Croatia Airlines has backed out of plans to sell its nine weekly slot pairs at London's Heathrow Airport after further analysing the matter with the government . "The slot sale has been definitely halted and the plan has been cancelled. However, the company is still in need of additional funds for the maintenance of its aircraft engines. We will seek a long-term loan instead", a source from the Ministry for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure told local media. The Croatian government initially put the slot sale plans on hold and requested for the airline's management to draft a detailed report of the company's finances and future plans by December 15, 2016. After scrutinising the results, a final decision was made concerning the sale of the airline's departure and arrival times at one of the world's most congested airports. Last week, EX-YU Aviation News inquired for an official response from the carrier, however, the company is yet to comment.
The Croatian carrier planned to finance the maintenance of seven aircraft engines this year with proceeds from the sale. As a result, services to Heathrow were to be discontinued by the second half of 2017. The engine maintenance is valued at thirty million dollars. "The situation is very serious", the source from the ministry said, adding that the engines must be serviced in order for aircraft to continue flying. Recently, the Ministry noted, "It is important to avoid solutions that would provide only short-term benefits but could pose significant problems for Croatia Airlines in the near future". Croatia Airlines' CEO, Krešimir Kučko, argued that the carrier had generated a loss of 37.5 million euros on its Zagreb - Heathrow service over the past thirteen years despite a high average cabin occupancy rate, noting that the airline is unable to compete against British Airways on the route.
For the upcoming summer season, Croatia Airlines plans to maintain seven weekly flights from Zagreb to London Heathrow, one weekly from Split and one weekly from Rijeka. There has been strong public criticism of the carrier's plans to sell its Heathrow slots, which are considered valuable. However, last month the airline said, "It is incorrect to assume that the slots at Heathrow are extremely valuable and of strategic importance. In current market conditions, the slot sale would end the negative effects the route is generating on Croatia Airlines' entire business. Therefore, it is wrong to label the slot sale as a damaging decision or a national tragedy". The company owns five morning and four afternoon slots at Heathrow.
Carriers from across the United Kingdom have identified strong demand for the Croatian market in 2017 and have responded with a sharp rise in capacity. Monarch Airlines will launch flights out of London Gatwick to Zagreb and from Manchester to both Zagreb and Dubrovnik, while Ryanair has announced a twice weekly service from Glasgow to Zadar next summer. Jet2.com and easyJet plan new services from across the UK to Dubrovnik and Pula, while Thomas Cook Airlines is offering new routes from May between Manchester and Split. Furthermore, British Airways will commence operations from London to Pula. The number of visitors from the United Kingdom to Croatia grew 26% in 2016 to three million over-night stays. London is Croatia Airlines' only destination in the UK. It previously served Gatwick as well.
Thank goodness reason has prevailed.
ReplyDeleteGood news but a few questions remain
ReplyDelete1) What will they do with such a "loss making" route as management says?
2) How come after 3 years of brutal restructuring the airline does not have enough money for engine repairs and needs a loan?
3) Do they still plan to open all those new routes out of Zagreb and get new aircraft seeing it is already January and summer season starts in three months?
Valid points.
DeleteRegarding number 3, I am not sure if they will open flights to Moscow, Oslo and Dublin like they said but last year they put tickets on sale for new routes in March and that's when they made the announcements. So it's still possible they will start them. As for the fleet I think it will boil down to Trade Air lease unfortunately.
I highly doubt the losses they say they had on the LHR route are real.
Delete@AnonymousJanuary 9, 2017 at 9:17 AM
DeleteNo loses at all, it was mostly Kucko trying to benefit personally from sale, he was in line to pocket between 5 and 10 million kuna had the sale of 3 pairs of slots went through. For all 9 pairs of slots OU would have gotten between $120-170 million, the bonus out of that would made Kucko very very rich, 10%.
Kucko is deeply evil and cunning person, worthy of a Republican/GOP politician.
There is no way that OU could sell those slots for 120-170 million USD. That is pure nonsense. Highest price for 7 pair of best of the best slots was 70 million EUR (last year).
DeleteThere is no proof that he ask for any money to his pocket. And you should not publicly state those kind of accusations if you don't have any proof about it.
