Ryanair has said it is “quite prepared” to launch domestic flights within Croatia, noting it could do so without subsidies. All domestic routes within Croatia are currently subsided through the Public Service Obligation (PSO) scheme, which make European funds available for unprofitable domestic routes which are deemed vital for the economic development of the region they serve. The existing four-year PSO contracts in Croatia, which expired on March 28, 2020, are currently held by Croatia Airlines and Trade Air, which won a European tender to maintain ten routes inside the country. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Croatian government has not begun tender procedures for a new four-year contract and has simply extended the existing deal currently in place, however, it is expected to issue an open call later in 2021.
Commenting on the matter, Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said, “At the moment, all the domestic routes are subsidised. Seems bizarre that you must pay an airline to fly up and down Croatia when Dubrovnik is such a nice place to go to. We would have no difficulty flying internally with zero subsidies. We have just done that in Ireland, where there was one of these Public Service Obligation routes, which is just a way of channelling money to airlines. Why should the taxpayer pay for that on 300 euros fares to Dubrovnik in the height of summer when commercial airlines can do that for no subsidies? We would be quite prepared to do those routes”.
The current PSO contracts in Croatia cover the national carrier's routes from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Pula and BraÄ, as well as Trade Air's services from Osijek to Dubrovnik, Split, Pula, Zagreb and Rijeka. Croatia Airlines annually receives 10.3 million euros in compensation for the domestic services. The largest amount goes towards maintaining flights between Zagreb - Pula - Zadar, where the airline is remunerated some 177 euros per passenger carried. The value of Trade Air's PSO contracts amount to 2.6 million euros per year. The largest share of the subsidies goes towards the upkeep of the Osijek - Zagreb service, where the airline is compensated approximately 599 euros per passenger. Other than Croatia Airlines and Trade Air, no other carrier has ever applied to operate PSO routes within the country. All of them are restricted to a single operating carrier.
They obviously targeted Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteAn by the way PSO for DBV is really not needed especially in the summer. Artificial way of supporting loss making airline.
I agree it is not needed. Most of OU's passengers to DBV and SPU in summer are international transfers via Zagreb anyway.
DeleteI think ryanaur wants to kill croatia and take over their market. :(
DeleteCroattian national pride occupied by Irish, OU-ch!!!
DeleteDon't be silly. And malicious. And, Croatian is spelled with a single t.
DeleteCroatia Airlines sort of represent Croatian national identity, interestingly non of the nationalist are defending it. Sounds like: Irish and Hungarians market is yours!
DeleteIt seams revenge for all Croats in Ireland ð€£
Delete850000 seats with most destinations indirectly and some directly competing with Croatia Airlines represents biggest blow ever to Croatia Airlines. With cherry on top domestic PSO market and nobody even care. Long live O'Leary!
DeleteIf only Serbia could be next!
DeleteI doubt Croatian government would select a foreign airline and give them money to fly domestic routes. No way.
ReplyDeleteRyanair says it can do it without the money.
DeleteWell, it's EU, they must provide the contract based on the best offer and not nationality.
DeleteThey are not foreign, they are EU airline that wants to fly between two points in EU member state so that makes them perfectly domestic if that term has any sense and meaning in EU.
Delete@Anon 09:16: Exactly. People often forget that there is a single aviation market in the EU.
DeleteAnon 9:16 absolutely right, soon will be more croats in Ireland than in Croatia, so this wil be true domestic line :-)
DeleteIt really would be a waste of resources if an airline is willing to do it for free.
ReplyDeleteThe question is how reliable that would be. PSO is there to make sure there is connectivity regardless of profitability. If FR is not profitable say to ZAD, they simply pull out and that is not what the PSO idea stands for as the word obligation in PSO suggests.
DeleteThere's something called seasonal destination, ever heard of that
DeleteThey are flying domestic routes in Bulgaria. I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteThey fly domestic routes in Italy, Spain, Poland, UK, Portugal, not only Bulgaria, and I can't wait to see them flying ZAG-DBV.
DeleteSOF-VAR is the equivalent of ZAG-SPU. It's quite a busy route even in winter.
DeleteThey fly Timisoara-Bucharest domestic in Romania.
DeleteLCCs in Europe fly on many domestic routes so i dont see why they wouldnt fly on Croatian ones. There is definitly a market for multiple airlines on ZAG-SPU/DBV routes same as in Romania where on some routes there are even 3 carriers.
