Croatia Airlines will make minor changes to its winter operations, which begin on October 27. This is despite the country assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January 1, which is expected to generate an increase in demand. The carrier will add an additional weekly flight from Zagreb to Brussels this coming winter, for a total of twelve per week, and has partially upgraded its seasonal Dublin service, which will run until January 26, 2020. On the other hand, flights to Lisbon, which were maintained for part of the winter last year, will end in late October and resume during the 2020 summer season.
Services between Zagreb and Copenhagen will alternate on a weekly basis, operating daily on one week, and six weekly the other. The carrier’s international operations from other Croatian cities will remain unchanged this winter. They will include nonstop flights from Split to Frankfurt, Munich and Rome, as well as services from Dubrovnik to Frankfurt and from Rijeka to Munich. Domestic operations will also stay the same over the coming winter period. This winter season will see the Croatian government begin tender procedures to award subsidies for domestic Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights for a four-year period. Croatia Airlines currently operates six PSO routes and will look to retain them until 2024.
Apart from the operations listed below, Croatia Airlines will continue to maintain six weekly flights between Pula and Zadar. The number of frequencies on the route remains unchanged compared to last year. The 2019/20 winter season runs until March 29, 2020. Please note that the changes listed below are preliminary and based on current availability in the Global Distribution System (GDS). Furthermore, the table below displays the peak weekly frequency on each route during the course of the winter season. EX-YU Aviation News will bring you Montenegro Airlines' winter season modifications over the coming days. In the meantime, you can also review changes made by Air Serbia.
Departing Zagreb
| Destination | Frequency W18/19 | Frequency W19/20 | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Brussels | 11 | 12 | ▲ 1 | - |
| Barcelona | 2 | 2 | - | seasonal ends JAN12 |
| Copenhagen | 7 | 7 | - | 6-7 flights alternate each week |
| Dublin | 0 | 2 | ▲ 2 | seasonal ends JAN26 |
| Dubrovnik | 24 | 24 | - | - |
| Frankfurt | 21 | 21 | - | - |
| London-Heathrow | 4 | 4 | - | - |
| Lisbon | 2 | 0 | ▼ 2 | - |
| Mostar | 2 | 2 | - | - |
| Munich | 14 | 14 | - | - |
| Paris | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Pula | 6 | 6 | - | via Zadar |
| Rome | 7 | 7 | - | via Split |
| Sarajevo | 13 | 13 | - | - |
| Skopje | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Split | 22 | 22 | - | - |
| Vienna | 14 | 14 | - | - |
| Zadar | 6 | 6 | - | - |
| Zurich | 14 | 14 | - | - |
Departing Split
| Destination | Frequency W18/19 | Frequency W19/20 | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Munich | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Rome | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Zagreb | 24 | 24 | - | - |
Departing Dubrovnik
| Destination | Frequency W18/19 | Frequency W19/20 | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt | 3 | 3 | - | - |
| Zagreb | 22 | 22 | - | - |
Copy/paste every year from Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteExpansion worth 30+ mil € Bravo money well spent <3
ReplyDeleteA missed opportunity to react to Adria Airways bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteThey can’t do anything. Planes are going in for maintenance. They don’t have spare capacity.
Delete"It's too early to react".
DeleteThey should really take some more risk and extend some of their seasonal flights from Zagreb to year round.
ReplyDeleteRisk is the last thing they can afford at the moment.
Deleteso 3 frequencies will be idle after Jan. great planning. they could have add those to SJJ&SKP now that JP is gone.
ReplyDeleteactually 4
DeleteI'm really disappointed with their response to Adria. Rather with their lack of response.
Deletethere is none
DeleteI’m no OU fanboy and have no intention of defending them but people should realise the company was just bailed out weeks ago by the government. All things considered this winter timetable is good.
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteJU was also bailed out some years ago yet they did something with that money. OU is getting money for what? At least I could understand if they did something. I mean even YM is doing something and it responded to JP's demise. Ok, OU didn't have to launch flight but why didn't they organize a bus transport from LJU to ZAG and offered rescue fares?
DeleteLJU is really close to ZAG, even now there are many SLO cars parked in front of ZAG airport.
