Zagreb Airport plans to handle five million travellers by 2026 and has begun work on upgrading its facilities in order to enable the passenger terminal to reach its full capacity. The airport anticipates welcoming some 3.4 million passengers this year, which would result in an almost 10% increase on 2017. Zagreb Airport's concessionaire noted that it is in the process of adding a fourth baggage carrousel and will open a further fifteen check-in desks for a total of 45 this year. Although the 300 million euro terminal building has the capacity to handle five million travellers per year, the existing equipment is only suited for some 3.5 million passengers per year. The value of the ongoing upgrades inside the terminal are estimated to be worth fifteen million euros. "These developments will help us reach full capacity of serving five million travellers per year, in line with our concession agreement", concessionaire Zagreb Airport International Company said.
Zagreb Airport's General Manager, Jacque Feron, recently noted, "It is the concessionaire's duty to invest in the expansion of the airport as soon as it reaches a certain number of passengers. Soon we expect to start work on a new building that will house car rental agencies, that will be located near the terminal. Furthermore, we plan to build a new apron capable of handling wide-body aircraft from airlines such as Air Canada and Emirates, because such jets can't be effectively served at the existing apron". He added, "This means we will then have to invest in new jet-bridges for larger aircraft. Following this, we intend to commence work on the overhaul of the old passenger terminal".
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| Planned terminal expansion from 2026 onward (phase 2A - 2D) |
The airport will begin expanding its terminal building no later than the end of March in the year it anticipates handling its five-millionth passenger. This is estimated to occur in eight years time. The expansion will be undertaken in several smaller sub-phases, which will include the extension of the departures area, the addition of new gates and the installation of dual jet bridges. However, the airport noted it is already looking at enabling more of its gates for handling wide-body aircraft. Meanwhile, Zagreb city authorities have announced plans to utilise European Union funds to build a rail link between the city and the airport, although no firm time frame for the project has been given.
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| Planned design of Zagreb Airport's hotel |
The state-run Zagreb Airport Ltd (ZLZ)., which operates as a separate legal entity managing the airport's assets that are not subject to the concession, will lease land across the terminal building for the construction of a hotel next year. Preliminary talks have been held with several international hotel chains including Marriott-Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor i Radisson. The 32.000 square metre four-star hotel is expected to initially feature 151 rooms, with an extra 98 to be added at a later date. The future operator will be required to meet airline requirements in order for the facility to be able to offer accommodation for cabin crew with a layover in Zagreb.
Do they really not expect to reach 5 million by 2026? Or maybe it's in their interest not to.
ReplyDeleteJudging by how many airlines they have attracted over the past few years, I don't think they are sabotaging their numbers.
DeleteNo LCCs. So sad.
DeleteNo way to reach 5 mil. without attracting LCCs and without the end of the OU saga.
DeleteBut even without an LCC based in ZAG I don't think it will take them 8 years to add 1.6 million passengers.
DeleteNeither do I but it probably won't happen for anothet 2-4 yrs.
Delete@Anonymous3 October 2018 at 09:03
DeleteIt is very conservative estimate, probably they're estimating numbers based on 2016 performance.
Most likely in 2026, Zagreb will handle, around 7 million passengers, if not more.
Rough traffic estimates for Zagreb airport.
2018 - 3.4 million
2019 - 3.7 million
2020 - 4.0 million
2021 - 4.35 million
2022 - 4.7 million
2023 - 5.1 million
2024 - 5.5 million
2025 - 5.85 million
2026 - 6.3 million
This estimates is based without a single Low Cost airline setting up the base in Zagreb and Croatian Airlines maintaining slight growth of 3-5% per year.
Arrival of SAS, Aer Lingus, Finnair, TAP, Air Baltic, China Eastern/Hainan, EasyJet, Air Italy, Transavia France, Voltea, Vueling - year round, Brussels - year round, Swiss - year round and so on, would skew this numbers considerably, for the better I might add, even each of these carriers start with 3 weekly flights and increase over given period and increase in load factor, of 3% per year, you're looking at increased pax passing through airport at an average annul increase of around 450-550 000 per year for all and proposed future operators.
Adding Wizzair, Ryanair and other LCCs would increase these figures dramatically. If Wizzair has million passengers @Belgrade and 1.5 million at Skopje, you can imagine the same figures @Zagreb. Add Ryan air and other LCCs and numbers could go up dramatically.
number of non-European visitors to Croatia projected for 2020. interesting stuff.
