Norwegian to end Zagreb winter flights


Norwegian Air Shuttle will downgrade both of its services to Zagreb this winter season, with the airline to serve the Croatian market only during the summer months. The low cost carrier will operate its last service from Copenhagen and Stockholm to Zagreb this year on October 27. The airline is expected to resume the flights from April 2019. In a statement, Norwegian said, "Our routes to Zagreb from Stockholm and Copenhagen will not operate this coming winter season. However, we are constantly evaluating our route network and it’s possible that it will operate during the winter in the future". As a result, Zagreb will no longer be linked with Stockholm on a year-round basis, as the route is also run seasonally by Croatia Airlines, while the national carrier continues to maintain Copenhagen during the winter months as well.

Norwegian commenced operations to Zagreb in 2010 by introducing flights from Copenhagen. Last winter, the airline upgraded both of its flights to run throughout the year, albeit only once per week. Elsewhere in Croatia, the no frills carrier maintains seasonal flights to Dubrovnik, Split, Pula, Rijeka and, this year, added Zadar to its network. It is the fifth largest carrier in the country by seat share, at 5%, behind its main low cost rivals - easyJet, Eurowings and Ryanair. Zagreb Airport is dominated by full service carriers, which account for over 90% of all seats, whereas LCCs have a share of just over 8%.

Within the former Yugoslavia, Norwegian will this year upgrade its seasonal flights from Stockholm to Belgrade to year-round operations and serve the city from both Oslo and the Swedish capital throughout the year. On the other hand, the airline maintains flights from Stockholm to Sarajevo throughout the year and seasonally from Copenhagen and Oslo. Furthermore, it operates year-round flights from the Norwegian and Finnish capitals to Pristina, the latter being recently upgraded. In addition, it offers seasonal flights from Copenhagen and Gothenburg. The low cost airline also maintains seasonal services between Oslo and Tivat. Norwegian Air Shuttle is considered Europe's third busiest low cost airline, behind Ryanair and easyJet.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    I don't get that the airport can sustain year round flights to Seoul but no Stockholm. Odd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Voja09:13

      I think that problem is Norwegian and their's financial situation more than the airport. Everybody here is talking that taxes on ZAG are high, I personally don't know is that true or not. If that is true it can be the reason why this route is not sustainable for them in the winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      It's obviously true since a total of 1 low cost airline will be flying to Zagreb this winter. As for Norwegian's "financial problems", I don't see them discontinuing other routes in their network.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:19

      Similar to W6, I think they are focusing on more profitable routes. They are currently expanding domestic flights in Argentina for instance with B738 and were cleared to operate in Brazil too.
      Also more flights from Ireland to North America.
      All much bigger and richer markets.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:31

      It is obvious that Norwegian stops flying to ZAG during winter not because of "their financial situation" but due to the fact they are losing money on these routes.

      Now we have the situation in winter that EK downgraded ZAG for 5 winter months and Norwegian and Swiss almost whole winter do not fly to ZAG.

      At the same time CSA and Aegean do not fly to ZAG in January and February.

      Interesting

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:08

      Zagreb (and Croatia in general) really need to do something to promote as year round destination. This is disappointing.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:14

      "I don't get that the airport can sustain year round flights to Seoul but no Stockholm."

      It's Zagreb AND Zurich that can sustain those flights.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:15

      Croatia is a highly touristic country. The only way to maintain this is to introduce industy, heavy industry, IT, etc.
      Examples of tourism + IT + industry: Barcelona, Stockholm, Tallinn, Riga, Krakow, etc.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:42

      ZAG launched a lot of incentives to attract LCCs but it just doesn't seem to be working yet.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:48

      An. 9. 31
      I am kindly asking You to explain why do You need to write obvious lie about 5 months of EK absence from ZAG this winter and why do You need to call downgrade actual increase of winter flights ZAG - DXB from 4 weekly to DAILY ?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:50

      I think it's you that's lying since EK operated 5 not 4 weekly flights last winter. But whatever.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:58

      An. 10:48

      Because: 773 has 350 seats and B38M has approx. 180 seats so:

      5 weekly 773 = 1750 seats per direction
      Daily 180= 1260 seats per direction

      Capito ?

