Croatia Airlines plans to restore a single route during the month of April, albeit on a limited basis, and does not plan to utilise its Airbus A320 jets at this point, with bookings unlikely to pick up until later in the spring. The Croatian carrier will reinstate flights between Zagreb and Dublin, however, only three rotations are planned during the month - on April 1, April 8 and April 11. Services between the Croatian and Irish capitals have been suspended since late October of last year. Croatia Airlines will resume its seasonal flights from Zagreb to Brač, as well as from Osijek to both Dubrovnik and Split, which operated last summer as well.
Croatia Airlines will increase frequencies on some routes next month. These include Sarajevo and Copenhagen from Zagreb, which will run three times per week instead of two weekly. Overall, at this point, the Croatian carrier plans to offer 77.796 seats on the market during next month. It will offer the most capacity from Zagreb to Frankfurt, followed by services from the Croatian capital to Dubrovnik, Split, Amsterdam and Paris. Based on its current listing, the airline will not be utilising any of its A320 aircraft on scheduled flights next month. Instead it will rely on the Dash 8 turboprops on 86% of all services, while the A319 will be used on the remaining 14%.
The Croatian carrier plans to deploy its Dash 8s on almost all routes in April with exception to Frankfurt, Dubrovnik, Split, Brussels, and Amsterdam on select days, while Paris, Dublin and London Heathrow will be wholly operated by jet-engine aircraft. Croatia Airlines recently said, “We anticipate a better tourist season compared to 2020, but the question is when exactly it will start. It is already apparent it will not begin at the start of the 2021 summer flight season but rather in mid-May or early June. In line with those circumstances, we will optimise our capacity and will have to undertake a permanent optimisation process”.
Those Dashes have come in really handy during this crisis.
ReplyDeleteThe aircraft is ideal. Low operating costs and 80 seat capacity.
DeleteIt makes sense. Fewer seats, fewer costs.
DeleteSmart move in my opinion.
DeleteAirlines are looking at all way to cut costs. Unfortunately, the decline in demand justifies them operating Q400s on most international flights.
DeleteDemand in Europe is slowly increasing but not so much in Croatia
DeleteHow did you make that conclusion?
DeleteBy the number of flights that are being added,especially to places like Greece or Spain. I read somewhere that this summer there are already a million seats on sale from London to Athens!
Delete1 million seats, c'mom man.
DeleteWhy not? Only Aviogenex had flown 550.000 passengers yearly from UK to Yugoslavia back in 1980's. Plus JAT, Adria, British and others. Not to mention Greece always being more popular in the UK compared with ex-yu. So yes I believe 1 million is real number, maybe even modest and conservative, despite "pandemic" scam
Deletewow this is more Q400 usage than we had in January and February.
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising considering February is the slowest month so one would expect greater turboprop utilization.
DeleteThey dont care for anything ,talking obout "be competitve", or something else,CA is national airline and its working with extreme $ loses each year which pay they citizens to keep this airline alive since goverment says its strategic ,but in real its just hole which keep **** working seats
DeleteHow long do the flights to Brussels and Amsterdam take on the Q400?
ReplyDeleteZagreb - Brussels is 02:20
DeleteZagreb - Amsterdam is 02:40
Thanks. That's a long ride.
DeleteI wonder how do they plan to remain competitive to Amsterdam with turboprops while KLM is offering more frequencies and jet engine plane.
DeleteThey probably are not competitive.
DeleteI think KLM and OU codeshare on their Amsterdam flights no?
DeleteYes they do.
DeleteNo, flights to BRU, AMS, CDG are around 2.0 hrs flight time
DeleteDepending on the wind they could last up to 2.20 but usually it takes around 2.0 hrs
DUB would be 2.40 approximately
Q400 FO
02.20 and 02.40 are block times, I don't think they were speaking about flying times.
DeleteYes, I was referring to the block times, as listed in schedule.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha
DeleteThankfully Dublin isn't on the Dash 8 :D
ReplyDeleteThey would probably use it if it could make the distance.
