Zagreb Airport has issued a Notice To Air Missions (NOTAM), an aviation document informing all carriers of important and urgent messages, due to a general overhaul that will take place of the airport’s runway and taxiways between 23.00 and 6.25 CEST the following morning from May 2 until May 31. During this time, aircraft will be unable to either land or take off from the airport. This has resulted in several airlines tweaking their Zagreb schedules to work around the closure. However, Ryanair has been forced to cancel over fifty rotations, or a total of over 100 flights, during May as a result of the work.
Ryanair’s Zagreb passengers have begun receiving email notifications concerning the 110 flight cancellations during May. Although the majority of the cancelled services were scheduled to touch down in Zagreb before the airport closure, due to frequent delays experienced by aircraft on their final rotation of the day, the airline has pre-emptively shelved select flights. According to the “Croatia Aviation” portal, Ryanair has cancelled the most flights between Zagreb and Bergamo, a total of twelve rotations, followed by Dublin with ten rotations, Charleroi with eight, Hahn, Corfu and Malta with five, as well as Memmingen, Malmo and London Stansted with four cancelled rotations. The airline is yet to make changes to its Sofia and Malaga services where the inbound flight is scheduled to land in the Croatian capital past eleven in the evening. Further modifications remain likely.
Zagreb Airport last carried out extensive work on its single runway five years ago, in 2018, which also resulted in its night-time closure for two months. During that time, repairs on damages to the runway were made by replacing concrete slabs. Prior to that, the last general overhaul of the runway was conducted in 2010. The night-time closure is expected to have a greater impact on passengers compared to five years ago due to the increased volume of traffic at Zagreb Airport. During the first quarter of this year, Zagreb Airport welcomed 694.956 travellers through its doors, an increase of 14.8% on the pre-pandemic 2019, or an additional 89.627 passengers.
What exactly are they doing now with the runway?
ReplyDeleteIt says. General repairs. They seem to do it every 5 years.
DeleteTAV Construction needs an injection.
DeleteAnon 09:05 +1000
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised at all unfortunately.
DeleteWhat does that mean in terms of passenger numbers?
ReplyDeleteIt won't have a huge impact considering FR was cancelling flights left and right last May.
DeleteIt will slow growth in May for sure.
DeleteThis comes out to three flights per day on average. FR rushed too fast to cancel them, they could have just rescheduled them since most flights they operate are short.
DeleteRescheduling flights isn't an easy task for Ryanair considering their high aircraft utilization.
DeleteAnd plus Ryanair today is not simply 1 type: Lauda, Buzz, Ryanair UK, etc. So 9:29 is quite right actually.
Delete
Delete"@Anonymous09:02
What does that mean in terms of passenger numbers?"
Well, 110 flights are being cancelled, that's around 110-120 000 passengers. So you can figure out what that'll do to overall May figures, but put it this year, next May in 2024 that is, the figures will be outstanding. Lol
*11-12000, sorry typo
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteHow yes no
DeleteI think it's the perfect time for repairs, just before the strong season!
ReplyDeleteWould it not have made more sense to have done it during the winter season?
DeleteIt is probably too cold in winter to do this work. They did the runway resurfacing in Skopje around the same time last year.
DeleteThere will still be growth though.
Delete^ yes definitely.
DeleteWell let's see how strong summer will be. Lufthansa already reduced FRA-ZAG from 12 weekly A320/321 to 10-11 with A319. OU is also shifting focus on the coast, AF will be halving its presence this summer and they plan on sending HOP unlike 319/320 last year.
DeleteSeems like FR's growth is affecting many. LH might be performing better if OU wasn't so pathetic.
It is times like these that you need an inserted runway :P ;)
ReplyDeleteGood for Belgrade for thinking out of the box and having a spare one.
DeleteHow come having a second runway is thinking out of the box?
Deletethousands of airports around the world have them.
And yet only 1 in ex yu...
