Low cost carrier Ryanair will seemingly suspend three destinations out of its Zagreb base for the upcoming 2022/23 winter season. The airline has discontinued ticket sales past October 29 on services to Bratislava, Thessaloniki and Malmo. This is despite the carrier only recently announcing in a press release it would maintain 25 routes out of the Croatian capital. Flights from Zagreb to Bratislava were launched at the start of the 2022 summer season in late March, to Thessaloniki last December, while Malmo has been a fixture of its schedule since last September. As noted by the "Croatia Aviation" portal, services to Greece's second largest city are currently maintained twice per week, while Bratislava and Malmo run twice per week,
The budget carrier has not provided a reason for the cancellations. Earlier this week, Ryanair modified its operating schedule in Zagreb for the upcoming winter, which will see it utilise its three aircraft stationed in the city only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. The airline will operate flights from the Croatian capital on the remaining days of the week with out-of-base aircraft, although further changes to the schedule are highly likely. It is unclear whether Bratislava, Thessaloniki and Malmo will be restored during the 2023 summer season, which begins in late March of next year. So far, no flights have been scheduled.
Unlike the summer, Ryanair will not operate flights to either Brindisi or Corfu as the two routes are maintained on a seasonal basis. At this point, the latest amendments to Ryanair’s Zagreb network leave the airline with 22 operational routes over the winter. The carrier has so far scheduled several new cities from the former Yugoslavia from late October. These include operations from Tuzla to Vienna, Memmingen and Stockholm, as well as from Banja Luka to Berlin and from Podgorica to Manchester.
Looks like this is only the beginning, especially with those W rotations during the week
ReplyDeleteIt's been just a year since they launched this base. Shame.
ReplyDeleteZAG needs to establish a national carrier and just let OU go bankrupt, or completely, and I mean completely transform OU to be on JU’s level, or even better, considering the Croatian market has a sh**load of more potential than the Serbian market…
DeleteZagreb and Croatia as whole are actually very small outgoing market. People don't have habits to travel abroad and that is a fact. To have year around operations you need a balance in domestic and touristic demand and it doesn't exist in Croatia.
DeleteCroatia knows this and they know they will survive on subsidies for a long time.
Could they survive on tourists? They need to promote themselves during the summer winter.
DeleteThe main thing they have to do is cut down costs. I'm talking cutting staff, get more efficient planes, buying in bulk. This can all be achieved with the right investment. After the initial investment they would have to position themselves as a regional player. How? After cutting down costs, they could offer lower prices on the market and just marginally profit. I also believe they should pursue the hub and spoke model with Zagreb. Connect all major cities to Zagreb and then send 10 daily flights to each DBV and SPU. 5 daily to PUY and ZAD. Preferably with an A321 and for the majority of the European routes they should try using the A320family / E195s for the lower demand routes. This is also the prime time as many of the major European hubs are overcrowded and new hubs need to position themselves. Im not saying that ZAG should become the new Munich or Frankfurt, but Warsaw or Copenhagen shouldnt be a far stretch . All the things that I previously mentioned apply for AirSerbia aswell and I would like to see one of the two airlines capitalize on the current situation.
DeleteAnon 10.30
DeleteActually, Croatian market has more seasonal potential, that is from the second half of May to the first half of September.This is based on inbound demand, that is when tourists start coming to the beach. Serbian market on the other hand has year-round demand, after all, INI has more passengers in winter than DBV or SPU.
Running a successful airline under these circumstances is very difficult especially since ZAG isn't a big market that generates a lot of demand. That is why Aegean manages to survive. Athens has crazy demand outside the summer months so A3 can redeploy capacity.
Just because Serbs managed to turn JU around doesn't mean it can be automatically done for OU. There is a reason why some airlines failed (MA, CY, JP...) and why some others are struggling to survive (OK, OU, RO...).
Will people shut up with "Croats dont travel abroad"?