DeleteThis is projected number of visitors for entire 2020,
USA - 800 000
S. Korea - 550 000
China - 400 000
Australia - 370 000
Canada - 250 000
Japan - 250 000
Taiwan - 170 000
Brazil - 120 000
Argentina - 90 000
India - 90 000
Singapore - 80 000
New Zealand - 70 000
Thailand - 60 000
Malaysia - 50 000
Hong Kong - 45 000
South Africa - 35 000
Mexico - 35 000
UAE/Qatar/Kuwait - 30 000
Chile - 20 000
In all honesty they should have started building an additional gate the moment they finished the terminal.
ReplyDeleteThe original project (before they cut costs) had several extra gates which were supposed to be built immediately.
DeleteYeah but do they need those gates right now?
DeleteIn my opinion there should have just been more space between the gates and more space for aircraft to push back.
DeleteApparently Korean is interested in sending a larger bird but their requirement is a dual jet bridge.
DeleteCan't they just make one big gate with two jet bridges that can be used for one or two aircraft depending on the size? Something similar to what BEG has and if I'm not mistaken they have 3 gates like this with 6 air bridges that can be used as dual air bridges as well.
DeleteThey should have also built the rent a car building immediately as well, or made the arrivals hall large enough to feature these counters.
Delete9:06 is right. Had they not downgraded the project they originally won the concession tender with we wouldn't be needing this now because the terminal would already have extra gates. But good that they plan to start work soon at least.
Delete8 years is soon?
DeleteI think they will hit 5 million much earlier than 2026.
Delete@anon 9.24 do you know which aircraft they wanted to send?
DeleteUnfortunate they are waiting to hit 5 million before they start the expansion project.
ReplyDeleteAgree. It is getting already congested at times
DeleteOnly during certain periods of the day. At certain periods you could also find it empty. It depends at what time you are flying out.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how the airport will develop now that TAV is running it.
ReplyDeleteThis thing with TAV is a bit irritating. The airport was given to the French not them. In fact they didn't win the tender they were disqualified and now suddenly they are running the airport?
DeleteI don't think it really matters if it is the Turks or the French running the show. They havem't done a bad job so far at least.
DeleteTAV taking over most of the business happened only recently.
DeleteIf TAV gets Montenegro's airports they will have control of ZAG, TGD, TIV, SKP and OHD :O
DeleteSomething tells me Montenegro's airports will also go to the French, quite possibly Vinci.
DeleteIt'll be the same as it was - the Turkish way from the beginning.
DeleteSo the government will pay for the construction of the hotel not the concessionaire?
ReplyDeleteNo, a developer will pay for the construction of the hotel. The state will get money from leasing that land.
DeleteThe hotel looks great!
DeleteYou mean the render of a possible hotel that might be built god knows when?
DeleteWell they say construction will start next year.
DeleteSo when they start phase 2 this will this mean two wide bodies will be able to park at the terminal without obstructing other gates?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteGood news. As for the hotel, I am not overly convinced it will happen anytime soon, especially since the state company is responsible for it.
ReplyDeleteI like that future expansion has been clearly planned and is in stages but I feel that it may be too late to start all of this in 8 years. It's more realistic to start this already next year or 2020 the latest.
ReplyDeleteSo the biggest expansion will be phase 2D (the last one) because they will add 4 gates with jet bridges.
ReplyDeleteThere are further plans to expand the terminal, this plan was up to 8 million passengers which operator hopes to have by 2031. After that comes additional extensions to meet future demand, when finished, Terminal will have around 175 000sqm, currently it is 65000sqm. Phase 3, will see expansion of the main terminal by 75m to the right, that is additional 28 000sqm, and this will also see 2-3 additional carousel installed in new part, 6 additional jetways on runway side and up to 10 jetways on terminal arrival side for total of around 32 jetways and capacity of around 20 million pax.
DeleteAgain phase 3 will be also in mini phases, like phase 2, with expansions added as traffic goes up, @10, 12, 15 million passengers. Operator's concession ends in 2042.
In HNK Ivana pl. Zajca there was a great performance about background of ZAG's success. I agree, that airport is oversized and it is forbidden to talk publicly about some things, but hope time will show us the truth.
ReplyDeleteThere was a performance about Zagreb Airport at the theater?
DeleteHe says backround. That's a wide thing.
DeleteFirst they are running out of capacity, then it is oversized.
