Zagreb Airport expects to handle 3.5 million passengers next year and secure two new long haul routes, following the success it has had in attracting high-profile carriers so far in 2018. The airport's General Manager, Jacques Feron, told the "Nacional" weekly, "Next year we hope for flights between Montreal and Zagreb to be launched. We also anticipate to finalise talks over the arrival of a Chinese carrier because Croatia is becoming of growing interest to Chinese tourists. There is also an increasing number of Chinese investments in Croatia and we believe that we will be able to find a common ground for the introduction of flights from a Chinese city". This year, Air Transat will run a total of four one-way flights from Zagreb to Montreal, as a stop on its scheduled service to Toronto. The airline has told EX-YU Aviation News that "those are being operated as additional flights that have been added for operational reasons, to support our tours and packages in Zagreb".
Mr Feron noted that high-profile carriers are increasingly interested in Zagreb in part due to the opening of its new passenger terminal last year. "Emirates is one of the airlines that launched flights precisely as a result of the new passenger terminal because the old facility was not up to their standards. Emirates' arrival is important for Croatia because Zagreb has become an interesting point linking Europe with Asia and Australia. In addition, Croatia has become an appealing destination for Arab businesspeople". He added, "Air Canada has launched flights from Toronto, the second Canadian airline after Air Transat to serve the city, while this autumn we will see Korean Air commence services from Seoul, which will open up the Asian market from Croatia".
Zagreb Airport expects to see continued passenger growth in the year to come, with 3.5 million travellers projected to be handled in 2019. "Our trends are encouraging and I honestly hope that the coming years promise to bring us even more new carriers and passenger growth. The only issue that could hinder that is the rising price of fuel on the world market, which has a negative effect on airlines and acts as a deterrent in investing in new routes", Mr Feron noted. He added, "Croatia is attracting more tourists than before and Zagreb is becoming an increasingly appealing destination. More and more travellers are deciding to spend a few days in the Croatian capital before heading to the coast, which is reflected in our figures. More passengers results in more new carriers, making Zagreb more interesting".
Congratulations Zagreb. Wonder which Chinese airline we will see flying to ZAG.
ReplyDeleteAir China with code-share to Croatia Airlines
DeleteThat would be great!
DeleteP.S. Love the pic in the article!
Are there smoking cabins in ZAG, and if, where are they situated? I think there was a mention on this blog about installing 3 of them, but I'm not sure.
DeleteThere is a smoking cabin at ZAG near gates 26 and 28.
DeleteAnd domestic departure hall? Smoking possible?
DeleteNo mention of Japan flights people on here were talking about?
ReplyDeleteAlso no mention of US?
DeleteDubrovnik will get flights to the US before Zagreb. Most likely next year. ZAG maybe in 2020. Hope there is a surprise and it starts earlier.
DeleteWhich airline will fly from US to DBV?
DeleteAmerican
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/06/american-eyes-dubrovnik-service.html
He was talking about next year. Japan and the US if all works out will be announced this year.
DeleteThese possible services are being negotiated now so he wont mention it at this time.
Still negotiating with the Japanese carrier. Hope it will materialize!
DeleteSomeone mentioned (on another forum) LF for AC Rouge flight from YYZ to ZAG this morning: 253/258 in economy class and 4/24 in premium! Nice job!
Delete4/24 is bad. No interest for their premium class?
DeleteWho cares, the plane was almost full!
DeleteIt would be nice to see (at least seasonally) Singapore airlines or Cathay Pacific, but that's almost impossible.
DeleteWhat is the average return fare in economy on AC Rouge? 90% LF in June is OK, but they are obviously not making money in premium cabin. They do not offer last minute upgrades?
DeleteDubrovnik won't get US flights, no airline will risk NA flights to a city that has seasonality. When Dubrovnik hits 4 or 5 million pax, yes it is possible for US carrier to come. Till then, no chance.
DeleteUS carriers are very conservative with their destination choices, none fly to smaller airport, smallest airport an US carrier flies to in Europe is Venice, and that airport has serious demand.
Venice is served by all 3 major US carriers, United, Delta and American. Venice airport handles around 10 million pax, and has been handling such volumes for over 5 years.
90%? It's above 98% in Economy!
DeleteBut no passangers in their humble premium class. For sure they are making some money but this needs to improve in order to get proper AC product.
DeleteAnon 1:44, you are not the one to decide. DBV probably won't get them next year, but they will come. If not, why bothering AA with all these negotiations?
DeleteWell done Zagreb. Next year will be quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteI wish Croatia Airlines would keep some of its new routes over winter or any of the ones launched in the last few years. They should be working on reducing seasonality.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteUnfortunately they are sticking only to Mostar this year.
DeleteThey have to keep Mostar because of the subsidies.
DeleteSo will Transat launch Montreal-Zagreb in addition to Toronto or will they cut Toronto?
ReplyDeleteThey just put tickets on sale for Toronto-Zagreb for 2019 so I would assume it would be in addition to the Toronto route.
DeleteNice!
DeleteDo you think AC Rouge (in ZAG) will eventually switch their flights to AC Mainline?
DeleteThere is a post in previous comments that "AC Rouge flight from YYZ to ZAG this morning: 253/258 in economy class and 4/24 in premium". That does not seem promising for switching to AC proper.
Delete@AnonymousJune 21, 2018 at 8:21 PM
DeleteYes, most likely, not before 2020 though.
We need to see how both carriers perform on the Toronto route. Air Transat is looking to add Montreal as a separate destination next year, from June, and perhaps if they do on that route well in 2019 they might completely switch to Montreal.
We'll see, however, Air Canada could start year round service post 2020, if route performs well in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Air Canada maintained year round service up to 1991 with B767, so they could return if current service proves very popular.
I think there are a few more European airlines that could start flights to Zagreb. Primarily SAS, Finair and maybe Alitalia if they are still around.
ReplyDeleteThose and LCCs. Transavia would be a nice addition.
DeleteSurprising there are no flights between Zagreb and Malta.
DeletePegasus would also be a nice addition to end Turkish's monopoly.
Delete@8.40
DeleteI think Air Malta operates some flights over summer.
I don't see Transavia launching ZAG. KL has not been sending anything larger than their Embraer for quite some time now.
Deletebecause there is daily flight to Split, so capacity to/from Croatia is bigger than last year. From July 5th KLM will put boeing back to ZAG :)
DeleteI doubt any tourists flew to SPU via ZAG. Most are tourists that booked package holidays through agencies.
DeleteYes, KLM will run up to 3 daily flight to Croatia this year plus the extensive interline they offer via OU. The capacity altogether is dramatically up this year for KLM.
DeleteJesus on a bicycle. KL's flights to the coast and to Zagreb are after a different market. One is there for transfers and locals while the other brings Dutch holidaymakers to get drunk and sun tan on the Adriatic.
DeleteJesus, KL´s flights cater for alle segments be it ZAG or the Coast. SPU-ZAG is 4 hours by car. A lot of open jaw booking - as is also stated in the article by MR. Feron. People fly in and out of different airports. Would ZAG be the only entry point into the country, ZAG would have 3 daily by KLM now. Same for BA, which flies to DBV, SPU, ZAG and PUY and people travelling Croatia fly in and out of different airports.
DeleteTransavia would be great but they never overlap with KLM. maybe they start Eindhowen?
DeleteYes some of the major legacy carriers are still missing from Zagreb.
DeleteSAS - should start flights to Zagreb soon.
Finnair - Helsinki very good route for OU,
Aer Lingus - a must !!!
TAP - a must !!!
Alitalia - in really bad shape, no chance of them surviving for much longer.
EasyJet - return possible by 2020.
Air Baltic - rapid expansion, Zagreb very likely destination in near future.
TAROM - possible service by 2020
Ukraine international - 2020, so they said
Transavia France - very likely by 2020
Of intercontinental airlines.
