Zagreb Airport issues strike threat

Unions want CEO to go

UPDATED

Employees at Zagreb Airport are threatening to go on strike since the airport’s CEO, Tonči Peović, wasn’t sacked by the government today. The airport’s unions are unhappy with the CEOs performance blaming him for diminishing profits, the possibility of foreign ownership over the airport and no revisions to their collective agreements. Božidar Kalmeta, the Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure held a meeting today where Peović’s management practices were discussed. It was concluded that Zagreb has been managed well in the past few years and is reporting a profit.

After successfully managing Dubrovnik Airport for sixteen years, Peović was named as CEO of the country’s busiest airport in 2009. He announced that he would cut the cost of airport handling services in a bid to attract more low cost airlines, adding that negotiations were underway with easyJet and Ryanair. The no frills easyJet commenced flights to Zagreb and now serves the Croatian capital from Dortmund, London and Paris. However, Peović is also associated with several scandals. He was said to be in a conflict of interest while serving as both the CEO of Zagreb Airport and a small airline in Dubrovnik. Furthermore, unions accuse him of having an extremely high salary and in a recent cable revealed by Wikileaks, Peović is said to have complained about Minister Kalmeta and had no nice words to say about Croatia Airlines to the Ambassador of the United States.

Zagreb Airport recorded impressive growth this year and this week handled its 2 millionth passengers of the year. The airport’s management says Zagreb will see a 10% increase in passenger numbers in 2012.