The Association for the Management of Pension Funds has said it is interested in the takeover of a potential holding company comprised of Croatia Airlines and the country’s state-run airports. The model is expected to be officially proposed by the carrier’s privatisation advisors, which have until the end of the month to present the best possible options for the airline. Commenting on the matter, the head of the Association, Kristijan Buk, said, “Even before the government suggested this model, we believed that any investment into Croatia Airlines should be tied up with the airports. Investing in airports means investing in infrastructure, in which we see potential. It involves the tourism sector and the national carrier, so it could be an interesting project for us”.
The head of the Association noted that talks on the matter have already taken place with the government. “We have held initial talks which will resume soon. We are interested but we must determine whether such a venture would be profitable for our members”, Mr Buk said. Airports which are expected to make part of the holding company would include Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Pula, Rijeka and Osijek. All of them have been operating with a profit over the past years, with exception to Osijek. The government has been unsuccessful in its quest to privatise Croatia Airlines since 2012 and there is a perceived lack of interest from other players in the aviation industry this time around as well.
One of Croatia’s busiest airports, Split, has said that being part of a holding with the national carrier would entail the airports to allocate funds for the airline. “Investing in an airline would be too risky. It is not in line with aviation trends in the past forty years and it is questionable whether such action is consistent with European Union regulations”. The Director General of the European Region of the Airports Council International (ACI), Olivier Jankovec, has also criticised plans to form an airline - airports holding company. “I have heard about this proposal and I must say I am rather surprised. It isn’t in line with the direction the European aviation industry has been taking in the past thirty years. In fact, it is completely the opposite of what has been happening in the aviation sector”, he said.
This whole holding idea is absurd in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteSome smarter people think otherwise. And guess what, they make executive decisions :)
DeleteWhy do you think it's absurd?
DeleteIt's absurd because it ties a loss-making company around the ankles of successful, well-managed airports, dragging them down. It goes against every single current in today's aviation and is in fact probably against EU rules on state aid.
DeleteInnovative approaches are needed. Thinking out of the box is what creates a success!
DeleteInnovative approaches and thinking out of the box in this case equals Bulgaria or the East Germany 40 years ago. Very innovative and out of the box indeed.
DeleteI appreciate your point of view but I have a full trust in the Govt. to set up the profitable and successful scheme!
DeleteSay all you want but so far the government has done a pretty damn job, I am sure they know what they are doing with OU. Give them some credit.
DeleteUhm, what? The government has been mismanaging OU literally since day 1. Not a single year of sustainably profitable operations in 30 years.
DeleteStupid plan. I hope it doesn’t come to this.
ReplyDeleteCan you elaborate your skills to make such a comment?
DeleteSo pensioners will save OU.
ReplyDeleteNot pensioners but pension funds. Those are skilled people in their own right.
Delete'skilled' aha, ok. never has a pension fund collapsed, fruad, corruption been seen in the financial manipulation arena.
DeleteHow about some firm with avaition expertise.
Great idea
ReplyDeleteNOT!!!
It is a great idea and will help the citizens of Croatia.
DeleteHow?
DeleteOU will have more money to finance fleet extension and introduction of the new lines perhaps. I'm not the one who will be managing the new company but I know that Govt. has the right people and skills to make such a project a success.
DeleteBut if they had the right skills and people wouldn't Croatia Airlines already have been a success? They have been managing it for 30 years now.
DeleteThe Govt. has tried all sorts of approaches and finally they have found a sustainable one where highly experienced business people will drive OU's destiny. Besides it's not only OU that Govt. has to deal with.
Delete"highly experienced business people"
DeleteLMAO! The sugarcoating is sometimes too much. Pre-election campaign in full swing.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time in Croatia can only laugh at a statement such as "I know that Govt. has the right people and skills to make such a project a success." What a badly disguised bot.
Delete"I know that Govt. has the right people and skills to make such a project a success."
DeleteMonty Python comment of the month.