Singapore airlines - desirable and quite possible for them to come.
Cathay Pacific - very promising
ANA - talks ongoing, await for announcement
Hianan airlines - very likely 2019 service
Delta airlines - possible after 2020. JFK
America Airlines - possible after 2020. - Pitsburg, Chicago
Between 2018 and 2025 for Zagreb airport, at least in terms of new carriers will be quite interesting period, good chance airport will reach 8 million pax in 2025, 7 million is almost certain, however 8 million quite possible.
Even with 8 million pax, it'll still be very small airport in international scope, regionally it'll be good connecting airport, but to really matter airport needs to have 20 million + in pax.
Great years ahead of Zagreb!
ReplyDeleteWhat about passenger numbers this year? What is the prediction?
ReplyDelete3,45
DeleteIf that's the case, then 3,5 mil for 2019 is a very conservative projection.
DeleteZagreb is always conservative with there estimates.
Delete3.4 million cause of OU strike in late June and early July. 50-100 000 pax might be lost cause of it, depends how long it'll last. OU has 1.7 million pax @Zagreb, however this year cause of strike this number might be slightly less.
DeleteEncouraging sign is, larger aircraft are landing at Zagreb with more pax, it is still far behind Belgrade when it comes to pax per flight, Belgrade has 90.6, Zagreb is 73.5.
Zagreb needs to bring that number way up fast.
I hope OU can sort itself out and get on track.
This year Zagreb will most likely have around 21500 landings, and around 3.4 million pax, the pax per landing = 158.1 or 79 per flight operation. This is largly thanx to increase in number of wide body operations.
In 2019 number of aircraft operations will most likely increase to 22500 and pax to around 3.85 million, average pax per flight operation should be around 85.5 next year, and in 2020, Zagreb should handle around 4.25 million pax and 23500 landings.
Ok I am being very conservative with my estimates, but yes pax should be up.
Good things is, SAS, Finnair, Aer Lingus, TAP and EasyJet all seem quite likely to return to Zagreb in 2019 and 2020. Possible arrival of Air Baltic, WOW and Alitalia should also increase growth @Zagreb in 2019 and 2020.
Projections: 2018 (2019) [2020]
Pax million: 3.4 (3.8) [4.2]
Air Operations: 43000 (45000) [47000]
Pax per operation: 79 (85.5) [90.5]
Cargo: 15 000 (17400) [20 000]
Revenue mill €: 172 (180) [190]
Economic impact mill €: 720 (750) [800]
Overall, I* think Zagreb will do fine in next few years, despite rising oil prices.
Hopefully oil prices collapse as more and more of the EU and other major economies transition to green energy.
'it is still far behind Belgrade when it comes to pax per flight, Belgrade has 90.6, Zagreb is 73.5. '
DeleteThis is especially interesting because some time ago BEG released a statement saying how airlines are sending larger and larger aircraft. Some years ago the airport was all about regional jets either from Alitalia, Lufthansa or Austrian Airlines...
Today we 'lost' Lufthansa's regional jets, same with Aegean and many more. I think next summer we might see Boeing from LOT as this winter they are increasing BEG to 10 weekly! All of this is great and soon we will have that average grow from 90 to surely 100. More and more airlines are increasing capacity even outside the busy periods.
They are sending larger planes in ZAG as well!
DeleteWho is? LH and KL are not as much they used to. So who is? LO? SU? EK? QR?
DeleteAnon 11:16, Air France, BA, LO, Iberia!
DeleteSo Toronto, Montreal, Seoul and Dubai should all be served from ZAG. Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI would not put Dubai in the same category as the other three.
Delete??
DeleteAgain that nonsense that Dubai is not a long haul route? although almost every international standard states just that. Gosh!
Anon 09:01am is absolutely right. A long haul flight is over 6 hours:
DeleteA long-haul flight lasts from six to twelve hours and is typically made by a wide-body aircraft, such as the Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380, Boeing 747, Boeing 767, Boeing 777 or Boeing 787. The flight length typically requires over six and a half hours to cover and is often a non-stop flight.
