Strong Asian interest for Croatia Airlines
The Croatian Ministry for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure has confirmed that a further two airlines have expressed interest in purchasing a stake in Croatia Airlines. Joining Garuda Indonesia and China Southern Airlines as potential partners is Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines as well as Hainan Airlines from China. Minister Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, who recently visited Indonesia to drum up support for the purchase of Croatia Airlines, said he used the opportunity to talk to representatives from Hainan Airlines who are interested in expanding into Europe.
Hainan Airlines is China’s largest privately owned company and the fourth busiest in the country. It boasts a fleet of 139 aircraft including the 787 Dreamliner. With the exception to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the airline does not operate flights into Europe as its only other European destination, Zurich, will be discontinued from the start of October. On the other hand, Turkish Airlines is also said to have expressed interest in the Croatian carrier. Turkish has already ventured into the EX-YU airline market as it previously owned a 49% stake in B&H Airlines before it relinquished its shares, unhappy with the relationship it had with the Bosnian government.
The tender for the sale of Croatia Airlines is now expected to be launched in two weeks. Two tender rounds are expected to take place. The first, where potential buyers will express their interest, and the second, where specific takeover offers will be made. “Garuda is likely to answer the tender call because they are interested in our strong connections to the rest of the European Union”, Mr. Hajdaš Dončić says. The Minister also announced that by the end of the year the government will sell off Osijek Airport, which has struggled to attract passengers of late.
jatovanje at its finest :-)
ReplyDelete...as it was Etihad-Jat deal... Jatovanje and nothing else... Right?
ReplyDeleteEtihad-Jat is done deal. and it was never jatovanje. previous "deals" were Jjatovanje (Turkish, Aeroflot, Air India, Baltic Aviation Systems, ex Marbo owners, etc.) :-)
DeleteBut it was not for first time that Etihad "show interest" in Jat. Before AirAsia Jatovanje there was Etihad "interest" which was Jatovanje.
DeleteWhat I want to say is that it can be Jatovanje, this minister trying, but it can happend as Etihad-Jat deal, happy end. For now you can not be sure what will be the end of it. And for sure Croatia did not have history of "interests and almost finished deals" like Jat had (Aeroflot, Air Batic, Air Berlin, Turkish, Etihad, Air Asia...).
Etihad can not be considered as Jatovanje in any case as they were taking over Jat from the very start. It was never up for discussion.
DeleteOf course not, but in begining it looks like it will be just Jatovanje (espetialy that first Etihad "intereset" was fiasco, and that after that Air Asia "show interest" which they demand next day). So, in same scenario you can not say in advance that selling of CTN would be typical Jatovanje.
DeleteTypical jatovanje of Croatia Airlines ;-)
ReplyDeleteKroatovanje
DeletePravo da vam kazem, malo mi smeta ova opsta uptoreba izraza "jatovanje". JAT je bio i jeste specificna kompanija, koja se devedesetih pod pritiskom sanckija i smanjenja drzave srozala, a ostali su u njoj da rade ljudi profesionalniji i sa mnogo sirim vidicima od uskog srpsko-crnogorskog trzista na koji se kompanija svela. I ti ljud se nekako na tom uskom putu nisu snasli, i zabarikadirali su se u svom vremenu, a dosli su drugaciji trendovi i drugacije poslovanje u avio svetu. Iz toga je proizlizaila pored dobre volje uporedno i jedna vrsta dezorijentisanosti, neupotpunjenih ideja i predstava, olakih ocekivanja, mesanja menadzmenta i letaca... koju mi ovde i drugi nazivamo "jatovanje". Mozda bi moglo da s eprica o jatovanju u Pan Amu pre 25 godina ili o jatovanju u Al Italiji.
DeleteA to sta vlada neke banana drzave radi naokolo, delom da bi skupila politicke poene, delom da bi mozda i stvarno spasila svog jedva punoletnog avio-prevoznika koji je uvek vise sluzio nacionalnoj prezentaciji nego ozbiljno avio-biznisu, to nije "jatovanje", to je prosto politikanstvo, balkanizam, sitno udjarivanje putovanja na racun poreskih obveznika.
