LOT Polish Airlines is seeking to expand its presence in Croatia as it is becoming an important summer market for the carrier. The airline is maintaining eight routes between Poland and Croatia this summer, serving five cities in the country. LOT has 170.000 seats on sale between the two markets this season. “This summer we will fly 28 times per week between Poland and Croatia. Most Polish nationals come to Croatia by car. However, I hope that we will jointly develop solutions so that we can save our compatriots a car trip and that everyone can fly with LOT”, the carrier’s CEO, Rafał Milczarski, said. He added, “Last year, we transported over 33.000 Poles to Croatia, and we hope for a much better result this year. I also hope that Croats will visit Poland in greater numbers”.
This summer, the Polish national carrier is maintaining operations from Warsaw to Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Rijeka, from Krakow to Split, from Rzeszow to Zadar and from Zielona Gora to Rijeka. “Our performance in Croatia is the result of consistent work by our team as well as the growing popularity of Croatia in Poland and the increasing number of Poles who want to come to Croatia within two hours”, LOT’s Board Member for Commercial Affairs, Michal Fijoł, said. However, the Polish carrier also noted that the struggles faced by Croatia Airlines have enabled it to expand in the country. LOT’s main competitors on flights between the two markets are Wizz Air and Ryanair.
Zagreb Airport has seen growing air travel demand from secondary cities in Poland, some of which could be potentially served by LOT. Based on pre-pandemic 2019 data provided by OAG, Zagreb saw a notable number of indirect traffic from Poland’s second largest city of Krakow. Over 5.000 people travelled between the two that year on a single itinerary. It was followed by Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan and Katowice. LOT maintains bases in both Krakow and Katowice, which would enable the carrier to serve the Croatian capital with seventy to eighty-seater aircraft such as the Embraer E170, E175 and the Dash 8 turboprop. "Croatia is becoming more and more popular among our passengers each year and is becoming of interest for travellers outside of Warsaw as well. As we continue to increase our offer, both Zagreb and Croatia as a whole are becoming popular for short weekend breaks as well”, Mr Milczarski concluded.
LOT's E170 would be perfect for Krakow-Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteOr OU's Dash 8s.
DeleteOr lot's dash*
DeleteI agree, Krakow - Zagreb should be next route to open
DeleteLOT is getting rid of its dashes
DeleteMissed opportunity for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteEven LOT says they were helped by OU's passiveness.
DeleteOU hasn't located Eastern Europe on the map yet.
DeleteSkopje is furthest to the east they fly to.
DeleteOU has so many missed opportunities that this is minor in the grand scheme of things.
DeleteIt is too early for OU to start flying to Poland.
Delete08:22 - Are you 100% sure? I can name at least 3 destinations east to skopie.
DeleteWhich ones?
DeleteYou tell me...check their map
DeleteOther than seasonal Split-Bucharest flight there is nothing.
DeleteThere is also Athens. But also seasonal. Their TLV flights won't come back this year. Still very slim for an airline that is supposed to bring tourists to the country, not flying to several major markets which are a source of tourism like Poland, Finalnd, Norway...
DeleteWell, define the term u used "east from skopie"...
DeleteEastern Europe basically.
DeleteWhats with obsession with Eastern Europe? Its not even a problem for OU not flying a lot towards there since its not a significant market.
DeleteIf you don’t see how Eastern Europe is a relevant market for an aspiring regional carrier with a hub in Central Europe, I don’t think anyone here can help you.
DeleteIt is not relevant at all in Croatia. There are far richer markets which contribute higher precentage in tourism than Eastern Europe.
DeleteOU should first cover important markets.
They should. I agree. 30 years wasted and still waiting.
DeleteBut hey, who cares, it's important there are 8 daily to FRA
DeleteThere are no 8 daily flights to FRA.
DeleteMy deepest apology. It's 9 daily to MUC and FRA. But my message remains the same, despite your try
DeleteThe comment about Croatia Airlines was not by LOT but by a journalist in the article cited here by exyuaviation.
DeleteInteresting. I expect to see Ryanair launch some flights between Poland and Zagreb in the next year or two.
ReplyDeleteI think Ryanair's plane would be too big for these sort of routes to Zagreb. But LOT with their regional jets could work.
DeleteHow many weekly flights does LO have to ZAG this summer?
ReplyDelete13 weekly at the moment and planned throughout the summer.
DeleteWhich equipment do they use?
DeleteEmbraers.