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Flight_length.html
ZAG-DXB is just below 5h30m therefore it is a medium haul route.
I think the route was also made shorter by the fact EK overflies Iraq now. I think they saved 20 to 40 minutes like that.
Delete@AnonymousJune 21, 2018 at 9:47 AM
DeleteChill man, emirates is sending B777 300ER to Zagreb, that is what is more important than your stupid definition.
When Hianan, ANA and possibly Singapore Airlines fly to Zagreb, you'll argue technicality again of what constitutes a genuine passenger.
Just chill man,
By Eurocontrol long-haul is for flight ower 4.000 km. Zagreb-Dubai is more than 4.000 km. Eurocontrol is authority in air traffic. I hope you don't thing you are bigger authority than Eurocontrol
DeleteThe best managed airport in ex-yu.
ReplyDeleteThat's debatable. There have been nktable hickups at ZAG in the last year.
Deletewasn't this DBV?
Deleteor that was the best looking airport?
Umm... who cares? Not done with the pissing competition?
DeleteJesus Christ Frishki. If you are bothered by aviation comments on an aviation blog then skip them. What's with all the bitterness?!
DeleteFrishki is completely right. Comments such as "the best X in ex-YU" add zero valuable information and only serve to start "whose is bigger" contests.
DeleteAnon@12:05PM
DeleteHon, those posts have absolutely nothing to do with aviation, but with "my dad is stronger, my mom is prettier" childish contest. No bitterness, just reality check.
All in all positive but I really hope that Croatian passangers will get LCC opportunities in near future. It is super nice to have flight to Seoul but what people really need is cheap tickets to Berlin etc.
ReplyDeleteI hope we'll never see LCCs at ZAG. On the other hand I hope there will be plenty of them at BNX. That's just behind the corner!
DeleteLCCs are all around ZAG: ZAD, LJU, OSI, BNX ...
DeleteI guess they don't like ZAG's new terminal so they are refusing to add flights. It's ok, we have Eurowings for €250 without luggage.
LCCs are for budget restricted pax. Those should be viewed as a measure of last resort when it comes to airport development.
DeleteLol. What are you smoking?
DeleteZagreb not having LCCs have nothnig to do with new terminal nor with Zagreb as the destination. ZAGs managment does not want them and that's smart move. Although LCCs are pumping passanger numbers, these routes tend to be subsidized, they are bringing only P2P passagners and these routes wont bring any new destination to ZAG. Apart from that, LCCs are not offering almoast any kind of connections, which is quite bad for an airport.
DeleteFor me, it's better to have 3 or 3,5 milion 'healthy' passangers, brought here by legacy carriers from all around the world (with connecting flights ofc), rather than 5 or 6 milion P2P passangers, on routes that dont bring profit to ZAG airport as legacy routes would.
Quality is more important than quantity. Having 3,5 milion passagners with connections to Toronto, Seoul, Dubai, maybe in the future Montreal, China and US, is more valuable than having 5 milion passangers brougt by routes simmilar to those that fly 70 daily flights to London Luton.
LCCs are backup plan for ZAG, and that should stay like that. At the end, LCCs are for 'offshore' airports like OSI and RJK, that are in 2 hours radius from Zagreb, but sre more cheapre and in that way accessible to LCCs.
I am sorry but that's utter rubbish. What you are writing applied some ten years ago. Since then both LCCs and the European aviation market have dramatically changed.
DeleteNot only are lowcost carriers paying full bills but they have almost completely given up on subsidies and extortion. Funnily enough, the most subsidized carrier in Zagreb is OU which gets money to fly most domestic routes and they recently launched subsidized Mostar flights. Then, in addition to all this, there is that regional flight to Osijek which only exists because the state covers the losses.
Furthermore, almost all major airports have a combination of legacy and lowcost carriers. Even easyJet announced that it was considering flights out of LHR. Even neighboring Vienna slashed its charges so as to attract lowcost carriers. Could you please tell me why airports such as FRA, VIE, BEG, OTP, ATH, FCO, AMS, CPH... all have a lot of lowcost flights yet you think ZAG doesn't need to?