DeleteYour response sums up why OU is in the situation that it is today. lol
DeleteTheir (bad) situation is a bit more complicated, Anon 10:20.
Delete
ReplyDeleteShame on OU, look at DBV! Luckily, there are foreign carriers! Not to mention EU presidency, hope they will go bankrupt next year!
Some years ago they actually had a very good network from DBV with numerous European destinations. Instead of using the opportunity to benefit from Dubrovnik Airline bankruptcy they just let other airlines take over and withdrew.
DeleteCan someone explain the logic of them alternating frequencies on the CPH flights each week?
ReplyDeleteYes, that's odd. It's the first time they do it like this.
DeleteJust shuffling frequencies around. They increase one route and decrease the other.
ReplyDeleteThey have been doing that in winter season for last few years.
DeleteCroatia Airlines has done nothing with their winter schedule for years. Like someone said they will substitute Lisbon with Dublin and that’s it.
DeleteAnd even that won't be for the entire winter.
DeleteIt’s interesting that Lisbon just doesn’t seem to be able to work in winter. I remember TAP used to fly to ZAG in winter via Bologna but eventually they cancelled it too.
ReplyDeleteAn A319 is simply to large for this type of route in winter and they can’t use the Dash obviously.
Deletethey had to decide between DUB and LIS. DUB diaspora in xmas is more lucrative i guess
Delete^ Most likely. Not sure if LIS is primarily for transfers from South America, I presume so.
DeleteWell at least load factors on some routes should be up thanks to the presidency and Adria going kaput.
ReplyDeleteWill it? September saw minimal growth at ZAG even with JP going bankrupt. I don't think OU will profit that much.
DeleteJP went bankrupt late in September. I believe they will see some benefits. ZAG's numbers will probably see stronger growth in October (and they can count their lucky stars for that thanks to Adria).
DeleteWhy didn't the extend DUB and BCN for the entire winter. Why Just until early January?
ReplyDeleteBecause January and February are the slowest of the slow seasons.
DeleteHow come other airlines across the world can fly routes in January and February?
DeleteWell for example Aegean is also making a break in February on Athens-Zagreb route.
DeleteIt’s a good way to save money on softer routes but they could have at least resumed them at the start of March.
DeleteHow many planes does Croatia Airlines use during the winter?
ReplyDeleteI think they park 2 planes in winter but since others go for maintenance they are all utilised. But I'm not 100% sure.
DeleteHow is OU's fleet distributed over its hubs in HR? E.g. how many a/c in ZAG, how many in SPU?
DeleteZagreb is the only Hub, with entire fleet based there, but Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik and Pula are focus cities with substantial OU presence.
DeletePolitical pressure forces them to operate flights from Split and Dubrovnik to other European hubs, instead of its own!! And it gets worse during summer, Rijeka, Pula and Zadar also joins to the cacophony. So sad to see.
DeleteOU shall stop all domestic services in order to remain profitable. These PSO flights can be operated by Trade Air or any other small company.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they stop domestic flights when they are subsidized? And in my opinion oversubsidized on some routes like Zagreb-Dubrovnik and Zagreb-Split. They get good money from them. They would be crazy to stop it.
DeleteCTN will never stop operating ZAG-DBV.
DeletePolitical damage for any party would be to big.
Croatian politicians will hardly ever stop giving money to Croatia Airlines.
Unfortunately flight ops need miracle to start be profitable.
Maintenance has good potential, but nothing much is being done there, and triangle LJU-BUD-BEG maintenance is a challenge.
I wonder what will happen when the privatization process fails. And I'm sure it will fail. They won't be able to cover OU's losses forever.
DeleteLook at the upside at least they are not shrinking this winter.
ReplyDeleteThey should leave Oslo and Helsinki. These are actually winter destinations.
ReplyDeleteYou mean keep them in winter right?
DeleteOslo and Helsinki serve purely Norwegian and Finnish tourists in the summer visiting Croatia. That’s why there are no flights in winter. Demand outside of summer tourism is almost nonexistant on these routes.