@Alen Šćuric PurgerJanuary 9, 2017 at 11:30 AM
DeleteActually there's proof, he did it last year as well, and pocketed massive bonus based on sale of spare engines.
Now the very same man is complaining they don't have enough spare engines and money to maintain them.
The guy is a crock.
Still there is no proof that he ask for money from selling slots! To take unfair bonus is at least unmoral, but for sure it is not same as to take dirty money as bribe for selling slots.
DeleteI don't have high opinion about this morality and character, but one can not characterized someone as criminal without proof.
Purger, are there any news regarding new routes from Zagreb (the one to NYC for example)?
DeleteNo... If there would be no announcement till end of January for starting in May, I don't think that will happen.
DeleteThanks! Unfortunately, not so many announcements for Zagreb in this year!
DeleteWait for it
DeleteUnfortunately not! And it is middle of January...
DeleteSo what new arrivals/increases are we looking at in 2017 at ZAG?
Delete^ http://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/12/zagreb-airport-plans-new-development.html
DeleteWise desicion by the government
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I think our friend Purger is also happy about it. :)
ReplyDeleteHaplek
Congratulations to the Croatian media/public. The government was pressured to act and force a public company to listen and change its opinion. That doesn't happen too often.
ReplyDeleteYes and now there needs to be consequences for those who made this decision in the first instance
Delete+1
Deleteand also I wonder if bookings for their LHR flights dipped after such a publicised move to sell slots. Must have had an impact on those making bookings for summer.
think the management was quite surprised at the outcry their decision to sell slots at LHR had. They wanted to do a behind the doors deal without anyone knowing. When it was released in one newspaper, OU management went crazy and were extremely angry that it was published. I'm glad it was as we would not have known about it before it was too late.
DeleteInformation came from Croatia Airlines (one brave employee who made huge risk to sent this information to us). And than few of us start to act against it. We inform Mr. Bohutinski and other journalists about it, other were sending materials to Ministry and politicians. It was just 4 persons who really made huge afford to stop this madness. And yes I am proud to be one of those who made his part of job.
DeleteCongratulations Purger. I would say this is a well deserved victory. It's good knowing that there are some people who have the company's best interests in mind.
DeleteJeste i onda ce Purger da izvadi pare iz dzepa i da pokrije troskove odrzavanja. Briljantno
DeleteI should be like that, especially in management and those who are paid for that job. But, unfortunately, it is not.
DeleteI just wonder why I am such a masochist, what I have of it exempt to to lose an awful lot of time, money, nerves and have huge problem in my core business (from which I feed my family) where all those managers make me problems and obstacles and react against by business because of my criticism. My core business if protocol, ceremony and hospitality and I lost accreditation in Zagreb airport and possibility to made welcome for VIP's who fly with Croatia Airlines because of this criticism of mine. And that is not because my team made mistakes (not even one), or work bad (we have hundreds of best praise for perfect work from hugest organization in world like UEFA, Toyota, IHF, IPA, Henkel, FINA...), but it is just and only because of my acting in air traffic.
@anonymous 10:56:
DeleteNajbolje onda da se rasproda još ovih 5 preostalih aviona, slotova i tehnika, pa neće ni trebat održavat avione jer se neće imati sa čim niti gdje letjeti.
Ako poduzeće mora prodati slotove na LHR da bi održavalo motore onda niti ne treba postojati. Neka se ugasi i neka druge firme preuzmu tržište.
Ova vlast mora naći management koji će od LHR napraviti profitabilnu liniju (kao što svi ostili imaju debeli profit na LHR) te će od tog profita moći plaćati održavanje motora. A ne da se već godinama prodaje osnovna sredstva za rad (avioni, motori), superprofitabilna poduzeća koja hrane kompaniju (Pleso Prijevoz), da se upropaštava tehnika (otišlo je 70 mehaničara)... Kako na taj način kompanija može opstati. Ni jedna kompanija koja je svoje loše poslovanje pokušala "popraviti" prodajom slotova na LHR, sell and lease back aviona i motora, prodajom tehnike nije uspjela preživjeti, nego je tako samo ubrzala svoju propast (Adria, Cyprus, Olympic...)
@Alen Šćuric Purger Thank you, sir!