Nemjee.. airports such as FRA, VIE have just recently opened up for ULCCs. ZAG will have to do the same in the future, but the timing is important. I guess ZAG airport Mgt. is pretty aware of that, and they stratigically act correctly in not overflooding the airport with ULCC immediately.
DeleteWhen it comes to Public Service Obligations (PSO) and subsidies there is a fundamental difference, which can easily be googled.
Jesus Christ on a cracker, give it a rest with the same LCC rant. None of you know what ZAG management is planning to do and which direction(s) they will take the airport.
DeleteWell you claimed LCCs tend to be subsidized (which is not true). Subsidies are handed out to airlines to operate flights which are commercially unsustainable, either in short or long term. Similar to what PSO is.
DeleteIf the Croatian government didn't help airlines operate domestic flights then how many of those would be around today?
PSO is a subsidy, regardless how you put.
Ok, if you don't like FRA or VIE as an example what about other major airports such as LGW, AMS, BRU, MAD, BCN ... which have had lowcost flights for many years now? Even smaller airports with less than 10 million passengers had them.
Matter of fact is that I can't think of any airport in Europe that's the size of ZAG that doesn't have a mix of both.
I presume aviation enthusiasts know better how to run an airport than professionals with years and years of experience and with huge funds at their disposal. Get real people!
DeleteLCCs are for people with snake in their pockets. Utterly rubbish experience of travel.
DeleteFirst of all, learn to read carefully. I sadi tend to be subsizied, not that all of them are. And there is the difference between PSO and airport and/or tourist board or government subsidies.
DeleteAnd CTN is paying everything to ZAG and its routes are not subsizied apart from few PSO routes, but that's different story.
Ryanair started flying to FRA, ok, was that 10 years ago? Does FRA have strong network without LCCs so they can let them fly to FRA? Is FRA having a great amount of passangers or they are using LCCs to pump passanger numbers? That is what I am talking about. You can't bulid airport on LCC routes. Just because some airport do that that does not mean that's right. Once you have network strong enough, with stabile routes and passanger numbers, let the LCCs in.
You are also mentioning Vienna, they were having same policy towards LCCs as Zagreb have, untill some short time ago. All Vienna LCCs were before that flying to Bratislava. Their plan was to have strong non LCC network, and after that, they 'released the hounds'. I thing ZAG is doing the same (not in passanger numbers but in the concept).
You've mentioned interesting selection of airports, but most of them are not comparable to ZAG.
Were you saying that LCCs flying to offshore airports is concept from 10 years ago? Look at Tuzla and Niš. Or you are triying to say that those are major airports?
I know much more about that topic (im not saying that I am an insider or some kind of analysist as some other guys are writing just because they are desperate to be right) but that's enough for you.
Commenting anything here that's not in favour of BEG was a mistake in the first place. Commenting here anything was a mistake btw. Also, reading 2 weeks old news here is a mistake. Huh, not coming here anymore.
I whish you Nemjee a great day and a lot of more LCC routes to BEG.
Over and out.
Interesting how you cherry picked parts of my comment while ignoring the rest especially the part where I said that airports that are similar to ZAG have a combination of the two.
DeleteYet you chose to repeat your comments on VIE and FRA despite me giving you other examples. You even brought BEG into this discussion despite it being highly irrelevant.
I wish you a wonderful day as well.
Zagreb should look at Bologna on how the airport skyrockets when LCCs are introduced. None of legacy carriers left. There are still 3-5 daily frequences to 8 major hubs of Europe, handful of other legacy routes and in addition some 60+ LCC routes.
DeletePlus we have daily Emirates flights :)
@AnonymousJune 21, 2018 at 11:17 AM
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Guglielmo_Marconi_Airport
errr, you're totally nuts !!!
