Praha - State-run Czech Airlines (České aerolinie - ČSA) company seems to be very generous with the members of the Supervisory Board despite reporting a loss of CZK 178 million in the first half of the year.
The Stakeholder General Assembly approved multi-million rewards this summer which are being paid to the Supervisory Board members, according to the minutes Aktuálně.cz has available.
Since this July Ivan Kočárník, chairman of the Supervisory Board (SB), has been receiving a monthly salary of CZK 95,000, vice-chairman CZK 55,000 and SB members CZK 50,000. Annually, ČSA will pay CZK 7.8 million in remunerations.
Results are good, time to reward
ČSA management has refused to provide more detailed information on the remunerations. "It is not my competence to comment publicly personal contracts and salaries of the Supervisory Board members," said ČSA spokesperson Daniela Hupáková.
The Stakeholder General Assembly's minutes states that higher remunerations should have been paid to the SB members since 2006 but due to bad economic performance that year it did not take place.
According to the ČSA management and stakeholders, this summer's situation is different. The minutes literally states that "The current ČSA economic situation is marked by an improving economic performance."
Among other reasons why to remunerate the SB members is an increase of workload of the members, related to the upcoming privatization.
Economic malaise
On the other hand, the document also mentions that ČSA happens to be going through rough times. The soaring prices of oil and unsually strong CZK are the major reasons why ČSA needs to take certain restructuring steps, as Radomír Lašák, ČSA CEO says in the minutes.
Despite being entitled to the remunerations, some SB members have given them up. That is the case, for example, of the Prague Airport (Letiště Praha), which is also state-owned. ČSA and Prague Airport are be both privatized soon.
The state has a 91 percent stake and the estimate is the company could be sold for CZK 4-5 billion. Given the economic malaise the air industry happens to be in, the Czech government is speeding up the privatization and would like to finish it before the end of this year.
