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| Air Croatia to Rome and Prague from mid-December |
Start-up Air Croatia will inaugurate services on December 18 from Zagreb to Rome Fiumicino and Prague. The company will wet-lease an Estonian Air Embraer E170 jet which has the capacity to seat 76 passengers. Services to both the Italian and Czech capitals will operate five times per week, from Monday to Friday, and carry Estonian Air flight numbers. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, Air Croatia said, “We will have a codeshare with Alitalia and ČSA Czech Airlines and will be able to feed their respective hubs from Zagreb and vice versa”. Earlier this week, the start-up began ticket sales through its website with one way fares averaging 99 euros.
Besides Rome and Prague, Air Croatia also plans to launch flights to Milan and Dusseldorf in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, in an earlier statement, the company confirmed it would also run services to Bucharest, Helsinki, Stockholm and Belgrade starting next Easter. Notably, the company aims to link the Croatian capital with unserved markets which hold great potential, while at the same time avoiding direct competition from rivals. The Italian national carrier Alitalia operated up to two daily flights to Zagreb prior to its financial problems in late 2008. Since, there have been no nonstop flights between Zagreb and Italy, with Croatia Airlines maintaining services to Rome via Dubrovnik and Split. Furthermore, ČSA suspended flights from Prague to Zagreb in 2012 after relegating the route to its regional partner Central Connect Airlines (CCA). Shortly after, CCA declared bankruptcy and ceased all operations. There have been no direct flights between the Croatian and Czech capitals since.
Air Croatia originally planned to launch flights from Gothenburg to Zagreb, Zadar and Split this June with a wet-leased Czech Airlines Airbus A319. At the time, the start-up told EX-YU Aviation News that “Those flights have been postponed since May due to a low amount of bookings and some technical problems connecting our booking system and flights to many of the major search engines, which made it too risky and difficult to sell only through our website”. Air Croatia also hoped to set up flights from Zagreb to Tel Aviv from June through to September, as well as services from Southern Italy to Dubrovnik in cooperation with Italian tour operators. However, the start-up is now prepared to launch flights in just over a month’s time.
Flight information for Air Croatia's service to Rome can be found here, while additional details for flights to Prague can be viewed here.
Hmm... at least B&H Airlines and Montenegro Airlines will have some tough competition when it comes to who will have the least weekly frequencies. lol
ReplyDeleteWhat's the point of launching Belgrade after Air Serbia announced double daily flights? Maybe they plan on offering them the same deal as the one with Alitalia and CSA?
I wonder if Air Croatia is still planning on flying to Belgrade considering that they would be going head to head with Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteWell, they could introduce Belgrade flights during the noon/13.00 wave of departures. They could receive passengers coming in from Air Serbia's Abu Dhabi flight as well as their Moscow one plus a few other destinations which could make sense.
DeleteThis is dependent on Air Serbia's willingness to cooperate. If Air Serbia sees benefit in it, it could mean a triple daily service!
DeleteAir Serbia has been more than willing to work with anyone so I don't see why not do it with Air Croatia... especially since CSA and Alitalia will.
DeleteMaybe they could even link Dubrovnik or Split with Belgrade during summer... if they are still around by then, of course.
first lets see if these cats start flying, which i doubt, and for how long
DeleteZagreb-Rome and back for €238... that's quite pricey for a lowcost with absolutely no brand recognition. I hope they will lower their fares otherwise they are bound to fail very soon.
ReplyDeleteif Air Croatia manages to start up, it would further tighten the noose around Croatia Airline' neck. This with the combination of Air Serbia's invasion of Croatia and an awakened Adria could be enough to kill the company.
ReplyDelete@Aleksandar StojanovicNovember 9, 2014 at 9:12 AM
DeleteWhat invasion of Croatia, this is not 1991, Air Serbia is welcome to fly to Zagreb, its a minor airline that has decided to fly to Zagreb, that is all.
The arrogance of some Serbs here is mindboggling, as if suddenly Air Serbia will take all the passengers from Croatian Airlines, or if it has any chance in Croatia.
i mean really the audacity of some Serbs here is beyond mad.
1st Most Croats and this includes me, wouldn't fly with air Serbia if your fares were free, the food on plane is shit, the service is shit and planes are older them myself.