+1
DeleteNije Jatovanje nesnalaženje u novim okolnostima. To je nesposobnost. Jatovanje je izraz za iznošenje planova bez osnova, projekata koji su propadali i prije nego su se postavili, "velikih" ideja koje su u startu bile jasne da nemaju šanse (poput Balkanske LCC sa turbopropima, poruka Montenegru da će propasti ako ne prihvate preuzimanje od Jata, lokalna alijansa, nekoliko dolazaka 737-ica i Airbusa bez da se ozbiljno o na vrijeme pregovaralo, otvaranje linija za SAD iako je kompanija imala manje od milijun putnika i nije imala CAT I...).
DeleteJatovanje je iznošenje gluposti, dezinformacija i nerealnih planova koji su u nama izazivali samo smijeh i bili su odlična zabava na razini parodija Mel Brooksa.
I da... ukoliko bi ovo ministrovo putešestvije i najave bile bez osnova i većina tih se ne odazove na formalni natječaj bilo bi to klasično Jatovanje. Samo to još nitko ne može znati. Jer za razliku od Jata i periodičnog izbacivanja bisera i gluparija, pa i oko prodaje, CTN i resorni ministar tako što do sada nisu radili, i nisu imali tu praksu. Hoće li ubuduće tek treba vidjeti. Ali prema dosadašnjim iskustvima, praksi i povijesti nitko nema pravo ovo nazvati Jatovanje. Za sada!
Klasicno Jatovanje i tacka!
DeleteTo sto ti pominjes postoji kao pojava i u opstinama i u predezecima i u ministarstvima i u komunalnim sluzbama na celom Balkanu, i zove se javasluk i neobziljnost. U Hrvatskoj mozda manje nego u Srbiji i Bosni. U Srbiji mozda manje nego u Bugarskoj. A jatovanje su na primer bile pilotkse kombinacije da se saradjuje sa Jermenima, jatovanje su bile price mehanicara da ih JAT sprecava da servisiraju strane avione, jatovanje su bile raznorazne price o podmladjivanju flote koje su se uvek rusile zbog politicke netrpeljivosti izmedju stranaka u resornim ministarstvima.
DeleteHainan Airlines is my favourite airline in China as I used to fly more times by them. The crew and in-flight offers are more closed to western style and management than the other chinese airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. tycoon Soros is one of the major shareholders into the company.
I feel it would make sense to establish a lasting cooperation with them.
Hainan is good.
ReplyDeleteHaina airlines used to fly to Budapest.
ReplyDeleteHaina airlines is present in the Europe - Asia (China) market.
I can easily see Hainai Airlines in Croatia.
They know Europe air market already. From direct experience.
Hainan you are welcome!
Hainan
DeleteHainaN airlines is present in the Europe - Asia (China) charter market.
Hainan with closing Zurich made a disappointing Europe experience with closing all its destination served. Budapest, Zurich and two others. Not sure if Berlin and Brussels.
ReplyDeleteDon t know what really went wrong. In ZRH def LX killed them with the start of their dsily ZRH-PEK services...
Budapest was closed because Malév collapsed. They got a great deal of passengers thanks to their hub there. Plus, it was only two weekly flights on a A330-200.
DeleteAmerican Airlines axed their own flights to Budapest for the same reason.
The problem with Beijing is that the Chinese government is protecting Air China. That's why so many Chinese carriers have a hard time expanding from there. Even China Southern was not allowed to operated its A380 from there.
I personally don't see how any airline would be interested in Croatia Airlines before the new terminal is constructed in Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteThe other problem is that the construction has not even begun and the whole process was/is a mess with massive delays.
If any Asian airline is interested in Croatia Airlines then it will be so that it can use Zagreb to funnel its passengers all across Europe.
Unfortunately for them, this can't happen without proper airport infrastructure. So before using tax payers money to go on holidays to Indonesia, Croatian politicians better find a solution to the airport problem. It is costing them much more than they know it.
As for Turkish Airlines, I just don't see them buying a stake in Croatia Airlines. They have been checking out airlines all across Europe and nothing has come out of it. Not to mention that they are currently considering buying out both Aegean and Olympic Air.
All this reminds me of those statements made by the Serbian government when all sorts of airlines were supposedly interested in Jat. Naturally, I hope I am wrong and that someone is actually interested in Croatia Airlines... and seriously interested not just 'we will consider it' kind of thing.
