on lease to own contract, 4 A319, and loan raised from the state to cover purchase of said aircraft.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:06

      There are no open standing bills. Old debts were settled by Government, new bills are all paid.

      So you are talking bullshit, without any proof, but just you can not stand that Croatia Airlines can be profitable.

      Eider Croatian government will sell Croatia Airlines, or eider it will go down concerning ZAIC plan to bring more LCC instead CTN if they will not. So, Government has no other solution.

      You are just CTN haters!!!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:37

      Okay, would somebody be keen to explain:

      1. Why does a profitable carrier shrink its operations?
      2. Why does the government want to get rid of a profitable carrier?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous19:56

      3. Where is the queue of investors interested in a profitable carrier?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:12

      The management of OU is doing everything possible to ruin OU, especially Kucko, the CEO of the company! The Croatian government has to try to sell OU on their knees before it's too late!

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:14

      Was there a queue of investors when Jat was being sold? Not a single one!

      Delete
    11. Yes but Serbia is not subject to EU rules and regulations, Croatia is. It's not like they can do anything they please- not to mention now when Lufthansa is getting angry over the Etihad-Alitalia deal.

      Also, I don't really get what does JU have to do with Croatia Airlines being sold? We did our homework, now it's your turn. ;)

      Delete
    12. Anonymous21:05

      @ 8:14 PM:

      Jat was $200M liable and of course there was no investors. Here we have an allegedly profitable airline.

      Profitable business is usually attractive to investors. Profitable business usually grow its operations, it does not shrink them. Owners of profitable businesses usually don't sell them unless they desperately need money for other things, which again brings us to investors.

      And I understand this guy Kucko is so powerful, the government of a sovereign country can't even touch him so the only way they can save a profitable carrier from that almighty guy is to sell it?

      Logic, anyone?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous22:52

      @AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 9:05 PM

      First of JAT is liable for $276 million not 200, and Serbia has injected another $50 million in to Air Serbia.


      2nd, There was never a sale first time of OU, there was a really stupid idea by Sinisa Doncic to sell off OU fast, literally he woke up one day and came with an idea to sell OU, and two weeks later no interests for OU, surprise surprise.

      The whole process lasts 9 to 18 months if you want to sell an airline, and look even better standing airlines in the EU find hard to find investors, and this is due to the recession.

      OU will be sold (if) when time is right and not before than. OU has 2 years to sort its mess and nothing Sinisa Doncic says will change that. Alternative is Sinisa Doncic goes to Remetinec after being arrested by USKOK for corruption and criminal abuse of his position, in Croatia each carry 10 years in prison.





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    14. Anonymous07:42

      Do you mind providing us with some information on how Air Serbia has liabilities for $276 million plus an additional $50 million? ;)
      I just love your kind of poster that constantly trashes Air Serbia yet they glorify OU which is currently in a much worse state than JU.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous17:22

      @AnonymousFebruary 5, 2014 at 7:42 AM

      Air Serbia news are all over this blog, read it, JAT's liabilities are 276 million, Air Serbia's are at least 50 million as this is the amount of money Serbia invested in to new State Airline. And again all this posted on this blog by various users, Purger among them.

      As to trashing Air Serbia, far from it, I am not even talking about Air Serbia, talking about OU.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous13:09

    OU has to find a decent partner, the company has potential, at least because of all the tourists who come to Croatia!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:05

      At the rate they are going all qualified staff will be gone. And all that will be left will be the Ceo and his family, friends and a bunch of amateurs.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous15:26

    Hahahah to me it seems like the Croatian government announces that they have some partner in some exotic country just because they feel like visiting it or because they are already there. First it was Garuda since they were in Indonesia and now it's China Southern since they are heading to Beijing. Maybe Thai will be next? Thailand is a really nice tourist destination, the Croat officials should consider going there next.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:09

      Like Serbian government like to went shopping in Abu Dhabi. Right?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:39

      The only difference is that they actually did something there. ;)

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    3. Anonymous20:10

      And what did they do? We haven't seen the contract yet!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:22

      I think the changes in Belgrade are more than obvious, especially the 62% passenger growth in January 2014.

