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| Croatia Airlines to remain profitable in 2014 |
Croatia Airlines is expected to post a net profit for a second consdecutive year and see a modest increase in passenger numbers, the carrier said at a gala event in Zagreb this week to mark its 25th anniversary. “In 2014 we expect to handle 1.88 million passengers, an increase of some 4.6% compared to the same period last year. Results recorded during the first eight months of the year indicate we will end the year with a profit”, Croatia Airlines’ spokesperson, Davor Janušić, said. In 2013 the Croatian carrier posted its first net profit in six years totalling 87.450 euros. During the first six months of this year Croatia Airlines handled 801.288 passengers, down 1% on the same period in 2013. On July 28, it handled its millionth passenger for the year, just three days behind 2013.
The positive financial outlook comes as the airline enters the final stages of its restructuring process, which has seen it cut costs and rationalise its business. Croatia Airlines is set to end its restructuring in 2015. Furthermore, the Croatian government is tipped to put the airline on sale next year as it seeks a strategic partner for the state-run company. The Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, said, “The Croatian government wants to find a strategic partner which will help the company achieve its development plans. Our aim is for Croatia Airline to expand its route network and increase its market share, support the development of Zagreb Airport by turning it into a strong regional hub, renew its fleet in line with future expansion and further develop its maintenance division”.
Croatia Airlines is in the process of building a third maintenance hangar at Zagreb Airport, which will increase capacity by 30% and provide additional revenue. Croatia Airlines’ maintenance division is one of its most profitable branches as it serves a number of foreign carriers. ”Our airline is the first in the region to offer D-checks. This is a new revenue stream for us. It’s going well and we are planning additional capacity to handle the demand”, the airline’s CEO, Krešimir Kučko, said. He added, “There are new challenges out there and there is potential for commercial cooperation. So it is important that an airline considers the other side of the equation too and continues to innovate and find new revenue streams”.
So we will have Adria, Croatia and Air Serbia all with a profit this year? Nice
ReplyDeleteI don't thing that'll happen
Delete"ThinG", again?!
DeleteWe caught you Purger!
DeleteHaha just kidding.
Yeah, sure, Adria maybe, not so sure about Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteWell Croatia Airlines just said they would and Air Serbia has been saying it for months, including James Hogan just a few days ago
DeleteA question: how come Swiss doesn't fly to Zagreb from Zurich or Geneva? Croatia Airlines flights are mostly full (I fly there often), but their prices are outrageous!
ReplyDeleteStar Alliance monopoly ...
DeleteSwiss might come soon to Zagreb, there are talks of them coming, early on next year or for the tourist season. OU has a code-sharing with the Swiss and now that most Croats can work and live in Switzerland it makes things easier for travel there, not that there was any problem in the past.
DeleteTalks are being held with Swiss, SAS, Finnair, Czech Air, AlItalia and Brussels Air to start flying to Zagreb in 2015, Iberia has plans to increase its service to Zagreb from 3 weekly season flights to full on service in 2015, as many as 40 000 Spanish visitors vised Zagreb this year in first 8 months,a growth of some 32%, justifying full on service between Madrid and Zagreb.
Just to remind you all, Air Canada is coming back n 2015 with 56 seasonal flights between Zagreb and Toronto, due to high demand, and JAL, Korean Air also plan to renew their seasonal commitments to Zagreb, with high probability that another Chinese Airline will also start seasonal flights to Zagreb in 2015, some 140 000 Chinese visitors have visited Zagreb and Croatia in first 8 months of 2014, 180 000 are expected by the year's end.
Zagreb and Croatia are becoming major tourist destinations in the Far East, with nearly million visitors coming to Croatia from China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Easyjet might also return in 2015, current management is trying to solve the problem over airport taxes for EasyJet, talks are ongoing, but EasyJet had hard time competing with OU and BA on London Route which is highly contested between the 3 carriers, but competition is good for all and would be sad to see EasyJet loosing here, we need great choice in airliners that fly to Zagreb, especially now that British have discovered Zagreb and are coming out in droves, 80 000 Brits have visited Zagreb in first 8 months, so far 400 000 have visited Croatian Coast and Zagreb, very possible 500 000 visitors from British isles this year, although bad weather in Croatia in past few weeks might jeopardize this.
Anyhow, future is bright for Zagreb.
