Korean Air plans to discontinue flights between Seoul and Zagreb for the majority of the coming winter season before resuming services on April 1, 2020. According to the “Avioradar” portal, Korean Air’s final service of the year to the Croatian capital will operate on November 29. Although flights are still displayed in global distribution systems, ticket sales for subsequent dates throughout the winter have been discontinued. Korean Air initially decreased capacity on the route for the coming winter. It planned to operate three weekly services between the two capital cities with its 269-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jet but then scheduled the 218-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft instead. During the 2018/19 winter season, the route was maintained by the 261-seat Boeing 777-200ER aircraft from late October, before being replaced by the B787-9 from January.
Korean Air will continue to operate its Croatia service with a Seoul – Zagreb – Zurich – Seoul triangular routing during the winter months, from October 27. It does not hold rights to sell tickets on the intra-European sector. Korean Air launched operations to the Croatian capital in September 2018 and has been extremely successful on the route during the summer months, with Zagreb becoming one of its best-performing destinations. “Since the launch of the route between Seoul and Zagreb, it has been performing with a high load factor. There has been growth this summer season, mainly on demand originating from Korea”, Korean Air said earlier this year. This September, the carrier increased frequencies on the service from three to four per week. However, winter months have proven more challenging for the route’s sustainability.
Meanwhile, Zagreb Airport welcomed 350.138 passengers in September, representing an increase of 1.3% on the same month last year. The number of aircraft movements stood at 4.190, an improvement of 0.3%. During the January - October period, Zagreb Airport handled 2.626.511 travellers, up 2.2%, while aircraft movements increased 2.6% to 34.321. Overall, so far this year, Zagreb added an extra 57.215 passengers.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 191.197 | 0 |
| FEB | 181.154 | ▲ 6.2 |
| MAR | 232.978 | ▲ 4.2 |
| APR | 280.790 | ▲ 10.6 |
| MAY | 311.368 | ▲ 3.6 |
| JUN | 336.618 | ▲ 1.5 |
| JUL | 366.242 | ▼ 3.4 |
| AUG | 376.026 | ▲ 0.9 |
| SEP | 350.138 | ▲ 1.3 |
They probably got an airport incentive to operate the first year for the whole year. Now that that is over the flights are ending.
ReplyDeleteDude, that is not working like that. U fly first year and you pay eveything, than next year you don't pay airport charges.
DeleteNo... dude. Check Zagreb Airport's incentive policy. It's called an incentive so it reduces your risks during the first year of operations. ZAG (like many others) offers an incentive for airlines that launch new routes and keep it for the first winter.
DeleteYeah, but first year is your '0' year. Second one is actually first one and in that one you don't need to pay.
DeleteNot true.
DeleteFor first twelve months according to ZAG incentive policy
Airlines applying for the Year-round Scheduled New Destination (Incentive Model I) shall ensure that the proposed route will be operated nonstop at least two (2) times in a week for a period of minimum twelve (12) months uninterrupted on a scheduled basis get 100% off landing fees and 40% off passenger service charge.
From 12-24 months they get 50% off landing feed and 20% off passenger service charge.
I told you how this thing works because I have experience with it. But ok, you think different which is fine.
DeleteOk then official pricing policy is wrong if you are right
Deletehttp://www.zagreb-airport.hr/UserDocsImages/dokumenti/AO-AOP-MAN-02-3-Cjenik%20aer%20usl_EN_01032017.pdf
Very well explained anon 09:25
DeleteDidn't some people write last winter that loads were not great? The decision is not surprising.
ReplyDeleteThey did and they were labelled as haters. I guess now we see they were right.
DeleteI was one of them and I was so much blamed for making things up.
DeleteLF in November last year was terrible and KE kept this route only because of airport incentives. Even "udruzeno oglasavanje" fund together with airport's help could not anymore cover huge losses KE made during winter on ICN-ZAG.
I wonder where are now all these "experts" calling me certain names at that time.
I wonder if Purger will write about these events in ZAIC.
DeleteOf course, like always.
DeleteI was hoping ZAG's passenger numbers in September would have been much better considering the Adria collapse.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that ZAG could not profit because of JU's rescue fares, they were extremely competitive and in many cases cheaper than OU's direct flights from ZAG.
DeleteIn average ZAG results for this year and especially for this summer are terrible
DeleteManagement has been completely inactive. They don't want to reach passenger threshhold that would require them to begin second phase of terminal project.
DeleteKorean Air ticket price is crazy expensive both ways, just checked. And, on top of all, ZAG airport is crazy expensive! Those two can not work together. This are good news for Qatar, Fly Dubai, Turkish, since koreans will not stop coming to Zagreb and Croatia during the winter months. They could just reduce ticket price a bit, and I'm quite sure that they would have good winter here.
