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| Government mulls Croatia Airlines’ privatisation resumption |
The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, says Croatia Airlines’ privatisation process will resume this year following a failed attempt in 2013. The Minister could not specify a firm timeframe on when tender procedures could restart. Mr. Hajdaš Dončić outlined that the Croatian government will conduct a thorough analysis of the aviation market in order to identify potential investors. “We cannot allow for Croatia Airlines to be purchased by a predator, which would in turn destroy the company. Croatia Airlines needs a strategic partner and not a predator”, Mr. Hajdaš Dončić said at a press conference in Zagreb. According to the minister, if required, the government will adopt a special Croatia Airlines privatisation bill in order to sell the company swiftly. A minority 49% stake will be offered to potential bidders.
There have been varying opinions as to how Croatia’s national carrier should be sold. Only recently, the airline’s CEO, Krešimir Kučko, said the government should avoid adopting similar privatisation models to those used by the Czech Republic and Serbia for the sale of their respective national carriers. Mr. Kučko believes that Croatia Airlines should instead be recapitalised after its restructuring process is completed at the end of the year. Minister Hajdaš Dončić emphasised that the ongoing restructuring process has been one of the most successful in the country as the airline recorded a profit for the first time in several years in 2013.
Several airlines have been courted as Croatia Airlines’ potential buyers. They include China Southern Airlines and Garuda Indonesia. While Garuda publicly expressed interest to purchase a minority stake in the Croatian airline last year, it failed to submit an offer during the tender process. Talks with China Southern Airlines were held behind closed doors. However, the airline, which also showed interest in a stake in Adria Airways, did not put in an offer. Recently, Qatar Airways said it was again pursuing acquisitions in foreign carriers. Croatia Airlines could be of potential interest to the Gulf airline.
All of the national carriers from the former Yugoslavia have been put up for sale at one point or another and most have ended up in failure. B&H Airlines was the first to be sold in 2008 to Turkish Airlines. Ultimately, the Turkish carrier bowed out of B&H’s ownership structure several years later. Montenegro Airlines has been put on sale twice while both Adria’s and Croatia Airlines’ single privatisation attempts also failed. After several efforts, Jat Airways was successfully sold last year in direct talks with Etihad. The governments of the remaining four national carriers from the former Yugoslavia have all announced plans to privatise their airlines this year.
This privatization attempt will fail too.
ReplyDeleteAre you copy-paste this from comments about Jat privatization one year ago?
DeleteWe only know one predator and that is Kresimir Kucko! When his pockets are filled he's gone!!! Byeeee and thank you for your worthless business plan!
ReplyDeleteThe second attempt mustn't fail 'cause it will be the end for OU. I honestly don't understand how come there was no interest for Croatia Airlines, Croatia has a huge potential, more than 6 million passengers every year, especially tourists from all over the world, huge diaspora, OU has relatively new planes with orders for 4 new ones... I don't get it, is it Kucko blocking the privatisation, is it incapable government, Lufthansa influence?
ReplyDeleteI guess they need something similar to Etida (without the secret contract).
ReplyDeleteBtw. who is giving false data, the Airport ot AirSerbia? I guess the airport is giving take off times while AS off the gate times?
http://www.airserbia.com/home/custom_menu/flight_monitor/departures.html
http://beg.aero/putnici/letovi/odlasci.52.html
etihad, sorry
DeleteAlthough the Croatian commercial aviation market is the largest in ex-yu, the problem is that it is not centralized like in Serbia, Slovenia, and Macedonia. This means that it is difficult to make a proper hub.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Dončić is making these statements about not allowing "predator airlines" to purchase OU because the chances of finding a investor are very slim, and he needs an excuse if the tender fails. This way, if the tender fails he can just say that the reason why it failed was because they didn't want to sell to "predators".
Does this statement mean that OU is parting ways with Lufthansa?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you guys think, what are the possible scenarios for Croatia Airlines?
ReplyDeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteContrary to the numbers published on ExYuAviation on Feb 2, the official numbers for LJU airport for 2013 are:
1.321.100 pax (+10,2% compared to 2012)
87% of pax on scheduled flights, 13% charters
33.111 ac movements (-5,4% compared to 2012, but larger ac)
17.777 tons of cargo (+4,4% compared to 2012)
net profit: 5,2 mio €
Some other data:
transfer pax 201.344 (+45% compared to 2012)
No. of pax compared to 2012:
Adria +6,2%
Turkish +39%
Finnair +23%
Montenegro Airlines +23%
Air France -20%
Easyjet -6%
(Wizzair started with flights in Dec 2012)
Busiest destinations (in this order):
1) London (LGW,STN,LTN)
2) FRA
3) IST
4) ZRH
5) MUC
6) CDG
7) SVO
8) BRU
9) SKP
10) VIE
11) TIA
12) PRN
...
Your thoughts?
wow that is quite amazing that the transfer pax grew so much. i wonder why? Another surprising thing is the % or growth at Turkish and Finnair. For Air France and Easyjet the loss is normal since they got some competition last year...
DeleteHi
ReplyDeletedo you know those 201.344 pax that were in transit, what cities were they originating and heading to? I assume they all would be ADRIA pax right?
Do not have exact destinations, I think all JP pax from W Europe to Balkans and vv.
DeleteYou do understand that arriving and departing pax are counted, so 201.344 transit pax is actually 100.672?
DeleteThis dude is a pure populist. The very fact that the first tender failed means that there are not buyers which are interested. Differentiating buyers on "partners" and "predators" is laughable. If Etihad just knocked on their doors, he would scramble everyone to try to sell OU. The reality is that the global airline market isn't primed for expansion right now and only the MEB3 are expanding. If you can't sell to them, you have almost zero chance of selling anywhere.
ReplyDeletelet me just remind you that Jat had 9 attempts for privatization. Even Etihad refuse their idea for first time.
DeleteI agree, Anonymous 10:59 AM, some people forget things! Hope privatisation goes well, Croatia still has more passengers than other Ex-Yu countries!
DeleteThe reality is that Jat would have never gotten sold through privatizations. It was done through high level political bargaining between Government of Republic of Serbia and Government of UAE (or more specifically, Abu Dhabi). There was a political deal before the Jat deal.
DeleteActually Croatia Airlines has been overtaken by Air Serbia in pax numbers in the first quarter. Croatia Airlines will probably make up for it in the second and third quarter but still it's the first time they have been overtaken.
DeleteThe reality is that Air Serbia is becoming a gravational force which is sucking pax from Balkans into its network. This further erodes OU's selling potential, especially since JU is taking all the high yielding biz traffic and chanelling it through BEG to other destionations and potentially to US/Canada/China. This leaves OU with extremely cyclical tourist travel and a legacy airline cannot survive on that alone. OU missed its chance when JU was weak, now things are much different.
DeleteWhat would i recommend for OU is complete moving their base from ZAG to coastal airports. Split and Rijeka as a base for year round flights, while season intensive aircraft in all-economy should be based at Dubrovnik. Major market for OU flights then would be foreign tourists to Croatian coast. Zagreb airport should be completely offered for LCC flights, just like Budapest is today with foreign full service carriers, like Lufthansa, Alitalia, Qatar and turkish for business trips and connections to long haul.
ReplyDelete1. So, most of tourists comes to costal airport by LCC (Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling, Germanwings, Jet2, Wizzair, Norwegian, flybe, Transavia...) and charters but still you thing that LCC should transfer to Zagreb where we hardly have LCC, and we should with magic stick change those huge number of LCC to legacy carriers on Adriatic airports.
Delete2. Zagreb has variation of passengers around 70% more in summer season than in winter, so number of winter passengers is «almost» the same (160.000 in winter, 250.000 in summer). But some of sea airports have variation of some 5.000% (five thousands) comparing winter and summer months, and even SPU and DBV have variation of some 1.500% (18.000 in winter, 280.000 in summer). But still you think that 18.000 passengers in winter months is enough for making hub there?
3. Traffic in Rijeka in all year is around 140.000 passengers what is modest in Zagreb even in February (the worst month). In winter months Rijeka has not more than 50 (not 5.000 but 50) passengers per month. But you still find that Rijeka should be Croatian hub?
4. Traffic in all Croatian airports together is just little more than Zagreb traffic (Zagreb is around 40% of all Croatian traffic, so all others are some 60% together), but you still think hub should be in those airports?
