easyJet is considering further expanding its operations in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia as the airline prepares to launch six new routes later this summer, all of which will run on a seasonal basis. The carrier, which has already introduced three new routes to the Croatian coast this summer, will follow suit with the addition of a further five this July, thus offering more than one million seats for sale to and from the country this year. It represents a 23% increase in capacity. The low cost airline is now considering a return to Zagreb in 2018 from which it suspended operations three years ago. It previously maintained flights from London Gatwick, Paris and Dortmund to the Croatian capital. easyJet handled over 630.000 passengers on its flights from Croatia last year. During the peak travel month of August, the airline offers almost as many seats as Croatia Airlines from the country.
easyJet will commence operations between Geneva and Tivat next month. The no frills carrier is also looking into the possibility of launching services from Bristol to Tivat next year. The airline said that both Montenegro and Bulgaria are emerging holiday destinations which have managed to generate strong interest from its London bases, with similar results expected from Bristol. easyJet entered the Montenegrin market last year with seasonal flights from London Gatwick and Manchester to Tivat. The airline handled some 10.500 passengers between London and Tivat and a further 16.000 travellers between Manchester and the Montenegrin city last summer. The average cabin load factor on its Tivat flights stood at 89%. The airline noted that more flights to Montenegro are being considered as there is an increasing shift towards new European destinations, away from the traditional holiday hotspots.
In Serbia, easyJet has been approached by Niš Constantine the Great Airport to launch flights from the United Kingdom, while services from Amsterdam are also being considered. Niš is trying to attract low cost carriers with its three euro charge for handling, landing and passenger services, a policy which has proven successful in drawing low cost rivals Wizz Air and Ryanair. "easyJet is always evaluating new options in the Balkans and opportunities to be more profitable and continue growing, with the primary short-term focus to thicken our presence in our core markets", the airline said. It added, "easyJet periodically assesses the opportunities on the basis of market research. We are currently conducting business cases on several routes and then we will choose the ones that result to prove more attractive for our customers".
Unlike its low cost rival Wizz Air, which has been a dominant player in the region, and the growing presence of Eurowings, easyJet’s role in the former Yugoslavia has been limited, with the majority of its routes operated only during the high season. However, the airline says it is unfazed by the competition. “easyJet is focused on its successful strategy to expand across Europe and operates in the best interests of the company and its customers, ensuring the attractiveness of its network. This means the airline concentrates its efforts on maintaining and developing routes which prove popular with passengers. We consider competition only in regards of tactic opportunities that can be complementary to our strategy”, the carrier said.
Time to open a base in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteOnly one airport can work on a year round basis and it already has an airline based there.
DeleteThey are coming back to ZAG next year, can't wait!
DeleteThey are evaluating it, not announcing it. U2 is in a bad financial state and they are going after routes with little or no competition.
DeleteIf U2 does come to Zagreb it will be bad news for Croatia Airlines.
DeleteBtw they are closing their HAM base. They should have launched BEG from there before JU did or before W6 launched HAJ
Delete@9:09 AM
Deletehow are they at bad financial state? they had €500mil profit for 2016?
there is a decrease in cash but nothing alarming
a decrese, while most others have increase is a bit alarming. especially since all other lccs are reporting record profits
Delete@AnonymousJune 9, 2017 at 11:05 AM
DeleteYou have serious issues, please seek help.
@ 9.12.: Why are they closing their Hamburg base?
Delete"part of a strategy to focus on its core European airports"
Deletein other words, the fees were too high for them and their routes were undeperforming. Their cost structure is very high for a LCC.
Of course not even thinking about Sarajevo :(
ReplyDeleteOr Maribor
DeleteSkopje either. Wizzland.
DeleteOr BWK
DeleteYes but BWK has just created conditions for such an airline to land there ;)
DeleteBWK is getting Eurowings next year
DeleteW6 has expanded way too much in Skopje for easyjet to try it.
DeleteLet me fix that:
DeleteW6 has expanded way too much in Skopje for anyone to try it.
Eurowings is starting soon to Skopje but one thing is true. SKP has a policy of not usually having more than one airline operate the same route. As Wizz Air adds more and more destinations, there will be less and less for others.
DeleteSkopje market is served just fine by Wizz and there are enough alternatives.