ReplyDeleteTo fail on the market which has more than half of milion koreans during the whole year? Good job Korean Air loool
Why are you blaming Korean for failing and not the tourist board or the airport?
DeleteIts easy. Check price to/from Seoul and you will see priče difference between KE, EK, QR and TK. And than told me which ticket you would book.
DeleteLet's teach Korean Air how to create the prices as they obviously don't know how to do it :-)
DeleteLOOL
Hummm... Why should KE sell at low prices to ZAG if they can sell at higher prices for other destinations..? Airlines operate like that. Not in load factors but in profitability. Also, ZAG had ZERO cargo load, which makes it difficult to be profitable.
DeleteAnd average cargo results in ZAG for this year are horrible. Deep in red
DeleteOh common, crazy expensive? Korean in Zagreb is way cheaper than (almost?) anywhere else in Europe. You can get economy for $800 - 900. That's like half the price of the KE ticket from Amsterdam. Business class is just above $2000. Besides, were people not saying that Koreans like to fly with their national carrier? At any rate a direct line with Korean is cheaper and faster than Turkish, Qatar or Emirates.
DeleteIsn't it just more likely that there simply hasn't been enough traffic over winter. Summer is popular in general, in September Koreans have their own holidays and then, other than perhaps December, there's just not enough demand until the spring. My guess? There won't be any particular demand in the future either, unless there are more varied business reasons for it. Speaking of business, Croatian model whereby nearly 20% of the GDP comes from tourism aka the 'banana republic' model, is not sustainable in the long term. Split and Dubrovnik will soon plateau as well, and if anyone believes they won't, you're being naive.
I think there is something else that needs to be considered, both BUD and VIE are being aggressive in South Korea. Their tour operators are probably pushing for Korean tours to start in their countries and Croatia probably didn't do anything. So in the end they fly to VIE or BUD (now on LO) and visit Croatia by bus. Tour operators simply weren't booking people on KE to ZAG and that's something Croatian Tourist Board needs to think about.
DeleteDidn't these flights operate via Zurich on the way back? So I assume winters were never too strong.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean ZRH is also suspended during winter?
DeleteWho will book flight to Seoul via Zurich from Zagreb when u have other options via IST, DXB or DOH? Those are cheaper and quicker.
DeleteDid Zagreb passengers have to deplane in Zurich?
Delete@9.08 seems so
Delete@ Anon 9:08:
DeleteFirst of all, why not? It's a short layover where you're always certain not to miss the connection. Plus, going to Doha is also quite a detour. Mind you, the Earth is round.
Second, I don't think they counted on Croatians visiting Seoul to keep this route alive, anyway.
Check flight time and ticket priče, compare winter schedule for KE, EK, Turkish and then u will see.
DeleteYup, earth is round. Good job men.
Shame
ReplyDeleteMany people predicated this would happen.
ReplyDeleteSo in winter none of the long haul airlines will fly to ZAG. Management should really do something about this.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised neither of the Canadian airlines tried flying year round.
DeleteIt would be interesting now to see Purger's famous spreadsheet for winter months showing wide body planes flying in ex-Yu
DeleteI really don't get that with so many Korean tourists coming to Croatia you can't make this route work year-round.
ReplyDeleteToo expensive airline and airport. Combination can not be worse.
DeleteMaybe market seasonality and 90% of them come April to November and also by land.....just a wild guess.......
DeleteThe best thing ZAG could do is forget about these long-haul flights and focus on the EU market. Those non-European pax who want to visit Croatia will be arriving from EU anyhow.
ReplyDeleteExactly, that's what Serbia did after Hainan. Chinese now arrive on Qatar, Aeroflot and others. Ex-YU countries need to be realistic above all else.
DeleteCome on, Croatia is a summer destination and will always be and thats fine. Whats so surprising here?
DeleteThis is all fine and normal. Korean planes were practically empty and whatever pax there was, they flew with TK and QR. QR planes are also not as easy to fill up (double daily) as there are no O&D traffic between Doha and Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteI predict a solid winter for ZAG as the planes will partially fill up from the slovenian market.
What solid winter? People on here were claiming how ZAG will boom in 2019 and they gave all sorts of predictions and expectations and all of them proved to be wrong. LJU is bouncing back and there will be more options now than before so there won't be as much need for them to go to ZAG which isn't that cheap to start with.
DeleteSolid winter? I really hope you are kidding.
DeleteIt is going to be terrible winter in ZAG. We can expect more red numbers the same as it was in July this year
With a very un-solid year so far, I doubt that even a solid winter, as you predict, would turn the pretty weak performance ZAG has had this year. Pretty dismal results so far for 2019.
DeleteVery soon ZAG will drop to 3rd place behind SPU and DBV, and that could happen sooner than expected. It's likely that from next year some cruise ports in Croatia will become home ports for big cruise ships. That means Mediterranean cruises will start and end there and thousands of cruise passengers from all around the world will be loaded through SPU, DBV and ZAD.