2nd Most Croats fly to Western Europe where all our economic and political interests are, few weekly flights to Athens is as far as Croatian Airlines dares to go, there's so little interest to go there. Istanbul is main hub for mid East and far east operations, some 20% of all transfers for these destinations are done through Istanbul.
With Qatar and now Fly Dubai vying in for bit of pie. Most Croats never fly to Bulgaria or any other place in Balkans for there's little interest to go there, reason why Croatian never flew there and most likely never will.
What Belgrade has to offer is little or nothing, most Serbs that live in Croatia might use Air Serbia to fly to Belgrade and visit their relatives and vice versa,
if they pass 40 000 yearly pax on that route i'd be surprised, even with double daily, for a reference, Paris has 170 000 with Air France alone, KLM is now looking to increase their number of flights to Zagreb from current 7 to 10, and KLM's Amsterdam route is in direct competition with OU's own. As it is, this route has 180 000 pax per year with both carriers.
And so on, Air serbia won't do much other than be just one more carrier that serves Zagreb, and i welcome that, but other than that it won't play any significant role at Zagreb or Croatia. What purger is saying is utter nonsense, has been for a while, guy is a joke on Croatian forums and has been ridiculed for his views, first he predicted OU would bankrupt, than Air Serbia will take over Croatia and than Zagreb will die as an airport feeding Belgrade.
Seriously, why would anyone in Croatia fly to Belgrade to fly to Istanbul when they have two daily and soon 3 daily flights for Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, or for Moscow when you have Aeroflot flying there.
Most Croatia couldn't care if price if 200 kuna more as long as they can come there on time and with little fuss as this is humanly possible. Air Serbia and JAT have very bad reputation in Croatia, in fact they have worst/no reputation in Croatia, they'd be lucky to get any passengers out of Zagreb.
And just in case you think war is over and we should move on, sure tell that to characters such as inn-ns, he makes it difficult for any Croats have any sympathy for what Air Serbia is trying to do. As long as Serb nationalist talk nonsense many in Croatia would find trip to Belgrade very difficult, for most impossible to comprehend.
You mention inn ns but you are the Croatian version. Your comment is bitter and full of hate but i do not mind as i will wait for you on this blog when the route gets upgraded. By the way, the city of Pula and Dubrovik have borh begged Air Serbia to fly there in winter. How do you explain that if what you wrote is true. ;)
DeleteWow what a rant. I have to write a paper for my philosophy course, since you seem to have lots of time and love writing do you think you could do it for me?
DeleteI was considering writing something in reply, but I simply can't be interested in either reading or replying after I was done reading the first two paragraphs.
...i see you're still not getting over the defeat that INN-NS inflicted to you, well, this won't help.
DeleteHeal your wounds somewhere else.
British Airways is sending its A320 to Zagreb today! Nice to see an upgrade compared to the boring A319.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with A319, this is such a stupid remark, typical troll
DeleteBA has been sending their 320s to Zag quite often this year (about 50% of times-check flightradar24 :) ...
ReplyDeleteI hope not because they took away passengers from OU! Does OU send its A319?
DeleteOnly bookable 18Dec to end of Dec
ReplyDeletewhats that? Kinna xmas action and next flts during Easter 2015 again or just precaution in case business does not picks up?
Wet leasing planes from January to Easter is a waste of money. Winter in Croatia is tough on airlines.
DeleteDoes anyone know how Eurolot is doing in Zagreb? Their flight yesterday had a really light load.
ReplyDeleteI flew to Warsaw with Eurolot a few days ago and the plane was almost full, maybe 2 empty seats, don't know what the loads are for other days!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was empty yesterday beacuse it was Saturday... I was confident EuroLot would do well in Zagreb as they can cover such a large market! What did they serve on the flight?
DeleteI had a sandwich and orange juice...
DeleteThen you were more lucky than us. All we got on LO574 yesterday from Belgrade was water and a choco-waffle. It really felt like Pegasus+water but you had choice between the still and sparkling one! LF around 35%.
DeleteNext time use asl.
DeleteTo be honest with you even Jat Airways felt like luxury compared to that.
DeleteWhy didn't they start Prague and Warsaw? That seems to be the fashion. Maybe they got confused...
ReplyDeleteDidn't you read the article? They are launching Prague, hater.
Deletehaha epic fail, aerologic !