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:07

      No capito. Because You talk offered seats, and it's all about SOLD seats, and sold with as better price as possible. And with daily frequencies EK/FZ will offer better connectivity, and have more passengers and much better LF on the route. Passengers will have more choice, company will start losing money, maybe even have profit even during winter, so it's better both for the passengers and the airline. And the airport, which will charge taxes 7 times weekly instead 4 or 5. So the question once again, where is the downgrade and for whom?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:15

      https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/downgrade

      EK is a 4 star airline> http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/emirates
      FZ is a LCC carrier

      So, when you go from 4 to less, this is indeed a downgrade.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous11:16

      ahahahhahahahahahhaha

      This is hilarious!!!! less seats no downgrade...

      Of course it is way better to have 30% downgrade it means more passengers

      HAHAHAHHAHAHAH

      Delete
    15. Anonymous11:32

      So, your logic> less seats = more passengers = upgrade
      My logic> less seats = less passengers = downgrade

      Hmmm...

      We need a 3rd opinion as we both disagree on one another :)

      Delete
    16. Anonymous12:10

      Ok, I understand, it hurts so much EK is not flying to BEG, that any chance is taken to write about "downgrades", even if the "downgrade" is actual INCREASE of winter flights from 4 or 5 to 7. And now suddenly FZ is LCC, although today in the article about Norwegian everyone complains it's only EW left in ZAG as LCC. And suddenly poor ZAG will have FZ which is not 4 star for whole 3 weakest months, and the presence of Korean Air, ELAL, British, KLM Air France, Iberia is completely irrelevant, and yes, "Svedski sto" je mnogo dobar za demagoge, uzmes ono sto ti odgovara a za ostalo nema veze.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous12:13

      "4 or 5", no it was 5. Next time you write you will say they flew twice per week.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous12:18

      Hoping that "Korean Air, ELAL, British, KLM Air France, Iberia" presence will make the airport even more expensive. Most airlines you just indicated are a MONOPOLY. What does monopoly mean? More expensive fares because the Croatian does not have any other choice but to get ripped off.
      Now that DY are gone, OU will immediately increase their fares to Scandinavia? Why because we need the presence of "Korean Air, ELAL, British, KLM Air France, Iberia" and we don't need easyJet or Wizz Air, of course why would we?

      Delete
    19. Anonymous12:19

      No, it was not 5 the whole winter, it was 4 or 5, precisely as I wrote. But if it makes You happy, OK, let's say it was 5, still it does not change the meritum, the increase happened, not decrease. And no, I wouldn't say twice per week next time as I always try to be objective, but hey, maybe You just measure others by how You do it

      Delete
    20. Anonymous12:20

      Ok since increase happened as you say, can you tell me what is the increase in capacity i.e seats on sale this winter compared to last year? Thanks.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous12:34

      An. 12.18
      Once again confirmation of my statement that lies must be written about Croatia. You just wrote "More expensive fares because Croatians have no other choice but to be ripped off". And "We don't need Easy jet or Wizz Air, don't we" .If You were here for aviation, not "my is bigger", You should have read today's article. And it says that Norwegian is the 5th airline in Croatia in terms of transported passengers, after EASY JET, RYANAIR AND NORWEGIAN . That much about Your truth, objectivity, and statement that Croatians are ripped off and have no LCC options. Cheers!

      Delete
    22. Anonymous12:44

      An 12.20
      You ask me the things I already explained :Increase is in better connectivity for the passengers, and better financial results for the airline. As I already said, offered seats mean nothing, sold seats mean everything. What is the point in flying half empty 777 and lose money during 3 weakest months when you can fly full 737 and earn money. If it's the PRESTIGE You talk about, it's long gone times with flag carriers and World wide destinations routemaps. Today (unfortunatelly) only the money counts. That's why Norwegian is leaving ZAG in winter, because they can make more money somewhere else then they make in ZAG. But I don't understand why EK/FZ which REMAIN with ZAG operations in more efficient way and more options for passengers is presented as catastrophy, debacle and downgrade, because it's simply not true.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous12:57

      Correction : EUROWINGS after Easy Jet and Ryanair, instead of Norwegian, my mistake

      Delete
    24. Anonymous12:58

      Will there be 7 flights per week this whole winter also or there is some period with only 4 flights a week?