DeleteNo you have Zadar ZAD as well...
DeleteZAD is that JNA one? Is it in use?
DeleteWow that is a lot of Ryanair flights. You would think they are operating during the night hours.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what they will do with Sofia and Malaga. Will they completely cancel them in May?
ReplyDeleteWe will find out soon.
DeleteThey have already cancelled the Saturday flights from Sofia to Zagreb. They will have to either cancel or reschedule the Sunday flight too become its arrival time in ZAG is 1AM. Tuesday flight can't operate normally.
DeleteActually the Saturday flight is canceled the whole summer. If you try to book it it is not there.
DeleteNot true. The Saturday flight doesn't exist. It's a system error because the rotation takes place over two days because the Sunday flight leaves at midnight.
DeleteIs that the reason Lufthansa seems to have cancelled some of its Zagreb flights in May?
ReplyDeleteYes,
DeleteSo Ryanair is cancelling most of its flights because they are late all the time.
ReplyDeleteEasier and cheaper to cancel than pay EU late compensation fees.
Deleteor get stuck with passengers and pay for hotels and meals...
DeleteLufthansa has rescheduled some of its flights with arrival at around 22:30. Good luck with that. They are often delayed on that night flight.
ReplyDeletePlus connectivity in FRA will be more than limited.
DeleteIndeed, nightmare
DeleteI'm more concerned with the fact that Zagreb Airport has one new route this summer - KOS and it is seasonal and substitutes Dortmund which has been discontinued.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot that there will be Mostar flights too :D So 2 new routes.
DeleteGroundbreaking.
DeleteLIS and DTM minus.
DeleteWhy is this the case? I mean especially with all the incentive policies Zagreb is currently offering.
DeleteAnd also what happened to Ryanair's momentum? Did they naturally pause their expansion or did they receive a nudge not too grow too much for Croatia Airlines' sake?
DeleteFinnair has also again reduced their ZAG flights.
DeleteThey cancelled flights during first week of May.
DeleteYet they have their first flight on 27 April and then nothing during the first week of May. Odd.
DeleteRyanair also reduced ZAG-SOF from 3 to 2 weekly. I remember it was reported here that it was their slowest route out of ZAG.
DeleteIt is reduced because of the runway work.
DeleteAgree about SOF being slowest FR route out of ZAG. Flew SOF-ZAG two weeks ago and it was less then 100 passengers, about 50 % LF.
DeleteThe ZAG-SOF route is still relatively new and didn't have the time to mature enough. It should have witnessed a gradual trend in the past i.e. smaller OU planes to a big 738 189 seater. Also with the current schedule, it ain't expected to budge that much.
DeleteEven in June when there is no runway work FR keeps ZAG-SOF to 2 weekly.
DeletePozdrav, you should be supporting your national Airline and fly with them only!
Delete😃
DeleteWas this really necessary? Now of all times?
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering why you need to do overhaul again after just 5 years.
DeleteProbably so it does not deteriorate and then in 10 years you have to completely close the airport.
DeleteTo be honest I haven't heard of an airport resurfacing their runway every 5 years.
DeleteMe neither.
DeleteYou haven't heard of it because maintenance of an infrastructure does not have a news value. All runways around the world have to have a maintenance schedule. And there are many components related to the runway, e.g. drainage systems, electrical systems, asphalt/concrete works etc. It's not resurfacing the asphalt only.
DeleteBecause RyanAir started recently flying there. Frequent hard landings seem to do more damage to runways lol
DeleteHahah
DeleteWell this came out of nowehere.
ReplyDeleteMove them to Ljubljana :)
ReplyDeleteThat was my thought. Used to be the case during yugo times :)
Delete+100
Delete5 years ago they redirected some of the flights to Pula.
DeletePula!?!? That makes no sense.
DeletePula is almost 2 hours further by bus from Zagreb than Rijeka. Why did they choose it over RJK?