DeleteMany people (ZAG fans?) tend to scream and to insult the moment someone dares say something like that even if statistics prove you right. In the first nine months SPU has consolidated a strong position in Croatia while after a great September DBV has reduced the difference with ZAG to just 120.000 passengers. This is something DBV can easily handle next year thus becoming number 2.
DeleteI am sorry but there is nothing that would make us hopeful ZAG will have strong growth in the coming months.
Just surprised how extremely seasonal Croatia is including ZAG.
ReplyDelete1% is not impressive at all. Most EU capitals are doing way much better...
HR has not enough biz trips to outside EUR which act as a base load on every flight and fm Dec mid march also tourists are missing, there is a few but not enough to justify a WB as we can see
DeleteIt's not just that there are no business travellers outside the EU, even in the EU they are not spread everywhere, they are mostly to Germany and Austria.
DeleteFirst Emirates, now Korean ... hopefully the airport will learn its lesson now and not force things, let them happen on their own. Before dreaming of far east flights, maybe the airport should work on reducing seasonality. This year was a disaster for MZLZ in every sense of that word.
ReplyDeleteHow wrong is their policy of airport incentives we can see now...
DeleteSimply there is no market for long haul in ZAG during the winter. ZAG has only 180.000 passengers in whole February.
No worries, Zagreb will compensate the Korean "loss" with EU presidency passengers, and once EU is complete Korean is back.
ReplyDeleteLove your irony lol
DeleteWell of course since the extra flight to BRU on the Q400 would probably carry as many passengers as KE did from ICN.
DeleteThis year had been a real disappointment for ZAG in my opinion. What is TAV doing?
ReplyDeleteSaving money.
DeleteThey have been fast asleep.
Deleteis Pegasus fying to HR? they could bring them :D
DeleteDoubt Pegasus would do well, TK doesn't even fly double daily in winter.
DeleteCould this affect ZAG's passenger numbers?
ReplyDeleteIt could from December.
DeleteAnd not only this
DeleteSeoul Zagreb Zurich triangle was never gonna work anyway, similar like Hainan in Belgrade. People just don't find it convenient.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they still fly in summer tho.
And here we were expecting US flights.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Korean have to do with that?
DeleteDo not forget famous China flights
DeleteOn top of all that now they want Japan flights as well.
DeleteHow did they do last winter?
ReplyDeleteObviously poorly otherwise they would not have made this decision.
DeleteBut don't Koreans like to travel more out of season?
ReplyDeleteDBV was packed with Koreans last winter, and the winter before. Suppose this winter will be the same. I don't understand?
Delete"packed" omiljena hiperbola ovih prostora
DeleteIt doesn't mean there wont be any Koreans milling around Dalmatia in the bleak months. It simply means they will be using cheaper flight-providers to get there, and KE-ZAG combo is all but affordable.
DeleteExactly. They will use Turkish Airlines, as many have obviously been using last year too.
DeleteAnon 10:33, u Hrvatskoj je 2018. bilo 400 000 koreanskih turista. U ovoj godini će ih biti i više. Nije mala brojka, svakako.
DeleteIt's not but they obviously don't use KE to fly into ZAG. My guess is that they come from VIE or BUD in the future.
DeleteAre there any increases in Zagreb this winter?
ReplyDeleteI think with KE and FZ reductions, ZAG should be the same as last year in terms of overall frequencies. I think Iberia and British Airways are the only ones increasing flights in winter. Aegean is keeping the third weekly for about a month longer than last year.
DeleteWhat will it take for the government to acknowledge that aviation in continental Croatia is in crisis? OSI is as good as dead while BNX and TZL thrive.
ReplyDeleteZAG is officially starting to stagnate while OU is kept on life support and foreign carriers are either reducing or suspending ZAG.
What will it take for them to do something about all this?
Finally realistic opinion
DeleteThey just need to stop dreaming that ZAG will ever be a major European airport, do contract revision with MZLZ and open the door for LCC.
DeleteWrt OSI, they just need to concentrate on Cargo. All infrastructure is there, great location for logistic centre. Any extra passenger on top would be great, but not essential.
But realistically speaking, will any of that happen?
DeleteWhat exactly can the government do??
DeleteHow about provide OU with a competent management? That would be a good start.
DeleteWhat are the average return fares on Korean on this route?
ReplyDeleteThey are quite pricey compared to EK, QR and TK
DeleteTrue, flights can't be booked anymore :/
ReplyDeleteWhat about summer 2020?
DeleteFor S2020 they available.
DeleteKorean Air seasonal isn't bad either. It's their only route in this part of the world.
ReplyDeleteReally? What it means this part of the world?
