Zagreb’s number grow in December as annual figures decline
Zagreb Airport closed 2013 with growth by handling almost 4.000 passengers more in December than the year before. It marked the first month of growth for Croatia’s busiest airport after eight consecutive months of passenger decline. In December, Zagreb Airport welcomed 149.752 passengers, an increase of 2.7% compared to the same month in 2012. This is despite the number of flight operations declining from 1.409 in December 2012 to 1.347 last month. This would indicate that aircraft flying to and from the Croatian capital had significantly better loads than the year before.
Overall, Zagreb Airport ended 2013 by handling 2.300.006 passengers, a decrease of 1.8% compared to its record breaking 2012. Despite a promising start to the year, number began to decline in April. During 2013, Zagreb Airport had to deal with the fallout of an almost ten day strike by Croatia Airlines staff, a big reduction in the national carrier’s operations over the summer season and a 24 hour strike by its own staff which saw the airport shut down its doors to all traffic. As a result, the number of flight operations also declined during the year. In 2013, Zagreb Airport saw a total of 18.437 arrivals and departures, down 5.6% on the year before.
December’s performance will serve as a welcome start for Zagreb Airport’s new operator which intends to boost passenger numbers by 8% this year. Etihad Regional (Rome), KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam), Germanwings (Hamburg) and Trade Air (Rijeka), in cooperation with Croatia Airlines, have already announced new flights to the city in 2014. In addition, only a few days ago, Turkish Airlines boosted its frequencies from Istanbul to Zagreb to double daily flights. El Al Israel Airlines will also increase frequencies on its seasonal summer service to the Croatian capital from one to two per week. Overall, Zagreb Airport is hoping for a busy year which will see it surpass its 2012 passenger record.
Trade air/Croatia airlines should launch Venice, Mostar, Budapest, Belgrade, Podgorica (and maybe a few more destinations) with BAS Embraer Brasilia.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Zagreb, but the results should be much better this year!
Why not Abu Dhabi code-share with EY...
DeleteI agree, especially for Mostar.
Delete2013 was year of strikes, and really bad decisions on part of Zagreb airport. Zagreb due to strikes lost 12 days of business, that is over 70 000 passengers in high season.
DeleteAirport also had to contend with Croatian cutting its Zagreb operations by 15-20%, which significantly impacted on Zagreb numbers, the shear luck is in the fact that foreign carriers took great chunk of passangers to Zagreb in 2013 and as it seems same will be in 2014 with foreign carriers playing major role in Zagreb airports growth numbers.
What ever the case Zagreb airport should end 2014 with 2.5 million pax, but 2015 should indeed see massive growth, Croatian airlines will be able to increase number of operations out of Zagreb (no more EU restrictions) and airline plans to expand its fleet that year, also arrival of many new carriers to Zagreb is expected in 2015, Swiss, Brussels Air, SAS, KLM, Czech, LOT, Finnair, Iberia, Alitalia, Vueling, airBaltic, Norwegian, easyJet, British Airways all will be invited to increase their frequencies to Zagreb or start flights to Zagreb.
Talks are already under way with all major EU carriers trying to bring them to Zagreb.
New airport management is under major pressure to bring numbers up for they're loosing money if passengers stay bellow 5 million pax.
They only start to make some profits with larger pax figures, so they'll have to literally do miracles pass 2016 once new terminal is up and running.
New carriers would need to be invited to prop up current offer to Zagreb and low cost operators will also be enticed to come, AirBerlin, WizzAir, Germania, Pegasus Airlines, Onur Air, Transavia and few others.
Airport Management is also talking to Korean Air to have more charters to Zagreb, instead of current 12, to up this to 24 or more charters. JAL is also being talked to, with possibility of them having more than 6 charters to Zagreb, perhaps 12 or more. Malaysian airlines is another carrier Airport is talking to start charters to Zagreb, for Malaysians have shown interest for Croatian airlines, but no commitment as of yet, we'll know towards August or October if there'll be a fund management investment in to Croatian airlines (most probable outcome) or Malaysian Airlines might want to take a steak.
2014 should be good, but 2015 will be a spectacular rear for Zagreb, 2016 as well, with numbers literally skyrocketing. 15-20% predicted for both years.