DeleteThe fact that they know the details about PSO in Croatia shows to me that they are very much interested in flying domestic routes.
ReplyDeleteIf this happens it would be the final nail in the coffin for OU.
ReplyDeleteWould not be good for Trade Air either.
DeleteNo matter what the government tries to do, I still don't know how OU will survive this winter.
DeleteFinal nail in OU coffin is not FR or anyone else, it is OU itself, and the way it has been functioning for 30 years. This comes just as a result.
DeleteIt will survive like it does every year.
DeleteEven bigger fish didn't survive, so we'll see about that.
DeleteThey will operate these without subventions until OU goes bankrupt. When that happens these flights will immediately become loss making.
DeleteHahahahahaha. Uhljebi na aparatima!
Deletefrishki is back! Where you been?
DeleteLurking from far away.
DeleteFrom a PSO city!
DeleteWhen Croatia needed airplanes in COVID crisis OU was there, now they are turning them back.
DeleteI can't understand that Zagreb-Dubrovnik and Zagreb-Split can't be profitable.
ReplyDeleteZagreb-Split and Zagreb-Dubrovnik shouldn't be under PSO.
DeleteThese routes can be profitabile but not year round in current extent. There are about 4-5 daily flights on these routes so i doubt they are profitabile.
DeleteThis would be fantastic for the public and tourism! Imagine 20 euro fares ZAG-DBV-ZAG.
ReplyDeleteI think Ryanair could only make it work on Zagreb-Dubrovnik and Zagreb-Split routes. The others no chance with the B737 or A320. Most other flights even on Dash 8s are half empty. That's why they are PSO.
ReplyDeleteWhat are generally the loads on these domestic Croatian flights?
DeletePrije je karta zagreb brac bila vec od 200 kuna...
DeleteDanas je ista iznad 400 kn a vecina sjedala se prodaje po cijeni iznad 500 kn.,dok je zadnjih 10 ak sjedala po cijeni izmedu 800 i 1000 kn....
Nek se vrate cijene na 200 kn smjer pa ce i popunjenost biti veca....
Sa tim cijenama rayanair bi napunio avione prema bilo kojoj destinaciji iza zagreba prema splitu ,dubrovniku,zadru,bracu,puli...
OU is being attacked on all front by FR.
ReplyDeleteThey only have themselves to blame.
DeleteI don't think LCCs should exist at all, They are just rip offs of national carriers with hidden fees for everything I don't understand how people are willing to fall into their trap
DeleteThis would be amazing
ReplyDeleteThese PSO contracts are pure exaggeration and money wasting.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteIts Croatian money for the strategic Croatian flagship airline.
DeleteIt's actually EU money.
DeletePSO in Croatia is used exactly for the purpose it is intended for.
DeletePropping up failing national airlines is not the intention of PSO.
DeleteThe Govt should have renewed the PSO tender when they had the chance. Now FR is out for blood.
@9.31 to fund OU?
Delete@An.09.29
DeleteYour "strategic Croatian flagship airline" is seen as described only by the people whose World begins and ends in Graz. In reality it's tiny unsignificant unimportant regional feeder Mutti servant carrier full of incapability, corruption and nepotism
Ryanair passing up the opportunity to get money to fly somewhere? Good joke.
ReplyDelete599 eur per passenger for OSI-ZAG? Wow! You can fly to Japan for that price!
ReplyDeleteWhen Finnair started Ljubljana and Nagoya, I flew between the two for 496 euro return on double promo tariff
DeleteBreak even:; ne passanger on board...
DeleteOK, maybe two.
Let410 can easily fly with 1200 eur for one hour. With that money you can engage even Cessna 150 to fly one passanger :-)
Money laundry big time, EC should investigate
Delete" Public Service Obligation routes, which is just a way of channelling money to airlines."
ReplyDeleteWell said.
What stops Ryanair now to start domestic routes. Nothing. To me this seems like a call for subventions, but cheaper than those that gets Croatia
ReplyDeletePSO stops them. Under the terms of a PSO an airline can't start flying a route if it is being financed through PSO.
