ZAGREB, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Croatia Airlines and Croatian Railways Cargo (HZ Cargo) should urgently find strategic partners to continue doing business successfully, Croatian Minister of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic said here on Tuesday.

Addressed a conference on transport issues, Butkovic said that the survival of Croatia Airlines is only possible if the company gets fresh investments.

Recently, the pilot union warned that the situation in Croatia Airlines was alarming and that half of the mechanics, a third of the pilots and a quarter of the stewards had left the company in the past several years.

Since March, the company started to rent aircraft, which due to the expensive rent has become even more difficult. In January 2017, Croatia Airlines also sold part of London's landing rights, which made it even more difficult to operate.

The pilots had threatened with a strike in the coming tourist season but canceled the plan.

According to Butkovic, the railways sector's restructuring would be a greater challenge than the restructuring of the road sector.

The financial situation of HZ Cargo is also difficult, and it needs a strategic partner in order to begin the reconstruction of the railway lines in the southeastern European country.

Regarding highways, the minister said that bank loans for highway construction would be paid off by 2033, and that the revenue recorded in the first quarter of this year had increased by 8.4 percent compared with last year, as the number of vehicles on the roads had increased by about 6 percent.?