      Have you seen the INA contract? Have you seen the Lufthansa-Swiss/Austrian contract?!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:36

      http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/objavljen-tajni-ugovor-s-mol-om.html

      P.S. Please don't compare yourself or any of these other Ex-Yu countries to Germany, it's just ridiculous!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:38

      Yeah and Serbia said that it will make the JU-EY deal public so what's your point?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:39

      It's not about comparing an ex-YU country to Germany it's about comparing principles.
      Plus, if you bothered to read anthropology you would have known that there are no better or worse countries. It's actually wrong to say it. Quite chauvinistic.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous21:11

      @ 8:38 PM:

      Guys who's said they would publish the EY deal are the same guys who promised $100 Bn of investments. Hence I would not trust their announcements too much. Still waiting to see any proof there is anything more between JU and EY than the management contract.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous07:40

      Etihad has already invested 40 million into Air Serbia. I do not understand why are people constantly forgetting that, or are they refusing to accept it?
      Where do you think the aircraft came from and who paid for them? It sure as Hell wasn't the Serbian government, at least not the full price.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous08:46

      People "forget" about EY's 40 million simply because all available information at the moment indicate IT WAS THE GOVERNMENT who paid the entire rebranding of JU, lease of aircraft and training of pilots/staff. Etihad managed it but did not finance it. If you have any proof (except being "sure as hell") that Etihad put any money in JU or took any % of ownership, feel free to share it.

      It's not that people are refusing to accept something. It's that some other folks base their entire case on FAITH that something happened - even when there is not a single material evidence to support it.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous16:33

      Since you are so confident in what you are saying why don't you post some credible source that proves your point?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous16:43

    It is terrible what they've made of a national carrier such as OU in a country with a huge tourism potential, OU could easilmake so much connections during summer (DBV,SPU) or winter (ZAG) for Scandinavian market, Moscow, Prague, Warsaw!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous19:01

    Purger, we need your comments, what do you think will happen to OU?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous20:42

    Here, here. Croatia Airline copying airBalticum's strategy of only flying a Q400 fleet? Why don't you fly A330s to Toronto, I mean, you have the demand and money...hehe ok.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Anonymous20:46

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:56

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:14

      Get a room you two...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:17

      Will you pay for it?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous21:18

      Will you be for us what China Southern Airlines is for Croatia Airlines? <3

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:19

      A dominatrix?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous08:57

      Croatian diaspora in Canada and USA is bigger than the Serbian, plus many many American tourists in Croatia, yes, there's a demand at least for seasonal flights!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous20:54

    Always the same.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Let Kucko tell what he did to the staff in AMS??? This is also a warning all the other staffmembers and crew! What he did there will happen to you too!!!! He has no mercy or any feelings that it's teamwork to build a company. He is ruining OU and you all let him do that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Purger02:21

    Nobody knows what will happen with Croatia Airlines.

    Facts:
    1. Company has no debts. Government takes all debts including future payment for planes.

    2. Because of that company is profitable today. What more company is profitable as much as petrol is cheaper this year than last one. So, basically management did nothing to make company better but benefit from much lower costs.

    3. Company is managed very badly. Very bed indeed! No strategy, main goal is to shrink capacity, routes and frequencies. CEO change ideas every few days (in one year: he will rent Adria A319, he will buy new A319, he will prolong buying of A319, he will buy CRJ, he will buy CSeries, he will buy Embraers…).

    4. CEO is friend of Prime minister and is against of selling Croatia Airlines to foreign.

    5. French management of Zagreb airport gave Croatia Airlines 6 months to be sold or to finish restructuration and to open new routes and frequencies, if not Zagreb airport will bring to Zagreb lot of LCC and other companies.

    There are three theories what is going on:
    1. First tender for selling was not serious one, Minister knows that CEO would sabotage that, and that is why he made that fiasco on intention, that he can make direct deal without CEO.

    2. First tender was product of Minister dilettantism, he learned lesson, paid the biggest international agency to bring potential buyers, and he really find very important to sell Croatia Airlines because of blackmail from Zagreb airport management.

