Newcomer Air Croatia to launch flights

New airline plans summer start

A new airline named Air Croatia will launch flights from Sweden to Zagreb and the Croatian coast this summer season. The airline will lease an aircraft from an undisclosed Dutch carrier in time to inaugurate flights to Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Pula and Zagreb in June. Air Croatia is yet to publish its timetable but anticipates operating flights out of Stockholm and Gothenburg. Currently, the airline plans to run two weekly flights from Gothenburg to Split and one flight per week to Dubrovnik, Pula and Zagreb. From Stockholm the airline will operate flights to both Zadar and Split. Tickets are yet to be put up for sale.

Air Croatia will operate on a low cost basis. Food, coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase on board. Passengers will be able to check-in twenty kilos of luggage free of charge. In essence, Air Croatia is a Swedish tour operator specialising in holiday packages to Croatia which will lease and brand its own aircraft with the possibility for the public to purchase individual tickets as well. Similarly, several years ago, tour operator Air Kosova leased aircraft and crew from Belle Air and Hamburg International for flights out of Pristina. If all goes to plan, Air Croatia will be the only airline offering direct flights from Zagreb to Stockholm and Gothenburg.

Earlier this year another newcomer, known under its working title as Libertas Air, announced plans to set up a base in Dubrovnik with two Airbus A320 aircraft this April. However, the investment, estimated to be worth three million euros with a workforce of fifty people, seems unlikely to materialise on time. Meanwhile, foreign low cost and leisure airlines will significantly boost their operations to the Croatian coast this summer. Ryanair, which has a seasonal base in Zadar, recently announced the launch of its new route from the city to Manchester. Details of the flights, which are to be launched on April 4, can be found here.

Comments

  1. Is this exclusive insider information? I couldn't find this news anywhere on the internet.

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    Replies
    1. Purger Wrote a comment yesterday about Air Croatia

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    2. Anonymous13:08

      is it possible to now how can i apply for cabin crew position??

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    3. Anonymous09:35

      it is a pity there arent more flights from London to Pula. Many Brits will simply not fly on Ryanair.....so Istria and Kvarner are missing out on so many tourists - most go to Split or Dubrovnik which has excellent service from London and elsewhere in UK.

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  2. Anonymous09:35

    Great news for Croatia!

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  3. Anonymous10:02

    AC logo fails to impress

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  4. Anonymous10:31

    For me the most shocking part is that Zagreb does not have a direct air link with Stockholm!
    It would be interesting to see if this airline eventually adds more flights from Croatia to other points in Europe. I do understand that it's a Stockholm based tour operator but still...

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    1. Anonymous10:45

      Scandinavia is really underserved by OU. They handed it over to * alliance a long time ago. They haven't even attempted expanding to the east - to Russia at least.

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    2. Anonymous18:59

      SAS has plans to to start Zagreb service later in the year, OU flies to Copenhagen only.

      Norwegian has also plans to start flights out of Bergen and Trondheim to Croatia, with weekly flights to Zagreb and over summer daily flights to Split and Dubrovnik.

      Finnair also plans to start twice weekly service to Zagreb soon, with number of flights going to 4 if service proves popular. Problem is that there's little interests in Croatians going to Finland other than business related which is reason why there were no flights to Finland as of yet.

      SAS plans full year service to Zagreb, with 4 weekly flights out of Stockholm and 2 weekly out of Oslo and Copenhagen. they alredy have seasonal flights to Croatia, Dubrovnik, Split, being served on a daily basis and Zagreb and Pula getting few flights here and there.

      All new flights should be announced by mid April, although talks are still being held over specifics with new airport management at Zagreb.






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    3. Anonymous19:37

      Great news for Croatia, hope to see SAS soon!

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    4. Anonymous03:07

      Czech Air, Allitalia and LOT are also returning this year, not sure when exactly but we should know in April.


      So list of companies that fly to Zagreb will be slightly larger.

      Currently these operators fly to Zagreb.

      Aeroflot
      Air France
      Austrian
      British Air
      Croatian Air
      Easy Jet
      German Wings
      Lufthansa
      Norwegian
      Qatar
      Tap
      Turkish

      with seasonal

      ElAl twice weekly
      Iberia trice weekly
      KLM 4 times weekly
      Nouvelair twice weekly
      Onur twice weekly
      Syphax Air twice weekly
      Vueling 4 times weekly

      Seasonal Charter flights.

      JAL - 6 season flights to Zagreb
      Air China - 6 seasonal Flights to Zagreb
      Korean air - 12 seasonal flights to Zagreb
      Air Croatia with 50 seasonal flights to Croatia, 24 to Zagreb.

      Starting this year.

      Czech - starting in Winter
      LOT - Starting at the end of 2014
      Allitalia - Starting at the end of Year, - Milan Zagreb
      Wizz Air - likely start in September
      Ethiad Regional - At the end May.
      SAS - to return at the end of 2014
      Swiss Int. - to return at the end of 2014



      And talks are being held with Air Canada on intercontinental seasonal flights connecting Toronto and Zagreb with 2 or 4 weekly flights.