DeleteYeah, finally some good news regarding LHR slots! Hope Kucko will leave the company soon!
ReplyDeleteAgree. OU needs a new management team with a real vision and solution to its problems.
DeleteShame there was no one around to fight for Jat Airways a few years ago when the management was making the most destructive decisions.
DeleteWhat most destructive decisions? Did Jat Airways sell its LHR slots too?
DeleteA great pic of the new terminal in Zagreb
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/129336759@N05/31818706230/
Did OU fly between SPU and LHR last year?
ReplyDeleteYes they did. Once per week as well.
DeleteSo next summer the competition between London and Zagreb will include British, Croatia Airlines and Monarch. Tough competition for OU.
ReplyDeleteOU's advantage is that they have a domestic network so they can serve transfer pax from/to London heading to the coast.
DeleteWhy would anyone fly via ZAG to the coast when there are a thousand direct flights to pretty much any airport along the coast?
DeleteI really hope the government comes to its senses and privatizes Croatia Airlines while there is still time. If they can't cough up 30 million then there are some serious financial issues.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that a logical and smart decision was made. Good news today.
ReplyDeleteHallelujah
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see so many flights and options from/to the UK to all parts of Croatia. Will Thomson keep sending its B787 to Dubrovnik this summer as well?
ReplyDeleteExtremely good news that this destructive plan by an outgoing management has been halted.
ReplyDeleteI think that all of the current management's decision for the future will be halted which means that this will be a wasted 6 months until the new managements starts working.
DeleteThe current management has already put many destructive plans into motion. This one is just the tip of the iceberg.
DeleteWill the engine overhaul be done by Croatia Airlines' maintenance division?
ReplyDeleteIf there are any mechanics left. More have just announced they are leaving and all the Serbian mechanics they imported also had to leave because they did not have EU work permits.
DeleteLet them first find money to overhaul the engines before we start thinking who will do the overhaul. lol
DeleteThere are no EU work permits. Almost all work permits are national. OU did not do paperwork properly or somebody in the bureaucracy is sabotaging them.
DeleteJudging by where they are working, sabotage is a likely probability.
DeleteI don't quite understand you.
DeleteAgain, if you have a deficit with a specific kind of professionals, who are essential for your business, and you cannot find them on your own labor market, you can apply for working permits for non-EU nationals.
This is a routine procedure and the permits are routinely granted.
Not granting them would be shooting yourself in a foot. It makes no sense.
I think it is more probable that OU did not do its homework and finish proper paperwork.
Rule is: workers out of EU must have permits. They did not have it and were send back, out of EU. Rule are to be followed. There is no excuse not to follow law.
DeleteI also don't understand why OU (or workers) did not ask for permission? It is not problem at all to get it as there is no enough workers in Croatia for that job. But without permission? Sorry... They were lucky they were not sent to prison, have misdemeanor proceedings and than deported.
This has nothing to with workers and it is very unfair to try to lay some blame on them. If someone needs to be punished, that was the responsible person in OU that has hired them without doing the proper paperwork.
DeleteWorkers can not ask for work permits . Company (in this case OU) has to apply for them.
Why OU did not do it is a very interesting question.
My guess is that Croatia is in EU only for few years and some Croatians are still learning EU rules. If it was a small private business I would understand the lack of knowledge and professionalism. But a national carrier, international company per definition... utter incompetence.
Smart choice. Now OU just needs an effective management structure with a vision and know how to turn it around. OU should be the pride of the Balkans. It's getting the sleekest most contemporary airport terminals and this is not just confined to ZAG. It has natural resources that attracts millions of tourists annually and has access to the broader Balkans to attract transfer pax. OU - get it together and stop boring us with mediocrity
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think the airline has a whole lot of potential that still hasn't been used to the best of its abilities.
DeleteThe pride of the Balkans lies a bit east of Croatian border. OU has missed the train.
DeleteHa ha - if referring to JU it has zip hope when EY pulls out its cash. JU will be asking Aviolet back for its planes. At least the age of its fleet will be consistent and match its ATRs. I'm not sure if the sheik will be overwhelmed by JUs financials for CY16? I guess Wizz will be there to pick up the routes
DeleteWhichever way you look at it, Sheik is going nowhere and sure as hell has got a pocket that is deeper than the over indebted government of Croatia.
