Korean low cost carrier (LCC) T’Way Air has applied and received a necessary permit from the Korean Ministry for Land, Infrastructure and Transport to launch commercial flights between Seoul and Croatia. It comes after the national carrier Korean Air confirmed it would suspend its seasonal operations between Seoul and Zagreb for the rest of the year due to the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. The ministry allocates airline transportation rights each year. T’way Air has been granted a permit for four weekly flights to Croatia. It took Korean Air just a few months to commence services to Zagreb in 2018 once it received the all-clear from the ministry, however, due to the ongoing pandemic, it is unlikely for the low cost airline to launch operations to Croatia shortly.
T’Way Air boasts a fleet of almost thirty narrow-body Boeing aircraft. It soon plans to finalise a letter of intent for the acquisition of wide-body jets, which would enable it to launch services to Croatia and elsewhere. The airline currently maintains flights to destinations in Asia and Russia and, along with Croatia, plans to introduce services to Tajikistan as well. There has been an increased interest from Asian low cost carriers for Croatia. Thai AirAsia X scheduled a number of charter flights between Bangkok and Zagreb for this summer season, although none are likely to materialise due to the coronavirus. The long haul low cost airline planned to operate a handful of services between the Thai and Croatian capitals in May and October. Scheduled dates included May 1, May 6 and May 11. There are flights also scheduled for October 13 and October 19.
Some half a million Korean tourists visit Croatia on an annual basis. Korean Air handled 43.123 passengers on its flights between Seoul and Zagreb last year. While Zagreb is the main point of entry for Korean tourists, Dubrovnik continues to be one of the main drawcards for travellers. Last year, local authorities in Dubrovnik said they were pursuing flights from South Korea. “It is very important for us to improve connectivity with Korea. It is a big market and we could attract even more tourists", the Mayor of Dubrovnik said at the time. Dubrovnik Airport has identified South Korea as a market which could sustain services to the coastal city.
Bravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Seems there is enough demand.
ReplyDeleteYes a very good sign.
DeleteIt would be great if they started Dubrovnik so we would have Korean Air to Zagreb and T'way to Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know if KE IS coming back.
DeleteI just wonder if this airline made these plans before corona or after.
ReplyDeleteApplications for routes were opened from March so after.
DeleteMaybe they will operate Seoul-Tajikistan-Zagreb with fifth freedom rights. Croatia could attract a lot of Tajik tourists.
ReplyDeleteWith such routing, could they operate with a narrow body plane?
DeleteSMFH!
DeleteTajikistan is extremely poor.
Yes, I think that's their idea as with Corona going wild there is no market for a widebody. Plus with Tajik tourists this could be run maybe even daily in summer months.
Deleteit is just too good to be true..it would be great to have direct flights to tajikistan, i am sure it would attract lot of tourists to visit tajikistan..but think chances for that are very slim, maybe 2-3%
DeleteSMFH too re Tajik tourists
DeleteLast Anon, what's wrong? Croatia is trending right now in Asia.
Deleteits not about Asia its about Tajikistan.
DeleteBut Tajikistan is Asia though ...just in case you didn't knew
Deleteand just in case you didnt knew, the Tajik can unfortunately barely finace a holiday in their own country yet to think about a trip to Europe where they need visas in the first place ... the stuff you read on the internet is just amazing
DeleteThe person righting about Tajik tourists coming to Europe is surely trolling.
DeleteThe luckiest of Tajiks get to go to Russia to work and send money back home.
The rest are grateful if they can afford a meal a day.
The flights to Tajikistan are for South Korean tourists, not Tajiks.
DeleteHuh? Yes they might not be the richest country but I'm sure there are 30 to 50 people per flight.
DeleteHow exactly are you sure about that?
DeletePer capita income in Tajikistan is just over 700 Euros PER YEAR!
That is why you do not see Tajik tourists anywhere in Europe.
And what exactly makes you think that Koreans want to visit Tajikistan for tourism?
Tha fact that this airline wants to fly there.
DeleteHow many Tajik tourists visited Croatia? Any numbers?
DeleteDon't know why all of you are obsessed with Tajikistan. No one said they would fly to Croatia via Tajikistan. It was just suggested by a commentator.
DeleteIn continental Europe, Dushanbe (DYU) is linked with Moscow, Frankfurt and Istanbul. Adding ZAG will be definitely something exotic.
DeleteSadly, as TaxPayer mentioned in his comment: "Tajikistan is the poorest among the former Soviet republics. Because less than 7% of the land area is arable and cotton is the predominant crop, Tajikistan imports approximately 70% of its food."
But maybe there might be an interest to visit Croatia.
The notion that they will fly from Dushanbe to Zagreb is completely incorrect. It's just a comment suggestion by an anonymous reader.
DeleteIt's based on a logical assumption since they don't have any widebody aircraft in their fleet and they plan on launching both Zagreb and Dushanbe. So you think that's less likely than them getting widebodies just for ZAG operations at the height of corona crisis? Ok, sure.
DeleteYou have already been told the permits are valid for an entire year. So no, they are not launching flights to Croatia (no one even mentioned Zagreb) tomorrow or in a week "during the height of the corona crisis". They can launch it until 15th of May 2021 for them to keep rights on that route.
DeleteSo basically what you are saying is that people are getting worked up over nothing? Ouch.
DeleteIf there are 500,000+ Korean tourists coming each year and only 43,000 flying with Korean Air then there is a huge untapped market of airline on this route.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of them.
ReplyDeleteWell they are a primarily Asian carrier. Same way no one in Korea has heard of OU.