DeleteIt's quite true
DeleteIn winter there is not much to get here, but at least more than in winter for Split / Zadar / Dubrovnik / Pula. This is also the reason why there are few easyJet, wizz, volotea or vueling to be seen in ZAG. And even eurowings has reduced. An Eu/Nato capital airport with no direct connection to Berlin, in summer!? Either no potential or the whole airlines are blind and the forum participants here are much smarter
DeleteMore to come unfortunately
ReplyDeleteGood. They wanted it, they got it.
DeleteOU said that Ryanair wouldn't last long in Zagreb!
ReplyDeleteWell if anyone knows the market in ZAG then it's OU, so far they were right on almost everything.
Delete@09:08 Why did they say that?
DeleteAnd that would be great for them. Doing nothing as usual and don't be ashamed because somebody is actually trying to do something.
DeleteWell, truth be told, OU literally did nothing and FR is already cutting flights. In their case BTS and MMX are victories as they directly attacked them and failed.
DeleteOU isn't such an easy prey as some make them to be.
OU is a waste of rations and has been for years. Stop flogging a dead horse and look outward instead of inward.
DeleteInteresting how MMX ‘failed’, but everytime I fly on that route (at least once per month) it’s always full. It’s a huge loss for everyone around CPH and Malmo. OU has a direct flight from Cph to Zag at the worst time possible for people that are working. I hope the route to MMX will come back again.
DeleteSKG suspension is great news for JU though. They offer the fastest way between ZAG and Greece.
ReplyDeleteSKG I understand, this is a very seasonal destination. I actually had my doubts about SOF and TGD.
ReplyDeleteMMX is a purely gasto airport and a cheaper replacement for CPH but the surprise is BTS because it is also quite close to VIE and though being quite small still is connected to many Balkan capitals year-round.
It is probably much faster to just take a car / bus ride to Vienna directly from Zagreb. Also don't forget that for the base price you can only take a backpack onboard.
DeleteSo much for the weekend base.
ReplyDeleteVery disappointing. And they were announcing 10 plans in Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteHaha, right ... But that will never happen as there is no demand in Zagreb. If they stay and if Croatia disappear they may come to 5 used on max 20 destinations and that's it.
DeleteThat's what you get when you get into bed with Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Get into bed with FR and expect uncertainty.
DeleteWell since Ryanair is a who**
DeleteWhat the hell iz going on?
ReplyDeleteIt is simply what happens when cockily CEO is confronted with reality. 10 EUR tickets do not give revenue.
DeleteWell on some routes, they do
DeleteWhich one?
DeleteI do not remember which sight it was, but O'Leary stated that farescwill be going up significantly. He stated that the there won't be 10 Euro flights.
Delete10 EUR ticket were never profitable. It is not a rocket science.
DeleteNow is the time for OU to attack Ryanair
ReplyDeleteDo you honestly think they will do anything? The fact is that Ryan Air can do as it pleases because it has no competition. They chased OU out of a number of routes from ZAG.
DeleteRyanair chased themselves out, ou didn't have to do anything.
DeleteMaybe they could chase it from LJU also. LJU-BCN, LJU-MAD, LJU-LIS, LJU-MAN, LJU-DUB would be a good start.
DeleteWell, if OU was an airline things would be different.
DeleteUnless they are doing another LCC trick where they cancel the flights so people that bought tickets for 10 euros get compensation. And then they put tickets on sale again for 200 euros.
ReplyDeleteHow does that even help them?
DeleteSo they can charge more and make more money.
DeleteDoesn't the subsidy agreement prevent them from suspending routes? Why does Zagreb Airport let them?
ReplyDeleteThis part bothers me also...
DeleteWell if they sue them they go completely so Zagreb airport is in loss-loss situation.
DeleteAnd imagine if it was the other way around and ZAG somehow broke the terms of the agreement? FR would pull out and sue them straight away
DeleteCan ZAG sue?
DeleteWell we don't know what the agreement says and I'm sure Ryanair made sure it is allowed to suspend routes.
DeletePerhaps there was a reason OU wasn't flying these routes, or simply FR does not have a suitable aircraft for these routes.
ReplyDeleteFlying routes with generally low demand, with high density 737s and €10 fares is not suitable even for Ryanair…
DeleteAs I have said many times before Croatians do not travel by plane much and once a tourist has done ZAG they do not return. Very slim pickings to be had in Croatia. The coast only comes to life for a few months a year before workers in tourist offering take October to June off to rest.
