During the strike, the company will operate 80 percent of scheduled flights, while 20 percent of flights will be suspended, the trade unions said.

Representatives of a body coordinating four of the six trade unions active in Croatia Airlines said the unions had presented minimum demands related to keeping rights from the existing collective agreement, which is to expire on March 31.

They also demanded revoking decisions which in their opinion affect flight security and putting an end to hiring workers through external agencies. One of the union demands was that the system of promotion be put in order.

The unions claim that the strike would not cause financial damage to Croatia Airlines, but rather help save money since the airline was losing up to 147,000 euros per day on its fleet.

They blame management board chair Srecko Simunovic for the situation, claiming that he is unable to pull the company out of the current situation.

In materials distributed to reporters today, the four unions claim that in the past ten years Croatia Airlines has generated a loss of 950 million kuna and that last year, during the term of Srecko Simunovic, its losses increased by another 75 million kuna. The total loss now exceeds one billion kuna and is higher than the stock capital, the unions say.

The management of Croatia Airlines believes that accepting the union demands would cost the company close to 18 million kuna in 2012, while in 2013 the amount would rise to 22.5 million.

The management said that considering the current economic situation, the situation in civil aviation and the existing workers' rights, it cannot meet the unions' demands.

It said that the day-long strike would cause financial damage in the amount of 200,000 euros and that damage from restoring the regular flight schedule would be even bigger.