@anon 4:42
DeleteWhat was wrong with my post? :)
They welcomed LCCs in 2013, so their numbers went from 5,958,648 in 2012 to 8,198,156 in 2017. Healthy increase since LCCs came.
Well 3.5 million if OU is still around by the end of 2019. If they go bust I am sure Eurowings will step in with maybe 2 CRJ-900.
ReplyDeleteHaha. If OU is around than 3,5 if OU is not then probably 5 million ;)
DeleteIf Emirates did launch flights because of a new terminal then Skopje would be the first one to get it. This is a thinly veiled way to say they launched because of subsidies.
ReplyDeleteEK said they were getting help from the tourist board but Croats on here will tell you otherwise.
Deletehelp and subsidies are not exactly the same thing...now before anybody claims Croatian state is paying EK to fly I'd appreciate some proof on that. Not saying that ZAG is EK or QR or anybodies gold mine, but it is pretty visible that there are some 'sore losers' out there. SKP can enjoy helping building its traffic via supporting airlines, much like Serbian state JU. To each his own. Returns are what matters in the end.
DeleteThere is clearly no demand for both QR and EK in an airport that handles less than 3.5 million pax. So one of them might need some help.
DeleteClearly (accent on clearly) no demand? And you have clear overview of their load factors and revenues? Or claiming that Croatian state is paying for all of that? Or that QR flies double daily and EK daily just cause they have nothing better to do? Or for prestige (lol)? what would then, BUD see 10 daily A380? What is your logic exactly, lol?
DeleteDude, he's obviously trolling.
DeleteYou cannot really tell anymore, can you...
Deletewell you can find this informations in "nacional" newspaper from 10 days ago
ReplyDeleteWhich information?
Deletethis article is made from jacques feron interview given to nacional newspaper, so all info from this article you could find on nacional few days ago
Deletebut anyways glad that ex yu post it here, it is aviation subject
DeleteSo what's your point? It says in the article it's from an interview from Nacional? What's your problem?
DeleteThe issue is that article was published on June 6 and Ex-Yu take only part of the article 15 days ago.
DeleteIf the site want to be objective and relevant then it should published all the relevant details Mr.Feron said.
The most important part was Mr. Feron's confirmation they will start airport expansion later this year to be ready for next summer season to handle much more widebodies and carriers.
New routes were just said once in the article.
But this is no relavant for EX-YU.
two hours ago while I red it first time I didn't realised nacional in texst, maybe they edited it now.i am not sure....
DeleteThe interview is long and information from it will be published in several articles. Readers are most interested in plans for new routes, which it why this information was published first. The short-term expansion plans for Zagreb Airport were published over a month ago and you can find the article by clicking on the tags or using the search box. And no, the interview was sourced since its publication this morning.
Deleteok, tnks
Deletekeep doing good job :)
So, my personal predictions for 2019 (next year, not this one - in case no LCC intervention):
ReplyDeleteBEG - 6.3 million
ZAG - 3.5 million
SPU - 3.2 million
DBV - 2.9 million
SKP - 2.4 million
PRN - 2.3 million
LJU - 2.2 million
TIV - 1.5 million
TGD - 1.45 million
SJJ - 1.2 million
----------
Non ex-Yu:
TIA - 3.2 million
OTP - 15.3 million
SOF - 7.5 million
SKG - 7.8 million
I hope LJU passes 2 million, it's long overdue.
DeleteZAG will have around 3,4 Million this year growing 11%. Why would growth be so low next year? The same for SPU which will raech 3,2 this year...
DeleteWell no European airline is adding major flights on a year-round basis to ZAG.
DeleteOh didn´t know that pax are only relevant and counting if it is a year round service...
DeleteYup, now you know.
DeleteAnon@10:00AM
DeleteFirst, you're wrong.
Second, you're wrong.
Luckily you are always right.
DeleteDid I say that?
DeleteI just stated you're wrong. Super wrong. There's no correlation between those two.
Zagreb isn't in the top 100 European airports let me remind you.
DeleteNot sure who you're throwing that random piece of information at, but yeah - what does that have to do with anything?