DeleteIn case PSO requires an airline to provide at least three daily connections between ZAG-DBV and ZAG-SPU year-round, Ryanair would be out of game very quickly. It can operate both routes during summer months without any support certainly but winter season is a different issue and it'll be pretty difficult for Ryanair to find point to point flying passengers during these months. Therefore Croatian government can still adjust requirements in such a way to transfer money to Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure FR has a lower cost base than OU, hence they would have an easier time flying empty aircraft than OU.
DeleteI think they would have more passengers on ZAG-DBV and ZAG-SPU in winter than they will have on ZAG-TGD in winter.
DeleteWhat they can do is offer a lower price than what OU gets now. Even if OU is to get the PSO it would still be less than what FR offered.
DeleteUnder the EU rules for PSO you can finance only the BASIC connectivity. 3x/is far from basic. Plus, you cant subsidize routes under the pretext of PSO, if there is a market interest - Ryanair would simply complain to EC.
DeleteWrong. There are many routes in Europe where you have and more the 3 daily flights with PSO and its legal. Like from Cagliari to Rome and Milan or routes from Corsica. In Corsica there are even multiple airlines flying domestic routes still the only one who gets PSO is Air Corsica. So Ryan cannot complain about this.
DeletePSO can be legally used on the routes where there is no market as described in Regulation 1008/2008 "standards of continuity, regularity, pricing or minimum capacity to ensure access to isolated or developing regions when a Member State finds that objectives of regional development policy will not be met adequately if only left to a free play of market forces as the market itself will not deliver an acceptable level of air services to these regions". You can have 3 daily PSO flights as long as the yearly traffic does not exceed 100.000 pac, there is no market and this connectivity ensure "acceptable level of sir service".
DeleteAnd for more details check EC guideliness
Deletehttps://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52017XC0617%2801%29
Fingers crossed
ReplyDeleteI am sure that for a domestic route it is a logic base requirement that only airlines with Croatian speaking cabin crew is eligible. Hence the assumption only Croatian airlines may apply.
ReplyDeleteRyanair has Croatian speaking crew...
DeleteYes, some of the crew in Zagreb is Croatian and I assume as they expand their base, more and more will be.
DeleteThe only issue is that Ryanair would have to fill these aircraft several times per day, and not just 2 times per week which is the frequency on most of their flights from ZAG.
ReplyDeleteDoubt the government will let this happen.
ReplyDeleteThere is not much they can do if an airlines wants to start these flights.
DeleteThey should not allow foreign airlines to fly these routes.
ReplyDelete^ Why exactly?
DeleteForeign airline should not exploit a local domestic market which is not large and can't sustain more than one airline on each route.
DeleteSo offering competition and cheaper tickets is now called exploitation? lol
DeleteDo you not understand how the free market works?
DeleteIt's not a foreign airline, it's an EU airline. There's nothing stopping OU from launching routes within Ireland.
DeleteReally hope this happens.
ReplyDeleteThis could save the Croatian government some money.
ReplyDeleteGovernment is not going to give up on PSO on DBV or SPU routes, or any for that matter. What happens if Ryanair launches the flights and decides to end them later. Who is going to connect the largest cities in Croatia?
DeleteExactly, the proboem at every airport wuth ryanair.!
DeleteIf Ryanair is willing to fly ZAG-DBV and ZAG-SPU, I would let them and not offer these two as PSO routes. Direct more funds to some other domestic route which would be awarded to Croatia Airlines/Trade Air and everyone will be happy.
ReplyDeleteAnd you think Croatia Airlines would be happy to stop flying between the two largest cities in Croatia and impact the rest of its network as it would no longer offer transfer options to SPU and DBV? Not a chance.
DeleteWhy would they stop flying? They can compete vs. FR on real market terms.
DeleteDoesn't matter. Croatia Airlines is in deep sleep. It has no intention of responding or preparing for potential Ryanair entry onto domestic flight market.
ReplyDeleteThe more pressing issue for them should be the competition on international routes where they make most of their money. But like you said, they have done nothing to become more competitive.
DeleteNatural progression.
ReplyDeleteLove it
ReplyDeleteCovid can't be an excuse as to why the government has not started tendering for PSO route. Tender has to begin 6 months before the flights start so if the current contract expired in March 2020, they should have started tendering in September 2019, months before anyone knew anything about corona.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhy have they delayed it then? Doesn't make sense.
DeleteIf Croatia was not a member of the EU it wouldn't have this problem. It could just say "no" to Ryanair flying domestic routes.
