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| Zadar Airport readies for China service |
Preparations are underway at Zadar Airport for the arrival of Hainan Airlines’ first flight from Chongqing on May 1. The one weekly charter service is schedule to operate throughout the year, each Friday. In the lead-up to the first flight, Zadar Airport’s Managing Director, Irena Ćosić, together with the Chinese Southeast Europe Business Association (CSEBA), will head a delegation to China on March 26 where final details for the service launch will be reviewed. “In China we will discuss the details of the agreement we signed last month and we will meet with tour operators in Beijing”, Ms. Ćosić says.
According to Zadar Airport, the delegation will also discuss the introduction of possible cargo flights between China and Croatia. “We believe there is a significant number of our manufacturers that would like to export their goods to China”, Ms. Ćosić adds. The two sides will also discuss the introduction of year-long scheduled flights between Chongqing and Zadar, which would operate via Rome. Hainan Airlines will introduce two weekly flights between the Chinese city and the Italian capital on April 28 with an Airbus A330. The flights from Chongqing will arrive in Rome at 07.30 in the morning before its scheduled return at 12.50 in the afternoon. The gap would give the Chinese carrier enough time to operate a service to Zadar in between.
The Croatian Minister for Tourism, Darko Lorencin, has praised the new service. On a recent visit to China, Mr. Lorencin said, “China offers a significant number of tourists of all categories and Croatia wants to attract as many of them as possible. We are willing to support Chinese tour operators who, when there is critical mass, will connect China and Croatia with direct flights”. In recent years, Croatia has seen an increase in Chinese tourists, with a little over 60.000 visiting last year. From 2009 to 2014, the number of Chinese arrivals to Croatia increased sixfold. Most visit between May and October as part of regional and European tour groups.
Still surprised this is actually happening. Good for Zadar!
ReplyDeleteZadar looks pretty good in that photo. Seems like there is enough space to handle an A330.
ReplyDelete"There is a significant number of Croatian manufacturers that would like to export their goods to China" - aka Wishful thinking!
ReplyDeleteShould'nt it be the other way aroubd?
DeleteOf course it is, but there will be no flights if plane will be empty to China!
DeleteSo if it's a charter A330 do they operate in an all econony layout?
ReplyDeleteNope. They will not change layout of their planes. I'm pretty sure they will have some travellers willing to pay business at least...
DeleteI still don't get it. Some people here were claiming that an A330 can't land in Zadar. I don't know the runway specifications but the apron seems big enough to accommodate an A330.
ReplyDeleteRunway is enough for A330. Apron also. There were several long-hauls lended in Zadar and even one route was regular with long-haul from Moscow several years ago.
DeleteThat's good to here. Which airline and jut operated the Moscow flights?
DeleteTransaero with 747, 767, 777, 737
DeleteAtlant-Soyz were with Ilysin IL-86
S7 probably with 737, 320s, 767
@AnonymousMarch 13, 2015 at 11:07 AM
DeleteI still don't get it. Some people here were claiming that an A330 can't land in Zadar. I don't know the runway specifications but the apron seems big enough to accommodate an A330.@
CAA didn't aprove these flights and no one even contacted CAA regarding these supposed flights. Zadar's runway is only 2500m, and can't handle A330 or any larger wide body that requires minimum runway length of 2800m.
In the past Zadar had few flights from Russia with Il86, mostly Russian Government affairs, it wasn't fully laden aircraft think it was VIP or something. So not sure how these flights will be operated and if CAA will approve them, I don't think they will.
Dubrovnik, Pula, Zagreb are only airports that regularly have wide body aircraft landing there, and all 3 airports are designed to handle wide body aircraft, Split can handle B767-200 or even 300, A310 and A300, but never seen anything bigger landing there.
There are plans to lengthen runway at Split airport by 300-500m so it can also handle wide-body aircraft at some point but land issues still need to be resolved.
Currently Split Airport is battling in courts over an 650x400m area currently owned by Staklenik Company that went in to receivership. Land is rightfully owned by Split airport but due to corruption in 90s and more recently in 2006-10, not much has been done to resolve the issue. This area is where new 25500sqm terminal and all the adjoining facilities should be built.
Anyhow, Zadar airport is issue that has to be addressed by CAA, they need to approve flights, and since no one applied for these flights with CAA (as of March 1st) there's no knowledge if these flights will ever materialize. Chinese airline in question is a large airline but Croatian part of the operation is doubtful for individuals in question have shady past.
'Transaero with 747, 767, 777'
DeleteI'm not sure if Zadar ever operated these flights, Pula yes but Zadar??
The A330 actually does have pretty decent take off and landing performance but the real issue that Zadar faces is the tight and very narrow taxiways.