DeleteMorning flight is on the E175 and the afternoon one on the E170. In peak season, both will be E175
DeleteI think seasonally Krakow-Zagreb could work.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people use bus to get to Krakow. Flights would be much welcomed.
DeleteLOT's expansion in Croatia over past few years has been impressive. Hope they add more flights to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteBig home market plus excellent transfer options. No surprise.
DeleteDidn't they suspend some coastal routes compared to last year or did I mix something up?
DeleteZAG was WAW only. But they did suspend flights to the coast. I don't know for other coastal airports but before pLandemic they flew to RJK from Warsaw, Zielona Gora, Szceczin and Olstyn/Mazury
DeleteI think ZAG is their top performing route in the region.
ReplyDeleteBased on what? Not saying it isn't, just wondering.
DeleteThe fact that Zagreb has by far the most amount of flights going in and out of Poland. LOT also on average uses bigger equipment on its Zagreb flights in comparison to others in the region. There is also a greater demand for Croatia from Warsaw and Poland in general comparing to the region.
DeleteThe single best performing route from a wider region is TIA, which is also pretty new as a route.
DeleteIs it? I think ZAG has more frequencies.
DeleteBigger equipment. Mostly b737. Less frequences because TIA is mainly for o&d tourists like coastal Croatia.
DeleteIf I'm not mistaken, ZAG is their best performing ex-Yu route. They fly to BEG but with less frequencies.
DeleteThey fly to all ex-Yu capitals.
Delete20:21 ZAG still has more capacity
DeletePerhaps they should give Krakow – Zagreb a go, twice per week on a seasonal basis.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of potential for the development of Poland-Croatia traffic as more and more people move from traveling with cars to planes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what transfer routes are most popular from ZAG using LOT.
ReplyDeletePre-pandemic:
Delete1. Seoul
2. Tel Aviv
3. Vilnius
4. Copenhagen
5. Riga
6. Tallinn
7. Kiev
8. Chicago
9. Tokyo
10. Krakow
Wow very interesting. Thank you
DeleteI'm surprised TLV is so high on the list.
DeleteBecause Israelis love the Balkans and travel there a lot. They feel very safe unlike other parts of Europe such as France for instance.
DeleteKrakow-Zagreb would work. Maybe next year they could have a look at some extra seasonal flight, warsaw-brac or krakow-Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand, as it is not mentioned in the article... they do fly Krakow - DBV, just started with flights, one weekly with Dash 8
DeleteOh, didn't notice that, well, Brac-Warsaw might still work
Delete120,000 seats in summer is huge. Good job LOT and Croatia.
ReplyDeleteMany Poles spend their holiday in Croatia. I wonder if Croats travel to Poland for their holiday or it is rather a niche destination?
ReplyDeleteConsidering the CEO says how he hopes more Croats will use the flights, probably not.
DeleteGood point. It's always about Croatia being the receptor but we usually don't know yet which destinations are preferred to travel excluding gasto ones. I'd reckon Greece and Turkey, no?
DeleteActually distant markets destinations are regularly sold out first. At least it was the case before the pLandemic. And it's interesting demand is bigger in winter than in summer, with about equal share of travellers from Zagreb and the coast. Also about 200-300 000 skiing winter holidays in Slovenia, BIH, Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland, but it's almost exclusively using own cars. Greece and Turkey are not that much visited because of the croatian coast itself. Of course they have some visitors as well, but Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco were more popular, and even inert OU operated charters to Marrakesh. Jordan and Israel are not insignificant as well. And related to today's topic, city breaks becoming increasingly popular, Krakow high on the list, but again, mostly ground transport used due to lack of air service
DeletePozdrav, you're saying that Krakow is now the new hit for Croats?
DeleteAs for Poles, Well you have at least 6 coastal airports and 2 of which are extremely important so it's normal for Croatia to top the chart in the entire region.
Krakow and Gdansk are my favorite cities in Poland. They are absolutely gorgeous; Gdansk with its nordic vibe and Krakow as central European. Katowice are amazing as well. Poland in general has so much potential for tourism, they've started investing long ago and just before the pandemic started to see growing returns. As the world opens up, they surely will continue to reap the benefits from tourism from all over. As for Croatia being an emitting market in that regard, that is possible, however hardly over summer. This is where OU (if they were smart about...well anything really), could jump in as LOT doesn't have enough frequencies out of the summer season.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that from July 5th 2022, LOT, Thursday evening, will fly directly from Rzeszow to Rijeka too?
ReplyDeleteEvery Tuesday ... correction
ReplyDelete