Croatia Airlines to drop its order for four A319s
Croatia Airlines plans to cancel its multi million euro order for four Airbus A319s it made in 2008 as it looks to cut costs and rationalise its network. Although the aircraft were to originally be delivered by the end of this year, they have been delayed several times, with the latest delivery date set for 2015. However, the order has been marred by controversy. It has been suggested that the order was made so then Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, currently serving a ten year prison sentence for corruption, could secure a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Croatian carrier has denied such claims, saying the order was a sound business decision at the time.
Croatia Airlines is now looking at ways to avoid penalties from Airbus for cancelling the order. The carrier’s decision was made known to Airbus in Toulouse on Monday at a meeting attended by officials from the plane manufacturer, as well as the Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, and the President of the Croatia Airlines Supervisory Board, Siniša Petrović. The original order came at a price tag of 175 million euros.
This summer Croatia Airlines is operating a fleet of twelve aircraft. It recently leased out one of its grounded Airbus A320s (registered 9A-CTF) to the Tunisian based Syphax Airlines. However, the airline will be leasing a Trade Air Fokker 100 on a short term basis in the coming peak summer months. Croatia Airlines already has four Airbus A319s in its fleet. The ordered jets were planned as a replacement for the A320s. Croatia Airlines has one of the youngest fleets in the former Yugoslavia, with its average age being ten years.
Though the deal was not favourable from the start I still fear what the future holds for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe airline is not ready for the European Union, just like the country itself. Once competition steps in they will be forced to implement measures which will result in massive losses.
The government should be held responsible in case the airline fails as they have not prepared it for what is coming.
I don't understand why we couldn't find an investor like the Serbs did for Jat.
Well we did: Lufthansa. Just seems it wasn't the right one.
DeleteThat was a strategic partner, not an actual owned.
DeleteWith Lufthansa's purchase of Austrian Airlines there is no way in Hell that either Croatia Airlines or Adria stand a chance.
Then people complain why Ex-Yu has the most news about Serbia.
ReplyDeleteWell, look at the amounts of comments Serbia related topics get and look at the others.
Yes, and that is without the haters (who btw now had to shut-up).
DeleteWhose fault is it that there are more Serbs in the world than other ex- Yu nationalities? Ha.
DeleteGood luck Croatia Airlines!
Well, what can we do? It's not our problem Serbian women are the best looking in the region. ;)
DeleteWell here in Western world we are not like those in Byzantium Eastern. We don't need to write about how good we are. We are working and results shows. And also we evaluate and are not in level of 19th century nationalism to have so big need for insult or provocation.
DeleteGreetings from Croatia, part of European Union in 5 days! Much smaller country than Serbia which has 115% more air-passengers.
LOL shall we compare Croatia with Cyprus which is so much smaller with more passenger numbers and has been in the EU since 2004.
DeletePlus, do you really want to brag about being an EU member? I mean, Bulgaria and Romania are there and you will be raped in five days. lol
So Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and Croatia are in... but still there is no space for Serbia. Not even in 10 year plans. What is that tell you about Serbia?
DeleteYour post certainly tells a lot about you...pathetic crosses the mind first...
DeleteIt tells that Serbia should become a real respected European power as it once was. I'm sure it'll be much easier to achieve that since all the burden of waste has been all gone now (to the EU, God help her now). Hope one day will see the 100th birthday of JAT.
Delete"power as it once was"
DeleteYou mean before 1389, or after that?
Or before Croatian king Tomislav rescue you from Bezant occupation in 10th century, or after that?
And sure, someone takes care what was Serbia 800 years ago. And today it is country out of EU (and for lot of year it will stay out) with most neighbors in EU.
"all the burden of waste"... Hahahaha... sure that is inside, and the best of the best stay outside.
A picture of the cabin of Jat's new Atr! Its first flight was today (25.06) to Tivat.
ReplyDeletehttps://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1013003_10151733993559742_123127026_n.jpg
JU 682, Tivat, Gate A9.
Actually, it's JU 686, around 13h, gate A10
DeleteDid they improve the seat pitch in comparison to other ATR with leather seats?
DeleteHm, nobody from Croatia to refer to this as to "croatiaairlinesovanje"?
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYou mean "Hrvatovanje" ?
ReplyDeletePurger has commented on almost every single Jat/Etihad post but we could not see him around here. ;)
ReplyDeleteHim or Q400.