DeleteBecause Pula has been an alternative airport for Zagreb for many years. That's just the way it is.
DeleteOdd. Why Pula and not Rijeka which is close by?
DeleteDon't know. That's just how it has been. Maybe Pozdrav knows
DeleteOfficial working hours for RJK are 08.00 - 16.00. Of course it can be extended and usually is, especially in summer season and with advanced flight announcement/scheduling. In summer they also hire plenty of seasonal workers. But outside of the peak season, they operate with minimum staff, enough to cover one shift only.
DeleteWon't impact Croatia Airlines in the slightest considering their retreat from ZAG.
ReplyDeleteTrue
Deleteunfortunately
DeleteMalaga Tuesday flight will highly likely be cancelled. Scheduled arrival in Zagreb is at 23.59.
ReplyDeleteRyanair really should have already moved or cancelled their Sofia and Malaga flights. This way people can still book flights that will probably be cancelled.
ReplyDeleteAnd I assume they didn't find out about it yesterday so they really should have.
DeleteWhy not move flights to Maribor? MBX will appreciate this. BTW MBX was often considered as Zagreb 2 airport :-)
ReplyDeleteZAG airport probably wouldn't want to pay for buses.
DeleteThis is a disaster. Dublin is Ryanair's best route in Zagreb. Also just because only some rotations are cancelled or doesn't mean it won't impact everyone. People who had return flights now can't do their journeys at all. This affects almost all routes.
ReplyDeleteIt will impact 10 of 20+ Ryanair routes.
DeleteIt's still a lot
DeleteI wonder if the airport will have to compensate Ryanair?
ReplyDeleteHmm who knows how it works
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how May performs for ZAG.
ReplyDeleteThis project seems pointless
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting fact is that Ryanair was informed about runway repairs back in November, but they still decided to continue selling tickets. :D
ReplyDeleteWow, they are crazy
DeleteBut I didn't notice other airline making changes to their May schedule until now. Or maybe I just didn't notice.
DeleteNRN xx3xxxx com at 00:25 :(
ReplyDeleteI don't understand? They cancelled the Weeze flight too?
DeleteNot good
ReplyDeleteIt is just a month during which the airport does not work for 6 hours. Calm down.
DeleteSeven hours actually.
DeleteSeven hours and twenty five minutes, to be precisely.
DeletePer day!
DeleteIt's not per day. It's per night 😃
DeleteRyanair nay have an excuse to ask for compensation, due to lost revenue. If they don't get compensated, they will just pull out. Just my thought.
ReplyDeleteTo put things straight; ZAG is doing an upgrade of its AGL system, the first upgrade is exchanging the existing Threshold and RWY End from halogen to LED. This upgrade includes an upgrade of CCR’s and the ALCMS (Airfield Lightning Control System). This work has been planned for more than a year, planning and execution includes Airport, contractors, airlines, CroControl, CAA including building permits.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd phase of the upgrade includes a new approach, that is all AGL related equipment, and it also involves airport, contractors, airlines, CAA, CroControl and building permits, this process has been ongoing for 2,5 years. This part also includes CCR’s and ALCMS.
The projects are well underway and on time.
These upgrades are ongoing at airports worldwide daily and nothing that airlines are against, on the contrary – they welcome them (sometimes they demand them) as they increase passenger safety and the long-term sustainability of air traffic. For the short term there is a “hurt” but for the long-term gain to all involved in the development of air traffic.
Yes, there is a NOTAM issued for a period, if there are no problems with the above-mentioned implementation, the NOTAM will get cancelled at an earlier stage.
For the above-mentioned projects, there is a 50-man team, both locally and international, dedicated as well as experienced, to airports worldwide, currently working both days and nights to execute the projects at hand.
So many comments similar to when BEG makes some unpopular move - they used to call it topli zec back in yugo times. The passenger numbers are not more important than safety and infrastracture repairs. They are not investing because they like it, trust me.
ReplyDelete