Emirates has said it is content with the performance of its daily Dubai - Zagreb service launched just over a month ago, with solid advanced bookings for the coming period. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said, "Emirates is pleased with the reception our product has had in the Croatian market and booking levels over the coming months are encouraging. Passengers out of Croatia are travelling to Dubai, but also to Far East, Australia and the Indian subcontinent and coming into Zagreb from Dubai and other destinations from Emirates' global network". The carrier previously said it anticipates handling some 80.000 passengers on the route in its first year of operations.
Despite the encouraging outlook, Emirates will make seasonal adjustments to its Zagreb service this winter by reducing frequencies during the slow months rather than maintain its initially planned daily schedule. Two weekly flights have been removed during the 2017/18 winter season from November until late March, with services to operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. "The new flight is a year round service and we will work hard to support the route and grow passenger numbers going forward", Emirates told EX-YU Aviation News. In the coming months, the service is also expected to boost cargo at Zagreb Airport, with up to 23 tonnes of freight available per flight on its Boeing 777 aircraft, providing same-day transportation options for temperature-sensitive shipments to the UAE.
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| Emirates sees strong premium demand on Zagreb service |
Emirates has shifted equipment on its Zagreb service over the past month between different variants of the Boeing 777 aircraft depending on demand, as the jets vary in seating capacity. However, in an encouraging trend, the airline has recorded better than expected bookings for its premium product, meaning there are more passengers flying upfront in first and business class. Emirates' main competitor on services from Zagreb to the Gulf, Qatar Airways, has responded quickly by introducing a further four weekly flights, for a total of two per day, from its hub in Doha to the Croatian capital. However a number of those planned services have so far been cancelled as the airline only started accepting bookings for its additional frequencies just days before they were launched.
I am sorry but they should have sucked it up and kept daily flights. Five weekly is a joke when QR and TK offer double that.
ReplyDeleteThe only advantage EK has is that it's far superior aircraft and product which attracts all the premium passengers.
@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 9:02 AM
DeleteEither you're trolling or just talking nonsense.
Emirates will keep flying to Zagreb is what is most important. They're reducing November, January, February and March. December will be daily too. Zagreb is very busy in December and first two weeks of January, as it hosts major Ski events, giant slalom, slalom for women and men as well as major cultural event, Zagreb Advent and Zagreb Christmas Market, which brings in 175 000 visitors over the period. (2016 data)
Zagreb numbers for first 6 months of 2017 are impressive, 21% growth on last year, 20% more arrivals and 23% more overnights. If this continues for the rest of the year, Zagreb will hit 1.51 million + 20% = 1.38 million visitors, and 2.02+20%=2.425 million. http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/publication/2016/04-03-02_01_2016.htm
2018 will be even better, things are looking great for Zagreb. Zagreb could hit just over 2 million tourists in 2020. 1.75 million foreign and 300 000 domestic visitors.
^ not true. It stays 5 weekly in December as well.
DeleteMajority of tourists visiting Advent are from Croatia and Slovenia. Very little tourists from far east for instance.
Delete
DeleteArrivals to Croatia in first 6 months, non European nationals only, up by 37%
https://s20.postimg.org/rxqxky859/Dolasci.png
@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 4:03 PM
Absolute lie.
http://www.mint.hr/UserDocsImages/170605_TUB-HR_%20016.pdf
5 weekly is whole of December and January as well. Whole winter schedule.
DeleteSo many tourists but it seems not enough to push passenger numbers at ZAG past 250.000 per month
DeleteSo they are reducing flights and they are happy?
ReplyDeleteSeems like Croatia's exports of agricultural produce helped keep the route in winter.
DeleteSeems that the route just need a bit time, thats all.
DeleteNeeded time for what? Be reduced to five?
DeleteTime? He he. Sure.
DeleteGlad they are satisfied with ZAG performance!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that the route is working for them.
ReplyDeleteWas way too optimistic to expect daily in winter.
ReplyDeleteThat's not what we read on here about a month ago
DeleteThe question is if they will go back to daily next summer or keep it at 5x per week.
ReplyDeleteIf they are having daily flight this summer and recording very good bookings with the trend looking up, why in the world they wouldn't go back to daily?
DeleteI'm just wondering. Here in Oslo they fly 5x during the summer but last year it was daily. At the time they started they even said it would go 10 weekly.