Sorry I don't have time to comment because I am in Czech republic having meeting all the time.
DeleteBut from 29th June till 2nd July I am in Serbia (Bela Crkva, Novi Sad, Apatin) so if someone wants to drink coffee...
It is stupid to use Jatovanje in Zagrebovanje or Hrvatovanje version. Especially that unnormal or parody information from Croatia is 1:100 comparing to one from Jat.
ReplyDeleteSo by this way you are not just unoriginal (it is just miserable copy) but you become reason for ridicule!
Јаој како да не, не би били ви Хрвати да не попујете Србима.
DeleteМи смо барем нашли начин да спашемо Јат а изгледа да вама инструкције из Беча и Берлина још нису стигле. ;)
JAT is about to become a major force in the Balkans and I have no doubt it will have no issues taking over Croatia's profitable lines when they go bankrupt soon.
DeleteList for economic stability in World by FFP:
Deletemost organized countries:
Slovenia
stabile countries:
Croatia
Montenegro
countries in dinger of bankruptcy:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbia
Ohladite malo ljudi, moze li jedan dan da prodje da ne bude razmirica na liniji Srbi-Hrvati? Hrvatska postaje clanica EU kroz par dana, Srbija po svemu sudeci narednih meseci dobija snaznog strateskog investitora u oblasti avio saobracaja, znaci ima dobrih vesti i za Srbiju i za Hrvatsku. Sto se mene tice, drago mi je i za jedne i za druge! Vreme je za medjusobno postovanje a ne za vecito medjusobno pljuvanje.
DeleteThere are several methodological issues with FFP, nevertheless -
DeletePROBLEM NO. 1 - Serbia is considered with Kosovo, although Kosovo is independent, effectively by large raising scores on several indicators.
PROBLEM NO. 2 - Refugees, Croatia has a larger issue with refugees than Serbia, although scores lower on this scale. Or if you wish, by their methodology it would be transfer on "human rights" - where Croatia doesn`t stand as good as it looks on this index.
Bankruptcy has also no place here, given it`s "The Failed States Index", where Slovenia scorse 163rd (group below sustainble), Croatia 135th, Montenegro 134th (both in group below "stable") Serbia 92nd, and Bosnia 83rd (both in "warning" group).
Also Slovenia scores significantly lower on human rights than it should (i.e. the "erased citizens" and cases in front of ECHR), as well as on "factionalized elite" scale, what was obvious last autumn with the protests starting in Maribor. Effectively, it should be in range with Croatia. And Montenegro - it is a country where government hasn`t changed in last 30 years.
As Milojko Pantic would say: "Statistics is like bikini - shows everything, but reveals nothing".
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust fixed some spelling mistakes :)
DeleteWell, it sure does feel nice to be missed.
ReplyDeleteJust a few observations first,
Any news about Jat or Serbian aviation in general published here is reacted to by most commentators on this blog by an expression of sheer desperation that something good will finally happen when it comes to Jat and Serbia. The hysteria this continues to cause for some people here is probably the more likely reason why news from Serbia gets most comments.
News from other countries like Croatia or Macedonia is generally reacted to in a more balanced manner.
Commentators such as me, Purger, FrequentFlyer, and Pozdrav iz Rijeka, mostly tend to write an opinion and give examples of why they reached this conclusion. 80% of the comments on Serbian related material is nothing like this and is usually made up of trash talk. 12 of the 18 comments so far on this particular topic are just that and no prize for guessing which side of the Danube (the soon to be new EU border) they came from.
BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND
Again, if you look at the history of the blog you will find commentators like myself and others I mentioned being critical of OU especially these past few years. In my opinion there is absolutely no reason and excuse why and how Croatia Airlines operates without a healthy profit.
I would like to see huge changes in all Croatian state owned companies. Cancelling the order for the 4 A319s is I'm sure a must for the airline at this time because of the financial situation but the bigger question is how they got to this.
Something not quite right here!
I would love to see an independent EU or other audit of all state owned businesses in Croatia to see how bad we are being duped here.
Turkish Airlines now 10 times per week to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all airlines that fly to Zagreb as of late are increasing number of flights to Zagreb, Qatar Air, Lufthansa, Germanwings, Norvergianshuttle, Air France, British Air and now Turkish.
Good to see Zagreb getting extra flights, hopefully 2012 will end on good note for Zagreb airport.