5. Even in summer just Split in July has 10% more passengers than Zagreb, so Zagreb has more passengers in all 12 months than Dubrovnik and in 11 months more than Split. Out of August and July number of passengers in Zagreb is 100-1000% more than in Split and Dubrovnik. Not to mention Rijeka, Zadar and others.
6. Most of Zagreb passengers are business one, most of Adriatic passengers are tourists. But still you thing hub can be made on tourists?
7. There are almost non passengers from SJJ, PRN, SKP to Adriatic, but there are to ZAG. But you still thing SPU, DBV or RJK should be hubs with connections?
Well, that is really good advice from you to Croatia. You should run for Minister of transportation here.
You think narrow way, Croatia spend huge money to get those wondefrul motorways, so there is no need for domestic transport, OU should further be used to maximise tourism as a major sector and lead contributor to Croatian economy. If Croatia is already in Lufthansa realm, then let Lufthansa take care of business pasengers to ZAG. Non business, casual travellers should get more low costers who now run away from it. Thats the whole point. Even if most of the OU aircraft is grounded during winter is cheaper than flying 5-6 pax between Zagreb and Osjek or Split.
DeleteThat is not true:
Delete- ZAG-DBV
now: 21 flights in winter, 33 in summer per week
real: 30 flights in winter, 40 in summer per week (LF is more than 90% even in winter, with usual price of 160 EUR per return flight), 90% with A319
- ZAG-SPU
now: 19 flights in winter, 30 in summer per week
real: 28 flights in winter, 35 in summer per week, 50% with Q400
- ZAG-ZAD-PUY
Now: 7 flights in winter, 12 in summer per week
Real: not ZAG-ZAD-PUY, but ZAG-ZAD-BWK, and ZAG-PUY-LSZ, 12 in winter, 14 in summer for both routes, all with turboprops
- OSI-RJK-DBV-SPU
Now: 1 in summer
Real: OSI-RJK-SPU-RJK-OSI-DBV-PUY/ZAD-DBV-OSI-RJK-SPU-RJK-OSI, 10 per week in winter and 12 per week in summer for OSI-RJK-SPU-RJK-OSI; 3 per week in winter and 5 per week in summer for RJK-OSI-DBV-OSI-RJK; 2 per week OSI-DBV-PUY and 2 per week OSI-DBV-ZAD and non in winter
- OSI-ZAG
Now: 3 per week in winter, 5 in summer
Real: this route is not real even with PSO
Lufthansa as flag carrier in ZAG? Why? First of all they try to change most of their P2P routes to Germanwings because it is not profitable, and why should Croatian Airlines, of Croatian Government do that?
Ja mislim da bi trebo gospodin Purger da bude novi Ceo od Croatia Airlinesa.Posto znate da pricate kako bi trebalo da se radi.
ReplyDeleteTrebaju vam dati 2-3 god da napravite Croatiu Airlines Profitabilnu mozda sa vama bude bolje i krene Dugoliniski Saobracaj iz ZG i obnovite Flotu skroz
A sto se tice Qatar nece uzeti OU niti jedu drugu Aviokompaniju u Evropi.
Puno Poz iz Novog Sada.
I vote for Purger as the new CEO for Croatia Airlines. At the very least the manager of the inflight magazine, I hope there is one to go with the tiniest cookies every to be seen at an airline. Great blog site, great fun to be here every day.
DeleteDa vjerujem da ste u pravu da Qatar neće uzeti CTN, tu se slažemo (bez obzira na velik trud naše politike da utrampi Qataru sve i svašta), no ne slažem se da neće uzeti ni jednu kompaniju u Europi. Uzet će!
DeleteHvala za ovu duhovitost da bih ja trebao biti direktor CTN-a. Imate cugu od mene. No, bez obzira što sam našim ekspertima u CTN 25 sati pokazivao da nemaju pojma, dovoljno sam razumna osoba da znam da sam svjetlosnim godinama daleko od bilo kakve direktorske pozicije u CTN-u. Bio bih jednak kao oni kada bih smatrao da sam dovoljno dobar i za mjesto zamjenika direktora. Ja tih kapaciteta i tog znanja nemam. Ima ljudi u Hrvatskoj koji bi to mogli, ali ja sam od toga daleko jednako kao i od mjesta kirurga u sveučilišnoj bolnici. Stoga ću to shvatiti kao odličnu šalu i razlog da popijemo jednu kad ste u blizini Zagreba. :-)
P.S.