I just love how the mod makes miserable data about Zagreb always so sensational.
DeleteTrue, quite bad year for ZAG nevertheless...if they at least managed the same number of pax or even a minimum growth...And lets not forget that some Croats predicted spectacular growth this year due to EU entry, yet ZAG ended the year with 42.000 pax less then in 2012.
DeleteBut lets hope 2014 will be better.
@AnonymousJanuary 25, 2014 at 1:15 PM
Deleteabsolute lie, no Croat here predicted major pax growth, only this blog predicted massive growth due to EU entry, most Croats here predicted downturn due to the Recession, Croatian Airlines cutting its routes out of Zagreb due to restructure.
However a 7-8% was probable even due to these circumstances but than you had 12 days of strikes that shut the airport down completely, coupled this with 2 days lost to really bad weather, Zagreb did quite well, in fact did a lot better than expected.
And this year 8-9% growth is expected, first of all there won't be any strikes that could shut the airport down, new lines have been introduced, foreign carriers are increasing their presence with increased frequencies and number of flights.
Zagreb Airport is on a track to make a record profits this year as well as good pax growth, 2015 is when growth will be spectacular, as number of new carriers will start flying to Zagreb but also Croatia airlines will return to full service out of Zagreb, even increasing number of destinations, operations and aircraft in its fleet.
That spectacular growth will continue on in 2016 and 2017, with Zagreb hitting 5 million pax by the end of 2018 quite likely. Which is what current new management plans to do, there are good indication EasyJet will be allowed to open its base at Zagreb and base 2 of its aircraft at Zagreb with 10 daily operations out of Zagreb, owner of the EasyJet is in Zagreb as we speak.
Current menagment is also talking to Adria, for them to place one of their CRJs at Zagreb and offer flights out of Zagreb, not all 100% confirmed as OU is totally against the idea, but we'll see after July how things go, OU has been given till the end of August at the latest September to sort its act, and all indications are that they're listening.
I won't say more at this point on who is coming to Zagreb in 2014 but there are a number of carriers that current management has initiated contacts with and all of them have shown a great deal of interest for direct flights to Zagreb. All EU based carriers.
Future is bright for Zagreb, very bright and really good tourist numbers for Croatia in 2013 (12.45 million visitors, 73.2 million nights, $10 billion revenue from tourism) with Zagreb playing a significant role, 1.4 million nights, 810 000 visitors and revenue exceeding $550 million.
2014 is looking very promising for Croatia but also for the entire region as regions starts to emerge out of the recession.
I'm sure Belgrade will dominate 2014 in terms of growth and expansion in passenger numbers, with Skopje, Sarajevo, Split all recording massive growth numbers, Ljubljana and Zagreb posting decent growth as well.
Why not Abu Dhabi code-share with EY...
ReplyDeletemistake
DeleteInteresting video about Adria on Justplanes
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsfO2qdKv0
Good job, Zagreb, considering 2013 was a very bad year... hope better days are to come in 2014, not just for Zagreb, but all other Ex-Yu airports!
ReplyDeleteAre there any new lines planned for 2014? Where is that insider that gives us informations about Zagreb Airport? How about Purger, do you have any informations about what will be happening to OU in the next few months?
ReplyDeleteHere are the facts:
Delete1. Minister hired famous international Agency to find possible investors in Croatia Airlines. They will make 2nd attempt to privatize airline. I don’t find that this will happen.
2. In same time Mr. Kučko, CEO of Croatia Airlines was against privatization to foreign investor and wants to sell CTN to domestic consortium. For sure that was one of the reasons for this fiasco with first attempt of CTN privatization. One can not do that without 100% engagement of CEO and management. To sell CTN to Croatian consortium is not real and I presume he just want to stay on top of the company as it is now. He really thing his life's work is to make CTN profitable. He is totally dedicated to that. But I am no sure that he is able to do so. Anyhow he has a plan to buy 100-seaters and open new routes.