Actually, no, Croatian Government wants an Asian carrier to take over 49% steak in OU, they don't want middle east carrier or near east carrier but south east Asian carrier.
DeleteSingapore and Malaysian is what would be ideal for Croatian Government and whole process is going to last a while, at least 15 months if not a lot more.
Terminal construction starts this month, either this week or next, not 100% sure, they've already have put up the fence around the perimeter of the construction site, started to knock things down and clear area for constructions, new terminal wont be up before the end of 2014, only outlines of the new terminal will be visible, its gonna be an enormous construction site, 700x300m , terminal itself is 155x165m with piers extending to 670m, 12 passenger boarding bridges will be added but unlike in rest of ex-Yu new Terminal at Zagreb will have different system that works faster and more efficient.
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/126124
Whole thing should be up by mid 2016, airport should officially be opened on by May 31st 2016.
As to takeover of OU, not impressed with the current array of airlines, one thing I don't want is Turkish Airline taking over 49% steak, I have very low opinion of Turkish air when it comes to takeovers, its a state company that is heavily subsidized and supported the Turkish State.
Well, let's hope that the construction begins and that the airport opens on time. The last thing Croatia needs is a scenario similar to the one in Berlin.
DeleteI know that there will be 12 airbridges once the terminal opens but what is the minimum number they need taking into consideration the current passenger flow? I am just asking out of my own curiosity.
As for the privatization of Croatia Airlines, like for anything else in the Balkans, I will believe it when I see it.
One major problem could be if Adria is privatized before Croatia Airlines.
Yes, yes I know Croatia is a bigger market than Slovenia but the overall situation would be much worse for any future investor in Croatia. They would be sandwiched between Adria and Air Serbia. Also, another potential threat is Solyon from Budapest but no one really knows what will become of them.
I'm not worried about Adria getting privatized or Air Serbia in hands of Ethiad, they have different markets than OU, I want the rights parter for OU, one that will see OU thrive and not continue being a holiday company, (different market i was telling you about).
DeleteAs to Ai Bridges, original plan was for 16, but than they cut this down to 12, with 6 extra to be added as part of phase 2, with phase 3 same terminal could receive additional 12 passenger boarding bridges, bringing total number to 30, with terminal getting also expanded (by 50%) from planned 155x165m to 155x225m.
New terminal is projected for 5 million with max flow of 8 million passengers per year which should be achieved by 2025, reason why 12 bridges, to cope with extra capacity and once it comes to expansion (round 2027/8) airport won't face costly delays and obstruction to the traffic.
With phase 3 ( 350m pier extension to the right arm, enlargement of terminal by 50%) plan is to build 2nd 3000m runway 1200m south east from current and 2nd terminal which should either look like new terminal or new competition might be held for that one, but this won't happen before 2040, we are talking traffic of 15 million pax or more.
I like the new terminal layout, plans look reasonable and cost efficient. Can we find any proper renderings for the new airport interior?
DeleteBest of luck to ZAG. Hopefully CTN will have a proper new home in time.
not yet, apart from originally released images with loads of plants and greenery, There'll be full grown trees inside the terminal with waterfall and large lake that will extend to the exterior of the terminal as seen in renders.
DeleteIn all terminal is going to be really great looking once finished, I am only worried about car garage underneath the terminal, isn't that bit risky, security must be really tight at all major international airports I just don't know how much they thought about issue of security,
I like idea of having a massive underground multistory car garage, saves the space and the environment in a long run, but opens whole new can of worms.
@Nemjee
ReplyDelete"I personally don't see how any airline would be interested in Croatia Airlines before the new terminal is constructed in Zagreb."
Investors look for value and areas of growth to increase their ROI, not necessarily the perfect business. Investors can use ZAG as an excuse to lower the OU valuation. It will take some time to turn OU "around." In the meantime ZAG should (surely, should) finally deliver and with it the value of OU could go up significantly. Also, new investors might want to move the "main" operations to the coast (or at least threaten ZAG to get their act together or OU moves to the coast), which in my opinion would make a lot of sense.
I doubt they could use the coast card as it would require them to set up a totally different business structure to the one they would have in Zagreb. I doubt anyone would actually take them seriously if they would make similar threats.
DeleteAs for lowering the price, I am sure the Croatian government will lower the price just to sell the airline. Especially now when it is becoming a burden to the budget and when the Croatian government can no longer pay for its bills. It's not like the Croatian government has something to gain by keeping 100% of the shares to itself. If the airline was highly profitable then the story might have been different.
The same Ministry in Croatia "informed" that Etihad is interested in CA and Etihad had to deny it. The same Ministry mentioned that China Eastern is interested in CA and it appeared that they ar really interested, but in Adria.
ReplyDeleteThe list of "interested" companies becomes longer but less and less realistic. Pathetic.
Minister or any government officer never "informed" that Etihad is interested in CTN. It was journalist speculation of "yellow" Jutarnji list. Nothing else.
Delete+1 exactly that. Minister never even mentioned Etihad and Croatia Airlines in same sentence.
DeleteInformation from Purger:
DeletePurgerAugust 21, 2013 at 1:39 PM
Of course possibility of CTN deal with Etihad is so stupid that I even did not want to comment, that was just Minister wish, nothing else. That was what I said: "Ovo za Etihad ne treba uopće komentirati koliko je blentavo".
@AnonymousSeptember 4, 2013 at 3:35 PM
DeleteThat's just Purger commenting, it was jutarnjilist who said it, and i made correction on his comment there as well, it was justarnji list, not the minister.
Croatian was never of interest to Ethiad and OU wasn't even for sale at the time.
OU won't be looking for Ethiad as a partner, even China southern isn't a good partner for OU or any Chinese airline for that matter, not cause they're Chinese, cause they lack EU strategy, have poor or no idea what to do in Europe, poor safety record, poor aircraft maintenance and poor aircraft interiors. It would be just as if JAT took over OU, lol
Singapore, Malaysian or Eva would be perfect choices for OU, Korean air as well, but they just spend half a billion on Czech Air, so there's little hope there, but Korean Air has strong reasons to come to Zagreb, it already has direct link to Zagreb, knows the market, strong Korean interest for the route which is tourism and business driven with great potential for growth in the future
Jat maybe would not be thebest investor in OU but the real fear in Croatia comes from Air Serbia. After all,that is why we all witness here so many new info about selling OU. Before EY invested in JU there was almost no news at all about new company that would take over OU. Unfortunately for OU,these are nothing more but wet dreams-there is no real interest in OU.
DeleteOf course, it's the same scenario as with Jat. Nothing happened until a political agreement was struck with Abu Dhabi.
DeleteI guess our government has finally understood that in world politics Serbia is just an insignificant country. Maybe the time is right for our neighbours to understand the same and get off their high horse. They better be making political deals in stead of suntanning in Bali.
+1
DeleteI am not surprised that so many airlines showed interest in Croatia Airlines. Market is huge, 12 million tourists per year is impressive number. Plus they can have base in Split and Dubrovnik for part of their fleet until Zagreb construction will be finished. Also very important factor is very good reputation of Croatia Airlines in eyes of passengers, they offer good inflight product and delays are very very rare. There are many lines which have to be introduced from Pula and Rijeka so potential is very big.
ReplyDeleteIt's mostly seasonal tourism. But it's very big.
DeleteI'm always surprised when I hear so many positive things about Croatians from people living in Asian countries.
I'm travelling regulary to China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and impressions of locals there about Croatians are incredible positive.
So many know about Croatia.
They love Croatians.
(No one in ex Yu has such good reputation in the Far East. Except maybe Yugoslavia-Serbs in selected rural areas).
Many people know about Dalmatian coast (Dubrovnik in primis but Istria too). Japanese are obsessed by beauty there.
There is a positive thinking about Croatians abroad.
Croatian engineers working in Middle East, steal and other industries in S.Korea and valuable sailors (!) that are famous all around. Plus restaurant chief etc.
Croatia is a vacation dream for them.
Except maybe Yugoslavia-Serbs in selected rural areas of China
DeleteCroatian Government plans to double the number of tourists and revenue from tourism by 2020, Hope is to attract at least 20 million visitors by 2020 and double the tourism revenue from current €7.5 billion to €15 billion.
Deleteits possible with good marketing strategy and infrastructure in place, http://www.glasistre.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/prihodi-od-turizma-ce-se-za-8-godina-udvostruciti-363187
http://www.jutarnji.hr/-do-2020--cemo-udvostruciti-prihode-od-turizma---ministar-lorencin-pokazao-penjacke-vjestine-u-paklenici/1118439/?vote1118457=svar1&submit=
Croatia has a great potential, but it must diversify its economy, can't be all geared for tourism, Croatia needs to work on its exports which have been stagnating since 2008, actually are down on 2008, 72.5 billion kuna in 2008 they were 84.2 billion kuna, it should have been 120 billion by now, one thing to work on from now on as well.
New airport terminal is going up this year, with completion dates set for mid 2016, till than Zagreb airport must work on attracting more airlines, currently only 17 airlines fly to Zagreb, this number must be at least 30.
SAS, Norwegian air Shuttle, Finnair, Air Baltic, Estonian Air, Lithuanian Air, LOT, Czech Airlines, AlItalia, Swiss Air, Iberia, Brussels Air, KLM and Lingus Air all need to be invited to establish links to Zagreb asp, each of the above mentioned airlines could be given between €100 000 and €500 000 by airport to maintain 1 year service to see if this can work out for both parties.
€100 000 for twice a week service, €500 000 for 5 times per week service.
With such program passenger numbers at Zagreb airport would skyrocket over night, and if proves very successful airport can do similar stuff for another year until things get to point where Zagreb airport wants to be at, I'd say 4-5 million should be nice figure to have.
Riga did it, look at their numbers now, I see no reason Zagreb can't do it as well.
Problem is, that with 32 carriers cramped at such small terminal things won't be easy, but if Split Airport can do it, I'm sure Zagreb can too, and when new terminal is up and running things should run smooth.
Huh?! Riga?! Riga's primary customers are airBaltic, Ryanair and Wizz Air. There aren't that many other considerable players, there are a few smaller ones but in comparison to the three they are insignificant.
DeleteThe only one you could be referring to is their two weekly flight to New York operated by Uzbekistan Airlines.
The reason why there are no more airlines in Zagreb is because there simply is not enough demand.
^ "Steal and other industries..."
ReplyDeleteI hope you mean steel ?!
441.088 pax this august in BEG.
ReplyDeleteNice growth, 7%.
DeleteTotal number of passengers in 2013 is 2.380.911, up by 3%.
I wonder where all that cargo came from, 30% growth in August.
Paper late!
ReplyDelete344.358 pax August 2013 at Split Airport, New Record in Croatia.
Hi guys
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the best solution would be HAINAN. They already have stakes in other airkines e.g. the one in accra plus large non airkine related portofolio. So they should know how tu run a business. And a connection china.croatia could look realistic.
Garuda...hm..they got 777300 but due to runway issues cannot take off with fullpay load to london. Not to mention they got gatwick slots for kangeroo route and plan sometimes three stops...gatwick.jakarta.bali.australia aiming for a layover in bali...i really wonder who would travel seven days From europe tu australia with garuda. But stilll everything is now postponed.
And connection zagreb.jakarta i mean lets get serious next to european and dxb.doh.auh hubs plus ist, i mean garuda is trasferring pax to europe via etihad and their partnership. Now think on destionations on offer compared to zag...looks possible but would are to say almost unrealistic.
Turkish would be ok as would preserve long term existance of croatia airlines and keep it under lufthansa umbrella. Would be ok. I doubt sth special butok.
The plan is, in three years, they will be bought by Air Serbia.
ReplyDeletetroll alert !!!
DeleteI have a feeling Air Serbia will destroy OU.
DeleteProbably not. Air Serbia will probably not attract traffic originating HR in any significant degree, of course if they choose to enter HR market to begin with. Secondly, they will not take incoming traffic from the west due too heavy backtracking...and traffc from the east is originating from JP, KR or AU that is not Air Serbia option anyway. OU may lose part of BA and MK market, but I don't see JU as OU nemesis simply due geo position. If it was JP, it might be different.
DeleteAir Serbia is not interested in Croatian market that much at the moment. That might change later in the future, but in short term-just not interested.
DeleteJedini logican spas za Croatiju je da hub prebace u Split. A videcemo da li ce pobediti nacionalizam ili logika.