DeleteIf they start Nis that would be amazing for the airport to have all three of Europe's major LCCs. Norwegian only missing then.
ReplyDeleteNorwegian and Eurowings would be missing. If they come it would be fantastic for the whole region.
DeleteEurowings has said that they are pretty interested. There was also talk about Norwegian. The airport seems to be in discussions with all the major low cost airlines.
DeleteI hope some of those discussions materialize.
DeletePegasus too from Istanbul too.
DeleteLiverpool to Ljubljana, please.
ReplyDeleteAgree. A wintertime Easy jet flight linking Manchester or Liverpool with Ljubljana would help package holiday skiers.
DeleteWould be nice if they started a destination outside of the UK too.
DeleteEasy Jet should start flying from Skopje.
ReplyDeleteBravo NIS!
ReplyDeleteThey should finally open a base in Dubrovnik. They offer so many flights now.
ReplyDeleteDubrovnik airport is expensive as hell and are probably not interested in subsidising airlines for basing an aircraft.
DeleteDa, ako ne baza onda svakako nekoliko letova tijekom zime.
DeleteTheir passenger base are tourists and I don't think there would be enough demand for DBV in November or February, especially because they have to have a very high LF to make their flights profitable. So I don't see them going year round to Dubrovnik.
DeleteDBV in November is nice..
Delete+1
DeleteWhy did they leave ZAG anyway? High fees or low demand?
ReplyDeleteFees.
DeleteAnd they were obstructed in collusion between the airport and Croatia Airlines. Croatia Airlines had a public campaign against easyjet about how they are paying lower fees and how OU will cut flights from Zagreb if easyjet isn't treated equally.
DeleteZAG needs new routes that can be served by airlines like U2. They should covert the old terminal for LCCs.
DeleteZagreb Airport at that time had been operating at the limit of its then terminal capacity. The old terminal had a capacity of 2 million Pax. Of course fees were high. Now thing go in the right direction and ZAG will reach 5 Million Pax bey 2020.
DeleteFees are even higher at the new terminal.
Delete@AnonymousJune 9, 2017 at 9:28 AM
Deleteit was number of things, BA with London route was taking new pax and OU and Eay were on the loosing side.
Fees were just the excuse, but yes, Easy had to pay same fees as other legacy carriers did. Problem with Easy was also they charged about same for Gatwick as OU did for Heathrow return. Cheapest fare on Easy to Gatwick was £140, cheapest return was £265.
OU had offered return for £280 from Heathrow.
Easy was too expensive at times. If they come to Zagreb next year, they'll need to re-think routes, it can't be London, must be less congested route, ideally major French, Spanish or German cities.
Berlin would be idea, German Wings is charging €350 for return on that route. Some 20 000 Croats live in Berlin. Dortmund, Essen or Hanover would be nice ideal 2nd German destination. Some 500 000 Croats live in Germany as part of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation. Rhur area has over 150 000 Croats. ~2.5 million Germans visit Croatia each year, 70-72000 Visit Zagreb.
Gothenburg in Sweden is good destination too, 10-12 000 Croats live in the area around Gothenburg and over 20 000 Bosnians. In Sweden there are some 70-75 000 Bosnians, yet no direct link to Sarajevo.
Malaga, Seville, Palma in Spain, aren't connected to Zagreb, 270 000 Spanish visitors expected in Croatia this year, 30-32000 in Zagreb. There needs be direct connection year round with Spain.
Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse, Marseilles, need connecting with Zagreb, 575000 French visitors in Croatia, 58000 in Zagreb. We need more connections with France. There are over 250 000 Croats living in France part of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation. Some 10-12000 Croats moved to France in past 3 years.
Bologna, Porto, Bergen, Krakow, Budapest, Athens, Geneva, Dublin and number of other cities could be also considered as three's no direct link with these.
EasyJet could do well in Zagreb if they plan it well.
Zagreb airport management is pushing for Legacy carriers as this is where the money is. However, they won't say no to LCCs. EasyJet, Norwegian and GermanWings all plan to establish their base in the region, Zagreb seems most logical point. Well GermanWings has practically made Zagreb its base now, but other two...