3. French concessionaire of Zagreb airport gave Croatia Airlines 6 months to start to work normally and open new lines and frequencies. If not they will bring someone else. The most real is combination of Trade air, some of European carriers and LCC. I thing that most real is easyJet which have some 50 routes from ORY and CDG. Those airports are in ownership of ADPI who is one of concessionaire in ZAG, and for sure it is easy for ADPI to “motivate” easyJet to open Zagreb base. You have to know that easyJet is desperate for slots in CDG and that is good argument ADPI has for “motivation” to open Zagreb base. That means we can see two easyJet planes to be based in ZAG from winter. For sure ZAG is very underserved by LCC and easyJet is most real option even if Croatia Airlines comes to normal work.
4. But for sure French concessionaire will bring some more airlines and routes. I already mentioned KLM, and cargo route to Paris in first round and that already happened. But be sure that Air France will have much more frequencies in Zagreb, and that we will see some more to come.
So what do you think would be a better option: to let OU go down but have a strong presence of AF + LCC, or to find an investor and try convincing him to outperform the first option?
DeleteThere goes the hope to have easyJet base in Belgrade. If they open the one in Zagreb, I do not think they will open the one in Belgrade then.
DeleteNevertheless, good luck to Zagreb!
easyJet in Zagreb for me is 90% chance. It is logical, Zagreb is missing LCC, they are already in Zagreb, they are one of the biggest partners of ADPI.
DeleteFor Croatia the best option would be:
1. Restructuration, bring a new management (pay them well and choose between the best), give them total freedom;
2. if not (and unfortunately politics can not see how important that is) sell company to anybody for 1 EUR;
3. if not close the company and give maximum support for Trade air to step in;
4. if not totally open the market for LCC and others (like BUD).
But I hope that 4th solution will never come in. Basically I thing the best option would be to give company to Croatian consortium with Trade air on top of it. I now Marko Cvijin, he is very good manager and he shows how he can survive in catastrophic conditions.
now = know
DeleteHi Purger, love your comments, as always... Could you please explain why is it impossible for OU to find a partner, it has mostly new planes, Zagreb Airport to be rebuilt, tourism potential, good slots on major European airports... How come no one is interested in buying a stake in OU?
DeleteO&D to Croatia (aside from summer tourists who use charters anyway) sucks, poor geographical location, the entire industry is in a recession and only a few airlines are expanding, OU doesn't really fit any huge airline for direct geographical expansion (aside from LH, which isn't expanding atm), overbloated work force, awful business performance (mostly losses and tiny profits) etc. There are really a lot of reasons.
DeletePoor geographical location? In the middle of Europe? Could you explain to me how and why the Arabs bought Jat, Croatia's GDP and standard are much better than in Serbia... I agree about the recession, industry in Croatia is in really bad shape, but other things you wrote are not true...
DeleteHere we go again... no one can say anything bad about Croatia without an immediate link being made to Serbia! Give us a break.
DeleteYes, Etihad bought them, get over it.
I don't have a problem with Air Serbia, hope to fly with them soon... But the guy said something, so a comparisson would be nice, we're neighbours, in the same region, no one gave me the reason how come the Arabs bought a company in a country poorer than Croatia...
Delete@Anon 7.16
DeleteCroatia is not in the middle of Europe. Have you checked a map lately? Switzerland is in the heart of Europe. Croatia isn't in the heart of everything and when you look at ZAG, the main aurlort, its location sucks. Serbia (being the center of Balkans) or for example Hungary (whose focus is more in the Eastern/Central Europe) have much better locations. This is why Wizz was dounded in Hungary, among other things, and why Jat was acquired.
GDP/capita is not the only paramter you take into account when making biz analysis of possible M&A, especially if you're aiming for 1) connecting passangers 2) plan things long term when things can change rapidly. Air Serbia probably won't be fully operational until the NEOs come and that's in 6 years.
Also, when I said that the "industry is in recession", I meant the global airline industry in general, not in Croatia per se. No one wants to expand in this enviorement, except MEB3, but they're an exception due to very specific conditions of their strategy (e.g. infinite amount of money they have).
AnonymousJanuary 24, 2014 at 7:47 PM
DeleteActually I am still amazed at how the Serbian government managed to pull that one off. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that Vucic is a close friend of their sheikh- hence why there are more and more investment from the UAE with every passing day.
