PRAGUE, May 3 (Reuters) - The Czech government approved on Monday a plan to save struggling Czech Airlines by refocusing on the core business and reducing the fleet and network by up to 30 percent over the next three years.
The state-owned airline lost around 3.7 billion crowns ($193.6 million) last year, Finance Minister Eduard Janota said, hit by the economic crisis as well as an earlier ill-fated expansion.
'The plan calls for lowering the number of planes in the range of around 30 percent, cutting some destinations,' Janota told a news conference.
'Regarding personnel, the impact is significantly smaller, somewhere up to 10 percent,' he said.
Under the plan CSA will gradually stop using Boeing aircraft to confine its fleet to European Airbus and ATR planes. It currently operates 49 aircraft, including 18 Boeing 737s.
Janota said this year the airline expects to make a loss of 600 million crowns. The restructuring plan aims to bringing the airline back into profit in 2012.
The government had tried to sell the airline last year but rejected the sole bid from a Czech charter airline because the investor's conditions would have required a cash injection from the state.
The Sky Team alliance member has already received a loan from a state vehicle, which is being investigated by the European Commission.
The state-owned airline lost around 3.7 billion crowns ($193.6 million) last year, Finance Minister Eduard Janota said, hit by the economic crisis as well as an earlier ill-fated expansion.
'The plan calls for lowering the number of planes in the range of around 30 percent, cutting some destinations,' Janota told a news conference.
'Regarding personnel, the impact is significantly smaller, somewhere up to 10 percent,' he said.
Under the plan CSA will gradually stop using Boeing aircraft to confine its fleet to European Airbus and ATR planes. It currently operates 49 aircraft, including 18 Boeing 737s.
Janota said this year the airline expects to make a loss of 600 million crowns. The restructuring plan aims to bringing the airline back into profit in 2012.
The government had tried to sell the airline last year but rejected the sole bid from a Czech charter airline because the investor's conditions would have required a cash injection from the state.
The Sky Team alliance member has already received a loan from a state vehicle, which is being investigated by the European Commission.
