Government revamps ČSA supervisory board

The government has replaced half the members of the 12-member supervisory board for the Czech national carrier, ČSA, two weeks before a government tender on selling the airline runs out. The move came on Monday following a row over restructuring steps. On Friday, the board’s long-serving chairman Ivan Kočárník resigned, saying that clashes between management, trade union officials and state officials were preventing the introduction of cost-saving measures at the troubled firm; restructuring specialist Václav Novák now takes over as supervisory board chairman. Selling the national carrier in the economic downturn has not proven easy: bidders have dropped out leaving just one interested buyer, the Czech group Unimex, together with Iceland Air.