DeleteIt has to do with getting back to reality.
DeleteWhat reality is that? Enlighten us.
DeleteTo wake up and smell the roses.
DeleteWhat roses I have to smell?
DeleteWhat are you talking about? Are you having a stroke?
Maybe the Croatian roses smell different.
DeleteGo troll your mom. Bye.
DeleteDude, he's obviously trolling :)
Delete...and you're biting it.
Deletefrishki how are you?
DeleteAnon 10:00, Iberia does!
DeleteOh hai! I'm fine, thanks!
DeleteAlso, when I'm hungry - I bite. ;)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteI know it is not the main topic of the day but it is very much related. Croatia Airlines should focus mid term on opening two seasonal summer bases in Split and Dubrovnik. They could have good loads and yields for 7 months of extended season if they work well with tourist authorities.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines does not have enough planes for such venture.
DeleteAnd tourist routes usually don't have high yields.
DeleteCroatia airlines can always lease additional planes to make this expansion.
DeleteNo high yields? I would not agree with you. I just had colleagues buying Easyjet tickets from London to Dubrovnik in July. Return is over 400 eur!
The don’t have the planes but they should! Those 4 A319s in order which are already being paid for should have been in the fleet by now freeing up 4 of the older planes to base 2 in Split and 2 in Dubrovnik. The 4 planes could than be cheaply parked or if and when possible used for charters during the off season months.
DeleteBut aren't the new planes just the replacement for older frames which are going to be phased out completely?
DeleteHaving just two A319 placed in DBV during summer season would allow to offer over 480.000 seats over 7 months of summer season. Then the same in Split. What is Croatia management doing?!
DeleteBleeding money I suppose
DeleteWell you can always replace existing planes and lease additional, like JU did.
Delete@ 1:41pm. Yes and why is the question! Incompetentcy is the answer.
Delete@Q400June 21, 2018 at 1:29 PM
DeleteYou mean A320 NEO on order ???
Well ideally OU should have a fleet of 20 aircraft, base two A320 in Split and Dubrovnik and one A319 in Pula and Zadar, over summer months and offer constant flow of pax in to these airports.
The remaining 4 A320, 8 Q400 and 2 A 319 would operate out of Zagreb.
Fleet:
8 A320
4 A319
8 Q400
However, OU has a fleet of 12 aircraft and flies to 38 destinations.
@Anon 1:21
DeleteLeisure traffic is low yielding and price sensitive. That doesn't mean that there won't be someone sometimes paying a lot for a seat to Mediterranean leisure destination but that’s more of an exception than a rule.
I constantly pay high fares when flying to Dubrovnik. If it is low yielding companies would not do it
DeleteYou can impossibly make such general statement which is rather wrong than correct.
DeleteLet me remind you again - and I have already posted this twice - I usually pay regularly 300-450 EUR in summer for the direct OS VIESPU return. Flight of usually no more than 55min duration. Massive, massive money maker for Austrian!
If you know what's lucrative and serve the right cities, leisure routes to/from sunny destinations in summer are exactly what fills the airlines' pockets.
To highlight this even more, have you noticed that Transavia or Easy are significantly reducing or partially even temporarily suspending some of their normally year-round routes during summer high season (July, August) as they can use their metal on much more lucrative leisure routes at these times.
Exactly anon 9:17
DeletePeople are paying huge sums to fly to seaside destinations in peak summer months. Charter companies survive thanks to high yields in summer and regular companies make bulk of their European profit by flying these routes.
People are also booking their holidays well in advance, especially for peak summer months. That is something Croatia as a destination is not exempt to, quite the contrary. Foreign bookings for hotel accommodation in Croatia start as early as in January and high season is usually sold out by April. To less extent same is applied for accommodation in private apartments, which may be booked in the last minute, partly due to the private accommodation boom, and partly to existing oversupply where the occupancy on average is still around 80% in the high season. But certainly popular leisure destinations such as Dubrovnik have actually higher occupancy during the high season than less known places and remote islands where occupancy is lower. So yeah, if you are planning your June holiday in Croatia now it might be cheaper for you to go to Singapore. And Singapore is, no doubt, high yielding destination.
