Croatia Airlines is reducing its network to just four routes from Zagreb due to increased limitations imposed on the freedom of movement as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. The carrier will fly from the Croatian capital to Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and London Heathrow until at least April 19. The airline said maintaining these vital links would enable Croatian nationals to return home, as well as foreigners to travel to their native countries. Croatia recently banned its nationals from leaving their place of residence, which has had a further impact on Croatia Airlines’ operations.
Nice to see that OU still runs a minimum traffic in this very hard times. Nevertheless, would be nice to know (from OU colleagues in this Forum), who´s responsible for this decision - OU management itself or is it an order from the government? What are the load factors on those flights? This is the last public transport service from Croatia to the world als train and bus traffic were closed already on March 22nd. For comparison - Deutsche Bahn still runs some 75% of domestic long-distance services and a minimum service on few international lines. LH is on 5% traffic-level too.
ReplyDelete"Deutsche Bahn still runs some 75%"- correct. This is on order of the German Federal Government to make sure the basic transport is safeguarded. Trains with 800 seats have around 20 people in it. Same with LH. Those flights that still operate have very few pax. They carry medical supplies and people that are needed at certain places. The LF here is totally irrelevent. Considering those 4 lines of OU are the only lifelink to the country currently heading the EU and carry vital medical equipment, I would assume it is on government order.
DeleteLF in DB long distance service (DB Fernverkehr) is currently some 10% to 30%, depending on the line, in comparison to 50% - 100% in "normal times" (I work for DB distribution). LH domestic flights are at >50% LF.
DeleteLH has considerably reduced frequencies. One example is HAM-FRA which they operate with A320s 3 times a day instead of the usual 18 times a day on the A321. On MUC-TXL they operate the CR9 twice a day instad of 15 A321s. Considering they are blocking all middle seats to enable social distancing it means a third less capacity on the A319/20 and 50% less on the CRJ. Even with those measures the LF is below 50% meaning there is almost NO demand (as ordered by the govermnet meaning people adhere to the guidelines)
Deletehttps://twitter.com/Lufthansa_DE/status/1243168479622070273