DeleteMaybe because the yields did not meet their expectations? B777 is a very expensive aircraft to operate and we don't know how long the government will back then financially.
DeleteAnon 10.10
DeleteYou can't compare the two. Norway is not a tourist Mecca like the Croatian coast is becoming. Oslo is also a tiny town since the population is spread out in all country.
Game of Thrones was filmed in Dubrovnik, more films will be too and this will create the same demand like Lord of the Rings did for New Zeleand.
This reduction is only temporary and we can expect even better results in 2018 as more tourists visit Croatia.
I wasn't trying to compare Norway and Croatia or saying that the same would happen to the Zagreb flights. Just asking a question :) no harm intended.
DeleteAnon @ 10.12AM
DeleteSo, you have a proof that government is backing this route financially? Or you can gather the proofs from reading between the lines?
Frishki, It was reported on here in the statement given by the airline's CFO. Not my problem you can't deal with reality.
DeleteActually that's not true. You just interpreted the CFO's statement like that. He didn't mention financial assistance of any sort.
Delete@10.19
DeleteOslo Airport handled 25,788,610 passengers last year - 14,567,406 were international. Zagreb handled 2,776,087. All Croatian airports handled under 10 million.
@frishkiJuly 11, 2017 at 10:06 AM
DeleteCause our eastern neighbor is hoping Emirates fails @Zagreb, jealousy is strong opiate.
@ Anonymous 3.59 where did you see I was hoping Emirates would fail in Zagreb? I asked if they were keeping it daily next year?
DeleteBtw I live in Oslo, I'm not from Serbia or of Serbian descent. Seems like asking a simple question is not allowed here because of some people who act like they are policemen.
Although OSL inbound is demand may be smaller than DBV, OSL has far greater demand in outbound. Scandinavian can afford to travel long haul. Majority of Croatian cannot afford and typically spend a few weeks in the seaside during the summer.
Delete@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 4:05 PM
Deleteyeah, yeah right, and pigs can fly.
Whatever dude. If you really must know I'm half Macedonian and half Nowegian. Hope EK flies double daily to Zagreb next year. Sorry to have had the audacity to even ask a question and upset you in the process. Jeez
DeleteAnon at 10.19am - the last time i looked, Zagreb was not located on the coast...
DeleteI'm sorry, but it's way too early to say, I mean the route is barely 40 days old. Let's see what happens until next June and if no new players appear. ZAG is still a regional, small airport compared to VCE, VIE and BUD, so filling approximately 700 seats daily is not easy.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt over time they'll be able to fill B777 3000ER aircraft on a daily basis, I always thought sending B777 200LR would have been better choice. However, exports of stuff to UAE is one reason why B777 ER is on the route, transport of non lethal military equipment to UAE is on the up, and agricultural non-meat exports might also pick up. Emirates alone could bring cargo numbers @Zagreb up by 25%.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how the competitors will respond to EK this winter. Will TK keep double daily or go back to 10x per week, and how many flights will Qatar fly.
ReplyDeleteTK will be ten weekly
DeletePeople keep talking about how TK and QR will be affected but hat about OU destinations like Munich, Vienna, Frankfurt? A lot of people used to transfer through these cities to reach Asia.
DeleteVIE will suffer the most as there is already too much capacity on the market.
DeleteGood luck EK
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteokay, i am starting new blog scoreboard
DeleteSL-HR-BH-SR-CG-MK
0--1--0--0--0--0
U can limit it to HR and SR. It was always like this. The rest is just sidedishes :-)
DeleteI also miss the person with "projections" he/she need to update us what the demand for EK flights will be in the next 10 years.
Delete@JU520 BEGLAX
Deletewell, imho it is just customer habits.
previous scoreboard had only those two countries, so people were discouraged from cheering to aviation victories in the rest of the countries.
with this new scoreboard, enthusiastic and agile management and 5y plan we are sure to attract robust number people in cheering and turn this project in true hub of the free aviation thought.
Yeah, you can leave just HR and SR, the rest of us are just standing on the side and laughing at your wannabe supremacy, and how ridiculous you two look :)
DeleteAnd here we were expecting an A380 to ZAG...
ReplyDeletePeople were getting way ahead of themselves. But 5x per week during winter is absolutely fine in my opinion.
DeleteIt's coming. During the busy February period.
DeleteIts coming- exactly as Hai nan is coming to BEG!
