Croatia Airlines sees best Q1 in six years with €10 million loss


Croatia Airlines improved its financial performance during the first quarter of the year as passenger numbers continue to recover but are yet to reach pre-Covid levels. During the first three months of 2023, the Croatian carrier registered a net loss 9.956.000 euros, its lowest in six years. The figure is down from its 13.3-million-euro loss in 2019 and an improvement on last year’s 15.2-million-euro loss. “Positive market trends contributed to a significantly better financial result during the first quarter of 2023 when compared to the same period last year and in 2019”, the airline said in a statement. The carrier generated forty million euros in revenue, while its expenditures stood at 49.3 million euros.

During the first quarter, Croatia Airlines handled 303.347 passengers on board its aircraft, down 12% on the pre-pandemic 2019 but up 51% on last year, which was still impacted by the pandemic. The carrier welcomed 221.488 travellers on international flights, 78.581 on domestic services and 3.278 passengers on charter flights. Compared to four years ago, figures were down 13.6% and 10.9% on international and domestic services respectively, while the number of travellers on charters grew by some 2.000 passengers, or 184.8%. The average cabin load factor for the quarter stood at 61.3%, down 6.7% points on 2019 but an improvement of 9.9 points on last year. Average loads amounted to 61.7% on international services and 58.1% on domestic flights.

Croatia Airlines ran a total of 5.112 flights on thirteen international and seven domestic destinations, which was more than four years ago when it operated a total of 5.019 services. It had an average of 57 flights per day. Its fleet comprised of thirteen aircraft during the Q1 period, including six Dash 8 Q400s, five Airbus A319s and two A320s, one of which is used as a back-up. The turboprop fleet was utilised on 64.9% of all flights. During the first quarter, the Croatian carrier counted a total of 895 employees. “The beginning of 2023 has exceeded the company’s expectations as demand for air travel continues to grow”, Croatia Airlines said.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Great success...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:50

      Huge! Puno previše

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:01

      This has become a leading satirical portal.
      Your jokes are getting better and better

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Bravo Hrvatska!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Bravo for 10 million loss?

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    2. Anonymous09:08

      Do you know many airlines in the Northern Hemisphere that are profitable during the Q1???

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    3. Anonymous09:10

      @9.08 yes, many. Especially this year when profits are reaching record levels in the aviation industry.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:26

      Anon 09:10
      So which airlines in Europe were profitable during the Q1 of this year???

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:42

      Finnair, American Airlines, Sun Country are all profitable in Q1. The Lufthansa Group will post their results next week and all should be profitable. Celebrating a 10 million euro loss for an airline that has been losing money for 10 years defies logic.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:16

      I also wouldn't be singing them praises especially since they got state aid in Q1
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/02/croatia-airlines-recapitalised.html

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:23

      "Celebrating a 10 million euro loss for an airline that has been losing money for 10 years defies logic."

      It is the Balkan way.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:33

      @anon 9.08

      Even ITA and ASL are profitable in Q1...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:57

      @09:42
      Finnair operating result was 0.9 million euros, compared to a loss of 132.9 million euros in the corresponding period in 2022.
      American’s net income was 10 million USD compared to a loss of $1.6 billion in the corresponding period in 2022.
      And who is Sun Country? LOL!

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:00

      Sun Country is an airline with a fleet of over 50 aircraft and almost 100 destinations that has been in operation for 40 years. Keep loling and celebrating Croatia Airlines' loss making success in true Balkan style.

      Delete
    11. He would have written Bravo even if the loss was 100 million, because the loss is Kradeze made, which must be Bravoed, either for pragmatical reason (sandwich), or for personal reason (primitivism and blind chauvinism). And I am kindly asking @ex-yu not to erase this post. If we can read Bravo Hrvatska here every day, and this is not blog related to ex-yu countries in general, but to their aviation only, then such posts deserve adequate answers

      Delete
    12. Anonymous14:51

      Anon 09:26

      Air Serbia is profitable. ITA as well. Finnair also.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous15:50

      It can happen, yes.. https://www.trtworld.com/turkiye/turkish-airlines-posts-dollar233m-net-profit-in-first-quarter-13079840

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Passenger numbers are not bad considering how small the network is in winter but finances are still a shambles.

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  4. Anonymous09:06

    Horrible. If they were smart, croatia airlines would/could be the biggest in the region… easily.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      How yes no - easily 😂

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    2. Anonymous09:27

      Region easily? Why not Europe or even the world.