DeleteIt can easily make the distance, even if fully booked. The question is, would it be comfortable enough for pax?
DeleteThat would be a nightmare for passengers.
DeleteQuite disappointing really. Just one route being resumed and even that is operating on one off basis. Vienna just once per week in April :/
ReplyDeleteThat's the reality of the market at the moment.
DeleteI'm really surprised by this. I mean no flights from Vienna to Ljubljana and barely any to Zagreb. Isn't Vienna ex-Yu gasto heaven?
DeleteHas Austrian resumed Zagreb?
DeleteNot yet. They restart on Friday.
Delete@9.31
DeleteVIE has a huge number of transfer passengers. With borders outside the EU closed, especially USA, there is no need to fly.
Ex yu yes- but not Slovenia and Croatia
DeleteI was certain there was a sizeble Croatian diaspora too.
DeleteThere is but ZAG fees are too high for plane tickets to be affordable. Why should someone pay €250 for a three, four hour car ride?
DeleteDepression
ReplyDeleteEverywhere
DeleteDublin is still in offer for whole summer
ReplyDeleteIn April there are total of 3 flights.
DeleteThey are revising schedule on month by month basis.
DeleteAt times like these it is difficult to plan long term.
DeleteIt is the only route from the new destinations they have launched in the past few years that has survived.
DeleteAre the A320s stored in ZAG or somewhere else?
ReplyDeleteyes
DeleteUnfortunately a few weeks ago they started using spare parts, scavenging from A320. :(
DeleteMy friend told me that they will put them back after covid but ...
What are they using the A320 spare parts on?
DeleteMost likely on the A319.
DeleteI think it's a cost saving measure. Those planes are not flying now so why buy spare parts if you don't have to?
DeleteI think they weren't using the A320 this month either
ReplyDeleteMost of OU's Airbuses are contracted on power by the hour agreements, meaning the lease is not paid if they are on the ground.
DeleteTrue. But you still have to pay for maintaining them while they are on the ground.
Deletethis is depressing
ReplyDeleteThis whole time I've been saying the Q400 is superior to ATR in these circumstances. That is why JU could benefit from having them instead of ATRs. Certain routes from Belgrade have about 50% loads on the 319s...in other words around 70seats...perfect for the Dash.
ReplyDeleteCovid will pass and demand will recover. Q400 isn't that great, many airlines are ditching it
DeleteOvdasnji "strucnjaci" ne prate da je Longview obustavio proizvodnju i samo teraju svoju pricu.
DeleteStrucnjak nije rekao da mora novi druze, niti JU ima para za tako nesto, ali lease ili finance polovnih Q400 je jako moguce u danasnjoj krizi.
DeleteWho is ditching it? Flybe went under before Covid....biggest Q operator in the world until then. All over US and Canada they are still operating them. So are they in Africa ...
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada will temporarily stop producing Dash 8s and begin vacating its Downsview Toronto production site in the second half of 2021.
DeleteThe company disclosed the changes on 17 February, calling the move a production “pause”.
But De Havilland insists it remains committed to the Dash 8 turboprop, saying it is investing in product upgrades and intends to restart production as soon as possible.
Austrian Airlines is ditching them, airBaltic and SAS did some time ago. Heck, even LO is planning on retiring them. Even Aegean re-introduced the ATR some years ago as the Q400 was not suitable for island flying.
DeleteQs are not designed for island hopping..
DeleteThat's where atr's come in. Balitc has plans to unify their fleet even before covid... Qs and 737s were just for support until A220s come IN. Austrian planned on retiring the Qs so they can get more capacity and modern A320 jets.. What is the point you are trying to say?
My point is that it's a failed model and that many airlines are not seeing long-term benefit from it which is why they are choosing to retire them. There is a reason why all the airlines you mentioned decided not to include that plane in their long-term strategy.
Delete100 seater jets that they have been talking about acquiring for 10 years now would have come in handy in this situation.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteFlying to places like TIA, PRN and TGD could have come in handy now to get some transfers.