DeleteWhich is it, then?
Croatia is full of secrets and mysteries. I give all the praise to those, who can speak about "delicate" stuff in public.
DeleteWill there be a situation next year where at the same time there will be 3 widebodies at the airport from either Korean, AC Rouge, Transat or Emirates? If so I wonder how they will put 3 planes on the gates.
ReplyDeleteNo, they will just miss each other. I think the airport is paying attention to this when they approve slots.
DeleteIf three widebodies happened to be at ZAG for some reason at the same time, at this moment they would park one in front of the old terminal and problem solved.
DeleteAir Transat can be parked on apron W as they don't require a jet bridge.
DeleteSeems that ZAG is on the right track but it should work on reducing seasonality and getting more airlines to fly year round.
ReplyDeleteYep, load factor is going up too:
DeleteMy estimates for traffic and pax per flight over coming years.
2016: 2. 76 million pax, 40800 flight operations - 67.4 pax per flight
2017: 3.09 million pax. 41600 flight operations - 74.3 pax per flight
2018: 3.38 million pax, 43000 flight operations - 78.6 pax per flight
2019: 3.7 million pax, 44500 flight operations - 83.1 pax per flight
2020: 4.0 million pax, 46000 flight operations - 87.0 pax per flight
2021: 4.3 million pax, 47500 flight operations - 91.7 pax per flight
2022: 4.7 million pax, 50000 flight operations - 94.0 pax per flight
2023: 5.1 million pax, 52000 flight operations - 98.0 pax per flight
2024: 5.5 million pax, 54000 flight operations - 101.8 pax per flight
2025: 5.85 million pax, 56000 flight operations - 104.4 pax per flight
2016: 6.3 million pax, 58000 flight operations - 108.6 pax per flight
2017:
Vienna: 24.4 million - 224 560 flight operations. 108.5 pax per flight
Stockholm: 26.640 million - 216 700 flight operations - 122,9 pax per flight.
Prague: 15.41 million - 148.280 flight operations - 103.9 pax per flight
anonymous@15:30
DeleteBear in mind that 10% to 15% of total operations come from general aviation (private planes), so if we want to look at the airliner business, the average # of pax per flight is around 90.
@Petar3 October 2018 at 19:30
DeleteThe way I see it, is that pax per flight is going up, we also see this in types of aircraft that land in Zagreb, if my projections are accurate, by 2025, we should be seeing more of A320s and less CRJ 90s or similar.
Also, i wouldn't think 10-15% is the case for Zagreb, I'd say around 6-7, perhaps 8% might be private planes.
@anonymous 19:30, I personally know the airline stats for the summer months. August 15th, 70 arrival operations, 8.513 available seats, so 121 pax, with LF of 85%, that's over 100 pax. Winter months, approx 75 to 85, so on average 90 pax/operation. Yes, there are at least 15 to 20 small aircraft operating rotations per day, so 10% to 15% is a closer estimate.
Delete@Petar3 October 2018 at 21:38
DeleteI Stand corrected then, i always thought Zagreb wasn't that busy with general aviation. Still, it is good to know load factor is higher than what i projected.
Where are your load factor projections?
DeleteThat rail link would be nice. But are we talking about a train or is Bandic talking about a tram (like he used to suggest)?
ReplyDeleteIt's just the extension of the tram link. But don't hold your breath. Bandic originally announced that construction would start in autumn of 2017. We are now in the last 3 months of 2018 and nothing has happened.
DeleteKilavo.
ReplyDelete?
DeleteNot good at all. They are doing absolutely nothing. The minimum they have to. Look for info about them on other forums.
DeleteAnd what will happen with the old terminal. They said over a year ago it will be turned into a cargo terminal and nothing has happened ever since. Any development on that front?
ReplyDeleteI was hoping they would use the old terminal for LCCs not cargo :(
Delete@anon 9.31. Read the article. It says in the text, second paragraph when they will start work on the old terminal.
DeleteI completely agree that they should use the old terminal for LCC. It's perfect for it and would need minimal investment, no need for air bridges... It would really boost numbers and most importantly offer passengers affordable travel.
DeleteI think it comes down to the fact that it would be too expensive to run two terminals (especially two which are not so near to each other). And seeing as ZAIC is counting every single cent it has (example not having sufficient staff on night time shifts) I highly doubt they will want to to start using the old terminal for passenger traffic again.