You can laugh as much as you want, nobody will ask you for an opinion. The Govt. will make the right move soon.
DeleteYeah right, like they did with leasing double more expensive Airbuses when they had FULLY PAID 737's which flew all over Europe for another 10 years. Or like feeding and licking a. s to LH instead of building own network and own hub. Or like employing rodijake, radodajke i "svoje" partijce, instead of competent people, and inventing positions for them, or like having 40% more workforce, mostly administrative than actually needed. Or like money loundering with Q400 fleet through double-lease with company belonging to Misetic, one of those very competent experts. Or like sponsoring endless number of sport teams, events and organisations with money received from the state, not earned. Or not even trying to ACMI lease part of the fleet in Northern Winter. Or giving up from the coastal charters in favour of foreign operators? All these "brilliant" moves were made by CEO'S directly placed by Government. And you really DARE speaking they know what they do and they have good experts. All I can say after such a post I hope Vrapce is nearby to your house
DeleteDoes the pension fund know how to run airlines and airports??
ReplyDeleteWell they are one of the main shareholders in Atlantic Group. They seem to be good in business.
DeleteIsn't former Croatia Airlines CEO Ivan Misetic in the management of Atlantic Group?
DeleteYes! He is the Secretary General of Atlantic Grupa. How convenient.
DeleteAnd his daughter is part of the current Croatian government :)
DeleteReally? What does she do?
DeletePlenkovic's assistant. Misetic's wife is also the Director of CEO Office Sector of Croatian Telekom.
DeleteThose are educated and smart people. If only we would have more of them in our business elite.
DeleteMaybe pension funds aren't highly skilled in running airlines. But those running OU now aren't either :)
Delete@9.18
DeleteDeputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister of Croatia.
@An.09.46
DeleteThose are members of criminal organization which already has a verdict in croatian courts. Those are people who care only about their own benefits and don't give a sh.t about Croatia as a country, its flag carrier and its people in general. If you still don't understand that I can only feel sorry for you
Just look how LJU is thriving without JP. Get rid of the OU virus and you will have the same effect.
ReplyDelete+1 even on a bigger scale
DeleteThat thriving airport's seat capacity is 37% down both in W20 and S20, despite the euphoria here. Not sure anyone in ZAG would like to see such a scenario.
DeleteAdria's corpse is still warm, give the market some time to adjust itself. That said developments are so far fantastic. Why wouldn't the same happen in ZAG? Why should we be hostages of politically hired government employees?
DeleteGovt. is there to manage and they certainly know better what to do that some no-name smartie in here.
Delete@HDZ bot 9:44:
DeleteI'd take a no-name smartie from this blog over any uhljeb from your party any day of the week.
Your opinion matters not in these matters. Full support to the Govt.!
DeleteI can't believe that the government would just give up control of not one, not two, not three but SIX airports just so someone would pump cash into Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteThis is simplistic comment which is likely to be made by someone who does not have all info like Govt. has.
DeleteCan the admin please delete all the useless replies made by HDZ bot @9:56?
DeleteAccepting different opinions is the core of democracy. Your comment here shows your true values.
DeleteThis is ridiculous
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteIn which country does the pension fund run an airline and airports.
ReplyDeleteThe Croatia will be a such country. And I expect a success!
DeleteTake a break, man. Your comments are easy to identify.
Delete"The Croatia will be a such country." Guys, we're dealing with Dubravka Šuica here.
DeleteWe don't have to share the same opinion. I have a full trust to what the Govt. will decide.
DeleteI fail to see what good this might bring.
ReplyDeleteA growth to OU perhaps?
DeleteHow come absolutely no other airline is interested in purchasing OU?
ReplyDeleteBecause there isn't much worth in buying it. Almost all property has been sold, airline is accumulating debt, it was kicked out from the coast, ZAG is a small and seasonal market, ageing fleet, unruly employees who are prone to striking ...
DeleteAll those make the airline highly unattractive. Also airlines such as Lufthansa have their hubs nearby so they can serve ZAG with their own metal if there is a need (case OU goes bust).
Not just that but with Croatia being in the EU, any EU airline can simply set up a base. They don't need to purchase a loss making airline to enter the market.
DeleteThey are indebted, loss making and survive on life support grants from the government. Who in their right mind would want to invest in something so unprospective?
DeleteSomeone with a vision, capital and skills to make a turnaround.
DeleteYes but how much capital is needed, that's the key question here.
DeleteBecause you don't just buy the airline but you buy all the baggage that comes with it (government appointed mates, I mean "management" etc). Not just OU that has this issue but a bunch of government owned companies. Many potential investors have come to Croatia over the years to looks at government owned companies. They don't hang around long.
DeleteLooking forward to the day Croatia has a proper free market economy.
Free market economy is an illusion sold to us by rich western countries to make us slaves. Just have a look at how China is successful with state owned companies.
DeleteChina has only become successful because they have adopted free market practices but their state owned companies still have huge amount of protection/support from the government. This is what the US/Trump is challenging them about. How much is China in debt? No one really knows but we know the trade war is starting to hurt them badly and Trump will continue to press them for another 5 years so it will be interesting to see what direction China chooses to take in the coming years.
DeleteAlso, China still has about 700 million people who live in poverty and work for peanuts. Plenty of 'slaves' for them to use.
DeleteAren't pensions funds owned by the government?
ReplyDeleteYes. This whole thing is just a way to cover up direct state aid to Croatia Airlines.
DeleteNo, they are not. 4 pension funds are 100% private, owned by banks and insurance companies. Not a one of those banks is Croatian.
DeleteNo, pensions funds are not owned by state, they are private owned by Allianz, Rba, Co, Erste.... don't make confusion with Hzmo which is state owned and has nothing to do with privatisation
DeleteWhat a terrible idea.
ReplyDeletePoliticians will once more waste peoples money for a prestige project.
This should be viewed as a profitable investment. There are other waste of money made every day (e.g. supporting different "civil society" groups which eat billions of tax payer money)
DeleteSomeone said OU is in Croatian DNA.
ReplyDeleteHeheh now OU will be in the wallet of each Croatian as well as in the profit and loss account of every Croatian airport. And almost all of them are very successful. Still.
Amazing, simply amazing
If that is so, Croatia than have fatal gene mutation.
DeleteSo what happens if SPU keeps on refusing? Will they replace the management with someone who is friendlier to the idea? This is turning into such a joke.
ReplyDeleteSack ZAG management, close OSI and scale back OU until you can shut it down.
Yes they should shut down all airports and the airline? LOL great idea.
DeleteWhere did you get all airports, just OSI which is pointless and a drain on the budget. ZAG needs new management, no one can dispute that fact!
DeleteGovernment cant sack management at Zagreb, even if it wanted to.
DeleteThat incompetent SPU management should be sacked anyway. And the more they oppose the Govt. the sooner they will see their demise.
DeleteHow can you say that SPU management is incompetent? They brought the airport to number 1 position, opened a new terminal and are working on improving seasonality.
DeleteCompared to DBV they are totally incompetent. And it seems that Govt. are starting to recognise that.
DeleteI wonder what you based your comment that the 'government is starting to recognise that'. haha
DeleteBy the fact that the control will be given to the Pension Funds who will elect new people to manage the airports and OU. As the management of SPU is opposing to their owner's initiative it is likely they are scared for their future. And for a good reason
DeleteFuture CEO of Croatia Airlines - Ivan Misetic.
ReplyDeleteMany believe he heavily influences current CEO anyway.
DeleteWhat a circus!
ReplyDeleteElections can't come soon enough!
ReplyDeleteNothing will change.
DeleteThe presidential elections have no impact on the Govt.
Delete
DeleteCokolinda. Nuff said. Cry the beloved country.
Well if Skoro wins he will dissolve parliament and call for new elections. And he might actually win.
DeleteWhoever wins the presidential elections will have to work with the Govt. And the President can't dissolve the parliament. Please check the Constitution. Thanks!
DeleteReckless behavior by the government.
ReplyDeleteSuch a comment can only be made by someone who does not have all the facts.
DeleteInitially I thought that some Norwegian pension fund is interested in OU but this is just not right. I hardly believe that Croatian pension fund is capable for such risky business such is running deeply troubled airline without putting itself in danger. Also packing airports together with deeply troubled airline is not good for their future developments.
ReplyDeleteThere is something I don't get. Jat Airways struggled and then Air Serbia struggled until Etihad left when things started to improved. This shows that there is a possibility to fix things without foreign tutelage. Why can't we do the same? The government is giving millions to OU, why not have them expand and improve like JU did? Seems that's the only way to survive. It's obvious OU can't survive on O&D alone so introduce night flights to Tirana, Beirut, Larnaca, Ankara, Bucharest ... and bring hundreds of extra passengers to ZAG each morning. What's stopping this from happening?
ReplyDeleteWhat's stopping this from happening?
Delete1) The cost structure of OU
2) Its ianbility to offer a dynamic pricing scheme
3) There is a limited amount of airports left, that would offer them JU-style deals.
4) Realizing that they failed to even give away almost free tickets for OMO, I doubt they even have the will to stay in business.
OU's only purpose is to embezzle money. It is kept at a small size to limit the chance of attracting scrutiny. If they really cared about the airline, the management would be held to account for the successes and failures which they are clearly not.
DeleteThe day Croatia properly starts to tackle corruption and starts putting all these people who have been steeling from the country in jail (35 billion in the last 20 years unaccounted for) will be the best day in her history. Better than independence day!
*stealing
DeleteI doubt that day will ever come anywhere in the Balkans.
Delete@Q400
DeleteSigning under every single word. Absolute true. Such amazingly beautiful country with such dilligent and skilled people and so many potential ruined by a bunch of primitive mafiosos and bandits
Shouldn't pension funds invest only in very safe projects?
ReplyDeleteOU certiantly isn't the one.
It looks like someone is playing with pension's fund and later on we shall all here how people need to work longwer as "there is not enough money in the fund".
Hope OU is going to be actually sold and not just bungled in some holding. This way the company will progress much slower than it should
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't the pension fund just take over Croatia Airlines without the airports?
ReplyDeleteBecause Croatia Airlines as an investment on its own is not profitable.
Delete** I mean interesting
DeleteBecause they need the money from the airports for OU. Sad but true. It will be a disaster for the airports.
DeleteCool so competition will be funding OU.
ReplyDeleteThat is a stroke of a genius!
DeleteNo. That's just a stroke. A very debilitating stroke. That will leave all involved dysfunctional.
DeleteI love this one guy who is leaving pro-holding comments everywhere! :D
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly why I would like that everyone should use some nickname in order to post a comment. Then we see which Anonymous is which and how many (same) comments did he write on one topic. And when two anonymouses are discussing something we see who is who and to whom is he replying.
Delete@Admin, do you agree and is this possible?
Accepting different opinions is crucial for a democracy to function!
DeleteIt worked fine for LOT/Poland and Air Baltic that many of you here are putting as good example. So how come that in case of Croatia this is ridiculous idea?
ReplyDeletePension funds are not owner of LOT or airBaltic! And they are not connected to airports at all.
DeleteOwning a business doesn’t mean running a business, therefore a question whether the pension funds can run the airline (or the airport, for that matter) is besides the point.
ReplyDeleteThere’s one interesting point, though, in the pension fund’s statement - investing in airports is investing in infrastructure - true and correct observation from the pension fund’s perspective, and also guarantees the stability of investment, which should be a pension fund’s primary interest. The only question that remains is how OU matches into the picture, and is it at all part of their (potential buyer) vision.
Hoće li biti popusta za penzionere?
ReplyDeleteGood idea. The government could give subsidized tickets to pensioners so that they can go to Germany for their health checks and treatments. Almost all the doctors are there any way.
DeleteHahahaha, mate you made my day :) :) :)
DeleteAs mentioned many times: OU is a nation building project and matter of national pride for Croatia. Therefore ANY decision is not to be measured by logic and/or business or financial performance but political and other calculations. I think that the new Airport / Airline corporation is a good way to cover up the heavy losses of OU. The booming tourism is a steady source of income and the profits of the airports will camouflage the losses of OU. So to say any tourist buying a snickers at the airport will "donate" 10-20 cents to OU......
ReplyDeleteMr. Plenkovic,
DeleteYou forgot to sign your statement
I fully agree that the value of OU cannot be seen by monetary value only. It is one of crucial elements of statehood!
DeleteDo you realise that "crucial element of statehood" is pictured by Q400 parked at the most remote position, and being the smallest plane among hundred of planes in MUC or VIE, and there with purpose of feeding LH,OS and their 380, 350, 330, 777, 747, 787. And pardon me, but for me, such an element of statehood is SHAMEFUL element of statehood. Once you, and all those like you, get to know what I talk about, maybe something will change. Until then, is TOO EARLY
DeleteWithout that partnership OU is dead, so better for them to be parked at remote stands in MUC or FRA than at the old ZAG airport waiting to be returned to the lessor. The current model works for OU, why should they go on an adventure like JP only to go bankrupt? The restructuring process is working and the government knows that. They just want to make sure they can finance the project to the end. OU is vital for Croatia, it's more than just an airline, it's a symbol of national pride and everything Croatia stands for today and tomorrow. Government looks at long-term projects and prospects, you are very short-sighted and immature at times.
DeleteYes I am as much immature and short-sighted as you are not HDZ bot. But I suggest you to change the site, as people here are mostly not stupid and you cannot sell them empty phrases which you sell 30 years already to general public
DeleteAnd now little bit deeper into your "analysis" and "expertise" :
Delete1. OU is NOT partner in Star. It's only feeder. If growing it could become partner, within the Star, or any of the two other Alliances. So number one, false.
2. There is NO "old ZAG airport". ZAG Airport is one and only, there are old and new terminals. So, number two, false
3. Q400 will not be returned to lessor as long as Misetic gets money from that deal, as OU pays double leasing price to Misetic related company. So, number 3, false.
4. The current model does NOT work for OU, because they struggle financially and make losses and cannot even cover operational costs, not to mention other. So, number 4, false.
5. JP did not went bust because of adventures, but because of political control over it and criminal privatisation. So, number 5, false.
6. The restructuring process in OU is NOT working, it was finished long ago during Kucko CEO time, and brought no news, no results, no improvements. So, number 6, false.
7. There is absolutely no "OU project"; gvt has been financing its own uhljebs in loss-making zabokrecina. So, number 7, false.
8. OU is NOT vital for Croatia, as its share of air traffic passengers in Croatia is only 15%.It is vital only for HDZ uhljebs on lower levels and mafiosos on higher levels, who benefit from the form in which OU lives for 30 years already. So, number 8, false.
9. OU is NOT symbol of national pride, it is symbol of national humiliation executed by criminal organization, not only in aviation. So, number 9, false.
And conclusion : 9 false in 7 text rows, too much, even for HDZ bot.
As beneficiaries of a pension fund, group of pensioners can orgsnise and sue the fund for knowingly investing in a money losing company that is Croatia Airlines. EU could also shut down this airline+airports scheme. This is not the right way to be inventive and it's not legal. Pablo Escobar was also inventive but not legal.
ReplyDeletePablo Escobar je mala beba za Adezejovske krimose. Postenjacina.
DeleteSomeone want to get airports in his hands using saving of an airline as excuse- we call this corruption)
ReplyDeleteOf course open auction for 70% of an airline will work