DeleteThey are flying to VIE and MXP which are not far for koreans at all. They are going on 7-day tour around this part of europe by bus, so...this is a big thing, only Korean Air seasonal destination is Sankt Petersburg, and now - Zagreb.
True
DeleteHey Admin, can you ask KE for official statement about Zagreb? We would all love to see their explanation...One year after opening new route, just 20 days before winter schedule starts, they cancel it. It is not that common for airlines to do things like this.
DeleteTell me where in the Balkans and south east Europe they fly to? Are you telling me that having Korean seasonality is somehow bad?
DeleteIt is worse than year round ZAG had
Deletethe only seasonal route EK has is again - ZAG
Deleteyou wrote "It's their only route in this part of the world." I told you, that "in this part of the world" u have 2 more destinations where KE fly year round. Btw, bus ride from Vienna to Zagreb is just 5 hours. LOT opened new route from Budapest to Seoul, you have Turkish in Zagreb and Belgrade, Qatar in Zagreb and Belgrade, FlyDubai in Zagreb and Belgrade, etc etc. So many options for koreans to come in Croatia, u have Asiana in Venice and Milan as well. So many options for them (without mentioning Lufthansa, Austrian, and others.).
DeleteI live in Warsaw and often fly LO WAW-ZAG. The plane usually has like ~15 Koreans at least.
DeleteThey certainly do fly to VIE that is only 250 km away from ZAG and surely belongs to "this part of the world".
ReplyDeleteThey should have started seasonal from the start.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Should have served Zagreb seasonally and worked their way up to year-round eventually.
DeleteSome "experts" asked some time ago for a proof that KE is not doing good in ZAG.
ReplyDeleteThere you have it
ZAG really needs to pull a rabbit out of the bag for next year. There are no new routes announced so far. I'm still hopeful flights to China could start next year.
ReplyDeleteDepressing.
ReplyDeleteEnd of today's news mentions ZAG added only 57k passengers for months 1-9. Leading airports of exyu region added more passengers during only one peak month. ZAG will certainly fall behind both SPU and DBV in coming years, and BEG will keep increasing gap over ZAG. Number 4 in the region after getting a brand new terminal is nothing to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteYes and no. ZAG also has prestigious routes and airlines. The other airports mainly rely on 1 airline or LCC to survive. Not the case with Zagrab though....
DeleteI guess ZAG was too prestigious for KE.
DeleteLol prestigious, the guy is cracking me up. I hope he is ironic.
Deletei don't think he is, we've seen all sorts of things on here over the years.
DeleteIf these was no KE this year ZAG growth would be close to 0%. Think about it.
ReplyDeleteSo many things are going on in Slovenian and Croatian aviation these last days but we hear nothing from Purger or Sloavio ..
ReplyDeleteI am relly interested in their opinions even if i dont always agree .
Pozdrav, Nemjee Beglax the same - this blog is so much fun to read while drinking my coffee, better than anything else .
+1000 nice comments from both these days
DeleteI did wrote several articles, had some 30 interviewees in Slovenia and around region about Adria and Croatia. And I will write article about those events. Here is one of those:
Deletehttps://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/vlada-daje-jos-250-milijuna-kuna-croatia-airlinesu-strucnjak-ceka-ih-bankrot/2119726.aspx
Thank you Purger !
DeleteThis doesn't surprise me. Korean tourism to Croatia is more spread out than just summer and is healthy in spring and autumn but Croatia is cold in winter and Koreans during their northern winter generally prefer warmer destinations like Hawaii, S.E. Asia and Australia/NZ (which is in summer then). Air travel to Croatia is inextricably linked to tourism and winter is the low season. There is no escaping this fact and the likes of EK & KE will not fly in winter to Croatia but will have healthy capacity for 8 to 9 months of the year. Some people need to accept this reality.
ReplyDeleteHungary and Czech are twice as big as Croatia (population) and even more in GDP and they hardly have long haul connections whole year. Just LOT is flying to US and Korea but loosing big money in Budapest.
ReplyDeleteNo one knows LO's financial situation in BUD. They have a major hub in WAW though which is profitable.
DeleteHere you have it https://www.pasazer.com/news/41017/wyniki,lot,u,na,rejsach,z,budapesztu,do,usa.html
Delete70% LF JFK
62% LF ORD
In comments they say that in some months ORD was 30-40%. But we dont know what subsidies the Hungarian gov is giving them.
Also in the meantime they reduced ORD and introduced Seul.
BUD's year-round long hauls:
DeleteLOT: JFK, ICN
Air China: PEK
Shanghai Airlines: PVG
And if you take it as long haul, Emirates: DXB
According to ZAG airport insider, KE stopped the route because Croatia refused to allow 5th freedom flights ticket sales from Zagreb to Zurich.
ReplyDeleteSo you can only blame your government for being short-sighted.......