DeleteYeah not convinced that the sheik with massive holes in its pockets nowadays is all that interested in supporting loss making airlines in far flung places. With AZ, AB, JU and VA all bleeding millions of dollars a day you gotta ask yourself - for what? Unfortunately hogans strategy was always questionable and has failed. Just as well the sheik is cashed to save his own airline
DeleteDo you have any proof that EY is withdrawing? Until you do such comment will be considered wishful/malicious thinking.
DeleteThis lack of ability to grip with OU's catastrophic state, without having some anti-JU comments to "make things better" is so childish. Trolling JU with half-baked rumours is really not gonna pull your company from its current state of one foot in the grave. Best you focus on your own sick man, as he looks like he's on his last breaths, which no coastal beauty or billions and billions of tourists can resuscitate. Lol
DeleteAnonymous 11:24, we are ready for OU's bankruptcy, don't worry, no one in Croatia will get too excited about it. There are facts, you know, they simply can't do their job properly and people know it.
Delete@10:21 AM
Deletewe have reached a new level of stupidity with this post
"JU will be asking Aviolet back for its planes."
aviolet is JU. aircrafts are in JU possesion, there is no different company, a/c are registered on JU, they are often used in regular traffic to step in when some other JU a/c is ot of order, its just the livery ffs.
Both of you are idiots. Friday's news had 117 comments but as some of them were idiotic off-topic fighting, it now has only 69 comments left. Your stupid JU vs OU discussion will be deleted.
DeleteWhat a joke of an airline. lol. Creative accounting of most twisted nature is done each year, to show a plus. Guess someone will now have a fat minus in their end of year figures, due to this.
ReplyDeletePlease, stick to the topic, we are not talking about JU ;)
DeleteI was definitely NOT referring to JU, and have stuck to the topic 100%. ;)
DeleteOU is a perfect example of how arrogance and sitting on one's laurels leads to decline. From a relatively dominant ex-YU player, they can't even service their engines these days, or show a plus in their books, without selling family silver every year. And it's not like the world around them has stopped for them to catch up. With no one anywhere interested in buying this loss maker, the company can survive only with government "loans", and we all know what big daddy in Brussels thinks about those.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAgree, 10:17, but OU is not the only carrier in Ex-Yu that has its "big daddy/mummy", don't you agree?
DeleteWhy do you have to immediately refer to others in the region? We are not talking about them, today we are referring to OU.
DeleteOf course others have their big mama and big papa, Adria has 4K and Montenegro has Milo.
OT
ReplyDeleteSPU
Dec 15: 28.652
Dec 16: 30.693
2015: 1.955.400
2016: 2.289.987
This year definitely 2.500.000!
ZAG added 178.289 passengers this year.
DeleteSPU added 334.587 passengers this year!
If both airports keep this growth then we will have:
SPU: 2.624.574
ZAG: 2.944.376
So in 2018 SPU might overtake ZAG. :)
Not by 2018, but by 2020 yes! Especially that ZAG has almost non announcements for 2017 (just Monarch), and Split has so many.
DeleteBut that's the thing, SPU keeps on getting more and more so its growth will stay as it is or even increase. ZAG on the other hand might have its growth stay at around 5% reducing the difference even more.
DeleteIn 2017 ZAG might not add 178.000 but 145.000 new passengers.
But keep in mind that it is not all organic growth. It depends also on "borrowed" tourists, from Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt. It situation there improves, the growth will go down.
DeleteThe situation is similar to the 1990s, when Spain and Greece "borrowed" the tourists who used to go to SFRYugoslavia.
Looking at the situation in the Middle East I think it's safe to assume that SPU will be safe in 2017 and 2018. No one in his right mind will go to Turkey or Egypt with these problems there.
DeleteI think you are right about the next two years.
DeleteDoes anyone know if airlines are starting to send bigger planes to SPU because of space restrictions?
DeleteIt is safe to assume that even with the recovery of the North African and Middle Eastern states Croatia will over proportionally participate and position itself as a big player in the Mediterranean. During the 1990s Croatia lost huge amounts of tourists due to the war and especially to those countries, Those tourists once lost to these countres are recognizing Croatia as a new gem on the tourist map. So the growth at Croatian airports might continue well into the future.