      Delete
    3. Yes, they could have been the biggest in the region, and ZAG could have been real hub and gateway to je the SE Europe, because of its best geographical position, already big and growing tourism, huge diaspora worldwide very much tied to homeland, fact that almost airlines in the region were very weak and/or went bankrupt about decade or two ago, the fact that they had benefits of multiple opensky agreements and other EU advantages, that work force is cheaper compared to N and W Europe, and so on and so forth. It is sad that they deliberately surrendered their home market to LH and gave up the idea of being a real airline what Air Serbia is doing right now, and became irrelevant servant and pathetic feeder producing only losses, with crime, corruption and incompetence dominating their operation modus. It is even worse and more sad that some people hail Bravo to it and think it's "how yes no - easily" funny

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    4. Anonymous11:19

      I don't think OU could ever do that because demand from Croatia is extremely weak in winter. There is too much seasonality.

      Delete
    5. It is OK you don't think they could do it, you have every right to think it, and I respect your opinion, but with 30 years of experience in aviation, I know there are ways to reduce seasonality, increase Northern hemisphere winter traffic and make operations possible, functional and without losses even in winter. The problem is Croatia as a country has no strategy for its economy and Croatia Airlines is absolutely not interested to get engaged in anything like that

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:10

      he's right, Zagreb had much better position than Belgrade and they wasted it. But at the same time being part of an alliance and having all the opportunities provided with being in the European union does mean that its designed for Germany to benefit the most. Just look at Sofia, they have a huge demand for travel to Bulgaria but the airline is barely existent. Ryan Air, Wizz and all the western companies take all the passengers and profits.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:19

      Well if Croatia was not a client economy to Germany , and croatia airlines. was not a feeder airline it could be at least as big as Air Serbia . This somewhat remindes me if the sad story of BiH airlines , run by sdoo and deliberately destroyed to give slots to Turkish airlines same as kradeze is destroying Croatia to feed LH and their pockets

      Delete
    8. Boris14:35

      When seasonality is mentioned because of winter weather as a reason for not having a numbers it just shows that from the start idea is destined for failure because of the speaker intentions.
      If intentions are aimed for success then chances are very high to succeed.
      People set intentions for failure from the start and then they wonder why it failed.
      They can say “in desert you can not make money because of scorching hot weather”. Well then they would never made Vegas that successful money-wise LOL
      Maybe personally i would not like that kind of development but that is beside the point.
      Point is to make intention set for success and not for failure.

      Delete
    9. QR 92114:44

      They could hardly be as big as Air Serbia.

      FYI - not only Croatia is struggling in ZAG, but also Ryanair as many other airlines constantly diminishing capacity/frequencies. From their arrival and launch of DOZENS of new routes, numbers barely changed. Meaning they simply took over passengers from other airlines.

      When was the last time an airline announced service to Zagreb? You get my point.

      Zagreb is almost three times smaller city with significantly less O&D and its position would make it impossible to services whole of Balkans and Southeast Europe, like Air Serbia does. Only BUD has similar strategic position and well...SJJ.

      Their only advantage is that LJU is near, without an airline, but Lufthansa is taking care of that.

      Besides, LH would never allow for OU to grow into something significant (even if it had the potential), there's Austrian just round the corner.

      Delete
    10. @QR 921
      Serbia : 6 million air passengers
      Croatia : 11 million air passengers
      Pan Am nonstop, Air Canada, Air Transat, Emirates, Malaysian, Korean Air in ZAG, not BEG
      British, Iberia, Air France, Finnair, Ryanair, in ZAG, not BEG
      About 40 airline companies on croatian coast, not present in Serbia.
      I am definitely not mine is bigger guy, and I am not talking my is bigger, I talk facts.
      And Croatia Airlines staying aside, doing nothing, despite potential to be at least the same size as Air Serbia, and in my modest opinion even bigger.
      No further comment needed.
      Thank you !

      Delete
    11. Anonymous17:53

      You are listing all companies that ever flown to Zagreb? In that case Pan Am did fly to Belgrade. You also had airlines like Qantas, CAAC, Royal Jordanian, Iraqi Airways that flew to Belgrade and not Zagreb. Even now you have Wizz Air, easyjet, Air Baltic, Hainan Airlines, Luxiar, Swiss that fly to Belgrade and not Zagreb despite strong home carrier.

      Emirates tried and failed in ZAG, only European route in their network that became seasonal and they won't come back. Korean also failed. Turned the roite seasonal and in the end replaced it with Budapest. Air Canada not coming back. Malaysia Airlines certainly not either.