As to how much Croatian airlines gets in subsidies, its 38 million Kuna, not US$, and it gets subsidies for domestic flights only. http://www.croatiaairlines.com/webresources/documents/en23.pdf
Most national carriers get subsidies for domestic flights, even in the EU, just that subsidy mustn't be 100% of the flight cots (max per flight is around 10%) and only on routes that would otherwise be unprofitable but are critical for local economy and population.
Also, just to add JAT has been receiving annual subsidies in excess of 50 million $, yet still manges to end up with a massive losses, how do you explain that to anyone?
Subvention for Croatia Airlines is 215 million kunas per year. You can find this in decision of budget for 2013.
DeleteJat doesn't get subsidies over 50 million per year, it's their loses which are being covered.
DeleteSerbia is not in the EU so who cares? The whole point why we mention OU here is because it will be taken off the life support in a couple of days.
Croatia Airlines got only 38 million in subsidies in 2012, and 70 million kuna per year in previous 5 years. http://www.poslovni.hr/hrvatska/croatia-airlinesu-350-mil-kuna-za-odrzavanje-domacih-linija-27597
DeleteI'm not writing here lately, because as Q400 has just said, I don't want to argue with people who, unlike me, just put "labels" and "stickers" on some comments and their authors, without any explanation or fact, based mostly on shauvinist hate, which is then, atributed to those comments and authors being critical or not in favour of just anything happening in aviation in Serbia.
ReplyDeleteHowever I'll make an exception today and write the following :
Croatia Airlines is small and not very good airline, which misssed potentials and opportunity for much stronger development and better position on world market, because of political influence and mismanagement. But, even so, OU is by numbers, and by quality of its product, superior to Jat Airways, or any other ex-yu airlines.
Today, OU is on the path to become self-sustaining and profitable, maybie already in 2014, maintening its role and position of feeder airline within the Star Alliance.
In addition to that, it's highly likely that by the end of this, 2013., Croatia (state) will get one more NEW (hybrid) airline, with serious plans for fast and significant growth.
On the other hand, it's FABOULOUS that ETIHAD decided to do something about Jat Airways. I'm very happy about it because it was the ONLY WAY for civil aviation in Serbia, and JU, to survive at all, because mismanagement and political influence there were much bigger and stronger than those in Croatia Airlines, which is visible in numbers and results.
However, I'm afraid that except the pure survival, Etihad's engagement in JU will result in JU becoming feeder airline for Etihad and Air Berlin, leaving it with much better overall product than it has now, but with absolutely no space for becoming a "global player" which some people here think is possible, or, shortly, Jat Airways "under" Etihad today equals Croatia Airlines "under" Lufthansa 10 years ago, till today.
I wish I'm wrong about this, and I know I'll be "hater" again, but somehow it's how I think things are going to develop.
And what happened to Dalmatian.hr? Plan was this summer, but they are not even near to ask for AOC, or crew tender, or planes leasing/buying...
Deleteso maybe next year again, and 2015 again, and 2016, 2017, 2018, 19, 20...
If they really wanted Jat to become a feeder airline for Etihad and Air Berlin they they would not be adding a second daily flight to Amsterdam and they would not be adding 15 new aicraft.
DeleteI live in Skopje and except Montenegro and BiH Airlines I often have the pleasure (or not) to fly with the other ex-yu-carriers (Adria,Croatia and JAT)- so I can and with-I stress-no bias compare between them.
DeleteI like all three equally- or I certainly prefer them to budget airlines.
I only fly economy so can't compare business.
So finally, my point: Perhaps Croatia might be superior in numbers compared to JAT and Adria (which i dont know since I know no numbers to compare) but I can certainly compare the quality of the product as u define it in your post - and no, Croatia is definitely not superior to Adria or JAT. As a matter of fact all 3 carriers r the same to me. Had cancellations with all 3, big delays in departures/arrivals, have had encounters with unpolite cabin crew and old plains...
So in summary: none of these airlines is superior to eachother in quality - on the contrary-all three are alike.
Dear Anonymous from Skopje 8:06 PM, First of all big hello and greeting from RJK to SKP ! I like Skopje very much and I have very nice memories of the place and the people. And please, no offence, but individual passenger opinion, even based on multiple flights, cannot be enough to evaluate complete product. Delay, cancellation, or even unfriendly cabin crew is just one part of the story; frequent flyer programs, codeshares, transiting times, through-checked-luggage, web-check-in, classes of transportation etc etc are the other part of story which you don't mention at all. All these together, and much more, make a product.
