As the peak of the summer season begins to arrive, new airlines have announced services to and from Croatian cities. The national airline, Croatia Airlines, will face serious competition in Zagreb from the local charter Dubrovnik Airlines as it announces regular low cost services. Dubrovnik Airlines, founded 5 years ago and based in Dubrovnik, has until now operated European charter services with its 5 member fleet combination of MD82s (3 aircraft) and MD83s (2 aircraft). The airline will inaugurate low cost regular flights out of Zagreb from June. Flights will operate to Helsinki twice per week, Madrid three times per week, Rome three times per week and Stockholm also 3 times per week. Madrid is shaping up to be the new destination of the year as Iberia also prepares to launch the service later in July. All flight details will be visible soon on the right hand side in the new route launches section. Despite competing with Croatia Airlines, Dubrovnik Airlines has leased one of its MD83s to Croatia Airlines as the national carrier awaits the arrival of its delayed Bombardier Q400 jets which are now scheduled to arrive in June.Meanwhile, the Egyptian charter carrier Lotus Air will unexpectedly begin services to Osijek. These flights, which begin on June 15, were originally supposed to operate from Hurghada to Belgrade however the Serbian Aviation Authority has denied issuing the Egyptian charter carrier a license, in order to protect the national carrier Jat. Serbian tour operators which have already made agreements with Lotus Air will now have to transport their holiday makers to Osiejk where they will connect to Hurghada. Jat Airways still has a license to operate charter services to Egypt with services to Hurghada, Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh. However, Jat recently lost its charter license for flights to Antalya, Turkey after the Turkish authorities were unsatisfied with the fact that Turkish charter airlines only received a license to operate to Niš, but not to Belgrade within Serbia.
Congratulations to DBK - long overdue, and some very interesting destinations chosen from Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteRumoured to also be purchasing Airbuses to replace the ageing MDs, I think this could be the start of something big for the airline.
Only 1 route not in competition with mainline operators (Helsinki), will be closely following how flights to FCO pan out - i've always believed OU needed to be operating 3-5 direct services in addition to the daily 1-stops via DBV or SPU.
As i've mentioned in a previous comment, having a 167-seat jet running around for a 76-seat prop is a little bit of overkill, perhaps SunAdria were used elsewhere this year?
Just out of curiosity - to what extent can Dubrovnik airport expand? I think there's a new terminal or terminal extension, but is there any possibility to build extra taxi ways or apron space with all the physical restrictions there (mountains)?
ReplyDeleteIs this company going to start selling their tickets on-line? Thanks
ReplyDeleteIt will be very difficult to expand the runway due to the environment but the new terminal, which is under construction, is going well.
ReplyDeleteAll these flights can be booked at www.extra-travel.hr
Extra! Hvala najljepsa!
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