It now seems certain Zagreb will handle 4.5 million pax by 2020, that is all but certain, 5.0 million highly likely, the question is, can Airport hit 5.5 million pax in 2020.
If Easy, German, Norwegian set up a base in Zagreb, you could be certain of that.
Voltea, Transavia France, Vueling, all have plans to introduce year round flights to Zagreb next year. So LCCs are coming, question is, will Easy be too late, if they don't take the opportunity next year.
Anon @2:53
DeleteAre you on some kind of drugs?
Yes, he is, but don't be harsh with him.
Deletethat is krvaricp from the forums
Deletehe always writes these ten mile long posts about zagreb, just ignore him
Hello anonymous@10:34pm - nope, wrong. This was not krvaricp as this is me writing now. My posts on other forums are descriptive and rational. Happy to see there are other ZAG enthusiasts, although such persistant prediction of pax numbers is getting old and boring. Certainly would not read this feom me...and I don't hide under anonymous like the rest of you.
DeleteCheers
That is total nonsense to tell that those long posts with companies to come to Zagreb are written by krvaricp. He is signed here as Peter and it is not his way of writing at all. I know guy personally and for sure I can tell you it is not him.
DeleteThanks Alen, I appreciate this :)
DeleteNice. Easy Jet is by far the best budget airline. Much better service than Wizz, and miles better than Ryan.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Out the big 3 LCCs, they are the best. Much better than Wizz and Ryan. Not to mention they fly to primary airports.
DeleteIt is better than many legacy carriers.
DeleteThe issue is that they are extremely expensive for an LCC. Average tickets are around 150 euros.
DeleteThats expensive?? I guess a bus ride of 12hr and 100€ is cheaper and more fun? Lol
DeleteI wish planes flew on oxygen and that tickets could go even cheaper
I do not remember when I paid more than 100 EUR ticket. Usually the price is between 50-80 EUR.
DeleteThey are "expensive", because as an earlier post said, they fly to primary airports (unlike the other LCCs which fly to secondary airports), where the fees are significantly greater - so they can never be priced similarly to other LCCs
DeleteThey are comparable to Eurowings! Easyjet needs much higher yields compared to FR or W6. That´s because they fly to main airports and are not compensating their yields by subsidies.
DeleteWhat I don't get is that this is an airline offering a million seats from Croatia yet they don't fly to a single city through the whole year.
ReplyDeleteBecause the demand is really limited during the winter months.
Deleteis easy jet the busiest foreign airline in Croatia?
DeleteI think it is Lufthansa
Delete@9.33 because that is the nature of the market - highly seasonal as a result of tourist traffic.
DeleteSomething else from Belgrade other than Geneva? They managed to beat Swis and Etihad Regional on that route so why not and try to compete on some other route. Paris or Rome maybe.
ReplyDeleteRome they tried as well as Milan and for some reason didn't succeed, even though the flights were always packed, especially from MXP...
DeleteI think Paris could work, also what they should consider would be something from UK...
Bravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteBravo Crna Gora!
DeleteBravo Srbija !
DeleteBravo Sveti Petar u sumi
Deleteeasy really missed its chance in ex-YU. It is now dominated by Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteThey have a pretty big presence in Croatia, the largest market
DeleteTrue but its all seasonal. Wizz tends to operate all of its routes year round.
DeleteYes, all-year round. Like LTN-SPU, WAW-SPU, KTW-SPU, GDN-GBN, VNO-GBN, WAW-GBN, BUD-RHO, ... Should I go on?
DeleteTheir flights to Montenegro seem to be working quite well. Their target from the UK is English holidaymakers, but what about Geneva?
ReplyDeleteDiaspora living in Ch.
DeleteCh?
DeleteSwitzerland.
DeleteWe need them back in Zagreb.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteHoping for new routes from Belgrade as well. :)
ReplyDeleteMe too. But they seem very cautious after they suspended Milan and Rome.
DeleteIf Al Italia goes down, maybe LCC can resume FCO at least?
DeleteAlitalia won't go down, don't worry. ��
DeleteMy guesses:
ReplyDeleteINI-GVA or FCO
TGD-CDG
ZAG-SXF
Dublin, Glasgow Could work for them.
DeleteDUB is usually always flown and operated by FR.
DeleteZAG-CDG would work quite nicely.