Directly related to that and good on him for pulling it off. Hogan said himself and it was reported on this blog that he was told / asked by the sheikh "what can you do with Jat" If Jat or Belgrade was on their radar before this, who knows. I think not because even to this day Hogan cannot pronounce Jat properly.
DeleteAn issue which could rise in the future is a change of government that does not have such a relationship with the Arab world as the current government in Serbia. This along with a bad performing Air Serbia could jeopardise the partnership. Of course if Air Serbia does well than this would be less of a concern.
OU had a good 10 year run where if they were smart they could have positioned themselves in a more prominent position in the region but they did very little to achieve anything like this. Now it will be much harder for Croatia Airlines.
I would like to see what OU does after this 6 month grace period. Will they secure their position more as a regional alternative by introducing flights to Dubai with code share with Qantas or Emirates to Australia / NZ. Will they introduce Moscow? Could they even be bold enough to introduce daily service to Nis with connections to Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich? Maybe even using Trade Air aircraft for this instead of a "Croatia" plane. So many option for OU and Zagreb and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
I promise you one thing. Zagreb passenger numbers are poised to grow. It is up to OU now if they will be one which contributes to that growth.
Q400,
DeleteAt this point even if we were to go for elections SNS party would still get close to 50%. So for the next four years they are probably not going anywhere. That will be more than enough time for Air Serbia to make it or break it. If they manage to succeed then no successive government will touch them from fear of messing things up. Jat Airways was one of those government institutions that everyone loved to hate.
For me, the most important thing in Belgrade is that more foreign carriers are adding flights. Though I love Air Serbia, I do not want it to have a monopoly in Belgrade. Increased easyJet presence + a Wizz Air base will keep the ticket prices at an all time low.
Hi Purger,
ReplyDeleteI really like your comments, but please...
thing = stvar
think = misliti
Thank you.
And this is important because...? You didn't get his comment or what else?
DeleteSorry for mistake! I speak English well, but since check spelling I am totally rusty in writing.
DeleteEZY announced flts from Rome to BEG, info from their fcb profile.
ReplyDeletePurger, we also loved some of your nasty comments about JU and "nebeski narod" in the last couple of days signed as anonymous...
ReplyDeleteDo you plan writing them again in the future alongside decent ones like today'sx
Have a nice day ;-)
Imas problem, al prvo sa samim sobom i svojim zivotom pa tek onda sa (Er) Srbijom.
DeleteZapravo, ne znam ko je veca budala. Da li ti sto pises takve stvari i od normalnog razgovora pravis haos, ili ja koji se palim na to.
Well, I always sign my comment. Even when that is not «well received» on this or other blogs. Several days ago there was discussion about Kiev and most of readers on this blog did not like what I wrote. But I still sign my comments. I am not afraid to say what I think. That is why I have powerful enemies in Zagreb airport and Croatia airlines, and why my business suffer from it (my team have ban to come to Zagreb airport).
DeleteSometimes on blogs I am «četnik», sometimes «ustaša». But, basically national problems have those who find my writing national colored. And they are not. I am Croat, but I have so many good friends in Serbia that we visit every month to play cards (preferans), basketball or party together. I was in Serbia 5 times in last 2 months. My best men leaves in Serbia, my driver in Zagreb is Serbian... So I have no national problems. It is important if you are good man or not, it is totally irrelevant and stupid to thing your nationality have something with it.
And yes I am very frustrated with arrogance some people have here about Air Serbia or Belgrade Airport. Air Serbia project is huge, so good and will bring so many benefits to Serbia and region. But Air Serbia is so far from goal to become regional leader. It is still tiny company even in Balkans. JU is not very important even in Etihad expansion (in that «alliance» of Air Berlin, Darwin, Aer Lingus, Virgin Australia, Jet, Air Seychelles and Etihad, Air Serbia make less than 1%). And to compare Air Serbia with Turkish airlines or Aegean make me smile. Air Serbia has still some problems with old way, Jat way, and Mr. Kondić should change this urgently, because Air Serbia must have clean start, and it can not afford continuation of Jat bad image.