DeleteWell by that logic running a cargo terminal (and investing in its revamp) is also expensive.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteAre there any plans to build a second runway at ZAG?
ReplyDeleteNo airport in ExYu needs a second runway.
DeleteAgree
DeleteEarlier this year ZAG did some repairs on existing runway.
DeleteZagreb might get a second runway but it will be exclusively used for the military and NATO to fulfill a NATO requirement. Apparently Udbina and Zadar Zemunik are being considered too so there’s no guarantee that it will be in Zagreb.
DeleteI don't get phase 2A from the image. They will build a new gate but access to the gate is going to built in a later phase??
ReplyDeleteIf you look carefully you will see that a corridor will be built to the gate in phase 2A.
DeleteWith all these new long haul flights, they really do need that extra gate ASAP.
ReplyDeleteBut they won't do anything because they are stingy. Sto manje to bolje. This is the philosophy.
DeleteExactly.
DeleteThe airport terminal will look even better once the extension of the pier is completed :)
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly do they plan to build this rent-a-car building?
ReplyDeleteIn front of the terminal at the rent-a-car parking lot.
DeleteThe rental facility mentioned will actually be a multi level car park.
DeleteOh really?
DeleteZAG ground operations still need to improve a lot.
ReplyDeleteBecause they are still experiencing a lot of problems and airlines are complaining.
DeleteSo what are the increases we can expect in ZAG this winter? Besides Korean, Iberia and Aegean?
ReplyDeleteThere are no significant other increases, but a few notable:
DeleteLufthansa: 7pw extra (2nd daily flight to FRA) in December, January and February
LOT: 1pw extra
OU: 2pw OMO
BA: bigger planes (mix of 320s and 321s vs. 319s)
SU: 7pw vs. 4pw, although smaller equipment (increase equivalent to 1pw increase)
Thanks Petar. Much appreciated.
DeleteWhat are the decreases?
DeleteWas KL daily last year?
DeleteGood work Zagreb!
ReplyDeleteon the surface it looks like a good example of how and why per phases project are done.
ReplyDeletecertainly, to have built initial 5milion pax capacity would be waste of money.
until when does the concession run?
ReplyDelete2042.
DeleteThank you. So it's a 30 year concession if I'm not mistaken?
DeleteWould it make sense to make the old terminal into a domestic and VIP terminal and use the new one just for international flights? They would free up spce that way.
ReplyDeleteThat eould be a logistical nightmare for OU.
Delete*would
DeleteIt wouldn't work. What happens when a Croatia Airlines plane lands from say London and its next flight is to Dubrovnik. There is no time or logic in moving the plane to the other terminal.
DeleteCroatia Airlines should lease the building and open a dedicated terminal :p ;)
DeleteDevelopment until 2020 will be key. That's when Ljubljana gets its new terminal and there will be a lot more competition between these two.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt LJU will pose any competition to ZAG, with or without new terminal.
DeleteShell new rent a car building have the covered parking places? It is a pity that new terminal doesn't have any covered parking place.
ReplyDeleteSomeone wrote above that the rent a car building will actually be a covered multi level car park. We will see.
DeleteTram line from the city to the airport would be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest wonder is what will happen if BNX drastically grows and becomes like TZL. After all its very close to ZAG. I'm not sure if the French are taking this under consideration.
ReplyDeletePurger, you said there would be expansion in 2019
ReplyDeleteI wrote about that on Tuesday. Here is the link:
Deletehttps://tangosix.rs/2018/02/10/kolumna-alena-scurica-emirates-ove-zime-nece-letjeti-za-zagreb/
Sorry all, but for me ZAG remains the best airport in the entire former Yugoslavia.
ReplyDeleteThere is no other, repeat, NO other airport having a large number of prestigious carriers.
I am aware the management does not want LCC because they will ruin the image of the airport.
Zagreb has serious plans and we know it.
Is OU prestigious carrier? If one needs to fly from ZAG to DBV and there is no prestigious carrier, what should they do? If FlyDubai is not prestigious, should winter passengers fly ZAG-FRA-DXB until prestigious EK returns? Passengers just want to get direct to destination for a reasonable price, prestigious is nonsense.
DeleteThe car rental counters in the terminal and the sheds nearby are not particularly efficient or welcoming for arriving passengers. Hope they include conduit for electric vehicle charging stations and other infrastructure necessary to support "mobility as a service" concepts.
ReplyDelete