You've got any links to official announcement for claimed Air Canada YYZ-ZAG flights in 2015?
DeleteI don't know if Air Canada is a speculation or not (although the now-ex CEO of Zagreb Airport International Corporation did say that there are talks being held with some canadian airline in regards to direct flights etc.),
Deletebut check this out...
http://www.seebiz.eu/kinesko-turisticko-izaslanstvo-u-posjetu-hrvatskoj-uskoro-i-letovi-iz-kine/ar-95625/
In short, something will turn up and Croatia will have lots of tourism-related action from several countries
This is interesting… First of all, Air Canada mainline is extremely unlikely to launch flights to either Zagreb or Belgrade for considerable period of time as it doesn’t fit their approach. Air Canada Rouge is however more likely to explore new options for Europe summer routes. It is worth noting that competitor Transat already serves number of summer destinations in Europe, and even they stay away from eastern part of Europe, with exception of Prague 1pw and Athens 2pw.
DeleteAir Canada Rouge will continue to get 767 from mainline as new Dreamliners enter fleet, so expectation is to grow long haul destinations. So far they only fly to Barcelona, Venice, Athens and Lisbon from Toronto, and as EE/CEE destinations like Prague or Budapest are not even announced yet, it seems unlikely they will choose Zagreb 3pw for S15 over other, more attractive options. Air Canada Rouge is under pressure to prove themselves as a successful new venture and are eager to show robust start, but EE routes are generally considered to be low yield and having low ancillary services revenue.
Instead of owning the risk of starting net new route to Zagreb, they would be less exposed by codesharing with Air Serbia on potential Toronto service and relying on regional network offered from Belgrade, on top of Zagreb and Adriatic destinations already being well covered by Star Alliance partners.
Air Canada Rouge is expected to announce S15 changes in the next couple of weeks, so we’ll see if there’s any truth to this rumor.
Air Canada will NEVER codeshare with Air Serbia on any transatlantic services. They are prohibited frm doing so due to their pre-existing arrangement with LH. They already fly into Croatia via their many codeshare partners through STAR, so I've no idea why people are getting so worked up about this issue of who will / won't fly to Croatia or Serbia or any other ex-yu country. Who cares anyway ??
DeleteAir Canada already interlines or codeshares with non-StarA airlines like Jet Airways or even Etihad (on EY flights AUH-YYZ), even on destinations served directly by LH (Lufthansa serves FRA-AUH directly with LH618), so no, you are not right.
DeleteAnonymous at 2:37 PM does not ever take his rose colored glasses off when it comes to ZAG, everything is bright and major...lol...let's not spoil it....
DeleteThat's why I don't believe a word of this article, because they lied about the figures too many times.
ReplyDeleteEspecially Kucko, this man isnt even capable of running a drugstore!!
The only station that was profitable was Amsterdam and all of you know what happened there!! We don't forget this. Filling his own pockets that's what he is doing.
@AnonymusSeptember 21, 2014 at 11:30 AM
DeleteWhy, OU can't make profits despite having profits last year and having paid much of what is owes jet JAT/Air Serbia can despite having $365 million debt, no idea how to pay that back and Serbian State almost bankrupt still pours money in to a failed airline. Nobady on this blog knows how much money was poured in to Air Serbia so far by Serbian State and how much more they'll pour in to make Air Serbia viable. I am sure with creative finances at place Serbian Style, everything is possible, even a profit despite the poor load factor, prices that won't cover the fuel or airport tax. I am sure with massive subsidies in tune of $65 million per year profits are indeed possible, even warranted, lets wait and see how things go in 2016 when Serbia officially starts to negotiate its EU membership, a lengthy process that will allow the EU to have an detailed look in to how things are done in Serbia, There are 35 EU articles to get through, 10 years of hard negotiations ahead for Serbia, not sure in 2 years time Air Serbia will be around, in fact I am quite certain Air Serbia under EU regulations won't be allowed to operate, for the subsidies As receives are out this world, literally As is bankrupting Serbia, more money has been spent on AS than on Serbia's defence budget, in fact as a result of Air Serbia's subsidies Serbian Armed Forces have forgone any modernization, you still have tanks and equipment from 1980s, much of it belongs to a museum, and not in an active military service.
sad days,
^You have some serious issues with Serbia. Now, how are those predictions of yours going? What were you projecting BEG again? 3,5m?
DeleteIt looks like your "rhetorics" are escalating as Air Serbia's trajectory is going up and OU's is going vertically down. I guess we'll read some really funny posts from you as OU tether's at the the edge of Chapter 11, no matter what lies their management tells about "profitability".
You guys said that OU is going bankrupt for how long and it is still here, with almost 1,9 million passengers predicted in 2014, don't worry, they're not going bankrupt, too much money for the state to allow that scenario!
Delete@Blog Admin, Croatian Airlines is also building brand new head office at the airport, opposite the new terminal under construction right now. ~12000sqm OU's Head office is being designed by local architects and will include some of the latest environmental and sustainable ideas, part of the new head office will be leased out to other airlines. New HQ! is being build on OU's owned land, old Head office will be sold.
ReplyDeleteIs one of those "sustainability ideas" actually having a business that's a going concern? It's quite funny how a near bankrupt "flag" carrier is building a new HQ when it's literally falling apart. I guess that's how Croatians see market economy.
Delete@AnonymousSeptember 21, 2014 at 3:46 PM
DeleteYou're a troll, and live off posting hatred and nonsense, spreading lies and ignorance.
The fact is OU was never near bankruptcy or is going to bankrupt, airline is doing fine, problem isn't the airline as per say but its management, the government sees that and everyone in Croatia sees that, this is why they want to privatize the airline, to bring in the fresh blood and perspective.
To make a statements about airline making profits but at the end of the year airline makes a massive loss would not only be a stupid thing by an airline in the EU, but considering the fact that the Croatian Parliament has insights in to OU's operations, any CEO making lies to a parliament would be a criminal offence under Croatian Constitution, in short that CEO won't be CEO for much longer and with strict EU laws and practices in place things are much harder to fake in Croatia these days.
EU has had very positive effects on Croatia, especially when it comes to laws and law enforcement, especially when the EU Commission can look in to operations of any company with in the EU if so it chooses, something to bare in mind. ;)
Something we can;'t say for Air Serbia which is literally bankrupting Serbia, but than again, you're a far right nationalist who hates anyone that isn't Serbian, so no matter what anyone says you'll continue to preach Serbia Great, everyone else must obey what Serbia says.
Days of old yugofederation are long over, wake up and smell the coffee.
Zagreb airport - with IB, KL, AF, PG, KT, PP, WR, OU, ZZ, FY...1.6 pax so far this year. End of the story.
DeleteZagreb results are quite bad, I agree with you completely, but you wouldn't believe that there are countries in the world with more than one (1) functional airport, with governments not pushing the development of only one airport and one carrier! Air Serbia is doing great, no doubt about that, but those are different types of markets (Serbia and Croatia)!
DeleteToliko jakih komanija leti za ZAG a tako malo putnika ima.To govori koliko je malo potencijala0d
DeleteINN-NS
Kompanija
DeleteINN-NS
INN, I owe you something from yesterday:
Delete"Close to one fourth of Austrians surveyed (24%) said they would welcome Serbia into the EU, while only one in five supported Albania (20%) and Kosovo (19%) joining."
http://www.euractiv.com/enlargement/eu-appetite-enlargements-hits-ti-news-531142
Anonymouse - @7:07 PM,
DeleteI don't agree. Quite contrary...in fact. Flying out of Zagreb is quite expensive as there are rarely any super ticket deals - with most airlines being traditional carriers etc.
That shows how there's a huge LCC potential (unfortunately proper LCC policy requires difersivied infrastructure by an airport).
The reason why markets haven't been further explored is government's protectionism towards OU. This should change as OU has started to change - for the better...
BA, KLM, Iberia, TAP, Air France, Lufthansa, TK are all doing very well and are steadily growing.
BEG's growth has within last few years been fuelled by Jat/ASL extremely low prices and introduction of LCC...
Let's wait and see what will happen in a few years. Don't forget BEG has had much better infrastructure for decades helping it materialize growth potential - something ZAG never could have...due to its crappy terminal capacity.
Anonymous at 4.02pm. I need to correct you. Serbia was bankrupt long before the Air Serbia project came along, so you are factually incorrect.
DeleteYou shouldn't make claims about others being trolls or posting lies, when you are doing so yourself.
All this does is weaken your own position and arguments