DeleteSomebody can just not accept that companies are earning bulk of their money on summer holiday destinations. :)
DeleteAt first glance at the pic I thought that was Qantas parked at the terminal.... maybe something to look forward to in the coming years 😅
ReplyDeleteNon stop with B787 from Sydney :)
DeleteActually, Zagreb would benefit greatly, if it had Quantas from Sydney with stopover in Singapore.
DeleteBetter to fly nonstop from Perth, that would be high yielding ;)
DeleteSorry for my ignorance, but is there a sizable Croatian diaspora in Perth or you are just being sarcastic? ;)
DeleteNo but it is the only city in Australia from which a plane can make it nonstop to Europe.
DeleteWell if they are doing Perth - London ... I suppose you are right. They cannot reach Zagreb from Sydney.
DeleteQF said they will first test the PER-LHR route and then decide if they will launch more routes. But of course, this means FRA, CDG, AMS.
DeleteZAG maybe in 5 years time.
I think QF will try FCO and ATH loooong before it tries ZAG.
Delete@ 3:42, yes this would be more likey
DeleteIndeed. But Sydney - Zagreb via Singapore is not impossible.
Delete3,5 million?? That's a ridiculously conservative estimation of pax numbers for 2019. given that this year ZAG will surpass 3,4 million and probably go all the way up to 3,45 million.
ReplyDeleteThis would entail the passenger growth dropping from 11% to 1,5% which for all intents and purposes is impossible. Or, scientifically speaking - highly unlikely.
Even if by some chance pax growth drops back to around 6,5% where it had been before this year, that would still mean at least 3,65 million.
Yeah Zagreb airport management was being conservative with their estimates.
Delete3.4 million looks very likely this year in 000:
Projections for the rest of this year:
Jan- May: 1140
June: 340
July: 385
August: 380
September: 370
October: 320
November: 240
December: 225
Total: 3400
2019: 3.75 million
2020: 4.2 million
Impossible?
DeleteOne bomb in croatia and all state goes down(bankrotirate)
@AnonymousJune 21, 2018 at 11:43 PM
DeleteIt depends on what sort of bomb was it, if it was a Hydrogen bomb, 20 megaton yield, yes that would do a significant damage to the economy. Would it bankrupt the country, perhaps!
However!!! Croatia has significant foreign exchange reserves, currently @€17.5 billion, add to this balanced budget and central state, national debt @77% of GDP and rapidly falling,
I am not worried for Croatian finances.
Few million tourists less, won't hurt Croatian economy as might have say 4-5 years ago, also exports are up, Croatian goods exports grew last year by 12% to 103.4 billion kuna. This year exports might reach 120 billion kuna, for a country that doesn't have a car manufacturing on the scale of Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary, it is not bad.
Yes, Croatia depends on OU to function like a proper airline and pay its staff dully for their work, as Croatian economy depends on national airline that can support ever growing economy and tourism.
Sadly, OU has not expanded beyond current fleet of 12 aircraft since 2000. Realistically by now, if OU was run by a proper management, would have had a fleet of 16 if not 20 aircraft.
Sadly, Croatia has too many old guard apparatchiks and bureaucrats who are unqualified and stuck in traditional old ways. Slowly, this is changing, but it'll take a decade for the mentality to change, and the country finally starts to realize its true potential. Till then, we all need to suffer the incompetence and stupidity of our economic leaders and politicians, who are still stuck in 80s and 90s.
Ha ha...what is this?! From passenger figures at the airport to hydrogen bombs! That's a weird turn. :)
DeleteKidding aside...I do agree that Croatia is far too dependent on tourism. I'm glad if that's changing, but as of last year, tourism still makes up almost 1/5 of the GDP, with 18%. That's still too high. At the same time, yep...there's definitely way too much red tape, impeding a faster growth of other branches of economy.