The city of Dubrovnik expects to secure new flights from the United States in 2020 after American Airlines launches a seasonal summer service from Philadelphia to the coastal city next year. The head of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Romana Vlašić, told the "Dubrovnik Times", "After 28 years we will finally have direct flights from the US again, with American Airlines announcing services from Philadelphia. This pilot project from American Airlines will grow over the coming years to include more American cities as well as new airlines". She added, "Through our representative office in New York we have made contact with the airline and the travel company that represents them. We have already arranged joint marketing opportunities and cooperation. We are only too happy to help fill these flights and make sure that this new link is successful".
Dubrovnik Airport anticipates strong loads on American Airlines' upcoming service to and from Philadelphia, which will have a significant impact on the future development of air traffic to the States. The General Manager of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, previously said he believed the service would prove popular with both holidaymakers and the Croatian diaspora. "American Airlines chose Dubrovnik for several reasons. They have recognised us as a quality destination and our airport worked very hard during the negotiating process in order to secure these flights. Initially, this will be a seasonal service which will be maintained three times per week", Mr Luetić said. He added that the airport expects for the airline to boost frequencies on the route in the years to come.
American Airlines will operate its flights to Dubrovnik from June 7 until September 25 with its 209-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. Ms Vlašić noted, "We have been working intensively on the US market for years and it seems that this work is starting to bear fruit. There have been a whole series of promotional events that we have carried out in the US, from the New York Times Travel Show to specialised travel fairs in Las Vegas. Secondly, we are work with a luxury tour operator in the US who has proved to be very professional and has brought us many guests to Dubrovnik over the past few years". All three of the major US carriers - American Airlines, Delta and United - currently maintain codeshare flights to Dubrovnik through their respective partners.
This is a good news. More options for travellers to/from Croatia and some additional income for Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news! Congrats, Dubrovnik!
DeleteWhat city could be next in the US that could work to Dubrovnik?
ReplyDeleteNew York, definitely!
DeleteORD too.
DeleteNew York would be logical!
DeleteOne would say ORD, EWR, and ATL are clear favourites, but I wouldn’t be surprised by SFO/LAX either as more and more 787s are being delivered. As for non-hub cities, IAD might be a good guess simply because there are already many TATL routes from DC and DC has by far the highest percentage of population watching GoT of any other US state (northeastern states have more people in general watching GoT, but those would already be covered by PHL and EWR).
DeleteWhat about west coast US? Any potential for flights from there?
DeleteI definitely wasn't expecting DBV to become the first city in Croatia to restart US flights. Good on them.
ReplyDeleteNo other airport in the region has worked so hard to develop like DBV.
DeleteTrue. DBV is an excellent airport, especially for such a small city.
DeleteThe choice of Philadelphia being their first route to Dubrovnik is quite odd.
ReplyDeletePennsylvania has biggest Croat population in US. That's why.
DeleteI think this route will be used almost exclusively by tourists as the majority of the Croatian emigration in the US does not hail from in and around Dubrovnik. Using this route for them means little because they would have to transfer and buy a separate ticket on OU (OU is Star, AA is oneoworlrd).
DeleteTrue. The fact that it will run for a few months in peak season to me shows that American is mainly counting on that too.
DeletePhilli is an AA hub. Which else should they have selected on the east coast?
DeleteJFK.
DeleteI'm sure they thought about it before they announced the flights, pretty sure Philadelphia is a good choice!
DeleteDemand is especially strong from the West Coast. Philli make most sense for them.
DeleteIsn't Philadelphia on the East coast?
DeleteIn an earlier article Luetic said why they chose Philadelphia.
DeleteThe General Manager said, "Philadelphia was chosen to be linked with Dubrovnik because it is an east coast hub for the airline and has excellent links with the west coast, Canada, as well the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Therefore, we expect a lot of transfer passengers as well. Furthermore, Philadelphia is close to New York, which is too congested".
Philadelphia is main AA gateway for Europe, has more TATL flights than any other AA hub, so it’s logical choice
DeleteDid JAT used to fly just Dubrovnik-New York seasonally or they had flights to another US city as well?
DeleteI think only New York.
DeleteBUD and PRG are doing extremely well for them and out of Philadelphia. No reason to believe Dubrovnik won't either.
Delete^ And even more interesting those flights operate daily.
DeleteNo, this is not because of the Croat diaspora. PHL is a former legacy US Airways hub (now AA). It has many, seasonal only, destinations in Europe: PRG, BUD, LIS, ATH. JFK is pretty crowded and PHL slots cost them less in terms of operations
DeleteDBV is the only city in Ex-Yu that has an American carrier. Impressive. And according to Vlasic we may see more US carriers in the future.