DeleteSorry, i just don't take that airline seriously. Greetings from Warsaw.
DeleteAir Serbia?!
DeleteIf Air Croatia starts flights to many cities with which Zagreb is not connected, and Air Serbia takes away passengers from ZAG, because of very cheap tickets (at the moment), OU will be killed...
ReplyDeleteEx YU: do u already hve the timings for JPs flights to ARN and TXL? Tx
ReplyDeleteThey will be added to the new route launches section by the end of the day. Stockholm will have one early morning (06.00) and one evening departure from LJU and Berlin will have one morning (09.00) and two evening departures,
DeleteHvala Sefe
DeleteDoes anyone know why Berlin will have one at 06.00 and one at 09.00? Three hours is a lot and it might make them uncompetitive when it comes to connections. Could it be a slot issue?
DeleteBy the way, Zagreb flights can be found on Air Serbia's website!
ReplyDeleteIt's also nice to see Aegean's A319 in Belgrade! :)
DeleteAre Swiss' and Lot's flights timed to allow regional connections via Zagreb?
ReplyDelete...which region are you talking about?
DeleteCroatia, Bosnia, Pristina...
DeleteLX is flying direct everywhere in the region including bnx so regional connections via zag are pointless.
DeleteYes but it is a shame because OU has a lot of potential. They could make the best of their decent regional network.
DeleteWell, with OU's pathetic presence in Pristina and most of the region coupled with the presence of foreign airlines in the coastal cities, i don't really see what connectivity we're talking about.
DeleteWell, they will soon add more flights so...
DeleteSorry to disappoint, but no OU will not be adding any new flights for at least 1,5 year. Restrictive measures are valid until the end of 2015.
DeleteWell of course but after the restrictions they will start adding frequencies. I heard they will add Athens and Warsaw.
Delete...and Prague? :D
DeleteNo, Prague will most likely come after 2018 when CA get more aeroplanes.
DeleteIf it'll be around by then.
DeleteWhen there won't be any trace of ou left.
DeleteCA is a strong, profitable airline with a really strong brand, there is no reason why it will fail before 2018. After 2015 it will start growing once again and it will have a new terminal which will make growth even bigger! In 2016 it will start to become a true regional hegemon.
DeleteAnonymous 6:14 PM, it won't be strong without a (Far or Middle East) strategic partner!
DeleteNisam znao da Air China leti za ZAG ;)
DeleteINN-NS
Eto, sad znaš!
DeleteInn let the entire Air China/Alaska Airlines thing go already, you know in what context it is used.
DeleteINN ne budi kreten
DeleteGospodine Stojanovicu mene nazivaju kretenom ovde a oni ni ne znaju IATA oznake tako da necu sto se toga tice ja se vama mogu izviniti ako vam smeta .
DeleteINN-NS
INN smaras as Hell i mnogo si dosadan kada krenes da popujes.
DeletePredlazem da vise forumasa koristi CA tako da ini bude sretan.
DeletePonovo pisete u moje ime pa to je bedno .
DeleteAko me vec vredjate onda naucite barem IATA kodove a ne vako ne znate ih a pravite se ko da se razumete .
A i ovo je blog o Avijaciji gde bi se trebali znati IATA kodovii nije ovo blog o poljoprivredi.
A vi naucite da citate nije INI nego INN :)
INN-NS
Klinac dosada si više i bogu i ljudima. Svi dobro znaju kad netko napiše AS da ne misli na Alascan i kad napiše CA da ne misli na kineze. A ti si se našao popovati. I onda napišeš ASL i OU. Sine ako je ASL onda je CTN, a ako je OU onda mora biti JU.
DeleteSvima već ideš na onu stvar. Odrasti pa ponovo dođi. A do tada bi admin stvarno marao automatizmom brizati tvoje postove.
Pa sta se ti bunis, i ti pises srpski koj ocito ne znas pa te niko ne smara zbog toga.
DeleteSto da ih brise ne vredjam nikoga ja barem smem da se potpisem sto se vi ne potpisete.
DeletePa ja namerno mesam IATA i ICAO kodove posto njih ovde tek neko retko zna-
A i ne znam ko ste vi u opste da vredjjate nekoga zbog drugacijeg misljenja niko i nista ;)
INN-NS
Ovo je blog o aviaciji a ne o pravopisu prvih 2 meseca su mi se smejali zbog toga i ispravljali me .