      Delete
    25. Anonymous13:15

      And also do you know what are the taxes for landing b777 and b737? Is it really better for airport to have 7 landing with b737 than 4 landing with b777?

      Delete
    26. Anonymous13:20

      And why don't you comment your previous predictions given in post bellow! You are hiding behind anonymous and attacking everyone! You are writing predictions like 15 years in advance and since most of them are wrong you just continue as nothing happen!

      Delete
    27. Anonymous13:56

      Wrong person dude. Never wrote one single prediction. And people who know to read, or are not here with bad intentions, know that my style of writing is completely different from the guy who write predictions all the time. And I mostly disagree with him. I am only responding to the false accusations and deliberately twisting of the facts. And now, when You run out of argument You are going personal, as usual. And btw. You said I was hiding behind Anonymous. If it came from somebody registered and with the name, I wouldn't say a word, but coming from another Anonymous, You make Yourself sound as a big joke

      Delete
    28. Anonymous14:41

      Ok, from now on lets avoid the toxic word for downgrade and use capacity instead. EK are losin lowering their capacity this winter. Happy now? Relief?

      Delete
    29. Anonymous14:54

      In Zagreb / Croatia there is no downgrade. This world is banned by law :)

      Delete
    30. Anonymous15:51

      Norwegian will have fewer planes in Europe this winter as they start flying in South America from October 2018. Therefore planes are transferred to ARG etc. and routes must be cancelled in Europe.

      Delete
    31. Anonymous15:53

      Seems only Zagreb gets cancelled, while seasonal routes to BEG and PRN get upgraded to year round. So your theory is flawed.

      Delete
    32. Anonymous16:10

      However, most likely this is just the beginning of flight reductions in Europe. DY does not know yet fully how their ops in South America will look like from end of Oct/Nov onwards

      Delete
    33. Anonymous16:49

      Zagreb needs to have big IT companies, banks or logistics and not rely on tourism. Tourism is excellent in Europe but it's not enough. Croatia is ranked the 18th most visited country in the world, so it's normal to have such high seasonality.
      Spain is the same, it relies a lot on tourism and has less manufacturing, less IT, less production - only 3 rich regions maintaining the whole country. Countries like Czechia will soon reach its standard of living.
      If Zagreb goes really business, the coast can help with tourism and the things will be divided but I think Zagreb relies a lot on the coast when it comes to air traffic.
      Romania and Bulgaria are now really focusing on IT and logistics where the real money is, the same goes for Estonia.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Croatian_counties_by_GDP

      Split area is currently second richest after Zagreb.

      Delete
    34. Anonymous20:10

      @Anonymous7 September 2018 at 16:49

      Zagreb has number of IT firms, game studios and international IT firms, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple all have their regional head offices in Zagreb. Also number of domestic IT firms and offer is very strong, best IT service sector in the region, with two successful game development studios in Zagreb. There's number of IT start-ups in Zagreb and Croatia, block-chain IT companies and even hi-tech start ups.

      Croatian problem is over-reliance on Tourism, that is indeed a sad fact, exports must double and industry must become more competitive and productive. Current structure of Croatian GDP is 3% Agriculture, 27% Industry and 70% Service sector. With Agriculture in particular having low productivity and reliance on old technology. The country has 100 000 small farmers, with only 150-200 large farms in the country. Model employed by Netherlands and Spain when it comes to Agriculture should be implemented in Croatia to increase agricultural exports and production. It is sad that Croatia imports €1.6 billion worth of food each year.