ReplyDeleteYes and BEG is the only to have year-round flights to the US. Each airport has something that makes it unique.
DeleteDBV will become year round for AA in 5 years time. It is impressive how DBV manages to attract demand despite its size. Beautiful town :)
DeleteSto je tu impresvno?
Delete21.stoljece je i ta jedna linija nije impresivna vec porazavajuca cinjenica
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DeleteImpresivno je jer je ovo prvi put nakon dugo vremena da jedan američki prijevoznik povezuje Hrvatsku s SAD-om pa makar i sezonalno. Žalosno je to što ZAG još uvijek kaska po tom pitanju, iako se nadam da bi i ZAG uskoro mogao dobiti liniju (možda Delta)?
DeleteNema sanse.
DeleteItekako ima šanse, makar sezonalno.
DeleteZagreb se najprije mora dobro povezati s Evropom, a ne da svako malo netko ukida linije jer nema vise povlastica za prvu godinu. Sto ce ti veza sa SAD-om kad nemas kako puniti te avione? Ili mislis da zracna luka racuna samo na americke turiste?
DeleteZagreb should be worried that neither BA nor KL will be daily in winter in stead of dreaming about seasonal flights to the US.
DeleteZAG should be worried about Croatia airlines' future in the first place!
DeleteI am sure ZAG management has a plan B in case OU goes bust. U2, W6...
DeleteHopefully, they will probably need it, since the government is doing absolutely nothing to help OU!
DeleteHas the government given up on appointing the new CEO? It will be almost a year soon.
DeleteZagreb has Emirtates/Flydubai, Korean, KL , BA, and others. Does not matter if its daily or 5 times a week. It HAS them. ZAG will not have 20 daily flight between LON as FRA has for example. It has the frequencies that are demanded by the travelling public. And its good like that.
DeleteSo the most important thing is to HAVE them. No matter how often they fly. Jadan ZAG dok postoji takav nacn razmisljanja.
DeleteAnon: 14.45
DeleteOk by that logic 5 daily ZAG-FRA is really bad as LON-FRA has 30 daily. That is a strange logic.
You do realize that there are no non-stop flights to Scandinavia or Italy from Zagreb? How is that ok? Are you telling me there is no demand for exclusive ZAG-FCO the whole year? ZAG should be worried as DY suspended ARN while OU isn't planning on even keeping a single weekly flight.
DeleteWith LJU getting more and more LCCs and now BNX in the game ZAG management needs a wake up call.
Anon 15:07
DeleteI am not talking to star alliance hubs. I am talking about a whole continent. Nemozes pikirati na laung haul letove u ZAG ako nemas cvoriste. A ZAG to trenutno nije. Fali puno toga a da o klempavoj OU ne govorimo.
Slažem se s Anon 19:47!
DeleteDue to the runway works in January and February only aircraft the size of DH4 and AT7/E75 will be able to land at the RWY. 2/3 of the runway will be renewed, with the rest already done. After the RWY is in use again all AC types will be able to land at DBV with no restrictions and hopefully more airlines will come to DBV :)
ReplyDeleteWill they extend the runway?
DeletePitty that BA and vueling have to stop operating during that period due to AC limitations. But then Pula closed down in January and February completely. So better to renew the runway in phases.
DeleteBA is removing flights in November. It has nothing to do with runway works. Also it is not true that only DH4 and ATR can land on the runway in January and February since British will be flying for a part of January. So this is false information.
DeleteMiddel January to end February
DeleteTurkish Airlines is also flying to Dubrovnik in February and they don't have DH4s.
DeletePayload restrictions.
DeleteDajte se malo informirajte. Tri faze se radova. U studenom i prosincu su najveća ograničenja što se tice piste, ne u siječnju i veljači
DeleteCongratulation to Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteNew York has to be the next destination.
ReplyDeletePhiladelphia is quite close to NY.
DeleteCould there be an option that we get some low cost flights from DBV to the States with Norwegian perhaps?
ReplyDeleteWell if you read the article you will see that the Dubrovnik tourist board is focusing more on affluent US travellers so I don't think we will see DY start TATL from Dubrovnik. Would be great but I highly doubt it.
DeleteDY has actually cancelled some flights from Europe to the US recently. But I think Dubrovnik is focusing on US carriers, not European.
DeleteI see this route going year round in 2020, maybe once per week. in winter months. Dubrovnik is trying to extend the season, plus for those who don't care about beaches and swimming I would much rather visit Dubrovnik in winter when it is a lot less congested.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will go year round that soon. They might extend the season but it is not cheap maintaining such a seasonal route in winter, especially once per week.
DeleteDa, super, ali u sklopu nekog veceg putovanja. Iskreno, sto bi to moglo privuc Amera da dode SAMO u Dubrovnik za tjedan dana preko zime?