      Delete
    12. Pan Am flew nonstop with wide body to ZAG, to BEG with narrow body with stopover in FRA. I wrote clearly nonstop in case of Pan Am. I was never underestimating BEG and I am fully aware that BEG has and had airlines that ZAG did not,those you listed above included. I am just sad when other people underestimate croatian air market which is almost double size of serbian one despite much stronger serbian flag carrier. At the end, there are 6 million in Serbia and 11 million in Croatia. I am not writing this because Air Serbia and BEG are doing their job and handle almost all of those 6 million. I am writing this because of Croatia Airlines and ZAG which are not doing enough to handle as much as possible of those 11 million. I don't know why is it so difficult to understand that

      Delete
    13. Anonymous18:59

      Those 11 millions are mostly on the coast in three months of the year and do not come from O&D travel which is necessary to have a strong carrier.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous19:00

      Also, here we're talking about ZAG, not Croatia.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous19:00

      Maybe OU should try setting a base in Split, maybe it'll be more successful.

      Delete
    16. Boris19:40

      The difference is that OU gave up the market consciously to other Airlines. But it is obvious why that happened so discussion what would happen if we would have circumstances were different 30 years ago is pointless. In my opinion they would have be at least close to what Aegean is today with right personal.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous20:05

      The only place in Europe that Croatia can be compared to is Cyprus, which also doesn't have a great record when it comes to airlines.

      Delete
    18. Cyprus and Croatia to be compared? An island thousands of kilometers from emitive markets and country with few hours highway drive from the most important emitive markets? Island with part of its teritory under occupation versus schengen country? Island with almost no diaspora against more than 4 million cro diaspora? Island with no domestic traffic compared to croatian domestic services? The only thing in common is lousy home based airlines record, all other is just another proof that the only intention of your post is underestimating Croatia. And we are not talking about ZAG here, we are talking about Croatia Airlines. It is what today's article is about, it is what @An. 09.06 ,who caused all answers with his post is talking about, and it is what I am constantly criticizing because OU is the biggest obstacle for stagnation of ZAG as well, because they missed to redirect both coastal and Balkan transit traffic via ZAG. And finally, I am happy I got spit at by both Croatian and Serbian chauvinists

      Delete
    19. Anonymous05:43

      Comparing Greek market with Croatian and Athena with Zagreb hub is totally ludicrous.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Prebravo preistinski!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Ahaha ovo je puno previse dobro!

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    2. Anonymous09:16

      Huge!!!

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:08

    Bravo OU!

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  7. Anonymous09:12

    Interesting that they had more flights this year than in 2019.

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  8. Anonymous09:27

    Interesting that JU and OU carried more or less the same number of passengers in Q1 but JU made a profit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      JU had double the number of passengers.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:06

    Load factor is low

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  10. Anonymous10:16

    Does this include the 39.2 million euros the state injected into the airline?
    https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/02/croatia-airlines-recapitalised.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous10:18

    Amazing what losses a 13 aircraft airline can generate. Is there a worse performing airline on a per aircraft basis?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous10:19

    they really got a lot of value from their post covid BCG recovery strategy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:58

      What was that strategy? Did they ever implement any BCG suggestions? Other than A220 order and focus on Split airport there were no relevant changes.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:21

    I've lost all hope. I don't see a solution for them any more.

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  14. Anonymous10:23

    So much wasted potential

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:25

    What's the prediction for the end of year result?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:28

      My guess is loss of between 3 and 4 million euros.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:31

      Depends on the amount of state aid they get this year.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous11:00

    So, what's the prediction for Croatia Airlines in next 5-10 years? Will they "survive"?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous11:05

    Jasmin Bajic's management has been producing nothing but losses since he became CEO. Why hasn't he and the entire management been replaced? How has he indebted the state for him not to be replaced?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:06

      Political party affiliation is the only thing that matters.

      Delete
    2. He is not CEO, he is puppet. OU is not an airline, it's money laundry machine and Party Uhljeb sanctuary. He is on his position because he is executing his orders perfectly and quietly and he will remain there as long as economy in state owned companies in Croatia is led by Party and appointed apartchiks, and not on open market selected highly skilled professionals

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:36

    Pozdrav said it all. However, it really is sad. And now they're going to bring new planes in, which are truly unfitting to their current situation (there's no development plan either), additionally balloon costs and get excited by one weekly flights to Split or to Mostar.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous21:28

    61% load factor is really bad.

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  20. Anonymous22:33

    r/justnormalbalkanthings

    ReplyDelete
  21. notLufthansa10:28

    The title should read: The least bad Q1…..

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:10

    Disgusting waste of rations... FFS !! How long does this charade continue ? Any business in loss for over 6 year's would be gone within the 1st tax period, and this behaviour is simply highlighting the bent nature of party politics at the highest level.

    ReplyDelete

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