Croatia Airlines has said it is satisfied with its performance over the preceding peak summer months as it prepares for the upcoming winter season which begins on October 31. The airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, Slaven Žabo, noted that together with the support of the state, the national carrier has navigated its way out of the first phase of the pandemic and is now preparing for its post-Covid strategy, which will primarily focus on development. “During this summer season we saw some recovery and we were pleased to have been able to increase our frequencies. Between June and September, we linked Croatia with eighteen international destinations, operated over 8.000 flights and carried almost 400.000 passengers”, Mr Žabo said.
Outlook for the coming winter season remains awash with uncertainty for European carriers. Continuing travel restrictions and the Delta variant of the coronavirus are expected to discourage travellers this winter. November is considered one of the slowest months for the aviation industry even at the best of times. Croatia Airlines plans to run 1.340 scheduled flights next month (return service included). It has put 148.840 seats up for sale on scheduled operations this November. It will primarily utilise its Dash 8 fleet, which will be deployed on 52.2% of all flights, followed by the Airbus A319s on 39.1% and the A320s on 8.7% of all scheduled services. The airline will maintain flights to fourteen destinations from Zagreb, of which ten are international, as well four destinations from Split, of which three are international. Furthermore, it will reduce a two weekly service between Osijek and Munich, which is scheduled to operate from mid-November.
Germany will remain Croatia Airlines’ largest foreign market, followed by Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. The table below displays the airline’s planned scheduled destinations and frequencies for the month of November, which is correct at the time of publication. Further changes may occur in the weeks ahead. Destinations with daily or more flights are marked in blue.
Planned Croatia Airlines November network departing Zagreb
Planned Croatia Airlines November network departing Split
I find it interesting that they will operate more fights from Split to Munich than from Zagreb to Munich.
ReplyDeletewell they fly where ths demand sits, quite logic.
DeletePoint is that Zagreb is three times bigger than Split. Not to mention it is the capital city.
DeleteSurprised at Vienna being only 3 weekly.
ReplyDeleteI am not, VIE-ZAG has been underperforming for months now. OS has been reducing it since August.
DeleteAs far as I can remember last winter both suspended the route at some point.
DeleteIt's a bit odd isn't it? Considering the size of Croatian diaspora. I assume most drive to ZAG.
DeleteBuying a plane ticket that costs well over 100EUR instead of 3+ hours drive for a fraction of a price? Not odd at all.
DeleteAnd you can bring unlimited luggage...
DeleteHow long is the drive from VIE to ZAG?
DeleteVIENNA is 99% transfer. Winter is coming and the situation is growing worse, so quite logic.
DeleteThe drive from Zagreb to Vienna is 4,5 hours on the best of days, definitely not 3. Besides, with the cost of petrol and SLO/AUT vignettes each way, flying may very well cost the same as driving.
DeleteThe cheapest ticket with either OU or OS is minimum 160EUR, on most days well over 200EUR. Taking in consideration you need to be at the airport around 90 mins before the flight and probably around an hour to get from the airport to the city, time wise, it falls within the same time window. So, I still don't see how is flying for that airfare same as driving or taking a bus.
DeleteSo Ryanair has more than double the number of destinations from Zagreb this winter.
ReplyDeleteWonder if they are seeing an impact on the routes they are (indirectly) competing against FR.
DeleteThey should have gone harder against Ryanair. They have basically given up without putting up a fight.
DeleteI really don't see who would choose to fly to Rome on a prop via Split instead of nonstop on a B737.
Delete+1 last anon
Deletethose who can't fit into FR's 3 flights per week schedule + Split people
DeleteThis is quite low number of routes but good to see no major route cancellations.
ReplyDeleteAs expected, LH group hubs most frequent.
ReplyDeleteThey are in summer too.
DeleteWinter is going to be tough
ReplyDeleteLast winter they cancelled many routes like Vienna, Skopje and Sarajevo while Paris was operating once per week. Hopefully it won't come to that again.
DeleteIt won't come to that this winter. Last winter was really exception for all airlines.
DeleteSo many flights to Frankfurt, so few to other places.
ReplyDeleteYou can fly to many other places via FRA. you can fly from Zagreb to Split via FRA. My sis flew BEG SOF via FRA only because her company required so as they have some insane deal with DLH 🤣
DeleteTrue but I would assume the point of a national airline would be to provide nonstop flights to as many places possible.
DeleteLet's see how things turn out. I wish them good luck.
ReplyDeleteJust recently they were talking about how they will launch new markets and basically nothing. They won't have a single new route from Zagreb for 2 years.
ReplyDeleteThere will likely be new routes next summer.
DeleteThey should first restore all the pre-Covid routes they cut which were all launched in last 4 years.
Delete10 international routes for an airline with 13 planes...
ReplyDeleteIf you take out the PSO domestic routes, they wouldn't need more than 6 for this schedule.
DeleteAnd a few hundred staff. Not almost a 1000.
DeleteHow many planes does Croatia Airlines use during the winter?
DeleteThey will be using all of them this winter.
DeleteThey woll use all because many go on scheduled maintenance.
DeleteI don't think they will use all. They will park some A319s for sure.
DeleteOU needs to launch new routes if it wants to compete against Ryanair, especially in the region.