DeleteThis is fantastic for Dubrovnik and Croatia in general but I don't think these flights could work year round like some claim. The issue with Dubrovnik is that it has little outbound traffic. It depends purely on tourists.
DeleteI think that next up they should definitely target Canada or South Korea flights. After they secure one destination from each they should look into adding more points in the US.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey said that US and South Korea are their main long haul markets.
DeleteI can't see Korean Airlines flying to Dubrovnik in the near future and cannibalising their newly established Zagreb route. Perhaps Asiana could attempt it on a seasonal basis down the track? Canada flights are more realistic I think given that Canadian Airlines already have a presence in Zagreb and now Split from next year too.
DeleteRoutes from US to Dubrovnik definitely have potential.
ReplyDeleteRomana Vlasic is a professional and I'm glad she is leading the Tourist Board. I didn't know she got promoted. She used to be the deputy in charge. So I think tourist development in the city is in good hands and we will see more US visitors (and flights) in the future.
ReplyDeleteAmerican hubs that have potential to be linked with Dubrovnik in my opinion are:
ReplyDelete- Chicago
- Dallas
- Washington
- LA
Demand from LA is particularly strong to DBV and Croatia in general.
DeleteThese routes definitely have potential.
DeleteI'm surprised that American was the first to bite the bullet and start flights to Croatia. I would have thought it would be United considering its Star Alliance membership and potential for codeshare with Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteDubrovnik actually has a nice collection of OneWorld member airlines:
Delete- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Iberia
- Aer Lingus
- Finnair
- S7 Airlines
Star still has bigger presence:
Delete- Austrian
- Lufthansa
- Croatia Airlines
- Adria
- Aegean
- Brussels Airlines
- LOT
- SAS
- Turkish
I'm really interested to see how this will perform. Hope for the best and we see new US routes to DBV in 2020 :)
ReplyDeleteIf 30 years ago JAT and Pan Am could have full planes from Dubrovnik to New York, I'm sure American will succeed too.
DeleteAmeričko tržište jedno od najvažnijih svjetskih emitivnih tržišta u Dubrovniku, a u korist tome govore i brojke.
DeleteDelta flies to the the most secondary European airports out of the US airlines. So perhaps they could consider Dubrovnik in the future too.
ReplyDeleteOr Zagreb
DeleteDelta will likely come to Zagreb. The only question is when
Delete...and that is because...?
DeleteI think we will see the same scenario like with the Toronto-Zagreb flights. One airline begins the route, is relatively successful and immediately others will follow.
ReplyDeleteAnd so many people doubted that these flights would materialize and we are now already talking about potential new destinations :)
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that DBV is quiet about potential new destinations until they are about to materialize. No big words, just hard work.
DeleteAA is making the right choice by choosing Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteIf flights are successful, AA will do the same as it did with Prague and Dubrovnik. Start flights from May instead of June and operate daily.
ReplyDelete* Oh and also they start in May and operate until end of summer season.
DeleteI don't know if AA will increase the frequencies, but I'm pretty sure these flights will be packed!
DeleteDL just announced MSP-PVG and they have been adding a lot of frequencies from there. Maybe we could see MSP-ZAG or DBV in the future?
ReplyDeleteI am now more convinced than ever that DBV will be the second busiest airport in ex-YU and the busiest airport in the Western Balkan area.
ReplyDeleteWell done.
Don't know, it all depends on what happens in SPU. I don't think DBV can overtake them.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteWell done Dubrovnik. This will benefit the entire community. Great to see 3 Croatian airports with long haul flights next summer.
ReplyDeleteThis will affect some airlines flying to DBV, particularly BA.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly Aer Lingus also sees good transatlantic feed on the DBV flights.
DeleteJU also carries quite a few tourists from New York to Dubrovnik and Split.
DeleteOn top of this I hope Dubrovnik can somehow interest Air Transat to launch flights from Toronto.
ReplyDeleteAC Rouge would be a nice addition, since Air Transat will be flying to SPU!
DeleteTrue
DeleteAmerican Airlines u japanu su preuredili enterijer 12 njihovih Airbus321 aviona serija 23 i trenutno imaju najudobniji i najkonforniji avion serije Airbus321 u americi sa 102 luksuzna putnicka sjedala transcon verzija ali sa pristupacnim cjenama usluga od Aerodrom New-York do San Francisko.
ReplyDeleteUjedno jos koriste udobne all-economy class avione sa 135 putnicka sjedala proizvod douglas corporation DC9-83 zadnja serija iz 1999 godine koji putnici jednostavno vole taj taj avion na kratke letove u trajanju od jedan i po sat, u Americi sa jeftinim avio-kartama.