ReplyDeleteIt would also not get EU funds for tens of thousands of projects that have helped with development of the country in that case.
DeleteWe don't need those EU "donations" with strings attached. Obviously the EU funds have not help our airline from being on the brink of bankruptcy, it was the Croatian government that paid.
Deletei dont understand why the?Trade Air flight PUY to SPU and RJK to DBV is never full. done quite a few times..once we were 16 pax from RJK.
ReplyDeleteso quick and saves long drive..drive ok if 2 people but i dont have a?car when in croatia for work.
people keep telling me about poor safety record of that Czech aircraft. no idea..maybe that deters people.
even with quick stop at SPU.. from RJK we are usually in DBV within 1 hr 45..sometimes less. always on time/early arrival.
Rarely who knows that there is a flight on that route.
DeleteThe only solution for OU is to move Zagreb from equation . We need to stop this story about Zagreb as generator of croatian ecomomy cause if it is not for adriatic sea we would be silimar as moldavia , no offence . L/f for foreign airlines to Dbv and Spu are 150+ and Ou is serving coastal a/p_s mostly with Dashes. Only solution is to move hub to coast, reduce administration in Buzin , open new markets throughout Europe and allready start selling tickets for new season.Sorry for all Zag fans but just remove transfer dbv, puy, zad and spu paps from zag 2019 numbers and you will get exact number zagreb generates.
ReplyDeleteA little off topic, but today I have noticed, on Flightradar24, that many flights to and from italy have been cancelled. The majority, it seems, are Ryanair flights. One Ryanair flight is Zagreb-Rome -Zagreb. Now as a Ryanair passenger, how am I protected? Do I have to wait for the next available flight to my destination? This in turn ,would have me pay extra for hotel. I may have to miss work, because I cannot get home. Is Ryanair going to charge me extra for booking one of their flights? Many questions come to mind. As a consumer, I too have to be protected.
ReplyDeleteI can just share with you my experience. Don't expect Ryanair to protect you.
DeleteThey cancelled once my flight from Spain to Frankfurt and instead of offering me next available connection no matter with which airline they first tried to rebook me on their next flight ( 3 days later). After I rejected it they wanted to send me to Luxembourg or Berlin with other LCC's and I would have to cover costs from these places to Frankfurt. Of course that I rejected it as well.
I had no other chance but to take rent a car and to drive to Germany. At that time I made a mistake and asked for my ticket to be refunded what they did but due to that fact they rejected to pay to me rent a car costs, toll, fuel etc.
Maybe I would have got my rent a car costs back (which were 4 times higher than refund) if I did not ask for refund.
Uhljebs in full swing spitting on FR ð
DeleteNow sharing your oppinion abour fR is considered as being uhljeb in OU.
DeleteYou are really pathetic pozdrav.
DeleteI am Serbian and I have nothing to do with your airline or with your favourite uhljebs. Leave me out of your pathetic stories.
Uhljebi na aparatima ð
DeleteAnd I am from Turkmenistan :) :) :) :)
DeleteBased on your comments it is more than obvious.
DeleteI am the anonymous who wrote the original comment .I do not know how I qualify to be an Uhljeb since I live in Canada. I even had to look up the word to see what it really means. As a consumer and traveler, I fully believe it is up to the airline , to help out the consumer if a delay or cancellation. Whenever I have encountered a delay, where say I would miss a connection, the airline would always help out right at the airport. No extra charge. At times I would even be bumped up due to the inconvenience. Again no extra charge. If a flight was cancelled and I would have to take a flight the next day, the airline would go out of its way to book me a hotel, with dinner and breakfast, drive me there and drive me back to the airport the next day. No extra charge. I must add that when I had to sleep at a hotel, by the time I came to the hotel, there was a new intinerary for which flight I would take the next day. My tickets are bought early enough so I do get good prices.
DeletePozdrav this is how you lose all your credibility my good friend.
DeletePlease leave him alone. He will now spit even more on you because you critisize Ryamair. Once i tried to explain him whats Aegeans opinion on long haul and he called me uhljeb and manipulator despite even proving my points with whole interviews with A3s CEO. You simply cannot have normal conversations with him because if you dont agree with him he will call you an uhljeb, destroyer of the state, a commie(how ironic), party guy and who know what else.