      Croatia has internal issues, specifically, its courts and law needs major update and 21st century revamp, including digitization of legal system. Spain has similar problems with is courts and legal system. Also problem of Croatian economy is, its industry isn't competitive, with exports of $17.2 billion, when small Slovenia exports nearly $30 billion. Problem is, Croatian trade figures are only improved if we add service exports which are huge, and with it Croatian exports are around $33 billion.

      So industry must become more competitive and diversified, more high-tech firms need to come in, auto-manufacturing needs to encouraged with major players enticed to come in. Rimac Auto is now becoming major electric car brand with potential for some major development in that direction but Croatia needs mass market car maker, like Audi, BMW, Renault or Toyota coming in.

      Croatia has long way to go, but it can be done with right policies in place and legal framework that encourages innovation and research. For that the political and legal climate must change. Croatia is among safest countries in the world, has abundance of resources and infrastructure that is comparable to most developed nations in the EU, however, mentality is still balkanite and people are stuck in their old ways.

      For change to happen we need innovative, resourceful and smart people to take country in the right direction, however with current hard-line politicians and politics that is so divisive things won't change for the better.

      Delete
    35. Anonymous20:28

      You're boring.

      Delete
    36. Anonymous22:24

      He was expressing his views anon 20h28, what's the problem?
      I agree and understand with the above claims. The reliance on tourism must be reduced but it also comes alone and Croatia is just like Samsung, doesn't need any advertisment because it is famous. Dubrovnik the pearl of the Balkans, who doesn't know about it, come on!
      Anyway, back to aviation...I think Croatia has so much potential in its airports. I mean, there are airports that grew 97%. Even small BWK didn't fail to impress.
      A possible solution is to initially launch low-cost domestic travel similar to Greece to boost the local economy and gradually expanding in the region.

      Delete
    37. Anonymous22:49

      @Anonymous 20:10 - Microsoft & Apple for sure don't have regional offices in Zagreb, no need to make things up :)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Shame. To me it looked as if they were the one LCC that would expand in ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    So Eurowings will be the only low cost airline in Zagreb this winter? What's the reason? High fees?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:07

    ZAG needs to do more to attract LCCs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Good news for Croatia Airlines, bad for consumers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      In what sense? They are very conservative and doing nothing at ZAG. Shame on them.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      Good news for them because they won't have competition on either CPH or ARN routes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      How do you mean they are doing nothing at ZAG? They launched something like ten new routes in 3 years.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    I'm surprised these didn't work out for them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:10

    I hope they do return in summer but there are no tickets on sale for these routes :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      For summer 2019?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      Maybe they just didn't load summer timetable.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Hope so but they loaded it for all other destinations.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:10

    Obviouslu not enough demand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:30

      Demand is definitely there! The thing is at what price? If you charge 100€ return and taxes at both airpots account for 90€, than it is bad. You can start charging 150€ return, but due to the price elasticity demand will go down significantly, because it is too expensive. So you will have an half full plane. If taxes are low, say 3€, you can charge 19€ for a ticket, which will increase demand and you will have a margin of 16€. People will book because it is cheap, they will then buy sth on board, baggage etc., and you can stimulate demand and fill your planes at a higher margin. But then the airport pays a price. If taxes at airports then increase, routes all of a sudden become loss making.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      Please do not speak about the charges.
      Ryanair flies from FRA where the charges are surely much higher than in ZAG but still they manage to keep the prices to Spain for example on 45 EUR both ways.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:09

      Exactly, but FR in FRA can charge much higher prices in the end, which they also do. Still they reduce their fleet this winter (already) from 10 based planes to 7.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:51

      Very rarely is FR ticket to any European destination from FRA higher than 130- 150 EUR, of course if you don't buy 7 days before the flight. It is far away from "much higher prices", it is actually one of the lowest LH prices out of FRA

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:21

      :@Anonymous7 September 2018 at 09:10

      Demand is huge, OU has 85% load factor on their service to 4 Nordic cities, with Stockholm and Copenhagen above 90%.
      Problem is, Norwegian only few twice per week, and service was not that reliable.