Belgrade airport is far the biggest in exYU, have good connection with region, good LCC presence... Yes, much bigger than Zagreb. But still it is nothing comparing to Vienna, Budapest, Athens, Istanbul, even Bucharest. Most of biggest companies in Europe are not flying to BEG, it is the only airport in Serbia and all Serbian traffic goes throw it (not like in Croatia where we have 9 international airports), it almost does not have any competition around (just BUD, and ZAG/LJU have more than 10 big airports in 3 hours driving range), and it has less passengers per Belgrade citizens than ZAG per Zagreb citizens. Of course it is the biggest, of course it has more potential than ZAG, of course it is better managed, of course it has much better infrastructure, more flights... but it is not Singapore, as someone made us laugh here.
But in same time let me be totally clear I am also frustrated with arrogance in Croatian forums and stupid persons here from any country when they thing our tiny nations and funny air traffic is center of Universe.
Seems like BEG will finish January with 28% more PAX yoy.
DeleteIf you are not full of it then it means that the airport will handle 269.000 passengers, up from 210.050 last year. Not bad.
DeleteBeograd-Dubai-Beograd 25/2 - 3/4
ReplyDelete341 EUR flyDubai
460 EUR Air Serbia via AUH
428 EUR Etihad via AUH
And one strange thing. Etihad for all flights on Air Serbia plane for 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after choose dates put note: "sold out". There is no way that in February all Air Serbia flights to AUH are sold. Something is wrong here! That means Etihad first want to make their plane full and don't even allow potential passengers to choose Air Serbia flight. So JU plane for sure will not have good LF because there are no Etihad passengers on it. And basically in this code-share most of potential passengers are from Etihad source, not Air Serbia. But if there is no possibility to book Air Serbia flight on Etihad page, than there are no Etihad passengers on board.
Why Etihad want Air Serbia to have empty plane? I hope it is not to make Air Serbia loose money rapidly and to put some extra conditions for continuation of collaboration. Unfortunately we had those examples in past with companies around. I just hope it is not like that because than we should ask are those strange routes and unreal frequencies with modest LF of some 53%, really here to make more passengers or to make huge debts.
Not sure where and how you got all sold out flights. I just searched feb 19- feb 27 trough etihad web site and through sky scanner and it showed me both EY and YU flights.
DeleteWhy should anyone fly with EY/JU to Dubai when you have FlyDubai or Pegasus Airlines with much better offers?!
DeleteI would... because they have bus link and I want to stay 2 days in Abu Dhabi.
DeleteJU code-share flights were "sold out" in Etihad page.
OT easyJet's inaugural flight from Geneva had 110 inbound passengers and 71 outbound.
ReplyDeleteFlight out of Belgrade was less than 50% full. I hope their numbers pick up in February.
It's a slow season, so these numbers are ok. They are advertising Belgrade around Geneva region, so I hope they will be successful (and go daily soon).
DeleteNice to see new airlines starting flights to Zagreb this year.
ReplyDeleteDoes Croatia Airlines still have Ryanair style commercials on its aircraft?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the entry to the airport looks like the front of some club! lolz
No, in reality it looks very nice in night. Those lights change color every few seconds, the same lights change colors in park... and it is really impressive.
DeleteHere you have video in youtube how it looks like. It is really impressive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umLZyyDVaqQ
Oh wow... that actually looks very nice. The picture above does not do it justice.
DeleteStunningly beautiful!
DeleteSo beautiful. I never saw something like this at other airports.
DeleteWoow that is really beautiful!!! I didn't know that ZAG is like this. It was so ugly building.
DeleteWhat's so beautiful about it? It just looks like a low-class shopping mall in a new EU member state (Romania, Bulgaria...). Designers today try to compensate the lack of taste and creativity with lights and childish colours. If the building was decent enough it wouldn't need any LED lighting to make it look appealing.
Delete^+1000
DeleteAll over ex-yu, there are so many terrible new buildings with glass facades, terrible lights, and no style.
Without lights, Zagreb airport looks like a shipping warehouse:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Zracna_luka_Zagreb_(glavni_ulaz).JPG
Now look at this example of great architecture. This is what a great looking airport entrance looks like.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/RIAN_archive_806873_Domodedovo_airport.jpg
And that 2nd one is great? You are Socrealistic architect still in 1960?
