Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat plans to operate a total of five one-way scheduled flights from Zagreb to Montreal during the 2018 summer season. The services are set to run exclusively on sectors from the Croatian capital as a stop on the airline's scheduled seasonal flights between Zagreb and Toronto. The majority of the services will be maintained during the post-season period in October. The full schedule includes flights on May 30, June 6, October 10, 17 and 24. Currently, no outbound services will operate from Montreal to Zagreb. The changes to the airline's summer plans for Croatia come just over a month after Air Canada Rouge announced the launch of a four weekly seasonal service from Toronto to Zagreb for 2018.
Air Transat promoted its 2018 European summer program in Toronto on Monday night, unveiling a change in the equipment on its services to Zagreb. Flights will now operate with an Airbus A330-300 aircraft instead of the -200 series. Despite the upgrade, capacity on the route will remain the same. The airline operates the A330-300 in two versions, with 345 and 375 seats respectively, although the former will be used on flights to Zagreb. Speaking at the summer program launch event, Nicole Bursey, Air Transat's Commercial Director for Ontario and Atlantic Canada, said, "Our European program is growing, but it's not growing with a bunch of new destinations, that’s not what it’s about. It’s about strengthening our position in places where we already have a great program, and about recognising what Transat does really well and what the Canadian market needs".
Tickets for the five one-way Zagreb - Montreal flights are available for purchase through the airline's website. The carrier previously announced it would resume services between Toronto and Zagreb on May 15, 2018, some two weeks ahead of this year, while the second weekly service will commence on June 3, which is also two weeks in advance of this year. The airline recently noted that there is "pent-up demand" for flights to Zagreb, adding that it has an advantage over its competition as it sells package holidays to Croatia, in addition to individual tickets. "We wanted to make sure Zagreb doesn’t become an air-only destination. It’s a gorgeous country and there’s so much to explore and so much to do", the airline's Business Development Representative said. The carrier's leisure division is offering both seven and fourteen-night travel packages to various cities across Croatia. Furthermore, it has concluded deals with eighteen hotels in the country.
Nice and informative article, thnx Ex Yu :)
ReplyDeleteThis will play well in to overall strategy I think, Transat is testing the waters for Montreal, they're seeing how many travelers get off @Montreal, see if there's demand before they launch full on seasonal service in 2019.
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised if air Transat tries to do something with NYC and Zagreb, in not to distant future. Numbers for October are out, and all indicate Croatia and Zagreb had spectacular year. Way above my projections, which were 17.5 million for whole of 2017. I expect 155-160 000 Canadian visitors and 500-520 000 US Visitors this year. Advent in particular will be quite poplar this year.
Croatia - 17.85 million visitors,
Zagreb - 1.09 million
Croatia - Nights: 100.4 million
Zagreb - Nights: 1.99 million
Projections for rest of the year.
Croatia - 18.5 million visitors,
Zagreb - 1.35 million
Croatia - Nights: 103.4 million
Zagreb - Nights: 2.4 million
Projections for 2018.
Croatia - 20.5 million visitors,
Zagreb - 1.55 million
Croatia - Nights: 112.4 million
Zagreb - Nights: 2.75 million
Ko pola Malage. Bravo Croatia.
DeleteKoja polovica?
Delete@AnonymousNovember 8, 2017 at 6:54 PM
DeleteTrolling ey,
Croatia 18.5 million, Entire Andalusia - 11.2 million, Malaga being largest resort.
However, these facts are totally irrelevant, cause your country gets less than million visitors.
What's the logic of the routing Toronto-Zagreb-Montreal-Toronto? Why not operate the stop in Montreal from Toronto as well. Weird.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that they have some tour groups on these dates. They might be traveling from Montreal to Prague but will return from Zagreb to Montreal after their tour.
DeleteMy guess is that they are feeling the pinch from AC Rouge entering the market which is why they are introducing these only after the busy summer period.
DeleteAC Rouge definitely has the advantage here with more connections and a smaller, more economical plane.
^ It could be a response to AC Rouge but why no flight via Montreal from Toronto. Why just from Zagreb? That is what I don't get.
DeleteThat is definitely odd, I agree so it could be a group that they are carrying. However the fact they are adding a stop could indiate advance bookings are weaker than last year.. which makes sense.
DeleteIt could be that there are fewer passengers on the ZAG-YYZ sector in October so they decided to add the stop in Montreal?
DeleteUnless it's some technical thing like crew duty times or something so they need to land and decided to put tickets on sale.
According to a poster below it is because they intend to introduce the A321LR in 2019 which will be used on Zagreb routing. The aircraft won't be able to make it nonstop to YYZ from ZAG but will make it nonstop to ZAG.
Delete"The aircraft won't be able to make it nonstop to YYZ from ZAG but will make it nonstop to ZAG"
Delete???
Yes nonstop YYZ-ZAG but can't make it nonstop ZAG-YYZ
DeleteSame why British must make stop in Ireland on City-New York but don't have to do it back.
DeleteThose are basic in air traffic. Eastbound is longer than Westbound (Earth rotation + winds)
Maybe testing the market for regular flights in 2019?
ReplyDeleteHope so!
DeleteI hope they stay past 2018. In most markets where Air Canada Rouge started flights (after Transat developed the market) they withdrew.
DeleteWould be great if Air Transat served Montreal and Air Canada Rouge Toronto.
ReplyDeleteI think something like this may happen. I'm not sure if 6 weekly flights between YYZ and ZAG can be sustained at the moment but we will see. I hope it can and we get Montreal on top of that.
DeleteNo VFR traffic from YUL.
DeleteMeaning?
DeleteNo Visit Friends and Relatives (VFR) Traffic from YUL? Are you serious. The whole area is full of Ex-Yus.
DeleteCompared to Toronto area, there is very limited number of exYu people in Montreal area, even less in rest of the Province of Quebec
Delete@SMNovember 8, 2017 at 4:47 PM
DeleteTotally irrelevant, Most visitors to Croatia are tourist that visit Croatia in conjunction with other regional destinations, Austria, Italy, Slovenia.
Nice
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the A330-300 config. How come some of their 300s have the same capacity as the 200s?
ReplyDeleteThey have two versions of the A333. V2 has 12/363 so some 30 more seats in economy.
DeleteDoes that mean that seat pitch is better on the first version?
DeleteFrom what I can see online the seatpitch is the same.
DeleteI still don't get it though. Does that mean they have empty space in the plane since they have around 20 seats less? A bit odd.
DeleteI assume they will use the a333 variant with more business and less economy class. Therefore the no. of seats equal the A332 with more eco.
DeleteSo it seems they noticed that business is selling well on these flights.
Take into account that they operate some of the highest density A330-200s in the world so this is a nice change.
DeleteI wonder how many cases of Deep vein thrombosis they have on the A330-200. The A330-300 with the same capacity as the -200 is a much better option.
Deletethis -300 version has 2-4-2 seat config iso 3-3-3.
DeleteExcellent news!
ReplyDeleteAlmost 500 000 American tourists visited Zagreb so far in 2017, hope for flights to/from the US soon!
ReplyDeleteAnd how many Canadians?
Delete500.000 pertains to U.S. tourists to Croatia, as far as Zagreb is concerned it's more like 70.000 tourists, which is still good ...as that makes them 2nd most frequent passport holders (after Koreans), and ahead of Germans. Direct flights will only improve this as many of them arrive in Vienna or Venice, and then rent cars to drive around the area. This way, ZAG could take a small chunk of the "regional entry point" market...
Deletesome exciting news coming soon - stay tuned ;)
I have been tuned for three years now.
Delete35.000 Canadian tourists in Zagreb and 140.000 in Croatia.
DeleteIt's not as if nothing had been done in regards to this project ;) It was simply not talked about too much in public by the those "in the know"... Besides, there were infrastructural obstacles all this time ;)
DeleteInteresting that there are more Canadian tourists than US but this could be down to the fact that there are direct flights too.
DeleteI think the numbers are there from/to the US to sustain flights to Cro.
It is not true
DeleteZAG
Canadian 35.000
USA 80.000
Crotaia
Canadian 140.000
USA 500.000
It's true, I just went to their website and sure thing you can buy tickets from Zagreb to Montreal on those dates. Return flights from Montreal are all separate flights to Toronto and then on to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteAlso checked the seat map on their website when booking Zagreb next year and it is the A330-330 with less capacity or should I say the same as A330-200.
DeleteI think it's quite impressive that 2 Canadian airlines will be flying to ZAG. YYZ-YUL-ZAG-YUL-YYZ could be a good option for Air Transat in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think the Croatian market is quite favorable for airlines from US and Canada. Basically markets that can have two types of passengers to secure loads - tourists and diaspora. So I think we will be seeing more and more airline from this region add ZAG.
DeleteI agree, and what is especially noteworthy is the fact that AT has "stretched" the service into May and the entire October. Also, their double weekly flights will now be operating for the full 4 months. AC and AT will run a full 6 x weekly schedule up to October 10th which is amazing for stipulating the post-season in Croatia.
DeleteAir Transat and AC Rouge focus on different market segments, and we can only hope that one of them is going to tap more into Montreal...
Which airline did most people use to use from Canada to Croatia and vice versa before Air Transat?
ReplyDeleteAustrian Airlines and then Lufthansa.
DeleteThought so. Thanks.
DeleteWell, in whole Canada Austrian only flies to Toronto. So many would use AC to any star alliance hub in Europe and then continue on LH or OU to their destination in Croatia. Austrian carries many US transfer pax though.
DeleteI do wonder whether there is any impact on Austrian and Lufthansa on their flights to the region as more and more nonstop flights open, including long haul.
DeleteOf course it does.
DeleteAustrian and Lufthansa used to sell many two stop connectiosn through Canada. Not everyone flew to YYZ.
DeleteLike someone said I think these flights might have been scheduled for some group which will fly out of Montreal to some other European city.
ReplyDeleteand then return back from Zagreb.
DeleteWhich European destinations does Transat serve from Montreal?
DeleteLisbon, Malaga and Paris are flown year round. Athens, Barcelona, Basel, Bordeaux, Brussels, Dublin, London Gatwick, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Rome, Venice and Tel Aviv seasonally.
DeleteWow that is quite an extensive network. Did not realize they were that present in Europe.
Delete20 European destinations but only two of them year round (Lis,Cdg)
DeleteAnd from Toronto they fly year round to London Gatwick and seasonally to Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Paris, Rome and Zagreb.
Delete@ Anonymous November 8, 2017 at 9:43 AM
DeleteAnd Malaga is year round :)
Their plan was to introduce A321LR in 2019. What if they will get first in October 2018 and will use it for ZAG October flights. In that case they can fly those flights only on ZAG-YUL-YYZ Westbound, but can do it nonstop Eastbound.
ReplyDeleteThat makes more sense now. Thanks
DeleteNo it really doesnt, sorry.
DeleteSo then why would they partially already start in May with that strange routing?
And why would they upgrade equipment scheduled for the whole season if they actually plan to downgrade It?
Yes the A321LR will have only 200 seats and they will be used to replace A310s. So this theory doesn't make sense.
DeleteProblem is only that A321LR should come in 2019, not in 2018.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeletePity it's only one way but still good to see a couple of flights which might become regular in 2019.
ReplyDeleteThey have been growing steadily on these flights. First year they flew once per week. This year they added second weekly flight. Next year they will extend the season and operate a couple of Montreal flights. Who knows what will happen in 2019 :)
ReplyDeleteDidn't someone say a couple of days ago that they will operate some Split charters?
DeleteAnd Split Airport CEO said a few days ago that they are not interested in long-haul flights.
DeleteCan not. Split runway is 2.500 m what is not enough for A330 (need 2.700). Because of that SPU can not have long-haul.
DeleteAirbus A330 Landing - Split Airport SPU:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58LJjUaf06U
It is good to see a that Croatia has a strategy concerning its airports. Why would ZAG/DBV and SPU fiercely compete each other. They seem to be realistic and that is what was reflected by Mr. Novaks words. The distances in Croatia are simply to small- with the exception of DBV to ZAG.
Delete@ 12.49. Yes an A330 or 747 which have all been numerous visitors to SPU can land there, but they cannot depart with a full payload to long haul destinations. They can however to destinations within Europe.
DeleteWith payload limitation they can (if they fly shorter route with less patrol on it or with less passengers than capacity with full patrol load).
DeleteBut, for sure that has no economical sense in case of intercontinental routes (to fly with 80% capacity).
@ A 12:56 + A 1:17
DeleteThanks for that Info
Congrats Zagreb. Hopefully the US is next.
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising flights from the US haven't started yet.
DeleteI think they just want to test the Croatian market for Montreal flights. It's a good sign.
ReplyDeleteThey could fly 1 flight per week to Zagreb in winter via PRG, VCE, FCO, BUD or ATH which are also seasonal. Could work.
ReplyDeleteIt's questionable whether there would be any demand outside of Christmas/New Year period. Besides, their planes are very busy in the winter operating to the Caribbean. They even lease out extra capacity.
DeleteAre there Croats living in the Montreal area?
ReplyDeleteYes, many of them. But also there are many tourists from Montreal area in Croatia.
DeleteGood news, and it shows how airlines can slowly develop a market. Better be cautious in the beginning an develop it steadily. I'm sure Montreal will operate both ways through the season in 2019.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how many passengers they handled on their ZAG flights this year?
ReplyDeleteIn 2016 they had 5,000 passengers and flew once weekly. This year they flew twice weekly so I assume over 10,000.
DeleteTheir average loads have been around 85% to 90% which is very good.
DeleteLast year it was 26.523 passengers.
DeleteGreat to hear that the loads are healthy. They could easily do a few rotations to Belgrade and Skopje during the summer.
DeleteThere is reason why they don't do it. For sure they are not against collecting money, right? So there is no enough potential passengers.
DeleteNot enough passengers? Do you have some YYZ-ZAG and YYZ-BEG O&D numbers to prove it or just talking nonsense?
DeleteGood news that flights are already on sale for next year and the YUL addition, albeit limited. This route is developing nicely.
ReplyDeleteAir Transat has the perfect strategy for this route. Seasonal for diaspora and tourists. They sell packages, they allow your inbound to be to another city and outbound from Zagreb and vicersa. They are flexible.
DeletePa to se moze sa svakom kompanijom.
DeleteGood news for ZAG.
ReplyDeleteWell this is quite different from what people on here were claiming in the comments these last couple of days and that is that they will operate Montreal-Zagreb flights since it will only be one way from Zagreb and very limited with 5 flights and also there is no increase in capacity even though they will swap to larger variant of the A330.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThis makes absolutely no sense. I don't understand what is the point of 5 flights only from Zagreb to Montreal and no flights from Montreal to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteActually, flights from ZAG to YUL are flights from ZAG to YYZ with stop in YUL. Flights from YUL to ZAG are via YYZ with short connection time.
DeleteI am quite sure that ti is just toporary plan and that will be more flights ZAG-YUL on seasonal basis, maybe next summer.
Yes that's what it says in the text but YUL to ZAG via YYZ is not on the same plane or flight number.
DeleteNice. Hope for some new carriers/routes to North America in the next few years!
ReplyDeleteAfrica!!!
DeleteIs this he first time there will be flights from Montreal to Zagreb since JAT used to fly the route>
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteOvo samo znači djelomično ispitivanje tržišta i najavu za ljeto 2019., kada bi Air Transat lagano mogao prebaciti na Montreal a ostaviti Air Canadi Toronto. Win - win situacija za Zagreb :)
ReplyDeleteA što nebi AC letio i iz Montréala?
ReplyDeleteSo how much does the one way ticket from ZAG to YUL cost?
ReplyDeleteThe cheapest I found is from 280 euro
DeleteWait... what? Price war in full swing.
DeleteThose one way flights to Montreal are meant for the people emigrating from Croatia, lol! ;)
ReplyDelete