I also made the previous point that regulators take a very different view on one off flights compared to regular even regular charter flights as the risk of an incident is increased.
Noticed that the flights have support from the minister of tourism which does give them some credibility. Does anyone else know of any official view of these flights from the CAA? Purger maybe?
Split can handle B767-200 or even 300, A310 and A300, but never seen anything bigger landing there.
DeleteI have video from 1994 of a DC-10 departing Split.
SkyGreece Airlines announces Strategic Joint Venture with BH Air in Bulgaria and strengthens its position in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans for direct flights to North America
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/SkyGreeceAirlines
Što će reči da SkyGreece nakon godine dana luljenja sada kreće vrlo ozbiljno. Letit će iz Montreala, Toronta i New Yorka za Zagreb, Atenu, Solun, Budimpeštu (od 21.5.) i očito za Sofiju (BH Air je već prije par mjeseci najavljivao letove za Sjevernu Ameriku, no nitko nije pretpostavio da bi to moglo biti ovo sa SkyGreece), nabavljaju još dva 767-300 ER (dakle ukupno će ih imati tri).
DeleteIako još uvijek mislim da je ovo jako upitno i riskantno, nije ni toliko glupo. U top sezoni mogu letjeti za sve te destinacije zasebno, a izvan sezone mogli bi letjeti i 1stop letove npr. JFK-BUD-ZAG, YYZ-ZAG-SOF i sl. Nadam se da će New York kada ga pokrenu uvrstiti i na kartu Zagreba.
U svakom slučaju 4 tjedna leta iz JFK, 3 iz YYZ, jedan iz YUL, te 3 JFK i 3 YYZ izvan sezone u kombinaciji sa SOF i BUD (uz 5. slobodnu na legovima ZAG-BUD i ZAG-SOF, što nije nikakav problem, obzirom da se radi o Grčkoj kompaniji koja ima pravo letjeti za ove destinacije unutar EU), bi bili dovoljni za ZAG i pun pogodak. Još da se dogovore konekcije sa OU, no svi znamo da je to znanstvena fantastika i da LH to nikada ne bi dozvolila.
3 leta nedeljno za JFK ne moze ni OS da napuni zimi bez transfernih putnika.
DeleteINN-NS
Go Zadar!
ReplyDeleteOT: Does anyone know what is going on at MBX today? It seems that a Niki A320 is doing approach exercises. And this for a few hours now! Link: http://fr24.com/NLY320T/5bdd9d9
ReplyDeleteYes, Niki had touch&go training today at MBX with A320.
DeleteLeisure flights to Croatia are looking good this year.
ReplyDeleteFrom Seoul, Tokyo and Toronto to Zagreb and from Chingqing to Zadar. It would be fantastic if these flights from China go all year round. Zadar is going to have a passenger decline this year because of Ryanair and Limitless which will fly from Rijeka instead. So these flights to China will make the decline much smaller.
Bas me zanima dali ce ti letovi ostati i sledece godine kad jedna od Kineskih Aviokompanija krene sa letovima za BEG.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
Calm down man...considering that this is charter and completely different origin and destinations...how exactly and more importantly WHY would you compare ZAD CKG and BEG PEK or PVG? Maybe if JU starts to fly BEG BCN maybe LO drops ZAG WAW?
DeleteINN-NS, didnt you say that a Chinese company will start flying to BEG during this time. FIrst you said ASL will do the route, but then you changed the story and said "some Chinese company will do the route instead"
DeleteFantastic reply.... :)
DeleteINN ti si stvarno klinac koji nema ni najmanjeg pojma. Prvo izmišljaš podake i kao sigurne fakte objavljuješ pretpostavke ili priče sa ulice, onda uspoređuješ charter liniju iz provincije u provinciju sa redovnom linijom dva glavna grada... pa to bi stvarno malo tko napravio na ovom blogu. Totalni diletantizam.
DeleteJa pricam istinu pa nece ove godinu prekuniti letove.
DeleteA jos se ne zna kad krecu kineski letovi za BEG.
INN-NS
evo opet menja pricu LOL
DeleteSo this year there will be significant number of wide-bodies in Croatia this year:
ReplyDeleteANA 777 from Tokyo to Zagreb
Korean 777 from Seoul to Zagreb
SkyGreece 767 from Toronto to Zagreb
Hainan A330 from Chongqing to Zadar
Thomson 787 from London to Dubrovnik
and by last year experience:
ElAl 767 in top season from Tel Aviv to Zagreb
TAP A330 occasionally from Lisbon to Zagreb
Turkish A330 occasionally from Istanbul to Zagreb
Air Europe A330 and others on ad hoc charter for NATO...
with 7 million passengers and more than 300 routes from 9 airports per year Croatia is far the biggest air market in exYu.
Congratulations from Serbia ;)
DeleteOdakle vam informacije i dokaz da će ANA letjeti sa 777 za Zagreb ????
Deletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/3014-srbija-nije-dozvolila-qatar-airwaysu-let-beogradsofija/
ReplyDeleteZvanično odbijeni.. :/
they might get it during summer ( which I doubt but still), read the whole article!
DeleteI guess we know who the boss is, Mr Hogan says who can and who can't land in Serbia ?
DeleteI guess Belgrade is loosing another carrier this April, Qatar won't fly to Belgrade if they can't fly via Sofia, Serbian AA should re-think for Qatar at lest pays landing fees and airport tax, unlike Nebeska Kompanija.
^Qatar can still fly via Sofia but with no fifth freedom rights between BEG and Sofia.
DeleteIt would be silly for the Serbian DCV to give the green light for QR to operate 5th freedom between BEG and SOF. The flight would come into direct competition with JU on the same route, which flies out at similar times, something not good since the government is still supporting JU to come back to its feet.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. Qatar had nothing to offer that Etihad and FlyDubai/Emirates combined could not offer from Belgrade. Qatar is flying to Belgrade probably at a loss. If they had any business sense, they would stop Belgrade and instead focus on other airports in the region they are not currently serving.
DeleteEven if Qatar is doing really bad in BEG, I would still like them to stay since they are a legacy carrier with excellent service, plus of course if Qatar leaves then ASL/ Etihad and FlyDubai will raise prices.
DeleteUsually more carriers=cheaper prices for people
Vaske I do not agree. Geneva-Belgrade had Swiss, Easyjet and Etihad Regional at that was good for passengers but not sustainable for airlines, so Etihad Regional was first to go. BEG-LJU had Adria drop, but at least they have codeshare with JU so both profit from it.
DeleteQatar is by far weakest on BEG-Middle East, so it is only a matter of time before they leave. When they leave there will still be competition between EY and EK to keep prices competitive for passengers.
QR will not leave, it would be a defeat they can not allow to admit. They will fly to BEG, no worries.
DeleteQatar did terminate some routes in past: Aleppo, Cebu, Hahn, John Bahru, Mahe, Nahpur, Nice, Toronto..
DeleteIf they defeat there Belgrade for sure is not their priority or something they should not allow to admit in comparation with those cities.
5th freedom is not easy to get in the markets where no open skies agreements are in place. Such requests are almost routinely rejected around the world - with some exceptions in EU, North America etc. Of course your daily desire to thrash and bash ASL was again stronger than any fact, logic or argument. You simply took your chance.
DeleteHas anyone noticed that a coulpe of days ago, maybe last week, Air Serbia had sent a B733 to Zagreb on one of its flights?
ReplyDeleteHas you noticed that yesterday 737 YU-ANJ flight from Tirana to Belgrade
DeleteNo. This might have been a first for Zagreb flights.
DeleteDoes it mean that that B737 touched Zagreb´s ground for the first time after the War of Independence? What about ATR-s? When they joined JATs fleet?
DeleteThere was no morning flight that day, also ATR 72 got its wheel broken on a take off, B737 was a substitute with 57pax.
DeleteMess over Belgrade. At least 5 flights diverting as we speak to Timisoara and Sofia
ReplyDeleteIs it because of thick fog?
DeleteBEG has CAT III b .
Three planes squaking emergencies over low fuel... airport closed... not fog related... whats going on?
DeleteASL from CDG seems to be landing now. Let's see what will happen.
DeleteSearch and rescue activated... small aircraft missing
DeleteWhich airplane was squawking? I didn't notice any with 7700...
DeleteHope its not this... http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/ci/story/124/%D0%94%D1%80%D1%83%D1%88%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE/1858374/%D0%90%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0+%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%9A%D0%B0+%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B5+%D0%B8%D0%B7+%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%99%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3+%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0.html
DeleteWhere they diverted?
DeleteThree ASL A319 were diverted to TSR (from MXP, ZRH and BRU).
DeleteProbably fog, can't see much outside...
ReplyDeleteMM
Turkish A330 taxiing for departure, airport open again
ReplyDelete"Search and rescue activated... small aircraft missing"... lost in translation... search and rescue helicopter transferring a gravely ill child was attempting to land in very bad visibility... because of difficulties due to fog, it was given priority and airport was closed during its attempts to land.
ReplyDeleteHeli has landed and baby rushed to hospital with life support ambulance
Heli has not landed :(
Delete