Deletei disagree
Deletei disagree with both being summer destinations *
DeleteHow come JU flies in winter to Helsinki then? OU might not have the biggest network but I am sure they can survive two times per week especially around Advent.
DeleteBecause OU can't rely on the same number of transfer passengers as JU can.
DeleteCroatia Airlines is limited in what it can do. The winter schedule would benefit from OU being more of a transfer airline, so they could fly to certain destinations purely to transfer people to third destinations. But in summer they have sufficient demand for point to point flights and do not have the capacity to do large scale international transfers.
ReplyDeleteThey are very conservative with their winter ops.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with OU and winter is their fleet. They urgently need 100 seaters. The Airbuses are completely unsuitable for their winter ops. Too large for 98% of the routes.
ReplyDeleteThen what on earth are they going to do with the neos then in the winter when they arrive?
DeleteThey will replace the older A319/320s with neos.
DeleteI think he meant in terms of capacity.
DeleteNeos and ceos have almost the same capacity.
DeleteNow they have 4 A319 and 2 A320. The Order is 4 A320Neo ! So it is more capacity
DeleteIt’s like in winter they draw a line at Skopje and don’t fly anything remotely east of it :D
ReplyDeleteand they have that strange split schedule for SKP in winter for years now and seem stuck with it o_0
DeleteHow do you mean?
DeleteFlights from ZAG to Rome still going via Split!! Will this ever change?!?!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could have gone with 5 weekly via Split a 2 weekly direct. At least give it a try.
DeleteUntil a few years ago, flights used to operate twice per week via Dubrovnik and 5 via Split. Then they cancelled the Dubrovnik-Rome sector alltogeather.
DeleteI wonder how many people board the plane in Split.
DeleteMore than they did in Dubrovnik.
DeleteBaffled they can't make ZAG-FCO nonstop.
DeleteIt is also an issue of fleet. They don't have more planes (in summer at least) to offer all ZAG-SPU/DBV/FCO/ATH non-stop. So some are combined.
DeleteTheoretically, they could offer them non stop in winter, but then, in winter you have a lot less passengers, so it doesn't make sense in winter either.
How pathetic..Instead of increasing SKP to 10 weekly at least, introducing PRN and increasing SJJ they do nothing. Shame on you OU!
ReplyDeleteAgree. Especially since SKP is generally performing very well for them.
DeleteNot great but not a disaster either. Keeping the status quo. But seriously I think Croatia as a country has much more flight potential over winter then the network Croatia Airlines puts out.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhy not add one more flight to SJJ for double daily?
ReplyDeleteWhat happened with Bucharest?
ReplyDeleteIt's seasonal.
Delete:(
DeleteWhat about Madrid? Interesting that they don't fly there but do to Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteBCN is more popular.
DeleteUntil January...
DeleteSame old same old from Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteAnd with that they still produce losses. So I don’t get why they don’t change things up.
DeleteFew days ago I commented on OU, critically as always, and OU fan boys conclusion was that I "failed in life" and that I am bitter and that's why I am bashing OU, which is, of course the best ever. I couldn't reply then because of "new comments not allowed", so replying now : First of all, I am very, very healthy, which is the most important thing in life. Second, I have big and happy family. Third, whole my life, I 've been working the job I LOVE. Fourth, my colleagues not love, but adore working with me. Fifth, I visited over 100 countries all over the Globe. And sixt, my salary in euro, is four digit, with first digit not being 1or 2.
ReplyDeleteIf those listed can be reasons for "bitterness" and can be called "failure in life", I can just say : LOL!!!!
Now, Croatia Airlines : With potentials in tourism, diaspora/emigration, geographical position, educated, qualified and relatively cheap workforce, still existing relations with ex-yu countries, parts of functioning economy, EU and nato membership, recent demise of Adria, all neighbour's air operators "down on knees" till recently, and after 30 years of existence /operations, Croatia Airlines should have been today an airline size of Austrian Airlines, maybe a bit smaller, with quality of services of ex-time Swiss Air, with long-haul operations, with ZAG as a transit hub for South East Europe, with developed domestic flights linking all coastal and continental airports in north and south of the country, and with year-round links from ZAG to all major European airports, with significant summer charter coastal operations, with its own LCC division, and all that with profitability.
