Croatian start-up ETF Airways is set to take delivery of its first aircraft, a 189-seat Boeing 737-800, this coming Wednesday with a second jet of the same type to follow up soon. The carrier recently received the “EZZ” designator code from the International Civil Aviation Organisation, while its callsign will be “Enterprize”. ETF intends on eventually operating up to five aircraft, although, it initially plans to have one based in Dubrovnik for charter flights, while the other to be wet-leased to other airlines, if circumstances permit. The company is yet to sign deals with tour operators but has said there is interest.
ETF is now looking for partners, companies and brokers for ACMI and charter business opportunities in order to be able to station an aircraft on the Croatian coast. The airline argues that the country’s tourism industry would benefit from a charter carrier. “Thinking that we are world famous in tourism and that everyone will come to us is counterproductive. Antalya has thirty million passengers per year. All of Croatia’s coastal airports combined have less passengers than Ibiza. What we have is peanuts. We are talking about basing one aircraft in Dubrovnik. By brining a guest to Dubrovnik everyone will be able to profit from it - hotels, the city, tourist attractions”, the company’s CEO, Stjepan Bedić, said.
Private investors and Croatia-based investment funds are supporting the new airline which has stable financing. Commenting on its operations, economic analyst Velimir Šonje, who is one of the airline’s investors and members of the Supervisory Board, said recently, “ETF does not aim to become a big scheduled carrier. Our main goal is to utilise the opportunities which we expect in the coming years through charters and similar arrangements, primarily on the EU market, through flexible and reliable service”. Mr Šonje added that the post-Covid world will open a number of opportunities in particular markets niches.
Good luck
ReplyDeleteIt's worrying they still don't have any contracts but have two planes.
ReplyDeleteI am not, tourist season won't start before late June, July so there is still time.
DeleteMany charter airlines still don't have any deals. I know because I work with a lot. It's still all up in the air.
DeletePlane looks good actually
ReplyDeleteSo basically 2021 was the year OU was almost completely destroyed on the coast, especially in DBV. The other day we read that Wizz be launching FCO-DBV and FCO-SPU on top of FR announcing ZAG-CIA competing with their ZAG-FCO. Now we get to see that DBV will get a dedicated local charter airline flying tourists to the city.
ReplyDeleteOU has no one but itself to blame.
By the way, does anyone know how much OU contributes directly and indirectly to the country's GDP?
DeleteWill this be the first successful Croatian airline start up in years?
ReplyDeleteWell we first have to see will it be successful ;) but fingers crossed.
DeleteI am still sad Air Croatia failed. Parasitic OU made sure they died a quick death.
DeleteHow did Croatia Airlines have anything to do with Air Croatia's failure?
DeleteDidn't they duplicate their routes?
DeleteNo they didnt.
DeleteNo, they did duplicate them but a few years after because Air Croatia basically went down the list of top unserved routes from Zagreb.
DeleteI'm surprised. Did not expect this would get off the ground.
ReplyDeleteI really hope this will be the new Dubrovnik Airline. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteBut one that will be successful.
DeleteDubrovnik Airline was successful. Their AOC was revoked 2 months after they announced scheduled flights from Zagreb. Air Adriatic lost their AOC few months after announcing scheduled services from ZAG. First croatian private airline, Anic Airways was the first one whose routes were doubled by OU, making both loss making, with the private company with no state financing going to bankruptcy and ceising operations. The first Air Croatia, which had plans to operate long-haul as well, and be real competition, about 1995, fleet 737/DC-10, was clearly warned they would not be given necessary permits to operate, by Ministry in charge in those times. The similar happened to Dalmatian which intended to start with foreign EU AOC and leased fleet, being warned they want be allowed to operate on croatian AOC. After everything was set up and ticket sales started, their CEO received life threats and withdrawn from the project. There is much more but this is the most important. Trade Air is alive only because they never dared to interfere with what OU is doing. ETF is aware of it and will concentrate on charter and ACMI and will probably survive. But, maybe, just maybe both Trade Air and ETF will be in position to change the focus of their operations if we take Ryanair arrival to ZAG as indication of some eventual changes in overprotection of OU by the state, which absolutely was the case so far
DeleteAre you kidding mentioning Dalmatian??? All of others - Dubrovnik, Air Adriatic and Anic - were liquidated due to bad results and not because they competited with OU! Trade has no intention to "interfere" with OU not because they "never dared" but Marko is to clever not to fly on this routes...