      Zagreb might be connected with SAS soon, reason perhaps, reason why Norwegian left, we'll see soon enough. OU service to all 4 cities has really good load factor, unsure why OU won't maintain year round service to Stockholm at least. OK Copenhagen is year round, but Stockholm should also be maintained.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:30

      Anon 20:21, why would we believe these numbers? With that kind of load factor (at expensive OU tickets), Norwegian surely would have done better. Yet neither Norwegian nor OU are willing to fly those routes in winter.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:19

    Doubt these will return at all. No tkts are being sold for summer either while their summer timetable has already been loaded for all other routes.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:22

    So, basically this will be the third downgrade this winter :(
    - Introduction of FZ (less widebodies)
    - Aegean turns seasonal after initially launching year-round
    - Norwegian

    So the first 3 months in ZAG will be quite complicated and the plans for 9-10% growth next year will be most likely lower unless of course we see the arrival of LCC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      Aegean is not flying for like a month in winter in total.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      16.1 - 25.2.20019

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      But there are some increases in ZAG this winter too:

      British will be daily, Iberia will fly 2pw, Croatia to Mostar 2pw, Lufthansa added one daily rotation to FRA, Korean 3pw, Aeroflot will be daily instead of 4pw, LOT added 1 weekly flight. Winter could be very good actually.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:40

      Exactly, those flying on norwegian this winter will be transeferring somewhere else. So PAX numbers will continue to grow, and AC ops go dow a bit.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:42

      Yes, I was waiting for someone to explain how this is, in fact, fantastic news for Zagreb.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:45

      @ 9.34, Aeroflot is an overall decrease in available weekly seats.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:52

      No its not true. Aeroflot will fly daily wit mix of Sukhoi and A320, last year it was same but only 4pw.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:00

      Ok, then you know something I don't. I can only see SSJ100 in system.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:12

      Anon 10:00 is right.

      https://www.aeroflot.ru/schedule/schedule

      Interestingly, this winter the SU9 will be deployed throughout the whole Balkan region:

      ZAG-SVO Daily
      LJU-SVO Daily
      SKG-SVO 4 weekly
      BOJ-SVO 3 weekly winter service
      SOF-SVO 2nd new daily

      And oddly enough OTP-SVO both 2 daily rotations are operated by SU9.
      I don't think Moscow is an attractive destination from OTP.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:40

      @Anon 9:45
      Aeroflot sends 140 capacity A320s to ZAG and all their SSJs have 87 seats.

      7x87 > 4x140 so it is an overall increase in weekly available seats by 49 seats, 4 more seats in C and 45 more seats in Y.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous11:53

      Wait, we have one optimistic anonymous who claimed today that more seats mean downgrade and less seats mean upgrade... :-)

      Delete
    12. Last year during winter it was mainly SU9, so this is clearly an upgrade. Also, there are 120 comments on downgrade of 2 weekly rotations, someone clearly wants ZAG to fail.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous20:30

      I am surprised Aeroflot is sending SSJ to Zagreb 7 days a week, not sure there's such demand for service to Moscow. OK I know nemjee posted figures for Moscow which showed ~60 000 on the route, which comes to around 580/1160 pax per week. OK SSJ has 87 seats and and I guess with load factor of 95% on the route, Aeroflot is confident it can increase the service to daily flights. Still surprised the Moscow route doing so well, Ideally 100-120 seat aircraft will be needed on the route.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous20:42

      It doesn't mean they won't reduce it.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:43

    So much for the experts with crystal balls
    https://i.imgur.com/5b0bTfP.png

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      Hilarious!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:54

      LOL!!! The best fortune tellers with crystal balls are the ones with the figures predictions up to 2030 :D :D :D

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:55

      Hilarious!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:09

      There is more

      https://i.imgur.com/fgjAJU5.png

      The only reason I post this is that people should refrain from presenting speculation or their hopes as facts.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:31

      He was right. It was just the 'beginning' of what they plan for Zagreb.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:55

      Hahah, poor guy, he missed everything. What a imagination!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:07

      At the same time congratulations to BEG

      "Within the former Yugoslavia, Norwegian will this year upgrade its seasonal flights from Stockholm to Belgrade to year-round operations and serve the city from both Oslo and the Swedish capital throughout the year".