DeleteWith all respect and apologies to people who are not uhljebs, it's very interesting and symptomatic that some people here conveniently criticize only FR and only today, for things and situations happening in every airline worldwide, especially in corona time. Also it is so sad some of you having prejudices and generalize negatively, like the case is here with Turkmenistan. Shameful and uncivilized. And yes, for today's topic, once again : Uhljebi na aparatima!!!!!
DeleteRyanair and other airlines cancelled flights because of an air traffic control strike in Rome.
DeleteIf you didnt see todays topic is Ryanair and people where describing their expiriences. There is nothing wront with that. Only person who has problem with this is you. I can imagine if they where critisizing OU for cancelled flights you would clap to them but now they are just uhljebs to you.
DeleteWell said pozdrav iz Graza.
DeleteSo, SOF is not seasonal. They deployed the flights until the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteOnly another site wrongly reported that it's seasonal.
DeleteStrangely, the frequencies in NOV are decreased to 1 weekly. Usually it is the beginning of the higher ski season in Bansko and Pamporovo. I hope the route performs well. It seems that it will be operated by a FR Croatian machine.
DeleteOTP should also be connected to ZAG, on my opinion. Maybe next year.
EU and Croatia should invest that money in Croatian railways rather than burning millions of € of subsidies on short flights with poor loads such as Zag-Osi. The trend in Western Europe is to replace those flights by train connections.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Especially for relatively short distances like Osijek-Zagreb, or Zagreb-Rijeka. Even Zagreb-Spilt can work.
DeleteEU and CRO Gov't are already doing that, having already invested or allocated the amount exceeding the Pelješac bridge project twofold, including the infrastructure and rolling stock!
DeleteWhy is there an assumption FR wants to apply for the PSO, it just said it might fly domestic flights, which could mean it might only fly daily from ZAG DBV and in summer increase the frequency. Therefore any conditions of the PSO are irrelevant in this case
ReplyDeleteFR will apply for the next PSO, but will offer a much better rate than OU. That is, they will do what OU does for have the fat.
DeleteOU will dismiss in 2-3 years.
ReplyDeleteThis or next year
DeleteDismiss what? Hold your horses bud! That story has been spread by guys like you for more than a decade now, and?
DeleteCan someone explain to me this "uhljeb" insider joke apparently? I checked it's got to do with the country bureaucracy, but how is it related to OU?
ReplyDeleteIt's not even a joke, the person who you usually see using it is serious. Basically people who don't agree with every thought of ''mr who shall remain nameless'' are accused of being uhljebs working for OU, desperately trying to defend the mismanaged airline.
Delete@An.01.09 and @An.21.34, several more Anonymouses today, and @Pozdrav iz Graza, is the same person, uhljeb from OU, Party bot, whose mission here is to spit at me all the time for speaking loudly of crime, corruption, nepotism and incapability in OU.
DeleteSo basically something like a corrupt elite..... but this is nothing new to our Balkan region. We all know them quite well. The octopus tangles need to be cut off as usual.
DeleteGuys,
ReplyDeleteThe world travel situation is very fluid due to pandemic/political issues.
It is absolutely useless to discuss Ryanar plans when they don't even know what is going to happen next week.
Look at demonstration in Europe this weekend, look at finnacial collapse of Lebanon, and just very coup in Tunisia today. How do you think ANY airline can plan anything in terms of flights anywhere? Nobody knows anything. If Ryanair knows something I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
What do domestic flights within Croatia have to do with coup in Tunisia and Lebanon financial collapse?
DeletePlus Ryanair doesn't fly to either Lebanon or Tunisia. For coups or financial crackdowns in Italy and Germany, I have no information
DeleteComon Guys,
DeleteWhere do you get your news?
We dont know if tourist season will last past middle of August and you guys are sure that Ryanair will have domestic flights in Croatia?!!!
Honestly, who will be the clients of these flights lets say Zagreb - Dubrovnik?
You are probably not aware of how important it is to sustain and have domestic travel for the economy. Ever heard of busy domestic routes in South Korea, Spain, Brazil, etc? Croatia has a proper capital city with its proper coast and trade, tourism, stock exchange, movements are quite important for the country's domestic economic sustainability. Give us a break of your leftist Lebanon crisis affecting Croatia.
DeleteHopefully FR achieve their goal allowing a healthy competition and enough of this old-fashioned protectionism.