DeleteTalking of seaside airports, LCA recorded a 24.5% passenger growth in 2016.
DeleteBoth Cypriot airports welcomed 8,974,163 passengers. Not bad for a country of 830.000 people.
Charter flights brought an additional 428.000 passengers while passengers flying on scheduled flights increased by 919.000 passengers last year.
Some will recognize again. The others will not. It is up to Croatian tourist workers to keep as many as possible.
DeleteSome people are temporary guests. They would preferably chose to stay in an all-inclusive closed resort in Turkey, Tunisia or Egypt, but it is not possible at this moment.
For the same price they get B&B or half-board in Croatia. Some people see their summer holiday as total relaxation and do-nothing and there is not much you can do.
Greek and Spanish tourism also profit immensely from the crisis in the Middle East. They have excellent growth numbers. This is not something Croatia-specific.
DeleteNEMJEE how many passengers exactly in Larnaca for 2016 ? Thank you.
DeleteThey still haven't published separate numbers but LCA should be around 6.640.000 up from 5.330.914 in 2015.
DeleteNo wonder Air Serbia decided to keep LCA in winter time. The island is seeing strong demand even in slower months.
Congrats, Split!
DeleteOT
DeleteZAD
Dec 15: 1229
Dec 16: 2096
2015: 487,652
2016: 520,924
With all the new announcements Zadar could climb to 600,000.
Really nice result, this year will be even better!
Deletecongrats to SPU and ZAD
DeleteMalta will also have great results.
DeleteI am afraid that BEG airport will be surpassed after SOF by MLA and RHO too regarding airports in the general region. More from further away too.
All tourist destinations in non Muslim countries had a record breaking 2016 and it looks that 2017 will be even better.
How on earth is Malta "in the region"
DeleteSouthEastern Europe.
DeleteFor the rest of Europe this is our "region" and not just the ex-Yu nations.
Exactly. Thank you for including Malta. Any additional info and discussion is more than welcome. Some people are obviously frustrated and this is their way of feeling better so ignore them. :)
DeleteWhat are you talking about? South eastern Europe is more or less the Balkan peninsula. Malta is South Europe like Italy. Greece is either here or there.
DeleteWhat are YOU talking about?
DeleteAll of Balkans, Greece, Malta and Cyprus are part of Southeastern Europe region.
Croatian coast, Bulgaria, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Spain and Portugal had all great increases in airport traffic. Most of their airports above 10%.
DeleteBravo to all.
Malta lays beyond Italy, when regarded from the Balkans. If Malta is SEE, then Italy is also there. So you need to include all Italian airports. Either that, or just acknowledge that you made a mistake when you included Malta in SEE.
DeleteThe rest of Europe considers Malta as SEE.
DeleteIf that upsets you you can also look at the results of Italian airports.
It will make BEG numbers look even worse by comparison.
Ahahaha ma molim te! Po kojoj bi to logici Malta bila na istoku? Onda ubaci i Italiju u tu grupu! Ahaha! Sta si spavao za vrijeme sata zemljopisa? A i sama logika pomaze. Not in your case though.
DeleteThe rest of Europe considers Malta SEE????? Where did you get that info? If you keep repeating it, it want become true. Jeez!
DeleteGuys, doesn't matter if he mentioned Malta. Give him a break. No one normal minds the OTs so stop harassing people who write them.
DeleteGrow up.
Što znači da SPU i DBV opako brzo dostižu ZAG. SPU raste duplo brže. Ako se ovaj trend nastavi SPU će prestići ZAG 2020. A i DBV nije daleko od toga da prestigne ZAG.
