A protest by Czech Airlines pilots on Thursday grounded nineteen flights by midday and more were expected to be cancelled later.

The pilots took sick days and did not turn up for work, protesting against a restructuring plan imposed by the management of the government-owned flag carrier.

They specifically criticised the management's decision to transfer a third of CSA-leased planes to a subsidiary, and called on the government to privatise the firm in order to install a competent management.

"We don't want to run the company, (but) at a moment when your boss is obviously leading your company on the road to perdition, you would also raise your voice," the executive secretary of the Czech Pilot Association (CZALPA) Filip Gaspar told Reuters.

Around 340 pilots work for the carrier, 90 percent of whom are members of the association and Gaspar said most of its members were taking part in the action.

The Finance Ministry, which administers the government's 95.7 percent stake in CSA, said in a statement the protests were unjustified and illegal and it would ask CSA management to "take appropriate... measures against the absenting pilots."

The government decided to revamp the loss-making airline after an attempt to privatise it in 2009 failed. The sole bidder in the tender sought conditions that would have required a cash injection from the state.

As part of the restructuring, the government pulled together state-owned Prague Airport and CSA under a single holding company.

EU competition regulators opened an investigation into CSA in February, saying they doubted the carrier's revamp would return it to viability and also comply with EU state aid rules.

The pilot association said the restructuring, which includes reducing the airline fleet and network by up to a third, is aimed only at a superficial improvement in earnings. It said valuable assets are being sold off at discounted prices.

CSA said in a statement the airline's management and shareholders were struggling to save the company.

In 2010, the airline's net profit was 76.2 million crowns, including one-off gains from sales of assets. Without the one-off gains, CSA recorded a 632 million crown loss, data on its web site showed.