ReplyDeleteCroats do travel a lot with plane.
Delete3.5 million passengers in 2019 is not a lot compared to comparable cities. Things are even worse in Ljubljana or Sarajevo
DeleteExactly. FR can't make much money at ZAG, so are having to consolidate the base.
Delete*3.5 million without any LCC airlines.
DeleteThere are LCC airlines like Eurowings and Vueling.
DeleteFR tried flying to ZAD from end of March, but sad truth is despite the weather being good the tourist offering is poor. Nothing opens properly until June, it is really woeful. Wouldn't be surprised if ZAD base gets downgraded too.
DeleteThere ZAD base is smashing it, so I really doubt they’d downgrade it.
DeleteAs a German Diaspora pax, “I’m on haven” whit FR. I fly 2 times per Month. I can’t understand that OU lost such big market… Second why Serbian and Bosnian Diaspora Survivor whit FR and Wizz but Croatian can’t ?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Croatian diaspora is richer than the Serbian or Bosnian one so they can fly on OU or to transfer through a LH hub. Even in OSI diaspora doesn't mind flying via ZAG or on OU to MUC. Wizz Air and Ryanair really failed there.
DeleteThat would make sense if OU's average cabin load factor was not 50%.
DeleteCroatian diaspora richer? That's a good one. What, they clean for richer people or...?
DeleteFR are an airline which is all about making money. If something doesn't work they cancel it. They are not going to keep flying and losing money. Simple as that.
ReplyDeleteIts not only them , I mean who's gonna fly to Paphos in winter from ZAG??
ReplyDeleteI believe Paphos is still on sale.
DeleteThey will remove PFO soon..
DeleteYou want RYR, this is what you get. They do whatever they want. There’s no point having “scheduled” flights when those can be cancelled on a whim.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I wish ZAG all the best and hope it has millions and millions of passengers but it's not the first time an LCC packed up and left. Remember Wizz Air, remember Easy jet.
ReplyDeleteLCCs only fly to airports where they have lots of pax and can make money. A 4 day a week base is nothing to be proud of.
DeleteCroatia has a very low population of just four million people .
ReplyDeleteAlso it doesnt make sense to travel a lot when people already live in such an extremely beautiful country .
Thus outbound is negligible in comparison to neighbouring countries .
Ryanair is just wasting time and money .
Greece is also a relatively small country, extremely beautiful too but people travel and Ryanair has 5 hubs with the biggest ones being ATH and SKG. Croatia can be like that too.
DeleteCroatia needs to invest in dubrovnik and other coastal airports, zagreb is at its peak and there really isn't any other reason to go there.
ReplyDeleteWizzair cutting left and right, cancelling 6 routes out of SJJ over winter, Ryanair cancelling all over Europe over winter, 7 routes out of BUD only, flag carriers reducing winter operations on entire Northern hemisphere, but it's normal situation in the winter timetable Worldwide, except in ZAG where 3 cancelled routes with 6 weekly departures is major proof Croatians don't travel by plane at all. Oh yes, there is no flight to Berlin as well... LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteHowever it seems they are doing well in Abu Dhabi and also they will base a 7th aircraft in Sofia this winter. They seem to struggle in Gatwick as easyJet became agressive.
DeleteNot to mention inflation, the looming recession, fuel shortages all over Europe this winter once we completely cut the oil trade with Russia at year's end. So, we're literally in the post/covid and pre-global recession time window.
DeleteAdditionally, over here in Scandinavia, but Germany also, there's a literal shaming campaign for flying short distance.
But yeah...cutting Bratislava, which is across the river from Vienna and 2.5h drive from Zagreb, the alternative gasto route for Copenhagen, serving a very small Croat community here and the exclusively tourist, seasonal route to Thessaloniki, is a sign of doom.
There will be more cuts to small, summer locations and again we'll be reading this same nonsense.
Seriously? I've traveled twice to Zagreb last year in November and Feb... and the flight was full.
ReplyDelete