Low cost carrier Ryanair will today launch operations to Zagreb, marking the start of its major expansion across the region, which will see it commence a record 41 new routes from the former Yugoslavia. The airline will open a seasonal base in Zadar next month and a year-round base in Zagreb at the end of August, introducing eighteen and fourteen new routes respectively. The carrier has indicated it further plans to expand its Zagreb operations as early as this winter with the stationing of a third aircraft and the launch of additional new destinations. Elsewhere, Ryanair will also commence new flights from Banja Luka, Tuzla, Niš, Pula and Podgorica.
Commenting on its upcoming Zagreb expansion, Ryanair said, “We are delighted to have announced Zagreb and so many new connections. It is a very underserved airport. Finally, low fares have arrived. We have done a good and sensible commercial deal with Zagreb so that we can grow even more. It is positive for Zagreb, Ryanair and our crew that will be working there. Hopefully, we will have even more routes launched in the summer of 2022”. The Zagreb Tourist Board noted, “The arrival of Ryanair in Zagreb is important for the development of tourism in the capital of Croatia and the whole country. It is logical to choose Zagreb as a year-round destination for a city break vacation. We welcome every new airline that comes to Zagreb and we will be glad to see the Ryanair tail among other companies that are already flying to our city”.
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| Inaugural Ryanair flight to Zagreb |
Ryanair will also add a new airport to its destination network in the former Yugoslavia with the introduction of flights from Tuzla. The carrier will commence two routes from the city starting this September. The General Manager of Tuzla Airport, Esed Mujačić, said, “We are pleased to welcome Ryanair to Tuzla because we strongly believe that the Tuzla Canton and the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina market deserves even more low fares, which will now be available through Ryanair’s network. We are thankful to the Tuzla Canton Government, the Cantonal Ministry for Trade, Tourism and Transportation and members of the Airport Supervisory Board for the support provided during talks with Ryanair. We are looking forward to our cooperation with Ryanair and are thrilled to become part of the airline’s long-term expansion plans. We expect a strong, long, and fruitful collaboration in the years to come to the satisfaction of passengers traveling through Tuzla Airport. Further connectivity and more low fare flights from Tuzla will create more local jobs and help the local economy recover from Covid-19”.
Ouch!
ReplyDeleteTime for ex-yu carriers to consolidate and partner up. Wait, that will never happen...
We can't say all ex-yu airlines are in the same situation. Sorry.
DeleteWhy should JU go for it? They have been fighting Wizz Air since 2009 so they found a way to coexist with them. Will OU be able to do the same?
DeleteOf course not.
DeleteEven without LCC in ZAG they struggled a lot. Now this is just cherry on a cake.
Anon 09:05h
Delete"all" ����
2 is not all
2,5
Delete:-)
Wonder which route will perform the best from ZAG.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they schedule the most frequencies to London? I think it has a high chance for success.
DeleteThey are really putting the focus on the region finally. What's interesting is that most of their new routes are year-round.
ReplyDeleteAbout time
DeleteAnd Slovenia is still the only EU country not served by Ryanair :(
ReplyDeleteIt will be served through ZAG.
DeleteAnonym 0905h
DeleteBravo Slovenia !
Bravo Slovenia with 1 or 2 flights per day!
DeleteYeah nit many flights, but the information slovenia is only country in europe without ryanair is very good. British airways was really succesful even tho easy jet already operated 3 routes to UK. So routes are succesful without lcc too.
DeleteWhy did they fail in Slovenia anyway? They used to fly to Maribor right?
DeleteThe subsidies ended in MBX and LJU is too expensive for them.
DeleteFrom MBX they could open Barcelona, Paris, London, Berlin, Memmingen...
DeleteIts too late now with Ryanair in ZAG.
DeleteSo what happened with LJU reservation?
ReplyDeleteI assume you mean with the slots they filed from London to Ljubljana? They used it for another route.
DeleteOf course they did :(
DeleteI'm surprised they don't fly to PRN yet.
ReplyDeleteOr SKP for that matter.
DeleteSkopje is Wizz territory.
DeleteThey wanted to start flights to Skopje a few years ago. They held talks, everything was agreed and then Wizz suddenly launched all the routes Ryanair was about to announce.
DeleteNo flights from BEG either.
DeleteSuch a shame things didn't work out with Skopje. Not only would passenger numbers explode but there would a mix and choice between Wizz and Ryan and I assume Wizz would also try more.
Delete@9.07 Extremely high fees, which are set by the government not the airport. Limak can't do much about it except offer subsidies like they do.
DeleteNeither TIA
DeleteWonder why they haven't started TIA. Are fees high there?
DeleteGood luck. I hope their new Zagreb base works out.
ReplyDeleteBased on early bookings it will.
DeleteWaiting for Wizz Air's response
ReplyDeleteW6 is launching around 30 new routes this summer. And they already have a much bigger presence than Ryanair in the region.
DeleteWe saw them respond. For example when Ryan introduced Tuzla, Wizz introduced Banja Luka.
Delete52 passengers booked flight to Charleroi from ZAG...
ReplyDeleteNot surprised, they said 90% of their bookings are from abroad.
DeleteWhat was the load on the incoming flight from Charleroi?
DeleteCRL-ZAG 67 pax
DeleteZAG-CRL 52 pax
Expansion? Banja Luka and Nis have been postponing for a year now. And now they have moved to the month of July. They are frivolous.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to take into account the global pandemic and travel restrictions.
DeleteAlmost all their Vienna flights have been postponed. It's not an ex-Yu thing.