Dugolinijski promet u Zagrebu je malo vjerovatan (možda da je CTN bitno uspješnija kao feeder jedna linija Uniteda i Air Canade, te linija iz Kine/Singapura via FRA, MUC ili VIE koja bi završavala u Zagrebu sa 1stop), a svatko tko bi planirao pokrenuti dugolinijski promet u CTN-u zakasnio je 20 godina i svakako bi firmu bacio u totalnu propast iz koje se financijski ne bi mogla izvuči. CTN više nema nikakve perspektive pokretanja dugolinijskog prometa osim da država isto zatraži radi dijaspore i turizma, te financira. Ali ozbiljno financira sa višemilijunskim iznosima.
Građanima Hrvatske nije toliko bitna Croatia Airlines, ionako će propasti, previše novca je utrošeno, a ionako će doći netko drugi da obavlja zračni promet! Unatoč željama nekih, to sigurno neće biti Air Serbia :))
DeleteA Purgeru, zašto misliš da Qatar ne bi uzeo Croatiu Airlines?
DeleteI ako se neslazemo u vezi Yu, ja sam ozbiljno mislio da bi vi bili bolji CEO od onog Kucka koji je marijoneta LH i Partija njegova ga je postavila na mesto Direktora.
DeleteAnonymous at 4.58
Ja idem u Ausrtriji uskolu pa zato.
Ja vec 10-11 meseci molim JU da leti za Innsbruck a oni mene ignorisu.
Ako vas zanima sta Lufthansa radi u Innsbrucku koji bezobrazluk recu vam.
I mene to zanima, ja bih rekao da bi OU mogao biti lijepa pocetna stanica za nekoga kao Qatar ko bi htjeo da se siri. Solidni brojevi, solidno trziste sa tendencijom rasta, relativno mala kompanija nebi trebalo puno kostati itd.
DeleteCinjenice koje idu protiv su 3-4 aerodroma i velika seasonality. Nije lako, ali mislim da je prvi rjesiv na neki slican nacin kao sto low cost kompanije rade potencirajuci O&D i staciniranjem . High seasonality je ja mislim ipak veliki problem. Dali kompanija moze sebi priustiti da dobar dio flote stoji parkiran 4-5-6 mjeseci godisnje a placa ih svih 12?
Purger, misliš li da bi razlog odbijanja Qatar-a ili nekog sličnog bio Krešimir Kučko, Lufthansa, nesposobna vlada, sezonalnost prometa, činjenica da je Air Serbia sve jača ili sve navedeno? Unaprijed zahvaljujem na odgovoru!
Delete1. Qatar ako krene kupovati ima brdo kandidata koji na koljenima mole... tu CTN svakako nije prvi izbor. Ima daleko bolji udavača. I u Europi i u svijetu. Nije baš nevjerovatno, no ipak ima boljih prilika.
Delete2. Naši su političari još prije Vučičevog hodočašćenja po Abu Dhabiu, pokušali Qatarcima svašta utrampiti, doslovce je u Dohu otišao A320 sa delegacijom političara, gospodarstvenika, stručnjaka. I jedino što smo dobili je džamija u Rijeci i linija Zagreb-Budimpešta-Doha.
3. CTN nije loša opcija. Bio bi to zgodan Balkanski rat Croatia-Qatar (Zagreb) vs. Air Serbia-Etihad (Beograd). No, koga vraga Qataru treba još jedan rat, kao da mu nije dosta onaj na Bliskom Istoku. Prije bi oni odabrali nešto gdje se nemoraju klat a koji se nude poput LOT-a, Finaira, Air Baltic, SAS, TAP-a, Air Europa, Aer Lingus, Virgin, TAROM, Air Malta, Bulgaria Air.
4. Velik problem je i Air Serbijina ekspanzija. Da se i kupnja dogovori sa Qatarom isto se ne bi desilo prije 2015. a do tada će Air Serbija već ovladati ovim prostorom. Biti će potreban daleko veći novac da se potom ponovo osvoje linije za SKP, PRN, SJJ, SOF, TIA, TGD, OTP, tj. da se tu nađe mjesto pod suncem uz Air Serbiju (+ Austrian, Adriu, Turkish, Lufthansu, Wizzair, easyJet, Germanwings, Ryanair), pri čemu će Air Serbija imati prednost od skoro dvije godine. I to kad bi se tako što pokrenulo odmah. Što više vremena, to teži posao.