ReplyDeleteTransfers to where? A few routes OU flies to are already pretty mu h covered from those airports with direct flights. Maybe eventually Dublin, but why flies to Dublin apart from Croatian diaspora?
DeleteQuite expected tendency for an EU airline. It seems more and more flights are being postponed to May 2021. Honestly, this year will be quite worse for aviation compared to 2021.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, OU has smaller aircraft and domestic traffic to sustain it. Domestic travel is very important for the economy.
What years are you talking about?
DeleteYou really think 4-5 domestic flights per day are very important for the economy?
Not to mention that they are PSO routes meaning that if anything, they are a drain on the budget.
DeleteSeems like demand won't recover until June/July.
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate to see that some key routes are operated by turboprops :(
ReplyDeleteIt may be unfortunate but it's better than flying empty planes.
DeleteCan Slovenes fly from ZAG or are there still border restrictions?
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering, if anyone knows, do a lot of Slovenians still fly with OU from Zagreb? Or is that complicated now with the quarantine procedures?
DeleteIs there much point operating some routes just once per week?
ReplyDeleteThat way they keep some basic connectivity.
DeleteIt makes no sense at all.
DeleteMost airlines in Europe are operating very low frequencies.
DeleteI was hoping OU would profit from reduced competition but it doesn't seem like it though.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason for the reduced competition...
DeleteWhat happens with TGD and SOF which were supposed to start last year? Will they be launching this summer instead?
ReplyDeleteNothing, they won't launch.
DeleteThey have removed more than 10 former routes and you expect them to start those they haven't even launched?
DeletePerhaps they could think of leasing more Q400s in the future over Airbuses.
ReplyDeleteThey should have gone ahead with the lease of the Austrian Q400s as they planned for this summer. Much more valuable than the A319 they leased.
DeleteWell, expert above few comments said because Longview has shutdown production we should dump them, no point in getting more Q400s..right?
Delete@ 10.00
DeleteThey only got the A319 because they could not terminate the lease. It was too late by the time corona hit.
What is the most cost effective turboprop? Is the Q400, ATR, Saab?
ReplyDeleteDepends on the mission. Depends on your airline needs. Depends on the pax capacity.
Deleteif you fly mostly short haul routes - ATR wins in almost all categories aside from speed.
if you fly mix short and medium routes - Q400 will do the job, as it can do both and can slow down or go full speed.
Saab is almost extinct in aviation industry. Which Saab? 340 or model 2000? Huge difference. Saab 2000 was the most advanced model and is closest to Q400 then is to ATR. Saab340 is an earlier and less advance model closer to ATR42-200 models. There are less then 200 models operating as of today. There are less then fifty 2000 models flying around the world today.
Interesting approach.
ReplyDeleteGood to see no additional route cancellations
ReplyDeleteIs it me or is DUB a very difficult market for OU?
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think so?
DeleteDoes anyone know if they are gonna keep or return the fifth A319 9A-CTN? It hasn't fly for a long- long time.
ReplyDeleteThey will keep it. It's in storage until further notice though.
DeleteUgly truth is that OU won't have increased demand in spring and by the looks of it June will be just as bad. Demand might slightly improve from July but it will be still relatively modest. Western Europeans seem to be rushing to Spain this year as we can see by airline announcements. I fear OU will need another cash injection soon as without it they just can't make it.
ReplyDeleteI would not say so. There are many new routes to the Croatian coast this summer. Just look on the right hand side. The different story is that Croatia Airlines, as usual, has not used any single opportunity and continues to do the same it has done for the last 20 years.
DeleteCompare that list to new destinations added elsewhere
DeleteWhen OU got the money from the government they were still hoping there would be a summer season.
DeleteI'm pretty sure it will request more aid... and will probably get it too.
DeleteA320s haven't been in operation since January. They will probably put them back into service in June. In my opinion, they should start thinking of retiring these planes for good.
ReplyDelete:(
DeleteIt's going to be a difficult summer for all.
ReplyDeleteWhat is happening with their A320neo order? I thought I heard they were cancelling it.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/08/croatia-airlines-to-cancel-a320neo-order.html
Delete