      Croatian airlines must play its part and maintain numbers at Zagreb of 1.4 million pax in 2014 and in 2015 1.5 million pax.

      Foreign Carriers will take greater chunk as a result in 2014 they're expected to handle 1.1 million and in 2015 they're expected to handle 1.5 million pax same as Croatian.








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  5. Anonymous10:42

    http://www.aircroatia.eu/

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    Replies
    1. Their website looks very nice actually.

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    2. Anonymous11:19

      I guess the replacement for soon-to-be-bankrupt OU is on the way.

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    3. Anonymous12:27

      The text on the website looks like it was translated using Google Translate - very unprofessional.

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    4. I don't think that this airline will replace OU. It will have direct flights from only scandinavia, most likely during summer months only. And OU isn't very present in the Scandinavia (there are only flights to Copenhagen if I'm not wrong).

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    5. Anonymous18:23

      "The text on the website looks like it was translated using Google Translate - very unprofessional."

      Hum just Check te new CCAA page!

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  6. Is Stockholm-Zagreb mostly for the O&D passengers? I suppose that since they will be the sole carrier on the route that they could even fly it two or three times per week?

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  7. OT: statistics of all routs for Wizz Air + Fly Dubai (Dubai) from airport Aleksandar The Great Skopje

    1. https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1795505_10202558045407494_1332566400_n.jpg

    2. https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1011246_10202555494023711_8843480_n.jpg

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    1. Anonymous12:19

      Only 60% for FZ?

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    2. Anonymous12:48

      Wow wizz is kicking butt! Amazing how much they've changed the landscape in such a short time. Well done.

      FlyDubai on the other hand not so much, although its not so bad considering. And that 60% is surely a mistake, as far as i know they have 738's with 189 and 174 seats not 180, so LF is either 62.1 or 57.1%. If FlyDubai are serious about getting the Macedonians in Australia to fly with them a Monday and Thursday flight might not be the best idea. A Saturday flight would be much more popular ;) not to mention actually being able to book them through the many web-based ticket companies.

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    3. Anonymous13:12

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    4. Anonymous13:25

      Well theres no need to go into personal insults and inflame the situation, but he was right about a few things in relation to SKP. ObedinetaMKD any chance you have TK's numbers???

      Anyway does anyone have LF numbers for FlyDubai to Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia? Am interested how they are going there.

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    5. Anonymous14:12

      Yearly average in Belgrade is around 75% which is ok. It might go up a little bit now since they have less seats on their aircraft.

      My guess is that they are doing better in Sofia and Bucharest since there is less competition generally on that market (to both Dubai and for flights towards Africa and Asia).

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      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    7. Anonymous14:42

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    8. Anonymous15:12

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    9. Anonymous15:29

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    10. Anonymous15:32

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    11. Anonymous17:05

      There are rumours FlyDubai might be cancelling Skopje from next summer.

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    12. The source of my statistics is www.portline.mk the official marketing/statistic adv to skopje airport for all destination (the data number of flight for wizz routs is directly from wizz air for each one particular) and data number for Fly Dubai for destination - Dubai is from the timetable of the Skopje airport. Tnx

      *all number are correct and is from relevant source

      Thank you a lot of

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    13. hello17:09

      once again , these are no official statistics

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    14. Anonymous17:12

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    15. Yes a have number also for Turkish : 127.855
      Pegasus : 57.075
      Edelwisse (Zurich) 42.106
      Helvetic (Zurich) 35.250
      Air Serbia :44.715
      Croatia Airlines : 47.098
      Adria : 53.207
      Austrian :104.995
      FlyGermania (Diseldorf) 30.459
      Belle Air (Roma) 12.730
      and other.......

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    16. Anonymous17:17

      Why so many deleted comments, what happened?

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    19. Anonymous17:28

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    20. Anonymous17:30

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    22. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    23. Thank you very much for giving us those statistics Obedineta!
      This is what i wait for when reading the comments section.
      Would like to see the statistics also for the other airports in the former Yugo.

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    24. @Darko Marjanovic, the comment exchange that was deleted were insults hurled at each other between two people commenting, otherwise comments are not deleted but thanks for clarifying your stance towards this blog and your almost daily insults directed towards the author :)

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    25. I have no idea what you are talking about :)

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    26. The only problem being I can see comments that were deleted by their author ;)

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    27. Aэrologic00:09

      Darko Marjanovic, you're such a fool.

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    28. Anonymous02:38

      together with Obedineta they make a dream team

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    29. Anonymous06:19

      Don't forget nemjee.

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  8. Anonymous12:17

    I think it is very bizarre that a Swedish company uses a specific (other) nationality for its brand name. Croatia Airlines could easily sue them. Just imagine e.g. a Bulgaria-based company is called "France Airlines". I'm sure they would get problems.