5. Kučka i ostatak bratije uopće ne doživljavam kao veliku problem. To se odmah počisti, kao što je bio slučaj i u Jatu. I prije nego novi vlasnik dođe.
I sve se svodi na to koliko Qatar kani kupovati po Europi. Mislim da Etihad tu debelo pretjeruje i u želji da Qataru (ili nekom trećem) ne ostavi ništa za kupovinu, sam sebi radi konkurenciju na istom tržištu (Darwin-Air Berlin; Alitalia-Air Serbia). Tu bi idealna priča za Qatar bila 4 kompanije u nekonkurentnim dijelovima Europe + 10-tak na ostalim kontinentima, te njihova sinergija. Europske prednost svakako bi bila LOT (ili SAS, ili Air Baltic, ili Finair), Virgin (ili Aer Lingus), Air Europa (ili TAP), TAROM (ili Bulgarian). E sad, ako nešto od toga neće biti na tržištu (npr. TAROM) bez obzira na najave i ako džep bude dubok, onda bi Croatia mogla profitirati. Nemojmo zanemarit ni Adriju, koja je na tržištu i koja je bitno agilnija, iako lošija prilika, ne bih se iznenadio da naši prespavaju Adrijinu ponudu.
+1 to Purger
DeleteAlthough it would be bad for Air Serbia if Croatia Airlines got purchased by Qatar, it would really be entertaining for those watching to see what would happen and how the strategies would compare.
Bravo Purgeru, stvarno mi je nejasno kako je Croatia Airlines propustila sve moguće prilike, i Hrvatska kao turistička država s izvrsnim potencijalom... Što se tiče popunjenosti na domaćim letovima, ja sam iz Dubrovnika i mogu reći da su letovi DBV-ZAG i zimi i ljeti uglavnom puni do posljednjeg mjesta, unatoč visokoj cijeni karte! Nadam se da ovo nije kraj za OU!
DeleteE ovaj sto srtalno pozz iz NS unisti svojim komentarima (a tek pravopisom i gramatikom)...... aaaaaaa SJEDI!!! JEDAN!!!!
ReplyDeleteIma nas dvojica! :)
DeletePA STA AKO GRESIM.
DeletePOGLEDAJTE PRVO SEBE PA PRICAJTE O DRUGIMA .
A MOJI KOMENTARI NISU GLUPI NEGO ISTINITI STO SE TICE LUFTHANSE DOZIVEO SAM DOSTA OD NJIH.
CAK UNISTAVAJU I SVOJE CERKE FIRME KAO NPR OS I U VEZI TOGA IMAM DOSTA DOKAZA.
Ima nas dvojica iz Novog Sada. To je bila poenta.
DeleteDajte ljudi mante se negativnosti... Ako pogledamo oko sebe, imam toliko toga lošeg, gde god živeli, HR, SRB, wherever. Ovde smo jer nas spaja ljubav prema vazduhoplovstvu... ajmo fokus na to! Lako ćemo naći elemente koje nas razdvajaju, bolje je da bacimo fokus na nešto drugo. Pozz svima.
Eight UPRAVU STE STALNO ME ISPRAVLJA.
DeleteA VISE PUTA SA REKO DAIDEM U SKOLU U AUSTRIJI I DA ZOBOG TOGA PRAVIM GRESKE:
IMHO, Croatia Airlines should seriously focus on one market, Zagreb... They should adapt the fleet, service, product, network and frequencies to year-long needs of Zagreb market, its business passengers, VFR traffic, possible connecting passengers.
ReplyDeleteThe coastal cities will continue to remain in the focus of charter and lowcost airlines and that is the battle which a legacy carrier with legacy carrier costs will have troubles winning... OU could keep several higher volume generic aircraft (A32S) which would be flown under some "Croatia Holidays" brand over the summer and be leased out during low season, basically earning money all year long.
OU cant be everything to everybody, especially not in the seasonaly sensitive industry as airline business is. Perhaps I am wrong... but they kept missing the oportunities for the past two decades, before EU, before Etihad investments... I am afraid there is no room for yet another full service carrier beween Istanbul, Athens and Vienna.