DeleteThe only issue for you is that Hainan has confirmed they are coming
Deletehttps://tinylink.net/evGZU
Yes the confirmed that they are planning sth. The line should start in 8 weeks and the flights have not even been put up for sale.
Delete1:09
DeleteJealousy sucks doesn't it? :)
I don't understand EK even scheduled the winter operations to daily. Should have been 5 from the start. ex-Yu is much more seasonal than other markets.
ReplyDeleteIt's very good to hear about good premium loads. That's important.
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth I was most skeptical about them filling premium cabins but it is really unexpected how well they are doing in that segment.
DeleteIf they are doing THAT well, why decrease one of the most important things for premium cabin pax - frequency? I mean, why decrease already? Anyway, if initially they did weekly in summer and 5 weekly in winter, I would buy that argument, here I can only read that advance business is developing lower than expected or they didn't make their homweork in market study initially.
DeleteGood news for QR and partly TK, which will offer double frequencies vs EK, and that is very, very important for all higher yielding passengers, being in premium or in economy cabin.
Wow. They should really consider hiring you for their market analyst.
DeleteSo, they are lying in their statements? They should keep daily flight just because they are very satisfied with selling of the premium seats, while the rest of the plane would be almost empty? Those 15-20 premium seats would make it up for the rest of the economy? Is that what you're saying?
Seems like the route isn't performing all too well for them. You see that their statement is a generic one. No airline will come forward and say that they are struggling. Just look at JU's JFK statements. Same story
DeleteI am saying that not every communication from the airline should be taken as a sure thing...yes, everything is doing great, yet they decrease already. They could have also kept daily with 77L for instance as an option to keep sucessful premium and limit volume pressure in the back. And don't insult people around for no reason: premium cabin is what is tough to fill at decent yields and is tightely linked with frequency. If that is developing so healthy, why not keep it? Economy you can always tactically dump and intiaite demand. Go see what happens when you sell DXB at 250 and not 400 etc..or BKK, SYD etc. I am not saying they are lying, I am saying there is much more to this apart from expectedly very positive airline PR. And that very positive PR coincides with frequency reduction.
DeleteFrishki, you are very, very naive if you are blindly believeing every airline statement. Espically when decreasing frequencies. It is not the end of the world of course for EK, far from it, but it is hard to believe that something is doing better than expected, yet you decrease service.
DeleteBoth of you last two Anons.
DeleteIf you'd like to stand behind your statements - log in, show your name.
Also, how did I exactly insult you with calling you a market analyst? You get offended easily.
I don't have to believe no one, therefore their statement that won't change the course of my lifeline, but it seems like you just couldn't wait for this kind of announcement to start backing up your theories. If that makes you satisfied - be my guest.
Also, looks like they are the first airline that is lowering the number of their operations during the slower months of the year. Never happened before.
Frishki, calm down. Point is that PR says basically opposite to their actual actions in the market and that airline PR will never say anything negative or indicate struggling performance. But, you were the one sticking to it regardless. Other people just wanted to debate, and you immediately became protective on EK, sarcastically calling anon market analyst for EK. Just chill a bit :)
DeleteTalk here is that the B77L should be used instead of the B77W because it is smaller, however that reduces the Y capacity, not premium. Premium capacity on this aircraft is still 8 first class suites and 42 business class seats, you just reduce economy class by roughly 100 seats. EK keeps this aircraft mainly for ultra long haul flying, jumping in on shorter flights between longer trips. They only have 10 B77L's. ZAG rotation is 17-18 hours long. B77W for this route is fine.
DeleteYes, I was only stating it as some option capacity wise (I know it is used for ULH primarily), as no need to decrease premium which is apparently doing great. At least as per PR that is. Reducing frequency hits premium sales as hell, much more than economy, as you lose corporates, offer limited options for people needing them etc...
DeleteReduction from7 to 5 pw acutely support announcement that they are satisfied with performance of the route. If not they would cut frequencies to 4 even 3 pw like most of companies do in Zagreb. Even more lot of routes are seasonal so does not have any frequencies in winter even that they have 5 flights pw in top season (Madrid by Ibera for example)
DeleteAny reduction is not a good sign, what are you talking about? :) EK is NOT a seasonal airline that we should be happy to maintain services year round; it is their norm. I mean, really....now reduction is actually indicator of EXCELLENT performance? You really believe that? Hahah....
DeleteAnon 1:30 PM, your post is definitely in top 10 posts of the year, or decade! :) Hell, I think you win gold medal hands down! :)
DeleteI just love it when some people here are talking mean !!