DeletePogledamo li najve novih linija za iduću sezonu:
ZAGREB (2)
London Gatwick 28.4 - Monarch Airlines
Manchester 29.4. - Monarch Airlines
DUBROVNIK (11)
Salzburg 27.3. - Eurowings
Manchester 29.4 - Monarch Airlines
Munich 29.4. - Eurowings
London Stansted 30.4 - Jet2
Glasgow 30.4. - Jet2
Doncaster-Sheffield 4.5. - Thomson Airways
Belfast 14.5. - easyJet
London Southend 17.5. - Flybe
Naples 26.6. - easyJet
Basel 28.6. - easyJet
Manchester 22.7. - easyJet
SPLIT (8)
Salzburg 28.3. - Eurowings
Gothenburg 30.3. - Norwegian Air Shuttle
Marseille 9.4. - Volotea
Amsterdam 22.4. - KLM
Manchester 5.5.- Thomas Cook Airlines
Dusseldorf 5.5.- Azur Air
Dublin 27.5. - Aer Lingus
London Stansted 7.7. - Jet2
Lako možemo zaključiti da će se razlika još više smanjiti i da bi se moglo i bitno brže desiti da SPU i DBV preskoče ZAG.
Meni samo nije jasno kako Zagreb kao grad sa 1,1 milijun turista, ogromnom dijasporom, koji je centar gospodarstva regije nema prioritet da dovede LCC i time privuče u prvom redu više turista i dijasporu da više putuje, te potakne gospodarski rast. Kako to nije interes i zračne luke i turističke zajednice i lokalnih vlasti?
Mislio sam da je nedostatak kapaciteta na starom terminalu razlog slabog rasta, no sad je sredina siječnja i još ništa. Već treće povećanje cijena od kada je koncesionar preuzeo ZLZ baš i neće pridonjeti novim prijevoznicima.
Ali kao sto je neko gore napisao, veliko je pitanje ako ce ZAG dodati skoro 180.000 putnika u 2017. godini. Cene karata ce skociti sto ce dodatno smanjiti potencijal. Sada je pravi trenutak da LJU privuce sto vise niskobudzetnih.
DeleteNovi aerodrom u Zagrebu je skup i nije ga jeftino odrzavati. Ali opet... ima prostora za LCC.
The old terminal in Zagreb should've become an LCC terminal if they wanted better options for passangers, which would've significantly raised the traffic. However money talks and I guess they figured that cargo will bring them bigger profits. Even so, I'd be surprised if ZAG didn't surpass 3 million next year.
DeleteSplit is a totally amazing story and I wish them all the best! Of course even there it couldn't have gone w/out a typical balkan story. And now, because of 4 "wrong" words in a contract, which were in Slovenian, instead of Croatian...they'll get the new terminal in the summer of 2018. It could've easily been sooner. Such a small airport handling over half a million passengers during summer months...hats off to them!
Very good. As an outsider, what are the fares like between LHR and ZAG? I mean is OU cheaper than BA?
ReplyDeleteNot! BA is much cheaper! One I payed ticket ZAG-LHR with BA and it was cost 135€, with OU was 240€.
DeleteThanks for the info. Seems odd. I mean BA is the better known brand. OU should do more to attract people to their flights.
DeleteOU has a better product. BA has become a glorified lowcost. Their service has become an absolute disgrace.
Deleteyes, but the question is how much service can you get and how much service do you need on this 2hr travel?
Deleteanswer - not much
Good decision which will benefit the company in the long term.
ReplyDeletehas anybody looked at this as kučko's negotiation chip with the government? i.e. "if you don't secure some bank loans i will have to sell he slots?"
ReplyDeleteanyhow, OU is probably the only airline in region which could actually make a profit. i really hope they will some day, otherwise what are we talking about here?
montenegro - just waiting for milo to pull a plug on life support
serbia - JU is lossing some serious money when you look beyond creative accounting
slovenia - adria sold to 4k to restructure it and possibly sell it to LH as a lean asset
macedonia - no national airlines there
bosnia - B&H ceased operations
meanwhile, each year lcc are getting more serious about this market
As someone already mentioned on this blog, all these carriers won't look like this in a few years. Ex-Yu is a rather small market, even bigger carriers in Europe have problems. Personally, I see JU and OU surviving, but, who knows.
DeleteAs above mentioned OU is the main today's topic and I do not see the reason why situation in JU has been anyhow compared to OU.
ReplyDeleteDoes it make OU fans feel better I do not know, but I advise accent to be put on the following sentence
"The situation is very serious", the source from the ministry said, adding that the engines must be serviced in order for aircraft to continue flying"
We have official confirmation from Ministery that the situation is serious, maybe the most serious of all other ex-yu airlines.