DeleteOU should have created its own dedicated charter airline with 2-3 planes and maximised on the coast's potential.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThere are many things they could have done.
DeleteThe name...?
ReplyDeleteETF - Easy to Fly :D
DeleteThey could have at least styled it as Easy2Fly
DeleteElektrotehnicki fakultet :)
DeleteGood luck to ETF! Croatia similar to Bulgaria needs at least 4 bigger charter companies to sustain its tourism. Deploy the aircraft to the max in summer in the Croatian coast and operate Egypt, UAE, Tanzania or even deploy aircraft in bigger markets such as Romania or Poland in winter operating from secondary airports. This is what happened this year. We saw Aegean operating charters from CLJ or Oradea to winter warm destinations or to Greece and Cyprus. No way should the aircraft be left on the ground in winter. This is the beauty of being an EU member and use of passporting.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, it might not be a bad idea to consider charters from Slovenia too.
The logo looks pretty neat, cool and modern. I like it!
+1
DeleteWow nice. I hope it works.
ReplyDeleteNice to see some Boeing operator in the region finally
ReplyDeleteMore and more ACMI airlines in the region. Trade Air is getting competition.
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't Trade Air ever tried flying charters from Croatia for tour operators? They only fly PSO routes in Croatia.
DeletePula-Copenhagen, Pula-Billund, Zadar-Milano, Split-Bergen, Split-Oslo, Split-Bristol, Split-Napoli, Dubrovnik - Norwich, are just some of the charter chains operated by Trade Air
DeleteAlways a pleasure to see a new idea actually get off the ground. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the registration of this plane?
ReplyDelete9A-ABC
DeleteOvi su ozbiljniji od Air Montenegro ili 2Montenegro, ili ToMontenegro (ne znam vise koja).
ReplyDeleteBarem imaju nesto napisano na avionu.
Dobar!!! :) :) :)
DeleteI don't like the name. If you are starting from scratch, why the hell would you choose ETF when you can choose pretty much anything?
ReplyDeleteAnother plane is preparing in Jat Tehnika. It has registration 9A-LAB and it was previously used by ASL Airlines (F-GZTV)
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find these informations?
DeleteI saw it with my eyes :)
Delete... and also, it has name Voyager... I assume they give them names by Star Trek starships :)
DeleteWow I am jealous! :) Can't wait to see it in a move at some Croatian airports...by names they are giving it seems like they are really passionate about whole project. One reason more why it differs from other airlines that are just doing it for profit and money without any passion...
Deletehttps://ibb.co/P9LyNkr
Delete@ 19.42 live long and prosper :D
Delete@19.55 nice thanks :)
DeleteBeautiful!! Thank you very much for sharing! :)
DeleteCool, I wouldn't be surprised if they inked a maintenance deal with Jat Tehnika. I guess we will be seeing them in Belgrade on a regular basis.
DeleteExciting
ReplyDeleteBad news for OU.
ReplyDeleteI think this type of airline, that will focus on ACMI in winter and charters in summer has the greatest chance of success.
ReplyDeleteGood! Croatia needs an airline with aircraft based on the coast.
ReplyDeletePreferably a scheduled one.
DeleteThis is developing much faster than I thought.
ReplyDeleteComparing to the other failed startups, these guys actually have money to make it possible.
DeleteHope it can work, but what will they do in winter when the coast is more or less dead?
ReplyDeleteWhat a time to launch a new airline. Can it work?
ReplyDeletefrom the article: "All of Croatia’s coastal airports combined have less passengers than Ibiza."
ReplyDeleteAnd that is positive, not negative. What a nonsense this world become. Making out of Dubrovnik an Adriatic Disneyland !
Bringing masses by plane to make a selfie for their Instagram profile.
The more people come to take selfies, the more money locals will have.
DeleteNot really. If Dubrovnik would have same amount of passengers in only 4 months, for sure it would be overcrowded. But if they spread it across the year, we will finally have sustainable tourism that will give locals jobs for whole year not only seasonal contracts between April and October. Their idea is brilliant and finally had enough courage to start this project.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDelete