Terminal funds fading

Time for an upgrade ... but with what?
Funds set aside for the construction of the much needed new passenger terminal at Zagreb Airport are fast fading, as the airport’s management has been forced to use the assets to pay its own workers.

Speaking to the “Večernji list” newspapers, Tonči Peović, the CEO of Zagreb Airport, said that the 30 million Euros set aside for the construction of the new terminal building are being used to pay salaries for those employed at the airport because Croatia Airlines owes the airport 30 million Kuna (4.1 million Euros). Peović also accused his predecessor, Boško Matković, for increasing employee’s pay checks by 5% during the financial crisis. In order to regulate finances Peović has said that a certain amount of employees will be leaving the airport voluntarily and that salaries will be decreased.

Croatia Airlines has admitted that it owes a significant amount of money to its home base airport but blamed its tardiness on the global financial crisis and promises that all money owed will be repaid. Croatia Airlines is expected to suffer the greatest financial loss by the end of 2009 out of all the national carriers operating across the former Yugoslavia.

The plan for the construction of a second terminal at Zagreb’s Pleso Airport has been in the works for over a decade. The greatest progress was made last year when the winning design for the new terminal was chosen. Only a few months later the project was cancelled due to its high costs. The Croatian Government has promised that a new tender to find the best design for Croatia’s capital city airport will be opened some time during 2010.

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