DeleteI know it is a pandemic, but in Bosnia and Serbia, the situation with COVID is very good. For example. there are about 100 infected people in Bosnia every day. Serbia did a great job of vaccination. Both countries are still under EU ban.
DeleteThe problem isn't the infection rate, it's the travel ban.
DeleteNot only travel ban. All foreigners must have negative PCR test to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina. It doesn't matter if someone is full vaccinated
DeleteIt was also announced just now that from tomorrow citizens of Bosnia can get vaccinated anywhere in Serbia without an appointment. This is great news especially since they said the government lacks vaccines for revaccination.
Delete14 new routes to ZAG are simply amazing.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt's time for them to open a permanent base in Zadar.
ReplyDeleteYes, year round base would be pretty good.
DeleteYes that will make them a fortune in winter.
DeleteIs there enough demand during winter out of Zadar?
DeleteIt was written here that they said they would consider extending some routes into winter from Zadar if they perform well this summer.
DeleteLet's hope but other than some cities in Germany I don't see any other working on a year round basis.
DeleteI would love to be a fly on the wall in OU HQ today. I can imagine the mood there, like at a funeral.
ReplyDeleteTrue but what shocks me is that they have done nothing since Ryan announced their Zagreb base, other than complain in public.
DeleteThey have actually reduced prices significantly on competing routes (on the days they compete with Ryanair)
DeleteOU lost money with the fares they had, imagine what will happen now.
DeleteOU is not losing money because of the fares, or type of services they operate, or composition and age of the fleet, or because of the size and potential of the market, or strong competition. Reasons why they lose money are CRIME, CORRUPTION, NEPOTISM, INDIFFERENCE AND INCOMPETENCE
DeleteNonsense! OU is well managed now. It was as under Kucko that lasting damage was inflicted at OU, selling the Heathrow slots for starters.
Delete^ are you for real?
DeleteHahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahaha
DeleteIt would be great if they started VIE-BEG
ReplyDeleteYes and finally end the JU/OS monopoly. But wishful thinking unfortunately.
DeleteI hope they eventually open a baae in INI
ReplyDelete*base
DeleteGreat news. I do hope Ryanair expands more in the region.
ReplyDeleteAny chance for them to open Dublin-Osijek?
ReplyDeleteI think Croatia Airlines tested this route around Christmas/New Year a couple of years ago and it didn't really work out.
DeleteRyanair used to fly to Osijek. They pulled out a few years ago.
DeleteTypical FR.
DeleteHow dare they fly higher-yielding routes. How dare they.
DeleteI wish them bad luck and no success on our territory
ReplyDeleteLCCs have done wonders for the travel industry.
DeleteWhy are so many people against FR?
DeleteAccording to the SOF airport website, there will be 2 weekly FR flights ZAG-SOF in September. A blow to OU.
ReplyDeleteWe will be seeing more and more of them in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteWake up Ryan Air! they should launch to/from Pristina too same like Wizz Air, easyJet, Eurowings and others are operating to/from PRN. Ryan Air has very good chance if someone reminds Ryan Air about Pristina.
ReplyDeletethey should have used the chance when Ryanair decided against flying to Macedonia a few years ago.
DeleteThat's true they should launch routes from anywhere in western EU to PRN all seasons.
DeleteI wish Ryanair good luck and a lot of pax! I hope to see further growth from other airports in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteJust keep away from LJU please.
ReplyDeleteYeah because LJU does not need new routes and airlines :)
DeleteWhy??
DeleteVery interesting to see that Ryanair is using the new terminal in ZAG but is not using the air bridges.
ReplyDeleteThey obviously didn't want to pay for them.
DeleteBoarding/disembarkation is actually faster on remote stands, as two exists can be used, which is very rarely the case with airbridges.
DeleteIn Belgrade, Wizz Air uses the bridge and stairs. So those in the first half of the plane use the air bridge, while those in the second use the stairs.
DeleteWhich makse sense since they charge more to sit in the first 15 rows.
DeleteHow things change. Around 8 years ago Ryanair approached Zagreb. One of my friends who worked high in the management at the time told me the airport rejected them immediately because Ryanair was asking for too many concessions and they didn't want to have the situation Zadar where over 50% of traffic is coming from Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air is getting more and more some serious competition. Wizz was smart to enter this market early.
ReplyDeleteSaw the other day that WIZZ is opening a base at Rome Fiumicino FCO, so looking outside ex-yu, WIZZ is also attacking Ryan internationally....
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to see will WIZZ connect the region to Rome and also I potentially se WIZZ in Mostar OMO from Rome having in mind Medjugorje and.....Any thoughts on that someone???
Bad news, keep Ryanair out. They are doing a lot of long term damage to the aviation industry!
ReplyDeleteYes by giving thousands of people the opportunity to fly and increasing tourism numbers in places most people have never heard of.
DeleteI'm not a Ryanair fan but I agree that small airports for whose name most people have never heard of - example - Nis, Osijek, Maribor - should pay them to fly there. If you want to get tourists you will have to give money to Ryanair to put it on the map.
DeleteLCC is cancer of airline industry. That was feed by communities they suppose to serve.
ReplyDeleteNow they are under threat and will destroy parts of the markets in a bid to survive.
I'm struggling to find any sense in what you're saying. Consumers have benefitted from LCC arrival in 95% of cases in Europe.
DeleteOvo je za TZL dobra vjest,ali destinacije su mogle biti bolje...
ReplyDelete