TGD-CDG would be a really good one for them but they would destroy Montenegro Airlines on that route. Paris is one of their better performers.
DeleteRumour has it that EasyJet will open a base in ZAG next year with services to London. Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam.
ReplyDeleteOU won't like that one bit.
DeleteIf this is true, London will especially be a problem. Monarch recently started the route, British will boost frequencies during the winter, while OU is selling slots and reducing flights. They will probably suspend London in the end.
DeleteUK generates 1 million pax to Croatia. There is enough area for multiple carriers, inlc. OU.
DeleteOU will stay on UK market, you like it or not.
It's not about me liking it or not. Croatia Airlines CEO said this was a major loss making route for them. They are decreasing LHR to five per week this winter and there are plans to sell all of the slots.
DeleteAgain and again the same story about slots selling.
DeleteWhy do you care about that?
You just guess that OU will sell remaing slots. Don't make any speculation.
OT - I heard that due to serous issues ASL will fire at least 20% of the stuff.
You are free to comment that and make it not happen.
You need to calm down. I have nothing to do with Air Serbia or Serbia. Stop being some internet patriot. I am saying that if Easy Jet starts London - Zagreb it will put even more pressure on Croatia Airlines operation on this route where yields are poor anyway, and that is according to the airline - not me. And yes, if you even follow the least bit of Croatian aviation there is strong indication the rest of the slots will be sold. Trying to prove your patriotism on online specialised forums where we are trying to discuss aviation normally is dumb. I'm not here to write Bravo Hrvatska every day. I'm here to actually discuss the news and how competition can affect others. I do hope Easy Jet will start this route because I think the more competition the better, I think our airline will have even more pressure on this particular line. Zivi bili pa vidjeli.
DeleteYou are absolutely right. We are here to discuss aviation related topics in a civilized way, which some participants obviously have difficulties with.
DeleteYour statement that competition will put pressure on OU is quite right, but it will put pressure on any airline which cannot meet pax demand. If that is for low cost flights to the UK (and yes London is the biggest aviation market in the world with the highest proportion of LCC) then customers will optimize themselves by choosing the best product for the lowest price. It is up to OU then to evolve in that direction to meet that demand or lose the game. BA has done exactly that. Nonetheless the market between ZAG and the UK is growing at a huge rate with almost 3 flights a day while DBV and SPU get to see up to 8 daily flights to and from London. Beside that PUY, RJK, ZAD and until recently OSI see flights from numerous carriers. This clearly indicates that the market is growing, and again OU will always have its share in the game, although if they where to change their pricing (one ways) etc they could stimulate that market additionally. In the end the connectivity to and from especially London to Croatia is more than outstanding an it will continue to grow well into the future. Its not that Croatia can sustain barely 2 flights to London.
There's loads of room for growth on Zagreb = London - Zagreb route. 67000 Brits visited Zagreb last year, 80 000 expected this year.
DeleteNumber of British visitors to Croatia is growing at 11% yoy, million visitors projected in 2018, 1.2 million in 2019. Zagreb normally gets around 15% of that.
I can tell you this, 180 000 + 50 000 Croatians who will use the route each year. add business travel, at least 30 000, and you have nearly 260 000 ppl using the route.
260 000 / 365 = 710 each way. Daily that is 5 direct flights to London. This is by 2019, 2020, numbers could be 300 000 or 820 pax per day, 6 direct flights.
Enough room for Easy, BA, OU and Monarch, in fact some could fly twice daily with 90% load factor.
BTW my estimates are on the conservative side, real numbers could a lot higher.
Zagreb will need at least 35 weekly flights to all major EU cities, this is bare minimum by 2020. To Paris, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, even 7-8 daily flights. Easily.
Zagreb has just started to roll, old airport terminal had no capacity for expansion, this was clear to new management and they did nothing to improve the thing as they knew they needed to concentrate on completing new terminal.
New terminal done, they'll bring loads of carriers, I predict 50-55 carriers at Zagreb airport by 2020. Right now there are 20-25.
I predict OU's share of traffic at the airport will fall down to 50% by 2020, and 37% by 2025, this is if OU can reach 3 million pax with fleet expansion, 4 A320 Neo, 6 CS100 on top of current fleet of 12 aircraft.