DeleteJa u Austriji nemam casove srpskog kao sto to imaju u Vojvodini sve nacionalne manjine.
I barem da Nauce ove IATA kodove iz ex yu nije tesko =D
INN-NS
When is Adria getting the CRJ 700?
ReplyDeleteI am curious, why would they need it anyway? Still, i am happy they are adding more and more flights and aircraft.
DeleteAir Croatia's site states they are starting flights to Bucharest, helsinki, Düsseldorf, Milan and Stockholm.
ReplyDelete*from Easter
DeleteAir Croatia is not an airline, it is just a touroperator that charter the OV flights and after they find again low bookings they wil not sight the charter agreement with OV, same like in spring time.
DeleteBesides, their web pages are missleading pretending they are airline with its Conditions of carriage etc.
@AnonymousNovember 9, 2014 at 4:23 PM
DeleteAir Croatia isn't a serious entity, wouldn't take too much credence to what they've got to say.
First Air Croatia plans five weekly flights to Rome and Prague, that's 10 weekly operations by one aircraft, than they plan to add Helsinki, Dusseldorf, Milan and Stockholm, *(forget Bucharest, its a shithole no one in Croatia wants to visit), I presume they'll have at least 3 weekly flights to these places, so that another 12 operations, 22 round operations, one aircraft. hm its doable but it might take a toll on the crew and the aircraft.
They also I presume plan to add Athens, Istanbul, Belgrade, Hamburg, Oslo, Riga, Manchester, Geneva, Lyon, Nice, Krakow and Innsbruck. JK
A trade Air F100 flew from Zagreb to Ljubljana as JP 4001. Did Adria lease it out from them? Really interesting.
ReplyDeleteyes, 9A-BTE flies LJU-VIE
DeleteThanks. Is it only that one flight?
DeleteOsijek-Zagreb-Rijeka, Rijeka-Dubrovnik, Zagreb-Tivat, Zagreb-Ljubljana-Vienna, what a joke of the airline it became since "mladi gazda" took over. And they used to fly to Australia, Dubai, Kuwait-Bahrain-Muscat, Nigeria, Senegal, the North Pole/(Svalbard)...
DeleteWho exactly is this mladi gazda?
DeleteWhen will Air France introduce the second daily flight to Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteit won't
DeleteBut wasn't it already announced?
DeleteThey have codeshare with OU
DeleteJust did a small research:
ReplyDeleteZAG-BEG-LCA €219
ZAG-BEG-OTP €149
ZAG-BEG-TIA €160
ZAG-BEG-AUH €399
ZAG-BEG-ATH €159
ZAG-BEG-BEY €359
ZAG-BEG-IST €137
ZAG-BEG-TGD €149
ZAG-BEG-SOF €159
ZAG-BEG-SKG €159
ZAG-BEG €79
I hope that one day Belgrade-Zagreb could be as cheap as Belgrade-Banja Luka!
I think it's cheap enough.
Delete@AnonymousNovember 9, 2014 at 6:36 PM
DeleteAnd somehow you think Croats wold want to pay Air Serbia transfers for Athens, Istanbul and other places on your list.
In Croatia many wouldn't buy a ticket on Air Serbia if it was free, let alone fly with air Serbia. A strong anti Serb feelings are still felt in Croatia despite what Purger might have said. The rhetorics and hatred of Serbian politicians towards Croatia make many in Croatia uneasy and quite angry with Serb rhetorics , something to be considered when thinking of Croatian business.
AnonymousNovember 9, 2014 at 10:27 PM,
DeleteThe same predictions were made for the Tirana flights. The truth is, price is the biggest factor by far when purchasing tickets. This is why Ryanair is so successful.
Are you the user Darko06 on skyscrapercity?
Hahahaha Air Serbia already flew to Pula, Dubrovnik and Split. Also ZAG invited them so... I fear you are just a biggot.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete72% of the passengers to the coast were connecting from west and the north of Europe plus Abu Dhabi. Actually the routes were so successful that they are starting two month earlier with more frequencies. Those are not only for Serbs my HDZ voter friend. I think you need to wake up and smell the roses.
DeleteKada ce OU da leti prema Istanbul'u .
ReplyDeleteNever, they failed miserably the last time around.
Delete