    3. All tenders are just here to show how company can not be sold, and that Republic of Croatia must invest in it, to make it powerful especially after blackmail from Zagreb airport. All that (Zagreb airport warning and two tender that will finish with fiasco) is one coordinate action.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. @Purger

      Thank you for your comments, you just answered 2-3 questions I had about OU. It seemed strange to me how do you all of sudden start making money without laying off people while reducing capacity. They did remove one plane but everything more or less stayed the same (same number of people, planes that you have to pay for, less maintenance maybe because of reduced utilization. All in all some things didn’t add up and seemed like some fancy accounting work.

      @Purger

      Thank you for your comments, you just answered 2-3 questions I had about OU. It seemed strange to me how do you all of sudden start making money without laying off people while reducing capacity. They did remove one plane but everything more or less stayed the same (same number of people, planes that you have to pay for, less maintenance maybe because of reduced utilization. All in all some things didn’t add up and seemed like some fancy accounting work.

      One question though. Lots of people talk about Kucko being bad. I understand that he has no vision etc. but a lot of people are insinuating some funny business on his part. Can anyone share some details/rumors.

      Delete
    2. Purger09:22

      Well to be honest he made some good things like:
      - fired that women who was purchasing manager (CPO) Kristijana Kelava Vrban (that one with Maserati and several extreme expensive cars);
      - he allowed Trade air to steep in Osijek-Zagreb and Rijeka-Dubrovnik-Split flights that CTN has no interest in (before they will use all their influence not to allowed that);
      - they managed to bring back deals with Croatian football association (from Trade Air), GNK Dinamo (from Slovak companies), HK Medvečšak (lot of flights in Russia during winter);
      - he rent some pilots and one plane during summer (well, one can not be so sure if that was good deal because other pilots were working till exhaustion with no any holidays during summer what was huge unmotivation)
      - he managed to minimize that incident with Q400 in Zurich

      His questionable deals are not as big as ones from Mišetić or Šimunović time, but he was find
      - to still have business car used in Amsterdam (and he should be in Zagreb instead of Amsterdam)
      - same thing is with his business phone – there are evidences that his wife is using that car and mobile
      - he spend lot of company money for traveling every Friday to AMS and Monday back including huge daily allowances
      - there are some questions concerning this Embraers deals from Augsburg or some other Lufthansa planes which deal is, by those sources, conduct by Lufthansa and is not in best interest of Croatia Airlines
      - he works against his boss, Minister of transportation, not to make this privatization tender in life
      - he put some questionable people on top of some departments in Croatia airlines
      - he did not fired administration workers, as the meter of fact he bring some more, but in same time he put pressure on pilots and cabin staff, and lot of them leave CTN

      But the biggest problem is that he had no vision, he does not know the basic things from business, and he did not find solution to proceed with operations on same level after cutting capacity (one of proposal was from Trade air who wants to take some routes that Croatia was abandoned with CTN code-share on it, but he was against that and rather aboliched those routes).

      Delete
    3. JU520 BEGLAX09:34

      Purger we want u to work for OU! Guys like u cld be working as advisors.

      Btw tx for posting it all in english, so the half Yugo fm Switzerland cld also understand yr always important notes :-)
      Have a good day! Sali

      Delete
  18. JU520 BEGLAX02:43

    Zagreb and LJU are still somehow in the lucky pos not to hve too many LCC operators yet. So what JP and OU could do, merge under the name of Adria Airways based in Zagreb. Complete cost cut structure. Operate as LCC in a way Germanwings does for LH and at the same time they could fight the increased presence of foreign carriers and LCCs on the adriatic coast.
    But politically not doable as long all this incompetent jerks are on power.

    Whats the market share of OU in Summer in DBV SPU ZAD? What a lost opportunity....

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous04:50

      OU is twice the size of Adria, shouldn't Adria change its name in to Croatian ;), lol

      There were plans to merge fleets in to combined regional alliance like KLM/AirFrance, but nothing came of it,

      Croatian Airlines is run by a morons and that is a big problem but at least now airline is making good profits, could do a lot better if they had good plan of actions and didn't leave 3-4 aircraft on the ground waiting for summer to come.

      The main problem with OU is lack of commitments, and lack of vision. They have 12 aircraft, they need in summer season, well they need 15 aircraft to cover summer season but in winter season they need 10, why not all 12, well they're afraid of launching new lines in case these lines prove 1. unprofitable 2. highly profitable, 3. demanding on the fleet, 4. OU would need to commit to new destinations and have less aircraft to service holiday airports, 5, lack of vision.and indecisiveness.