Unfortunately, there had not been and there is still not, strategy of any kind for development of not only air transport, but for development of Croatia as a country in general. Instead, criminal gang executed criminal "privatization" during and after the war, the result of which, in general, is economy and living standard failing, instead of growing, and people leaving Croatia in huge numbers. On aviation level, the results are seen in this winter timetable, as well as in size of OU and the fact it must be subsidised by tax payers money.
I am so sorry those fan boys calling me names are not capable of seeing unused potentials of both country and its flag carrier, and my criticism related to it. And for them, just a short message ::Find another object of admiration, because according to everything seen so far, there will be nothing for you to admire, and very soon.
Well said +1
DeleteNo, CTN could never be as AUA. One of the measured parameters of the economy of the state. That's why not.
DeleteThe rest of your comments are not subject of the article.
During the last days of Yugoslavia, air traffic in Yugoslavia was MORE DEVELOPED than in Austria. Two airlines whose growth momentum was the highest in Europe after the breakup of Yugoslavia were Austrian and Turkish. Two most developed countries if ex-yu were Croatia and Slovenia, Croatia being the one with more potential for air traffic development. And actually we witness to that development, but the flag carrier is left out of that picture. Why? I rest my case.
DeleteI think they should have kept a few seasonal routes from Zagreb including Athens, Prague and possibly Milan
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they have insight into route trends and seasonality and based on that they decide which routes to keep and which to cut during winter.
Delete^ I'm not so sure!
DeleteOverall 1 more flight than last year :/
ReplyDeleteAnd even that is not the case since Copenhagen is decreased to six weekly every other week.
DeleteWhat about Osijek?
ReplyDeleteOSI is dead at the moment unfortunately :( and OU doesn't fly from there.
DeleteThey fly to/from there, but not in winter.
DeleteTuzla killed them .
DeleteAnd still TZL is not performing well .
Too many airports in that whole region, splitting the market into units that are unprofitable except Belgrade .
I know this might not mean much but today I was at BEG and there were so many Croats there, especially at departures. I saw at least 20 in front of the terminal. It must have been a group or they all came with the same bus. They were most likely all from eastern Croatia.
DeleteAnother interesting thing is that a whole bus was filled with Chinese tourists. Plates were from North Macedonia though.
Of course there are many Croats going .
DeleteActually people from Slavonia are in very good location
with Belgrade, Tuzla and Zagreb around them and not to forget the good highway .
It would even make much sense if Eurowings would move their Dusseldorf and Stuttgart flights to Belgrade and fly year round .
Well STR BEG is starting next year
DeleteEurowings will fly from Stuttgart to Osijek,Belgrade and Timisoara which means that it will compete with themselves on three different airports that are in each others vicinity .
DeleteYou dont have to be a genious to see that yields and profits will go down the drain ...
What about FKB flights? Which airport in the region have iit?
DeleteFKB is Karlsruhe Baden Baden ?
DeleteSo this airport is served by Wizz to Belgrade and Timisoara year round and Tuzla in summer only .
Wow so south-west Germany is really well covered especially if you add JU flights to STR.
DeleteGermany will significantly increase taxes for air tickets. Transfer via Germany will be more expensive. OU has over 50 weekly flights to Germany as primary transfer hubs are FRA and MUC. Too much reliance on LH.
ReplyDeleteany link for German taxes increasing?
DeleteThey should be doing more from Croatian cities on the coast, even during winter.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the whole potential of the Croatian market this is a more than a disappointing network.
ReplyDeleteTime to stop playing around and replace this management, they have wasted enough time.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThat is by far the biggest problem actually. Complete management must be replaced asap. Every cent spent must be turned around. Every position in the company shall be checked if he/she is really needed. They do employ too many people for the number of aircraft that they operate. A proper hub system with waves needs to be implemented. Coastal operations need to be questioned and in summer split from the hub ops taking into account all charter opportunities. Etc etc.
I really can't understand why these blatantly obvious issues are not being tackled.
Never anything new or out of the box for OU.
ReplyDeleteTo do that you need money.