Zagreb is now realistically looking at 7.5-8 million pax by 2025. 7.5 million if Airport handles 4.5 million pax in 2020.
Dream On...
DeleteGreat news for the region! More affordable flights.
ReplyDeleteAko vlada dozvoljava, Srbsko trziste je dovoljno veliko za tri sekundarna aerodrome. Od cega samo je Niski aerodrom aktivan. Aerodrom Beograd ne zavisi od LCC prevozioca. Na njemu su daleko veci troskovi, nego na sekundarnim...
ReplyDeleteRodney, Sydney
Serbia for LCC would also need an airport near Subotica and hungarian border.
DeleteVecina zemalja u okruzenju ima po jedan centralni aerodrom i vecinom par sezonskih. Odakle samo Rasi ideja da bi mi mogli izdrzavati manje uspesne aerodromo sve je uglavnom jadno
Deleteod Baltika do Crnog Mora osim prestoickih ajeroportova.
Ne.....vecina zemalja u okruzenju ima samo 1 aerodroma...samo BiH ima 2 relativno skromna a samo Hrvatska ima 1 centralni i 7 sezonskih.
DeleteUnknown, Airport near Subotica don't needed because you have Airport in Budapest where all LCC flight. It's only less then 2h driving.
DeleteLooks like the end of our 3 legacy airlines is very near. Soon the Balkans will be operated by "NATO wings" and the destruction mission will be fully accomplished.
ReplyDeleteIt's their own fault. They had years to adapt and become competative while enjoying state support.
DeleteWhich "3" LA do you mean?
DeleteI think in this case it would be Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Montenegro Airlines since the article is about those three markets.
DeleteCalling airlines with fleet of 10-20 aircraft including turboprops and regional jets legacy carriers is hillarious :D
DeleteYou've got to start from something.
DeleteStart? You're saying like they've started business last year.
DeleteExcellent news.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to some more low cost flights.
ReplyDeleteExcept for Croatia they have very underwhelming coverage in the rest of ex-Yu. Although Macedonia is the only ex-Yu country they don't serve.
ReplyDeleteIf they start season flights to Nis from Britain, it would be the winter season.
ReplyDeleteOT: Turlish increases DBV flight to 10 per week with immediate effect!
ReplyDeletePeople forget that Thompson used to fly from London to Nis a couple of years ago, transporting mostly tourists goin to ski on Kopaonik so I think there is a market there, plus the diaspora traffick.
ReplyDeleteWhy do Croats (? I guess) like so much to predict how many passengers will Zagreb be handling by 2020, 2025 etc. and how the hell do they come up with 5.5, 7.5 million passengers? For god's sake, ZAG didn't even pass 3 million yet. I mean I've never seen someone from Serbia, Slovenia etc. here predicting how many passengers will BEG or any other airport handle in 2020, it's all random people predicting some boost in the number of carriers and passengers at ZAG..
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteIt is always the same guy, why do you say Croats?
Deletei think it is just one guy doing that
Deletehe always writes these mile long posts about zagreb here and on the forums
Yeah I guess it's just that one guy, my intention was not to offend anyone, sorry if I said something wrong, it's just that I find his projections very silly. Especially those about 50-55 carriers in Zagreb, I mean wtf
DeleteIf you don't like his posts, just skip them. Some predictions are silly, but he hasn't offended anyone so far.
DeleteI don't think he offended the guy. I am asking myself thw samw questions: his predictions are based on what?
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteEmirates for weekend almost 100% full in both ways.
Nice to hear that, I'm sure the route will be successful!
DeleteWhere is now our check-in boy to provide LF for EK flights to/from ZAG?
DeleteCan easyjet come on brac?hawe lot routes from brac wich he can have..?
ReplyDeleteNiš can be a perfect winter market as well with 2x flights per week that link up with Kopaonik and skiing. Even for those that would fly to Sofia having a cheaper alternate option. I think that tourism bureaus from both should definitely link up and present a case to these airlines. Skiing in Serbia is at least half the price of major European locations. Not any easier to get to. Plus the facilities can't be that bad. Hardcore skiiers are not looking for major facilities, but are there to ski.
ReplyDeleteSta ce oni na Kopu?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete