Hefty financial losses in 2008

Fewer costs in 2009?

Although a leader in passenger numbers, Croatia Airlines’ losses have doubled in 2008 when compared to 2007. The airline has carefully planned new measures to decrease costs. The Croatian carrier has also mapped out two possible outcomes for 2009, one of which (the optimistic one) would see passenger numbers rise. In 2008 fuel costs have increased the most when compared to 2007 making it the airline’s largest expenditure. Croatia Airlines spent 11 million Euros more than in 2007 for fuel. The airline fears that the global financial crisis and the downturn in global aviation could have a negative impact on the carrier. The airline’s first scenario predicts that the price of crude oil will stabilise at USD 75 per barrel which would allow the carrier to introduce new services to Barcelona and Gothenburg in early June as well as introduce 2 new Bombardier Dash8-Q400s to its fleet this spring. This scenario also predicts that the Croatia Airlines fleet will spend more time in the skies, increasing total flying time by 7%. The airline hopes that over 2 million passenger will use Croatia Airlines in 2009.

The less optimistic scenario sees the negative impacts of the global financial crisis and the effect it could have on Croatia Airlines. The negative scenario predicts that less passengers will want to travel in 2009 and as a result seats on the carrier’s aircraft will be empty. In this case the airline will suspend the 2 new destinations in its network and would delay the arrival of its 4 Airbus A319 order with a possibility to delay the 2 upcoming Dash8s. Every year carries its own surprises and results will be published on the blog when they are released.