DeleteMean? More like realistic and not romantic to the extreme of calling frequency reduction a great thing and an indicator of perfromance above expectations.
DeleteAlmost all legacy carriers reduce capacity in winter in our region. Some reduce frequencies (for example Turkish, CSA, KLM, Lufthansa, Brussels... to ZAG) or capacity of plane (Air France, Qatar... to ZAG). That also happened in other airports in region.
DeleteWhen company does not have smaller plane to put in same number of frequencies like Emirates or Air Serbia for JFK flights they have to reduce frequencies. Unlike Emirates, Qatar has smaller planes so they will go with same frequencies but smaller plane.
So, basically anonymous 1:30 was right.
I would buy that argument if they initially filed daily in summer, 4 weekly in winter and increased to 5. Or even filed 5 and maintained 5. However, when an airline files daily and then decreases later on, it can only mean it did not meet projected estimates. That doesn't mean it is disaster, but please let's not spin capacity and frequency reduction into indicator of good performance.
DeletePurger, from when is frequency REDUCTION indicator of satisfying performance? If you reduce something vs original plan, it is pretty visible that you expect less business than anticipated as otherwise you wouldn't file daily in the first place. Needless reducing is pointless and bad for business, and one does that only if one must do it. Be it EK or any other airline. Always reflecting performance below initial expectations. Period.
DeletePurger could have helped it by flying out of Zagreb with his marzorektkinje :D
DeleteMaybe EK would have changed their decision.
DeleteWhy on earth did QR schedule the second daily flight and is now constantly cancelling it? I mean why did they do it so late? No one in their right mind would be able to fill a plane by starting to sell tickets 3 days before the flights start. They should have scheduled the second daily flights from 1st August, instead of 1st July.
ReplyDeleteBecause they have too many planes with no place to fly to. They probably went down a list of destinations that are performing well and could use additional frequencies but as you say it was poorly planned. Actually, I doubt they planned it at all.
DeleteConsdiering developments in GCC, I think they will soon load August also, maybe even later months...so that will be easier to sell. Agreed about not having places to fly on short notice, but locally good to see that ZAG id doing well for them as it was instantly added new capacity in this time of need.
DeleteI agree, I have no doubt that Zagreb is going well for them (they wouldn't have chosen it if for extra flights if it wasn't) but just a bit poorly planned like annon 9.38 said. Hoping the double dailies continue.
DeleteToo many planes because of ban from ME countries.
DeleteSo, they pick some of their best performed routes to increase frequencies, Zagreb including.
But, than they have unplanned request from British (where Qatar has shares) for as many planes as they can rent them because of their strike. Qatar gave them 7+ planes.
QR gave BA 9 planes.
DeleteInteresting that they said they have passengers from India. Good to hear.
ReplyDeleteDoes somebody know something about average LF on EK flights to Zagreb? Tnx.
ReplyDeleteThese are the loads for the past two days.. Looking good if I may say.. Both are 777-300 3-class, sometimes they send 777-300 2-class which is usually closely full or even overbooked in both cabins..
Delete09.07.
EK 129 1/21/210
EK 130 0/9/255
10.07.
EK 129 2/26/309
EK 130 2/19/272
Those are pretty good.
DeleteThanks for that. Do you have a general estimate on the LF for the first month?
DeleteAnon 11:26
DeleteAs of now the first month stands nicely at 70% LF..
The beginning when the route was launched, the LF from DXB were amazing (80%), on the other hand the LF from ZAG in the first 10 days were poor (around 45%), which actually harmed the LF for the month of June in general..
But in the last week both sectors had an amazing LF as of 85-90% which is amazing..
Will be interesting to know how Qatar is doing in comparison. Are they still seeing high LF's or have their numbers taken a hit?
DeleteAs expected summer is no problem. A lot of people are visiting beautiful Croatia and going on holiday. Winter on the other hand is much tougher.
ReplyDeleteWhy are people getting so worked up about 5 weekly? It's normal to reduce frequencies during the winter. Like the article says it's a seasonal adjustment.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBecause whenever someone mentioned it a month ago he was called a jealous hater.
DeleteThat is so not true! No one was called hater because of possible reduction during winter. Those reductions are normal in winter, in all region. Most of companies in Zagreb do so.
DeleteGo read some posts on EK and you will see what he is talking about
DeleteIt's becoming very competitive on the market from the Gulf to Croatia.
ReplyDeleteStill think EK should extend its flights to JFK although very satisfied with the possible LO flights. Either way great for ZAG and Croatia. Bravo Hrvatska! Now you're flying!
ReplyDeleteWhat possible LO flights? They haven't mentioned anything. I think they are going for cities which can sustain year-round flights which ZAG can't.
DeleteBad day for JU when LO announce their plans. You might be surprised with the discussions happening with OU. Growth plans across the Balkans transferring pax via ZAG. Great for ZAG
DeleteHmm not gonna happen, OU's network is rather weak. They would have to go agaisnt OS which would crush them both.
DeleteInteresting.... we might move from having mother Lufty to mother Lot. (jokes :))
DeleteBut that does make sense when you consider the Croatian and Polish Three Sea's initiative. We could see more cooperation between Croatia and Poland.
@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 10:53 AM
Delete@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 9:54 AM
What a heck do you know !!!!
You're just as clueless as the rest of us, asserting things when you're totally clueless only makes you look stupid.
Stop trolling, you don't know anything, and the least what Emirates, LOT or anyone else for that matter is going to do.
Anon at 10.36am - why do you say LO's announcement is bad news for JU ?
DeleteI don't get it.
Anon 7.39
DeleteBreathe, you will have a heart attack
Anonymous at 7.57pm - everything that happens in ex-yu is bad news for JU ! Haven't you realsied that by now ?
Delete"The new flight is a year round service and we will work hard to support the route and grow passenger numbers going forward"
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that they are in it for the long haul. I wish them good luck.
How many flights did EK operate to Prague and Budapest when they started these routes?
ReplyDeleteBoth were daily and PRG was soon upgraded to an A380 due to tourist demand.
DeleteAnon 10:11 - you meant to say they upgraded it to A380 after 5 years of operating PRG as a destination.. not that soon I would say.. ;)
DeleteEK started both routes with the A330 initially, keeping them daily. The A330 had a much smaller capacity and was easier for them to build up the route with the aircraft. I think ZAG has excellent loads, and am quite surprised with the loads in the premium cabins to be honest.
Delete@JATBEGMELJuly 11, 2017 at 1:01 PM
DeleteEmirates should really send B777200LR, 300ER is way too big for Zagreb, I want Zagreb to be successful and sending 2nd biggest plane in the fleet to Zagreb ain't the way to make huge profits.
B777200LR corresponds to A330-300. Around 250-275 seats. And from June and early July loads we can see this would be best aircraft for Zagreb.
B77L consumes much more fuel than the A332. ZAG is ideal for the A321 NEO
DeleteQatar's A321 NEO yes, but EK won't have single-aisle aircraft.
DeleteSo EK's future service could be with B787-9/10.
I was saying in general what's the perfect aircraft for this kind of route... generally speaking
DeletePR has its own rules...what was said is "it is not gold all that shines"...between the lines-emirates are not getting what they wanted
ReplyDeleteYeah but let's be realistic, they got a pretty sweet deal. Probably no charges at ZAG and the HR government pays for their ads in far away places.
DeleteYes, PR.
DeleteIt says "Emirates is pleased", not "Emirates is very pleased", which means ... so so.
The other would mean quite good.
Are you serious? I'm not from Croatia but this is really funny. You are a PR language expert now?
DeleteThere was no subvention from Croatian tourist board as you can see by their financial report. Croatian government can not subvent flights by EU rules, so that is also not true.
DeleteSo the CFO is lying.
DeleteThe only financial support Emirates received is the one offered by Zagreb Airport, which is available to each and every airline usually during the first 3 years.
DeleteNot according to EK
DeleteCFO did say there was help from government not even close that it was financial help. It will not become true if you will repeat that so many times.
DeleteIf there was help from Croatian tourist board it would be in their financial report and it is not. Also you can see that in budget if Government would illegaly support that route, and there is nothing like that in budget report.
Oh please, there are ways to get these things done. You make it sound as if Croatia is Sweden. The CFO said that the government is helping them with marketing in far away destinations so the money is definitely coming from somewhere.
Delete@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 12:00 PM
DeleteDon't know about CFO, but you're defiantly lying and making things up. Trolling.
Of course, God forbid someone mentions something negative about HR, the most ideal country in Europe. lol
Delete*definitely
DeleteOne could say the same about Serbia, Anon 7:49
DeleteHahaha have you read any Serbian threads? They are toxic and Serbs are quite critical towards its national carrier which is good. The only objective Croat on here is Purger
DeleteI do not know for the deal...but wat was told means a slow withdrowal...told very diplomaticaly
ReplyDeleteI think you can hardly draw any conclusions unless you have exact statistics.
DeleteWhen Air Serbia reduced JFK in winter, people were saying it is a failure. When EK reduced Zagreb a month after launch, it is "expected" and "realistic" :D
ReplyDeleteTrue. But we don't care about Emirates as it is not financing their planes from our pocket. But Air Serbia is, and they pay expensive lease for having plane on ground most of the year.
DeleteYou do not pay.
Delete@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 10:40 AM
DeleteWhy are you lying ??!!!
Nobody said anything about Air Serbia, Croats don't care about Air Serbia and JFK.
However Air Serbia is a failure, that is without a doubt indisputable fact!
Any airline that makes €40-67 million loss per year is a failure. However, this isn't topic about Air Serbia.
You were actually among the first. And to use your language stop trolling with figures you know nothing about ;)
Delete@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 7:50 PM
DeleteClearly, you you're brainless troll that goes around making things up, trolling all day long. Silly little man.
3/pw will be even better success.
Delete"However Air Serbia is a failure, that is without a doubt indisputable fact!
DeleteAny airline that makes €40-67 million loss per year is a failure. However, this isn't topic about Air Serbia."
Luckily Croatia is so profitable with all their engine and property sales, perhaps Air Serbia should try the same and be profitable in the same way.
Love how Anon 19.48 says how Croats don't care about ASL and how they don't tradh it and then he does exactly that. Looool
DeleteSomeone pls send some cool aid to anon @ 7.48pm!!!
DeleteI think he needs more than cool aid !
Delete@7.48pm - "this topic is not about Air Serbia"... after he makes a comment about Air Serbia... gotta love this guy !
DeleteEmirates should have considered Dubai-Zagreb-Newark flights (like what they are doing in Athens). Would have been a win for both sides.
ReplyDeleteIt could very likely happen next summer.
DeleteOnly if the govt finances it as they have done with this flight
DeleteOT: LJU has +20% growth in first six months vs 2016. Foreign airlines have +33%. Most pax per route: LON 114 K, FRA 64K, IST 62K
ReplyDeleteGood for you.
DeleteThanks
Delete@AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 11:00 AM
DeleteImpressive, 1.75 million this year possible ?
Bookings in first and business class are impressive at this point. What would interest me to know is who are these passengers and where they are heading to/from.
ReplyDeleteYes that would be interesting too. Rich tourists?
DeleteSpeaking of Emirates and the ex-Yu market, there is a strong possibility that EK and Fly dubai will be merged next year. Problem of ex-Yu market would be solved that way. Here is a good analysis on the topic:
ReplyDeletehttps://tinyurl.com/ycuzldxy
Emirates simply needs smaller aircraft. I'm not talking about Zagreb here, I'm talking generally about the company. Withdrawing all A330s and leaving just B777s and A380s wasn't the wisest of ideas.
DeleteThey will get 787-8 and 787-9 from 2010.
DeleteIt was if the market kept on growing.
DeleteI think 787-9 and -10
DeleteLove seeing Emirates' B777 in Zagreb. Wish them good luck for the future.
ReplyDeleteQuestion - does EK use 1 or 2 jet bridges at Zagreb for boarding/deplaneing?
ReplyDeleteJust one - gate no 8. But when Air Transat or Korean are in same time on gates they use two gates (5 and 6) and gates 4 and 7 can be use in same time.
DeleteI think Emirates was aware that they would take a hit on the route in winter, and that will happen during the first few years before the route builds up and can generate money year round.
ReplyDeleteThankfully one smart comment today
Delete+1
Well, they certainly didn't do their homework thoroughly enough before launch. Still no harm done - better to reduce it this early than to cancel flights just before departure as QR are currently doing.
DeleteSo much for the "professional management at QR" as someone posted the other day
Slovenians will probably make up a chunk of passengers during winter. Many Slovenes go on holiday during winter to warmer parts and EK provides very good connections and competitive fares.
ReplyDeleteIn this blog there is a great deal of expert bloggers...before the keyboard and monitor who some never flown long haul by just on skyradar. More expert than companies Qatar, Emirates, Etihad and so on.