With current business model OU started making losses which were somehow in the past compensated by selling various property. Now, when we have a case that selling LHR slots is not allowed OU must take loans which of course need to be paid back together with interest on some day.
If OU cannot make the profit with current low oil prices and tourism booming, it remains logical question when it will be possible. Without making profit the loans with interests cannot be paid back anyhow except taking another loans...
And where that road ends we all know.
"If OU cannot make the profit with current low oil prices and tourism booming, it remains logical question when it will be possible."
DeleteAll fair points, deserving proper answers, not excuses.
I wish OU many successful years ahead!
NIKI resumes flights to DBV
ReplyDeleteeff 5 May
HG2334 5 VIE DBV 0525 0640 0 321 1:15
HG2334 7 VIE DBV 1250 1405 0 320 1:15
Charter Austrian myHoliday
DeleteOS2701 7 INN ZAD 11.06.-03.09. DH4
Niki Sunday flight should be A321 - they will have no more 320s
DeleteThank goodness the government stepped in.
ReplyDeleteOvo su odlicne vesti za CTN ali i za putnike iz ZAG koji ce imati lakse konekcije.
ReplyDeleteJel ima nekih vesti o novim Regionalnim Avionima.
INN-NS
What is up with TK and its IST flights. I know there has been a crazy storm, but this is clearly incompetence. SAW airport has been handling situation way better. I think TK has cancelled flights to BEG for 4 days in a row now.
ReplyDeleteMany people thinking my testimonies about Turkey have to do with racism or chauvinism, while in fact it has to do with stupidity and incompetence. Every drop of snow brings Istanbul to a standstill, as if the government still didn't figure-out that the only thing where Turkey is definitely in Europe is - climate.
DeleteI travelled with TK 3 times in total, and out of these 3 times only once was the flight not cancelled to BEG. Later I found out it was due to a low number of pax. It was at the time TK just introduced double daily flights to BEG and the loads were not that great. Both times the morning flights were cancelled and the pax were scheduled for the evening one. Some may call this bad luck, but I think it is more than that.
DeleteFor all those who think it is bad luck, it is enough to read other's people testimonies:
Deletehttp://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1351417&start=50
Let's try to imagine the amount of hate JU would get if 10% of this was happening at BEG.
DeleteWe're engulfed in temperatures nearing -20 and snow storms from almost a week and not a single flight cancelled out of Kiev, well, except to Istanbul.
DeleteI wouldn't even travel to Istanbul right now.
DeleteHuge congratulations to the Croatian public and especially to those brave people, who put their careers on the line to get this information to the public in the first place!!
ReplyDeleteTrue citizenry in action!!
We have already sold our airports and banks why do we even bother about this useless airline...
ReplyDeleteWe cannot compete with the giants of Europe, it will die sooner or later regardless of what we do. I'm sure the management viewed every option available before considering selling the slots...
Who will provide the loan? a foreign bank with foreign interest?
Hrvoje
Absolutely agree.
DeleteThat may be true, but it is a rare success nonetheless. Also, if there's any chance to ever sell OU, you needed those slots. It's not very likely that OU will be some miracle story, but had this not happened...it wouldn't just be unlikely, it would be literally impossible.
DeleteMind you...you certainly cannot compete with the "giants of Europe" while the government is running the company. And even though it's sort of indirectly, it is running it, make no mistake about it.
Now in the hands of a proper investor, those European giants really wouldn't matter that much. OU could be a success story regardless.
Ok. So lets see the logic there. Keep slots to look more attractive. Best case scenario get bought out by Lufthansa at which point they own our airline and our "slots".
DeleteWe need to put our pride aside and think we our heads for a second, we are selling off Croatia piece by piece to Europe's top states. All that we will have left is our flag and the illusion that :our" country is doing well by glaring at the brand new french airports and brand new german aircraft.
Hrvoje
They've sold 5 slots http://www.poslovni.hr/hrvatska/croatia-airlines-prodala-pet-slotova-na-londonskom-heathrowu-za-19-milijuna-dolara-322828
ReplyDeleteTito would shift in his grave is he saw what is happening to ex yu.
Delete