      When you have all these factors in one place you end up with Kucko.





      Delete
    2. JU520 BEGLAX08:34

      I used a nations neutral name by purpose but still Croats could identify themselves with Adria, actually even more than Slovenes. But Adria could further position aircrafts in TIV PRN TIA maybe in Summer also one in Bari or in Venice. Basically a LCC for the Adriatic region. But of course I know it s dreaming... Slovenia and Croatia have quite some issues open which they can not solve or are politically just not able to solve, so imagine how this would when the two wld have an airline together. On the other side this LCC wld work only if fully priv with ev some foreign investors plus mgt

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    3. JU520, I agree with you. Joint JP and OU would make not be bad. A totally new brand would maybe work best, since then nobody is upset about not getting their name. The fleet could be centered around A320 family and Q400. Hubs would be Zagreb and Ljubljana, with Dubrovnik and Split as focus cities. Too bad it can't happen.

      Delete
  19. JU520 BEGLAX03:00

    Btw JP and Darwin are in negotiations to start scheduled flights ZRH-PRN

    ReplyDelete
  20. I think new ZAG mgmt. is going to work hard to attract new airlines regardless of what happens with OU (sold or not). 6 months they gave them I think is just a smoke screen, kind of start things right. I’m pretty sure they are talking to airlines as we speak (I read about it even here). More passengers means generally higher income. This is the only thing they are after, it’s a commercial enterprise. And if any of it materializes its only going to spell trouble for OU. Croatia being diversified in terms of airports, most of them highly seasonal. with EU rules in place now… I don’t know how they can succeed. Only if somebody shows up and is willing to expand big time to block others and eat losses for some .

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  21. When does this six month period actually expire? 01.06.2014?

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    Replies
    1. Something like that or even sooner. Regardless I think it's a pure BS anyways. Do you really think they are sitting idle waiting for something to happen and waisting half a ydar

      Delete
    2. Of course not. If they were sitting idle then there would be no Etihad Regional, Germanwings or KLM in Zagreb.
      Actually, it would be interested to know if Zagreb wanted EY.R to fly from Geneva and then the airline decided on Rome or was it the airport management who wanted a better link with Rome and then EY.R jumped in.

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    3. Exactly. They are not there to make friends for sure, it’s a business. You can’t have it all, new airport building true concession and still protect domestic airline. That’s why for JU it would be awesome if BEG is given to Arabs. Not for the regular pax though.

      I have a an idea what OU could do! Fly all those tourists in and out of Croatia + diaspora 6 months in a year and than reduce service during winter. At that time send all those excess ac to Canada to fly tourists to Caribbean. I heard one Canadian charter Air Transat did exactly that in cooperation with some European based charter. it was win win situation. I’m sure that somebody who knows anything about this business would see tons of holes in this plan why it would be hard or next to impossible to do for a regular airline.

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    4. I agree with but I just wanted to know until when the French have officially given them to pull their act together. I still believe this was the best thing for OU and for Croatia. It will either push OU to do something and if they fail then it will force the government to act, the same way it happened in Serbia.
      JU was unable to find its way so thank God the government managed to save what was left of the carrier.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous14:02

    Because they have Mr.Kucko as Ceo .He really knows nothing about airline business .When he was in Amsterdam it was thanks to the team he had there not thanks to him.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous18:57

    In an interview the new ceo of Zagreb speaks about a year, not six months. That piece of information surprised me.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:28

      Kucko is an idiot, send him to jail!

      Delete
  24. Amsterdam office has been closed. The stationmanager fired. Although the flights to Amsterdam continue. He was the best staffmember we had in OU! Is this all a cover up so he can stay in Amsterdam and receive high dailyallowances? And also his wife can use the businesscar and cellphone?
    It's sounds strange to me, but if so what can we do about this? Isn't there a departement who can take action against him?

    ReplyDelete
  25. There is no comment on the last post! Do you have tjeskoba? If so, then there is one conclusion: Kucko is a dictator and not a leader of a company!

    ReplyDelete

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