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:48

    I also find it odd that there is no demand for flights to Stockholm. It's going to be the only EU capital with no flights to Stockholm throughout the year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      Glupi Svedi. Propustaju Advent u Zagrebu.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      Advent? Rather no Gastarbeiter in Sweden.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:21

      Lju is the only EU capital with 0 flights to Stockholm..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:23

      Luxembourg will join them since Luxair is ending its flights to ARN at the end of summer but still almost all airports are linked with Stockholm.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:07

      Sad to see Norwegian going, but not surprising, we knew this since last winter, they didn't renew this winter service. They have good load factor on the route, however main problem is they flew to Zagreb only twice weekly, this is hardly worthwhile.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:34

      @Anonymous7 September 2018 at 19:07

      Indeed, we knew is for sometime, service like that can't be sustained. OU arriving on the scene might have pushed Norwegian, OU might go year round to Stockholm. SAS also might come in to play, hopefully.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:09

    PRN has quite a few Norwegian routes. Interestingly enough BEG used to have GOT flights which were discontinued when Jat became, Air Serbia. How come Norwegian never stepped in on this route?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:59

      Because Wizz already flies it.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:25

    Zagreb definitely needs more low cost airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      And also I hope that one day we will have a European low cost airline flying domestic flights from Zagreb.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:37

      +1

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      I'm surprised this hasn't happened already. Why?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:43

      There is no money to be made on domestic flights. You can't ask Croatia Airlines about that. Those flights are filled with transfer passengers during the summer, while during the winter domestic routes are loss making and don't have too many passengers. For a LCC it is much better to fly direct from the west to the coast than to fly a short domestic flight.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:51

      I'm sure ZAG DBV would be a success. Even ZAG SPU. And that's all.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:08

      ZAG really needs Easyjet.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:50

      @Anonymous7 September 2018 at 11:08

      I agree, but staff at Zagreb airport hate EasyJet, the ground crew hate EasyJet and Wizz air cause of short turnaround. I think Zagreb needs to attract total of 40 airlines, there are currently 26 (30) airlines in Zagreb, however 12 of them are seasonal carriers only, so the next objective is to make sure Swissair, Brusseles Air, Czech Airlines, Vueling and Norvegian convert their service in to year round service.

      TAP, Aer Lingus, SAS, Air Baltic, Finnair and Alitalia must be brought to Zagreb, followed by Vueling and EasyJet offering LCC flights. This would bring number of carriers in Zagreb to 33, and remaining carriers can be Delta, Chinese Carrier and potentially ANA from Japan.

      This sort of offer would make Zagreb far more competitive. Longer term adding 2nd US based carrier such as American Airlines, Air Canada going year round, Singapore airlines coming in to add its offer, finally Wizz Air could launch few routes out of Zagreb and Air Ukraine could start service to Zagreb as well, they announced they intend to launch Zagreb in 2019, but we'll need to wait and see. There's a sizable Ukrainian community in Zagreb area, with around 1500 Ukrainians, mostly from Western Ukraine living in Zagreb area.



      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:28

    Flights that operate once weekly are hardly profitable, unless charters.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:38

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:46

    I think that you should all read the reviews of the new Zagreb airport where French apparently aren't doing such a great job as they were supposed to.

    Customers more often complain about the lack of facilities, food outlets, rude staff, fraud at car rentals and lack of connections to European destinations:

    https://goo.gl/maps/DjDPDuGCL7N2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      https://goo.gl/maps/C6BWamFmUrs

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:11

      Look at this comment, that received many likes:

      Lovely airport BUT WHERE DO YOU FLY TO !!! VERY POOR CONNECTIONS TO MAJOR EU INTERNATIONAL CITIES, Zagreb airport is stunning but the planners forgot abut the aircraft, its no better than a small provincial airport going nowhere ...