DeleteZagreb lights are impressive and most of passengers say so.
@Aleksandar StojanovicJanuary 25, 2014 at 7:59 AM
DeleteI don't understand what you're trying to say apart from the obvious that you hate Zagreb's terminal.
A news flash, old terminal was built in 1960s, expanded bit in 80s and only got a face lift in 2008 or 9, forgot now exact dates.
Terminal is very small coping with a 2.3 million passengers, unfit by EU standards and initially Zagreb management planned to expand current building by adding additional 5700sqm but nothing happened so far. Terminal as it is can cope with 3.5 million pax, but it would need major reshuffles of services inside the terminal, with very small space provisioned for anything but most essential services i.e passenger arrival and departure lounges and passport control.
BTW terminal measures 205x58 and has two levels.
I like the lightening, but the building is ugly, unfortunately... New terminal is on the way so that's good! Good luck, Zagreb in 2014!
DeleteOT Air Serbia flight from TIV is 4 hours delayed. Any idea why
ReplyDeleteThey can't close the cockpit window. The rain keeps falling in and thay had to come back to the airport after they took off.
DeleteIt's interesting how Skopje is one of the main feeding routes to TK's flight to Dubai yet flydubai is filling barely 40% of their flight. Can anyone explain why this is?
ReplyDeleteFor FZ its difficult to compete with TK because of the frequencies.
DeleteTwice a week against double daily with TK has not much chance.
Also if you already earn miles in Star Alliance
you profit more by flying TK.
But FZflights still can be profitable with 40% loadfactor if they carry a good load of freight in their underbelly.
I speculate but I think is due to the fact that DXB flights of FZ aren't in global booking system and you can't simply book a connecting flight with them. In the end macedonian Australians are those who use DXB as a transfer point to Australia and fly on this route. Btw. FZ is the airline that has the most advertisements in Skopje - on public buses, restaurants, newspapers, almost everywhere
ReplyDeleteCould be. It will be a shame if they were to pull out of Skopje. Losing competition is never a good thing!
DeleteI looked at some flights the other day and they had nothing on offer for the summer. I hope it's because they have not loaded the flights yet.
By the way so far in 2014, the average loadfactor to Banja Luka from Belgrade was 25% while on the way back it has been 29%. The numbers are picking up!
ReplyDeleteWhat's ATR's breakeven on a legacy carrier?
DeleteIt all depends on the airline, route and the cost at which they were selling their tickets. My educated guess is that with a 30% loadfactor Air Serbia should be around zero, no loss, no gain.
DeleteNo, 50% LF should be break-even on ATR-72 on flights up to 1 hour. 30% can not be break-even!!!!
DeleteDoes 50% break even just for variable costs (fuel, payroll) or fixed costs as well?
DeleteBear in mind that JU has no cost in BNX. I mean no taxes paid and no refuel.
DeleteI also heard that they do get an ok number of O&D passengers which help much more the yields than the transit passengers do. Especially since the flight is barely 40 minutes.
DeleteHowever, I am really happy the numbers on this route are picking up. There is definitely more success this time around, Jat Airways barely managed to fill 20% of their flights.
Today I read interesting article Of Belgrade share in capacity (% of seats) – situation middle of January 2014:
ReplyDelete50,5% Air Serbia
9,1% Wizz Air
7,4% Lufthansa
4,7% Turkish
4,5% Montenegro
4,4% Aeroflot
4,1% Austrian
3,3% Swiss
11,9% others
So, that makes Lufthansa group (LH, OS, LX) second the biggest in BEG with 14,8%. So, one really have to ask himself how comes that Wizzair with less passengers can get that huge discount.
BEG top 10 intenational routes by seats (seats per week):
SVO (7.964)
ZRH (6.446)
TGD (5.914)
VIE (5.884)
FRA (4.970)
IST (4.642)
MUC (4.184)
CDG (3.668)
FCO (3.578)
SAW (3.318)
Where did you get that data or you calculated it yourself?
DeleteAlso, did they take into account that Lufthansa is reducing their Munich flights from three to two daily?
DeleteI did not calculate myself. Data are from one analyses of Delta attack on Air Serbia on DoT.
DeleteAll data are for week 20-26th January 2014.