DeleteAdria did a lot of new and out of the box things. Now they are bankrupt.
DeleteTouché
DeleteInternational flights (east of Zagreb): Skopje, Sarajevo and that's all.
ReplyDeleteWhy nothing more to the eastern parts of Europe?
you forgot OMO :-)
DeleteIn one word: Yields!
DeleteThey should better fly to ZRH 1 daily with a A319 oder A320. With the two Dash's they could fly to other destination. And to be honest, the price to fly from ZRH to ZAG is too expensive!!! I don't want to pay EUR 350-400 for that flight. With EUR 450.00 you can fly from ZRH to JFK with 23kg luggages.
ReplyDeleteor beg-jfk
DeleteNot to offer at least TXL, PRG, MXP, DUS even on a Dash in winter are obvious failures.
ReplyDeleteTo fulfill all the wishes and great strategies CTN should have QR fleet. For all above please note that Croatia is extremely seasonal and receptive market. If there was demand for flights from/to Dubrovnik or Zadar, or Pula there would be other airlines present in winter time table. There is no embargo on other airlines opening DBV-ZAG flights. If this route is so profitable why isn't there a competition? How is it normal for people from Dubrovnik to look for the airline fares from DBV to ZAG lower than a taxi ride from DBV airport to the city?
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, just a small correction : there is no FORMAL embargo on other airlines opening ZAG-DBV flights, but with its taxes, refusal to allow base opening and other informal ways of illegal protection, ZAG is keeping away LCC'S which would open the service YESTERDAY, precisely with air fares lower than taxi price, like in all normal countries, and market economies, which Croatia, unfortunately, is NOT
DeletePardon my French, WTF? Is this a post about OU winter time table or Zagreb airport taxes? The FRA and MUC airport taxes the moment are higher than LHR. And Ryanair is flying from both airports. There is thing called market. DBV in winter has a population od 50000 inhabitants, most of the hotels and restaurants are closed. Plus there is VAT aplying onto domestic fares. There is no need for additional seats. Got it?
DeleteOh, someone got upset? I "hit the target", obviously LOL!!! Croatia and market in one sentence, good joke! And if you compare ZAG with MUC and FRA in LCC case, why don't you compare it for other stuff, like general connectivity. And just one info that your "expertise" misses : LCC on shorter routes normally take over BUS passengers, and buses between the two are around 20 per day, winter included. Still feeling need to be sarcastic and rude?
DeleteCroatia and market in one sentence, good joke - you say! and I am being sarcastic and rude. There is a market in Croatia, and it is extremely seasonal and receptive. That is reality. This is the reason why there is no LCC in Zagreb. There is reason why LOT will fly directly to NYC from BUD. BUD is destination all year around. There is no demand for ZAG, not mentioned PUY, ZAD, RJK, OSI, BWK etc... All this airports can be seasonal. But they are not. And there is an order to fly every day e.g. from PUY to ZAD. Michael o'Leary, Richard Branson and Herb Kelleher together cannot make routes like this profitable.
DeleteThere are two approaches to any business, including aviation : passive, where you just answer to existing demand, and proactive, where you CREATE demand. I will not get into details on which ways, in aviation, demand can be created. You obviously, the same as current OU and ZAG "managements", choose the passive approach. For the example of the other approach, I will just tell you two airports/cities. Vilnius and Riga. Please just check their timetables and tell me do you really believe that those cities, and countries whose capitals they are, are so much bigger, more developed, richer, more centrally located, with more tourism, and more emigration, that they have the demand 3 times bigger or at least double bigger than than ZAG. Cheers!
DeleteWill they fly any charters?
ReplyDeletePity there is no Scandinavia coverage in winter.
ReplyDeletethere is Copenhagen.
DeleteLast winter under state ownership?
ReplyDeleteWithout OU growing ZAG won't grow much this winter.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just OU but the economy of Europe is slowing down. There is less demand for air travel. Even Swiss downgraded LJU to Helvetic under the end of the year.
DeleteThat is obvious sign that European economy is slowing down
DeleteGood thing Dubrovnik and Belgrade are not in Europe, they are growing like crazy in 2019!
Delete