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  9. Anonymous12:34

    For a seasonal carrier that will be bringing tourists along the entire coastline (ZAG is just for diaspora I would say), 'Air Croatia' is not that much bizarre. After all, it is all EU...

    I would name it 'Air Adriatic' or 'Adriatica' but I don't see any problems with this name.

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  10. 9A-CRO14:49

    Great news for Croatia and it's tourism!

    P.s. It uses name Air Croatia 'cause Croatian diaspora started it. It was old plan, very happy to see it come to life!

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  11. So is this a Croatian or Swedish based airline?

    Just had a quick look at the website. Does look very nice but they could have done better with the English translation.

    What I found funny was that they already have a FAQ section. They must be popular already lol.

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  12. Anonymous16:58

    Great for all the tourists (from Sweden) that will come to Croatia, Scandinavia is definitely underserved since there is no direct flight form Zagreb to Oslo or Stockholm!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:19

      Loads of Scandinavian tourist in Croatia, in 2013 over 550 000, not 100% of the data as all the data was up to October, and than it was 525 000.

      last 3 months normally bring around 1.2 million tourist, how many of these were from Scandinavia I don't know, figures in full are published in late March or mid April.

      Number of visitors from Scandinavia was up on 2012 by 28-30%, and for 2014 same increase is expected. With Norwegians this year expect to visit in large numbers, 200 000 are expected (last year till September) there were 148 000 Norwegian Visitors.


      I think this is largely due to Norwegian Air Shuttle having over 40 flights per week in sumer season.

      SAS had 30-32 flights to Croatia during summer season, and this year they'll increase their summer schedule by 25%, so numbers will go up.

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  13. Nikola17:15

    minor OT:
    F-ORAH is YU-APA, currently at OSR
    http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb.main?LC=nav4

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  14. Anonymous17:56

    OT:

    I think something is going on with Alitalia (or it will happen). FR is opening a base from May 12th at Malpensa with 74 routes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:00

      Nothing in Yugoslavia thought... Shame.

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    2. Anonymous18:00

      LOL I must have got it wrong too:

      http://www.anna.aero/2014/01/27/got-wrong-ryanair-launch-66-base-milan-malpensa/

      Delete
  15. Anonymous18:08

    http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5981444/

    What a way to start a company, Darwin on its first flight had an incident.

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  16. Anonymous20:46

    http://www.jutarnji.hr/aerodrom-gonzalve-de-cordoue-upozorava--dovest-cemo-low-cost-kompanije-jer-ca-ima-sve-manje-putnika-/1159816/

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  17. Anonymous20:48

    there are more surprises from Zagreb airport:
    http://www.jutarnji.hr/aerodrom-gonzalve-de-cordoue-upozorava--dovest-cemo-low-cost-kompanije-jer-ca-ima-sve-manje-putnika-/1159816/

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  18. Anonymous20:53

    MZLZ is negotiating with Ethiad and Air Serbia. This could be interesting

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:03

      What airport is MZLZ?

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    2. Anonymous21:09

      Oh you mean Zagreb?

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    3. Anonymous21:10

      međunarodna zračna luka Zagreb.

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  19. Really hope SAS starts up more routes to the Balkans, especially considering that their youth fares are excellent- often around 200E r/t Europe-Scandinavia. I guess SAS establishing a route to BEG is nothing but a wet dream of mine sadly..

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  20. Anonymous21:35

    I'm interested in Air Croatia's business model, which is perfect for a start-up. I take that basically this is ACMI lease while Air Croatia does Sales & Marketing? What operating activities/duties is Air Croatia responsible for ? Do they contract with airports ? Is Air Croatia registered as charter, regular or something else or does it even need to be registered as an airline?
    Thanks in advance!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:40

      Probably will sign an operating agreement with an existing airline.

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    2. Anonymous21:50

      Thanks, so just sales and marketing. I guess this is similar to a Swiss tour operator and Darwin few years ago, except it was expensive as hell. I see that Air Croatia built the website for booking, but do you anticipate the existing operator also to sell tickets via own website ? Hmm. it would be interesting to get a hold of one of those agreements. If we are talking non-EU country, who would request operating rights from a CAD ?

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    3. If the aircraft is coming from the Netherlands then could it be Corendon? They are also expanding into Greece this summer.

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  21. Anonymous21:38

    SAS wont be coming to BEG because there is a lot of competition on the routes to Scandinavia coming from Air Serbia, Norwegian and Wizz

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  22. JU520 BEGLAX22:40

    U hopeless dreamers. This will not last over Summer 2014

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  23. Slight off-topic but it seems that due to fog issues in Sofia Lufthansa B737-500 flight from Frankfurt diverted to Belgrade. It left maybe a bit more than an hour ago.

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  24. EX-YU, can you dig some info regarding second part of Misa Brkic's text, published on Pescanik? http://pescanik.net/2014/01/nebeska-srbija/
    Some info he is giving, primarily in regard to SMATS-a are really serious and could have great impact on aviation in Serbia?

    ReplyDelete

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