(I dont want to be flamed - I am a Serb but would love JU to continue to have a proper competitor around)
BR from NS
Yeah, you make a good point.
DeleteI know this sounds very crazy, but listen to this idea:
MD-80 aircraft go for very cheap right now (~$2.000.000). Croatia Airlines could get 8 of them and brand them something like "Croatia Holidays", and operate them seasonally from the coastal cities. In a high density layout, the planes can seat around 180.
Several large US airlines such as Delta and American operate MD80s since it allows them to cheaply increase capacity. Even though these aircraft are not the most efficient, it is better to have MD80s sitting idle during the winter months rather than any other aircraft. The total investment would also be rather small, so not much money would be needed to be borrowed since the cost of 8 MD-80s at $2million is still less than the cost of a single new Q400.
According to my idea, Croatia Airlines could focus on Zagreb, but the "Croatia Holidays" aircraft can operate from the coastal airports during the Summer season, and just be parked during the winter.
I absolutely like the idea, thanks guys! Hope this will be a good season for Dubrovnik, but I think that Split will have an all time record this year!
DeleteP.S. I'm a Croat, but really adore Serbia, especially your food!
I like the idea too of Zagreb as a hub for everything in Croatia..and used MD 80"s well not sure about that one as maintenance and fuel costs may off balance what a Q-400 costs even if new or next to new!! Honestly a fleet of Q-400 similar to Porter in Canada could serve Zagreb-Dubrovnik-Split-Zagreb on at least 6 rotations a day!! Business, holiday, and Croation travelling out of the country via Zagreb would guaranty great load factors, then add in a couple of Zagreb-Pula-Rijeka-Zagreb flights and it would work very well. Zadar remains an LCC hub and thats fine, then your airbus jet fleet could work the traditional Zagreb to European major city routes being fed in by the daily Q-400 flights..its a no brainer but biggest problem is prestige over practicality!!
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines CEO (Mr Kucko) is an idiot and our government is incapable, they don't have much time left, if they don't do something asap it will soon be too late!
DeleteThe fuel costs of MD80s are not that much greater than A320s etc. Since the planes would have low utilization since they would mostly be used during the summer, the ~20% more fuel burn really won't make such a big difference. Maintenence would be a bit of a problem, but luckily there are so many spare parts, and there are still JT8D engines that can be bought for cheap.
DeleteMD80s of course are not ideal. The best would be a fleet of new A320 to bring large crowds of tourists to the Croatian coast, but unfortunately I doubt Croatian Airlines could get financing on those right now.
The problem with having ZAG as a main hub and using a fleet of Q400s to shuttle passengers to there is that it cannot compete with charter and LCCs that fly direct-non stop to the coast. OU is already expensive.
Purger, you tell me what you think of this idea: OU having their current fleet focus on ZAG and also offering domestic flights year round, and OU having a Low Cost leisure brand as well operating mostly during the summer from coastal airports with MD80 in high density configurations and offering low fares and also charters.
Idea is great, but not with MD80, but older A320. HSPP (pilot syndicate) tray to explain to Croatia Airlines management not to downsize fleet with one A320 but to put this plane as charter one in subsidiary, something as Croatian Holiday.
DeleteMD80 is not good option. For many reason. But to do:
- A320 from CTN fleet + two old A320 to lease for subsidiary Croatian Holiday (based in SPU and DBV)
- Fleet of A319 (including 4 on order) without A320 (which are in Croatian Holiday) + Embraer 190 + Q400 as Croatia Airlines
- Fleet of 3-4 Embraer 120 or similar plane in subsidiary Croatian Regional for routes LSZ-PUY-ZAG, BWK-ZAD-ZAG, OMO-ZAG, OHR-TIV-ZAG + OSI-RJK-SPU-RJK-OSI-DBV
- Fleet of 1-2 small cargo planes in subsidiary Croatian cargo as now foreigners are doing cargo routes from ZAG
I am not saying I agree with the proposal to use the MD-80 but wouldn't MD-90 be the better alternative? It's more or less the equivalent of a B737 (in terms of efficiency). Unfortunately they are not easy to find on the market as Delta seems to be snatching all of them.