Delete@Anonymous 8:03 PM
I would first wait to see when and would those 15 new aircraft come. And I don't understand your point with the 2nd daily AMS - do you expect people from AMS to use BEG hub for transit :::)))
@Anonymous 7:41 PM
Please postpone your comment for a month or two!
Why not? If the price is right I see people from AMS connecting in Mogadishu.
DeleteIf someone is flying from AMS to SKP/SJJ/TGD why not fly via BEG?
@Anonymous 7:41 PM
DeletePlease postpone your comment for a month or two!
Well I did... last time you promote that idea was February... But same story in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012... and it will be in 2013, 2014, 2015...
Dear Pozdrav iz Rijeke,
Deleteindeed: mine is an individual opinion based on numerous flights with these carriers - and exactly that is how I can compare their products.
I didnt mention the other parts of the product-and yet they are also more or less the same with Croatia Adria and JAT. Only advantage of the first two is that they are in miles & more which is sometimes a deciding factor to chose one over the other.. but again thats it. it certailny does not make Croatian superior to the others as you write in your post - since Adria has it as well and that is how i got to become a senator -with no lounge access neither in ZAG nor in LJU. So again, same all same all.
Dear Anonymous from Skopje, even if I agree completely with you for all you said, which I don't, you must admit that aircraft age and condition, contribute to the product level, and that it's not same to fly the fleet with average age of 7, or 23 years. So again, at least for the time being, it's not the same, and it's not the same.
DeleteIt is not true that with M&M senator status you don't have lounge access in Zagreb!
Deletedear pozdrav iz Rijeke
Deleteagain I speak from my unbiased experience:
when I fly Croatia or JAT from SKP I alway fly propeller planes... dont know if they r 7 or 23 years - they are so lound that it seems as if they r 100 years old. Adria points here since I havent had this "pleasure" with them.
As to the connections etc. depends where I fly. JAT has better connections to Paris and Moscow from SKP, Croatia to Frankfurt and Adria to Munich.. so,again: to me, none is superior.
Do you all agree with me that the checkerboard design (sahovnica)
ReplyDeleteon the tail of OUs aircraft is simply wonderful ?
Its a symbol for Croatia and really corresponds to the airlines
origins!
Wouldnt it be wonderful if the new reformed Jat Airways would bear
a design also matching its Serbian identity ?!
I have in mind the "kornjaca" (turtle) which is found as decorative element on the famous Pirot carpets.
Why not searching on internet for "Pirotski cilim" to know
what i mean .
Imagine that design with differing colours on the tail or side of the A319 !
The first time i saw the Pirot carpet was at the Expo in Shanghai -
the whole Serbian pavillion was decorated with the design -
it really attracted a lot of people there.
I instantly remembered it when i today looked at the photo of todays edition !
Ankica
^ Wonderful idea Ankico...
DeleteBritish Airways for long time also had painted their aircraft like this,in so called ethno look...
This will really bring good attention..
People love colorful liveries!
Jats current livery is the most boring in the world...
Please see Fiji Airways after re-branding into "ethnic" look. Just great!
Deletehttp://www.airliners.net/photo/Fiji-Airways/Boeing-737-7X2/2276670/&sid=5e1c4a51d95e87ac37233e46b1b5ee60
Fiji Airways...the former Air Pacific plane in Christchurch,
DeleteNew Zealand.
The black-white-brown livery!
You see i found that photo and agree with you!
It is a beauty and exactly the ethnic look we are talking about here...
in this direction....Hawaiian:
Deletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Hawaiian_Airlines_Boeing_767_(N597HA)_taking_off.jpg
OT: Does anyone know what is happening with JU's YU-ANV? Some three weeks ago, JU told that it will be the next B733 returning, but it was YU-ANI that started flying two days ago...
ReplyDeleteJat's new Atr went around ex-Yu. :)
ReplyDeleteAfter Tivat it was Skopje/Ohrid and now it is getting ready to go to Sarajevo.
It's sad to see that some people are still stuck in the days of the war...I thought this was an aviation forum,and not a place for showing your inability to grow up and move on with your life. I visit this site on a daily basis and see nothing but immature and pointless arguments that pertain to nothing except political and war-related events. I'm glad i no longer live there.
ReplyDelete