      ******
      But yes, lets have flights to Seoul and not be connected to the continent. Typical Balkan story just like SKP, who are seeking for JFK but don't have CDG or AMS.

      The French MUST understand that Zagreb needs cheap flights to European capitals, is it that hard to understand?????

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:30

      Zagreb has prestigious fame in Europe and everyone says how beautiful it is but also complaining about how expensive it is to reach it.
      Look at poorer what Bucharest and Sofia did with their airports. They are not obsessed with "high class legacy carriers". I mean come on, even MEPs in Romania use Ryanair because it's cheaper for the state.
      Why would you spend a fortune, built a very nice, shiny airport and leave it empty in winter????
      Take Vilnius, even smaller Tallinn or even the microscopic Debrecen that has expanded nicely from once having barely any flights. It's now connected to Tel Aviv, Moscow, soon to Barcelona, Larnaca and it's not even a capital and Hungary is considered slightly poorer than Croatia.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:20

      The only thing French are concerned is the PR. That's where few weekly long-haul via some major European hub fits.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:22

      You need to calculate that Hungary has twice as much population and a world class city as its capital.

      That makes that even with similar standards it's at least twice richer in total.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:27

      The numbers confirm the facts:

      - Croatia GDP ~50 billion$

      - Hungary GDP ~123 billion$

      I wouldn't call that slightly poorer.

      Most importantly, that makes for a year-round demand where ZAG fails as we could see with EK or Norwegian.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:38

      Well GDP also includes POPOLUATION:

      Hungary is twice the size of Croatia but has only slightly more PAX than Croatia.

      Ex-YU:

      - Croatia GDP ~50 billion$ with 4.1m population

      - Serbia GDP ~ 40 billion$ with 7,1m population

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:44

      @Anonymous 11:30

      Simply because ULCC in total is not sustainable without someone actually paying for it. With Debrecen, Nis and even Frankfurt Hahn ULLC is not sustainable! Ok it is for Ryanair or Wizz, but someone always pays a price. Almost always the airport. Bigger cities like BEG, LON, OTP can sustain it, because the market is there. The Question about ZAG is, if it is big enough to sustain both OU and an LCC, considering other airports in the country and the small population it serves.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:46

      Then what can we say about Montenegro?

      They have probably the highest population/passengers ratio in Europe. Doesn't mean they're the richest.

      Fact is, Emirates and Norwegian can make it in Hungary but not in Croatia.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:48

      Is there acually any other Country with a population of 4 million that has 12 internation airports ?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:52

      @12:38 Anon
      Do you understand that the advantage Croatia has with its long and warm Adriatic coast is incomparable with any other economic branch Serbia has?

      It increases Croatian GDP significantly and beside population it is one of the most important elements of each country's GDP.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous13:24

      @ Anaon 12:46

      "Fact is, Emirates and Norwegian can make it in Hungary but not in Croatia."

      EK can make it in Croatia for now in 9 Months of the year and a daily in Winter with 73M but it cannot make it in Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and others in the region. They cannot make it daily to DXB in winter with the 737 to BEG also.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous13:37

      EK can 'make it' for now with 60% LF in most of those months outside the summer period as Nemjee posted.

      I'm sure they could 'make it' with at least as much in Sofia or OTP where they operate double-daily flights what you conveniently choose to ignore.

      BEG has daily EY and QR, PC, Atlas, 3 daily Aeroflot, Hainan...

      We're still to see if FZ will maintain their schedule in ZAG or there'll be further reductions.

      Let's not forget they're the ones who ended it two years ago.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous14:42

      An 12.46
      "Fact is, Emirates and Norwegian can make it in Hungary but not in Croatia"

      It's not the fact dude, it's your wishfull thinking . The fact is that Norwegian is the FIFTH airline in Croatia in terms of passengers carried, after Easy Jet, Croatia Airlines, Ryanair and Eurowings. The fact is that Emirates has chosen ZAG for its only destination in ex-yu and it flies year-round, 3 months this winter with FZ equipment and increased frequency to daily. These are two FACTS and I suggest you, for your own health, to try control your hatry and jealousy and to enjoy more nice sides of life and aviation. Cheers!