ReplyDeletenacionalizam? Koji nacionalizam covjece? Možeš li mi definirati riječ nacionalizam i onda je smjestiti u okvire SPU i ZAG?
DeleteI koja je logika da SPU bude hrvatski hub uz cinjenicu da SPU 6 mjeseci u godini gotovo uopce nema prometa, da ima ne više od 4 leta dnevno od listopada do ožujka. Kakav bi to, pobogu, bio hub?
It took Jat some 10 years to get some help, but OU doesn't have 10 years... If they don't get any help I think OU will not exist by 2016. I know that a lot of people said that Jat-Etihad deal will never happen... Deal did happen but that doesn't mean some airline will bye OU too.And now it is just stupid to buy any airline except for Adria. Air Serbia will expand on every market in EX Yu... EVEN Slovenia, but I still think Adria can survive.And cause of the name problem I think Air Serbia will bye couple ARTs and Embraers or lease them and base them in Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro and all passengers will be transferred to BEG after continuing to their destination.
ReplyDeleteAccording to their winter timetable Air Serbia won't be flying to Croatia, and I don't see them interested inCroatian market for time being. We'll see what they plan for next summer, but apart from some seasonal flights to the coast I doubt it. Bosnia, Macedonia and Mlntenegro are quite a different story.
DeleteYM is toast against new JU. Olympic's Belgrade flights could also suffer terribly.
DeleteU're being overly dramatic and totally wrong. And you listen to Purger way too much,.
DeleteOU is a state airline and Croatia will invest re-capitalize OU if things go bad, yes it has rights to do that under Eu laws once a decade. Alltalia, Air France, Iberia, Tap, Olympic and Brussels Air all received government support this way.
Also OU has massive assets that it can sell (still hasn't sold any) if things go really bad, assets are valued at 3 billion kuna, which is about 175% of OU total annual revenue (1.75 billion or $320 million) So OU isn't going to default, it almost did cause of 4 A319 Sanader Ordered from Airbus, and had to ask for a loan from the State, which was against the EU rules, OU was ordered to return the loan but there was a risk at one point that OU would go broke if Airbus demands 1 bn kuna installment to be paid by 2014, as Aircraft were supposed to be delivered in 2015.
in the last minute Airbus and OU reached a compromise by which 4 Airbus aircraft will be delivered in 2017, with OU paying its installment by the end of 2017 when first 2 aircraft suppose to be delivered.
Another billion kuna will be paid over 3 year period between 2017 and 2020. Value if the deal was 2 billion kuna or just under $400 million. Yes aircraft in question are airbus neo, valued at 90 million per aircraft + spare engines.
A320s won't be sold of or retired but used for summer holiday season to cover holes in charter flights, but would be leased out during winter period to save the cost of aircraft maintenance and upkeep.
OU is doing fine, just that it can't go on loosing money like this forever, something has to be done as its not productive for Croatia and OU, things must change.
http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Ekonomija/Komisija-za-zastitu-konkurencije-odobrila-preuzimanje-Jata.sr.html
ReplyDeleteThanks God!..Only 9 days Serbian administration was late.....
From Monday, Etihad would take running Jat Airways
ReplyDeleteGreat! Goodbye to politically apointed morons in Jat!
DeleteThe plan is for reconstructed Zagreb Airport to achieve 60 million passengers by 2020 (thus surpassing Frankfurt) and 75 million by 2023 (thus surpassing Heathrow). It is further planned that Zagreb Airport will handle 110 million passengers by 2025, thus surpassing JFK Airport.
ReplyDeleteI had enough of these non sense. The government is wasting more time and money. They are just pretending as if they are doing something to save OU. The politicians and general public are also full of ego and jealousy. "JAT was successfully sold, then why not our airline OU". I don't think any of the mentioned airlines are serious. Garuda, are you kidding? They are banned to fly over EU air space until recently. Turkish, they learned the lesson from BH airlines. They are not stupid to invest in another corrupted Balkan airline. And Chinese, they are not going to buy just an airline. You will start seeing a big China town in Zagreb in a few years. Anyway do we really need to save OU? Do we need a national flag career in this country? NO! just let them file the bankruptcy. This will benefit the country's economy in long term.
ReplyDelete