DeleteThey are bigger than any ex-Yu airline. They handled over 7 million passengers in 2018!
DeleteThat's nothing by Asian standards.
DeleteFor an airline of its size it is impressive by any standard.
DeleteExcept the Asian one.
DeleteSince you seem to know everything. Find us Asian or any airlines with the same fleet size all of the same type and their passenger numbers. Thanks.
DeleteI can find you so many bigger players than they are my friend.
DeleteI'm not asking you to find me bigger players. I'm asking you to find me an airline of their size with their passenger numbers, since you say their results are nothing. Or at least keep up with your original argument. I'm waiting for your list.
DeleteWhy are you waiting on a list when he said that by Asian standards they are not big meaning that he should be giving you a long list of bigger LCCs which in Asia isn't a hard thing to do. If he was to give you what you were asking for them it would mean their size would be the average one which is not what he claimed.
Deletelooool so they just need wb aircraft to reach Croatia but they applied for permit, and that is going on now, during the pandemic? HAAHAH
ReplyDeleteAmateurs. I agree.
DeleteThey have many MAX planes on order. It is possible these are being renegotiated and they will get maybe even wide body plane.
DeleteSo you want them to fly the max to zag after negotiations?!
DeleteNo. You might want to re read what I wrote.
Deletethey have not a single european destination or anywhere near Europe
ReplyDeleteSo? This is their European expansion.
Deletegood luck flying a Boeing 737-800 from Seoul to ZAG
DeleteYou have to read the article unfortunately to realize they don't plan to fly a B737-800 to ZAG. But it requires you to read the article and not just comment.
Deletethey sure will have the money after corona to do that ^^
DeleteThey will since they, like all other Korean airlines got huge assistance and prices for aircraft on the market are very low.
Deleteaha mr. sve zna
DeleteMaybe it's mrs. sve zna ;) let's not be sexist.
DeleteSo many people triggered...
ReplyDeleteWho exactly is triggered? No one is. I would say that there are more people grasping at straws here expecting an airline with no widebody planes to fly a long-haul route to a tourist destination at a time when tourism industry is on its knees.
Delete"Who exactly is triggered? "
DeleteYou for starters.
No one said the route is launching tomorrow. The permit is valid for an entire year. They have 365 days.
DeleteThis is great news! I am from Serbia but I feel happy when any airline opens any new route in ex-Yu. And this? This is great! More tourists, more Asians, more money.
ReplyDeleteBig LIKE from Novi Sad
Waiting for news for BEG :)
Hope it works out. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI really wonder which airlines Koreans predominately take to arrive in Croatia? It obviously isn't Korean considering they handled 40,000+
ReplyDeleteI assume Emirates, Qatar and Turkish.
DeleteLufthansa too.
Deletemost of them pass through Croatia on their tours around Europe.
Deletefrom htz.hr: 2019 Koreja, Republika Dolasci 385.463 Nocevanja: 485.288 They barely stay more then one night!!!
i picked 3 exyu countries for comperison:
Slovenija Dol. 1.579.864 Noc: 10.928.46 6.9
Makedonija 40.458 Noc. 267.420 6.6
Srbija 184.912 Noc. 1.173.093 6.3
I guess they pass through Croatia on their way from Hungary to Venice via Ljubljana or the other way.
DeleteWe will need all the airlines we can get. Hope they start flights.
ReplyDeleteI predict that there will be more South Korean traffic to Croatia in the future. The SEL-ZAG route did not have enough time to mature but upon the KE return, the rates from and to ZAG and SEL will drop.
ReplyDeleteIf T'way ever launches those flights, it will become the first Asian LCC to land on Eastern European soil. Not even PRG or WAW have LCC links from S Korea.
As usual, Croatia never fails to impress. Well done!
Considering Korean Air flights were quite pricey, an LCC would be a welcome change.
ReplyDeleteYes, dear. After all ZAG needs some LCC and especially in Europe. Croatia is very famous in S Korea especially after it appeared in one of their biggest reality shows called Sisters over Flowers:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_Over_Flowers
If you read the article it says:
"It also had a notable impact on tourism in Croatia. From 70,000 Korean tourists in 2013, after the show aired, the figure rose sharply to 147,000 from February to July 2014".
The impact of a reality show is huge and it helped Croatia a lot!
Speaking of Korea, YU-ARA is currently enroute to ICN.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteFlights are not likely to materialize:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200515000729
All South Korean airlines -- both major and low-cost -- have posted quarterly losses as the pandemic dampened travel demand and slashed flight numbers.
T’way Air recorded sales of 149.2 billion won, a 38.1 percent fall on-year, and 22.3 billion won operating loss (about 17M EUR).
Wow that's bad, with such finances I don't see a bank giving them out any loans to get widebody aircraft. Oh well...
DeleteShame, would have had a nice somewhat exotic mix of carriers at Zagreb this year.
ReplyDeleteGuys this is fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteI regularly fly from Osaka, Japan to Zagreb. I’ve experienced flying via Frankfurt, Istanbul, Vienna, Zurich, Doha and Dubai. I once had the misfortune of flying via Dubai in the winter when they switch from Emirates planes to FlyDubai planes. 6+ hours on a low cost carrier was not fun! I don’t want to experience 12 hours on an LCC even if it is wide body. I’d imagine that it would be, at best, similar to Air Canada Rouge...for 12 hours!
ReplyDeletePre Covid-19 there was enough of a South Korea to Croatia market to justify an LCC to test it out. Whether it will happen probably depends more on what directions the pandemic takes this year more than anything else.
ReplyDelete