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:46

      It's also its only seasonal destination in their network.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous14:46

      FZ are losing money I think. They will stop flying to Kiev this winter. The Arab carriers are slowly dieing. After Iran gets its Airbuses, IST airport finished completely, they will be destroyed.
      Saudi banned to fly to Canada, etc.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous14:57

      A question for An. 14.46 :If Arab carriers are slowly dieing, what happens to carriers entirely or partially owned by those dieing carriers?

      Delete
    18. Anonymous15:04

      An 1457 :

      they will follow them too

      EY, GF, KU and EK are losing money...lots of it
      QR is buying profitable companies otherwise they will end up like them

      But TK will be very harsh soon after they get their new 787s and 350s...

      Delete
    19. Anonymous19:15

      @Anonymous7 September 2018 at 12:27

      Croatia's GDP is $61 billion, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia
      http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2016&ey=2020&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=28&pr1.y=2&c=960&s=NGDP_RPCH%2CNGDPD%2CPPPGDP%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPPC&grp=0&a=

      Delete
    20. Anonymous20:41

      Yeah, big difference.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous20:53

      @Anonymous7 September 2018 at 20:41

      Massive !!! If you going to troll at least try to troll with right figures!!!

      Delete
    22. Anonymous22:51

      I think that Croatia needs to enhance economic development of its eastern continental part. There is not only Zagreb in Croatia! After that it would reach level of Hungary.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:26

    Any chance Wizz Air might start flights to ZAG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:32

      ZAG needs "prestigious" companies, and not W6 :-)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:20

      @Anonymous7 September 2018 at 11:26

      No chance in short term, Norwegian only had 2 weekly flights, the service wasn't sustainable, not over winter months. Croatian Airlines flies to Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen, the service is very good, and load factor on routes is 85%, with Stockholm around 92%. However, OU has no planes in winter period to serve all 4 Nordic cities, it now takes 3 weeks to do B check and 5 weeks for C check in Zagreb, cause shortage of qualified mechanics.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous12:28

    Maybe Norwegian could try Ljubljana?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:22

      And that would be because...? No demand for year long flights like ZAG.

      Delete
    2. Im surprised they havent tried it yet... JP is doing VERY well on CPH route, so there is demand..AY is doing well in LJU as well, so lets wait and see :D maybe they come :D

      Delete
    3. I heard rumours that Norwegian will come to LJU next year

      Delete
  20. @admin
    Norwegian has upgraded HEL-PRN route to year round. Flights are bookable until the end of winter season (March 2019). The service will operate once a week on day 6.

    So, Norwegian will have two year round routes out of PRN, CPH and HEL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:37

      How come PRN is connected to HEL? Is there Albanian diaspora in Finland?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:38

      Yep from Kosovo

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:43

      Finland leads the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:19

      THe route CPH - PRN is not bookable anymore and as of now will not be next summer either.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous14:47

    Norwegian is incrasining OSL-BEG this winter from 2 to 3.

    Belgrade definitely keeps on consolidating its position

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:02

      Good for them

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:56

      If you ask me this is the chance for OU to operate to ARN also in winter! Few frequencies a week will surely work and help overall connectivity in ZAG if the flights will be timed correctly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:58

      Maybe costs are lower not to operate the route.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous16:03

    This winter we should be lucky if there is 5% growth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:21

      7-8% Growth will be recorded on average, mark my words. Norwegian had only 2 weekly flights, that is not sustainable.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:37

      So it's the fault of Norwegian. Hahahah

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:29

      Well no hahah here. DY from 1 end, A3 from the other, EK from the 3rd and it all suddenly becomes an accumulation of decreases. No need to be IRONIC. You should be worried.
      I hope at least TK will maintain 2 daily to IST, but it is decreased to 10 weekly this winter.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:56

      Yes. The thing is someone presents this as an increase. The only thing this is an increase of is empty space on the tarmac and maybe somewhat of level of air quality in Zag in winter months.

      Delete