ReplyDeleteYes, this part of the world is known for highly developed aviation sector: only logical to be reflected in this forum as well :)
DeleteBut, fun to read usually, especially when people get riled up over airlines they don't even work for and kn ow absolutely nothing about. Or fight over made up numbers and 'facts' :)
Aren't you trying to portray yourselves as experts?
DeleteWhen this route was announced I said it was an overkill but people kept on throwing insults and tourist statistics at me. Schedules don't lie and just because they have some passengers doesn't mean they have the yields.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why EK is not flying to SOF, BEG, SKG, OTP...
There are not that many reasons why EK isn't flying to BEG or OTP, but there are much more why they shouldn't be flying to ZAG, SOF or SKG...
Deleteyawn
DeleteBe careful a fly doesn't fly in. ;)
DeleteYou keep forgetting that W6 is a serious competition in OTP and SOF. They offer flights as little as 120€ return which is a threat to FZ, forget alone EK.
DeleteDXB is not a really a transfer destination compared to DOH or IST.
Besides, FZ will increase their frequencies in BEG and SOF, so it is easier to fill a 738 compared to 772/773.
What EK expects in ZAG in February when FZ was leaving empty with 2 weekly flights?
DeleteFZ empty? Are you serious? Hahahahaha
Delete20 pax in February sounds rather empty to me
DeleteForget about EK launching ZAG-JFK. The only realistic airline is Norwegian. With the lovely Dreamliner it would be much easier to fill the plane up. They can launch ZAG-EWR 2 pw and ZAG-OAK.
ReplyDeleteEK will most likely decrease frequency to 5 pw in winter but might upgrade A380 next year in the peak season.
It'll rather be 5p/w year-round or down to 3/4 in winter. That is if they keep it.
DeleteSo during winter QR will basically match EK capacity (or even exceed if double daily, but that is not sure thing of course), but with double frequencies. I would say QR is in much, much better position now!
ReplyDeleteThis decision makes sense, ZAG is dead in winter, until late April actually
ReplyDeleteThe premium product (first and business class) is doing great,the cargo is about to start bringing in even more money, the flight overall is a total success, the numbers are improving in both directions, bussiness people from the UAE are alredy looking into investing, it's not just about tourist, diaspora and passengers connecting to further flights towards western EU, and the fact that they will continue to fly over winter with 5 weekly flights is actually quite amazing, considering the type of planes they use.
ReplyDeleteThe way things look now, 80,000 passengers for this year is a very conservative estimate, considering that during this first month od operations, the two flights (Zag and back to Dubai) had already been bringing in at least 500-550 pax per day. That is 15 to more likely 16,000 pax added in the month of June, just by Emirates. Again, during their first month of operations! That means that even if they had only brought 15,000 pax in June and if they were to staye at that level for the remainder of the year, it would still mean 100,000 passengers. Not to mention that it is far more likely that they'll improve on those numbers, with trends showing that. I think they'll probably bring in 100 - 120,000 pax this year, which in their case means only 7 months.
We'll see how the competition responds, they won't sit idly as EK takes their lunch. EK will be vulnerable this winter and other predators will viciously attack them.
DeleteAlso, I pray to God their yields are good like their loads.
It's great to read your positive assessment of EK's prospects. That is no doubt great for ZAG and Croatia.
DeleteHowever, people travelling on such a premium service to arrive in ZAG and then to connect onwards to Western EU points (on who i have no idea), when EK has so many direct services is such a stretch, it isn't funny.
I can get that they would connect on OU to pts on the coast, but WEstern EU destinations ??? C'mon - get real !
Not only EK having flights but other airlines serve DXB as well. I can't imagine many flying from Dubai to Rome via ZAG and SPU on OU's Dash.
DeleteThey have made the right decision to reduce their services from daily to 5 this early. But, be prepared for further reductions in Nov and especially the back half of Jan and Feb.
DeleteBetter to have adopted a more prudent approach such as what QR have done on many routes to ex-yu and then grow it as the demand grows, rather than have come out all guns blazing and now reduce their winter schedules so soon after launch. That suggests that forward sales are far from what they had anticipated at launch
One thing that's not very encouraging is that they've reduced flights this early. I can only imagine how bad advanced bookings are.
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ReplyDeleteJP 137 VIE-LJU CRJ 900 has been circling around Ljubljana for a while. Anyone know what's going on?
Bad weather.
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