DeletePurger, I also agree that older A320 is by far the best. The only problem that I encountered is financing. I read in Airline Finance Journal that the oldest examples of A320 still run at around $100.000 to lease or around $5.000.000 to buy. On the other hand, the newest MD80 is about $30.000 to lease and $2.000.000 to buy. This is a huge difference. In the long term, it would be cheaper to have A320s because of fleet commonality and efficiency, but I doubt that OU could get financing for a purchase or even get a lease for a few A320s.
DeleteNemjee, the problem with MD-90 is that it has had it's price driven up by Delta since they operate almost all examples in service. The only reason why I think the MD-80 has the best chance of success is because it is the cheapest way to increase capacity. "Croatia Holidays" would need capacity more than it needs efficiency since the planes would be parked for most of the year.
Full life market value of JT8D engine for MD-82 is $1.000.000. Full life market value of CF6-801 for A320 is $15.000.000. This is probably why OU scrapped that A320. They didn't have money to do an overhaul even though the plane still had life in it. They needed some cash it seems like.
DeleteYou should know that A320 was sending back to leasor, it was not CTN one.
DeleteOh thank you for the clarification. I was under the impression that all of OU airbuses were owned by them.
Deletecurrent fleet is all owned by the OU, in the past 2-3 A320s were leased from Lufthansa and other lessors on long term lease, which was cheaper option than outright purchase of a brand new aircraft, remaining 6 A319/320 are owned by OU and will remain in service till 2020 at least.
Delete]
4 Brand new A319 Neos are joining the fleet in 2017 and these will only supplement current fleet of 6 A319/320 till they are retired around 2020/2023 and repalced by either CA100/CS300 mix of new A319s, we'll see closer to that date. OU might still lease out up to 4 aircraft to cover 2015/16 summer seasons, with 6 month wet lease, potentially 2-3 E195s might be joining the fleet than, but we'll see.
A long term plan is to keep 6 A319s that suppose to retire in early 2020s and use them on add hock basis as charters in summer season, the type is in very good condition, overhauling them and performing D-check on all 6 aircraft won't be cheap, but cheaper than buying brand new aircraft of wet leasing 6 aircraft from a 3rd party.
So fleet beyond 2020 might look like this :
8 A319 (4x 20+ year old used for charters in summer season)
2 A320 - (used for cheater as well)
8 CS100/300 mix
6 Dash 8 400Q
For total fleet of 24 aircraft with 6 used for charter in summer season only.
Just check the profitability of Spirit Airlines in USA with a huge M80 fleet on of the most profitable airlines. Yes, the M80 are fuel guzzlers but on the other hand the finance cost is almost zero. This is just FYI. Concerning OU, I think that the airline has huge potentials but with its obedient (politically motivated) role to LH unable to play its cards. It should built a solid network with connections to major cities in Europe ex ZAG year round and during summer bring the tourist crowds to the Adriatic. Cities like DBV have potential even beyond the hot season, since more and more tourists are spending short vacations there for Easter or Xmas. Lease out the fleet during northern winter to South America (like Air Malta does) and hire seasonal staff to be more flexible. Just a few thoughts, but as I heard during the recent OU strikes, the crews of OU have contractual rights for long summer vacation in July/August. Just when they are needed and therefore huge number of staff is hired to compensate and sits idle during the winter months. With such insane policies it's not difficult to ruin an airline.
ReplyDeleteErratum for above: I mean Allegiant Airlines.
DeleteThat is not true. Crews have no right for summer vacations in Croatia Airlines at all. They can combine something with their off days like put families in Adriatic, and on off days to be with them 3-4 days and then to fly again (if they plan well they can start flying days from SPU or DBV), but not eve one weeks holidays for crew.
DeleteIs it possible that on the site "www.fluege.de" the ticket to frankfurt from belgrade (return, lufthansa, june) is 40euros cheaper than on the others sites? Or some taxes aren't included in the ticket?
ReplyDeleteJust one question who is this Mr. Kucka that everybody is talking about
ReplyDeleteIt's actually Kucko, the CEO of Croatia Airlines, the man who's doing everything possible in order to ruin it!
DeleteBut the Croatian people call him Mr. Kucka so he is the Ceo. Thanks for the update I thought they had fired him or in the process to do so
ReplyDeleteThe Croatian people call him Mr. Kucka. I thought he was fired or they are in the process in doing so thats is what is going around
ReplyDeleteFor all those people who are working for OU I surely hope that he will be fired!!! He deserves it!
ReplyDelete