ReplyDeleteLaunching new routes in winter during corona is not very wise.
DeleteEurope ends at Skopje for OU. Athens, Istanbul, Moscow, Prague? Their destination list is tragic.
ReplyDeleteThose Dashes are really valuable during this winter.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteSo compared to normal years, no flights to Mostar, Barcelona and Lisbon. So that is pretty good considering the situation. Almost all routes have been kept.
ReplyDeleteThey also used to fly Dubrovnik-Frankfurt before corona.
DeleteIt’s interesting that Lisbon just doesn’t seem to be able to work in winter. I remember TAP used to fly to ZAG in winter via Bologna but eventually they cancelled it too.
DeleteOU ended Lisbon and route has been taken over by TAP which will only maintain it during summer.
Delete@9.38 it speaks about their winter network pre-Covid which was for from impressive.
DeleteThey should really take some more risk and extend some of their seasonal flights from Zagreb to year round.
ReplyDeleteRisk is the last thing they can afford at the moment.
DeleteDoes OU have a plane based in SPU?
ReplyDeleteno
DeleteSeems like they really got value out of the BCG deal...
ReplyDelete😃
DeleteThey have quite a few high frequency routes.
ReplyDeleteDomestic routes and Frankfurt you mean?
DeleteWell it is something.
DeleteSome years ago they had a very good network from DBV with numerous European destinations. Instead of using the opportunity to benefit from Dubrovnik Airline bankruptcy they just let other airlines take over and withdrew
ReplyDeleteIt's just one of many opportunities they did not use. The most recent one being Adria bankruptcy.
DeleteIt is now cheaper to fly ZAG-TGD with Ryanair than ZAG-DBV with Croatia Airlines.
Deletewow
DeleteDisappointing
ReplyDeleteOf course not. Their network looks impressive LOL!
DeleteGood to see Dublin extended. Last winter they didn't operate it.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Pre-covid they operated it until January. I wonder if they will keep it all winter.
DeleteAnd they compete directly against FR on the route.
DeleteWell are they scheduled for all winter?
DeleteNo. Only until 30th of January.
DeleteSo same as previous years before covid. Pity. If they want to remain relevant against Ryanair on this route they need to operate it throughout the whole winter season.
DeleteNice that Split-Munich is back to daily in winter.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteGood that Croatia Airlines has a world wide known consultant - BCG - to steer the company through hard times like that. I wonder what the carrier would do without BCG's expertise this winter.
ReplyDeleteHopefully their impact will be seen next summer.
DeleteI wouldn't hold my breath.
DeleteNo surprise. Didn't expect more from them anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that London route has been really affected. The other day I noticed this with Air Serbia too. Very few frequencies from both airlines.
ReplyDeleteEntry rules are way too complicated. Vaccination certificates from most non-EU countries are not accepted and there are no transfers to US.
DeleteAnd I koow Croatia is in the EU but many of their London passengers were transfers from Skopje.
DeleteMost point to point passengers now travel with Ryanair between Zagreb and London.
DeleteMakes sense.
Delete@12.27 don't forget that BA is also suspending ZAG.
Delete3 daily flights to FRA! How many does LH have on this route?
ReplyDelete11 weekly.
DeleteSo in total 32 weekly flights.
DeleteHow about Munich? Will Lufthansa reaume it?
DeleteNot before summer 2022.
DeleteThey seem to be letting OU operate more flights to FRA and MUC.
DeleteWasn't Munich supposed to go double daily from next month?
ReplyDeleteIt was supposed to but their revised it. I think it is now planned to go double daily in January but I think that will be changed too.
DeleteFor the time being for January is double daily. I have made a reservation through LH website for a trip to Zagreb via Munich from Athens, and it's double daily. (Athens to Munich Lufthansa, Munich to Zagreb Croatia airlines in the morning. Return in the afternoon Zagreb to Munich Croatia airlines, Munich to Athens Lufthansa. Ticket price :226 euros.)
DeleteThanks. That's a pretty good price. Pity there are still no year round ATH-ZAG flights
DeleteYou better check your reservation again, LH cleaned up the Jan-Mar schedule a few days ago, many frequencies have been axed.
DeleteDear @VLAD I haven't receive any E-mail from Lufthansa for a change of the flights. They are still on. Departure from Athens on 24th of January 06:10 in the morning arrive in Zagreb at 11:40 am. Departure from Zagreb on 28th of January at 18:40, arrive in Athens at 00:30 after midnight local time.
DeleteI hope in the years to come they put greater focus on winter which should be coordinated with tourist board which should do more to promote Croatia as a year round destination.
ReplyDeleteZagreb tourist board is working on promoting Zagreb as year round destination with advent and other events. But they chose Ryanair as their airline partner.
Delete@17.40
DeleteMartina Bienenfeld, head of Zagreb Tourist Board, used to work in OU, is "in love with" OU, and tried possible and impossible for OU to become their partner. And only OU inertness and incompetence are the reasons why ZG TB had to consider other options, including not first choice LCC one. So please don't blame ZG TB for something they are not guilty about, all guilt is on OU
I don't blame TB at all. They did what is best for the city in the end.
DeleteBtw, do you know what position she had at OU?
Yes, I know 😃
DeleteCare to share? :)
DeleteShe was a flight attendant.
Delete