Croatia Airlines is gearing up for a modest expansion during the upcoming summer season, although the exact details of its network are still being finalised. The airline plans to introduce new destinations from its Zagreb hub, breaking a trend of stagnation that persisted at its main airport in recent years. Among the anticipated additions is the revival of a previously served route. During the 2023 summer season, the airline operated 18.4% fewer flights out of Zagreb compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, as a number of routes from the Croatian capital that were discontinued during the global health emergency have not been restored.
Since the end of the pandemic, Croatia Airlines has not reinstated its seasonal flights from Zagreb to Stockholm, Helsinki, Milan, Oslo, Bucharest, Prague, and St Petersburg, with the latter ruled out due to ongoing sanctions imposed on Russia. Despite the resumption of flights between Zagreb and Dublin, the service has since been discontinued by the airline as it faced strong competition from Ryanair. In 2020, Croatia Airlines also scheduled new services from Zagreb to Podgorica and Sofia, but they were never launched due to the pandemic. Furthermore, it considered introducing flights to Tirana on several occasions.
Zagreb Airport is hoping for Croatia Airlines to expand its operations from the city. Its recent Connecting Capital Cities Incentive Model, which motivates airlines to introduce flights from Zagreb to up to sixteen European capital cities have been geared towards the carrier, however, so far it has not applied. Croatia Airlines has been increasingly expanding its network from the country’s coast since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier’s Chief Commercial Officer, Slaven Žabo, recently said, “We plan to expand our network of international flights during the summer of 2024 and increase the total number of operations compared to 2023. As we anticipate the delivery of our first of fifteen new, modern and eco-friendly [A220] aircraft in mid-2024, we will be able to offer more seats and greater comfort”.
The regional airlines are leaving it rather late to announce new routes.
ReplyDeleteIn OU's case it might be tied to delivery of A220?
DeleteOU hasn't even released their passenger numbers for 2023 and you expect them to announce their summer network?
DeleteVery few European airlines have finalised their summer timetable.
DeleteSomeone from the military knowingly said:
DeleteNo plan ever survived the contact with the enemy.
And so will fail the plans of those who did not hedge the fuel...
That's a lot of destinations that have not been restored. I wonder which was most successful for them of the lot.
ReplyDeleteNo one. Kucko was sincere, ALL make debt.
DeleteHe did say that but he said that was the case during winter season. Not summer.
Delete0933,dont be malicious. And don't spread fake stuff.
Delete^ he did actually say that not a single route in OU's network is profitable in winter.
DeleteThey are not profitable more then 10 years and you claim that they earn on any line?
DeleteIn summer they do
DeleteFinally they might add something from Zagreb. Knowing them it will probably be 2 weekly, while they will reduce something else in order to launch it.
ReplyDeleteFor a legacy carrier the only way to service and destination is a daily frequency.
DeleteI doubt it will be more than two new routes.
ReplyDeleteTwo new routes from ZAG for OU would be great actually.
DeleteIt will be 2 new routes from ZAG
DeleteAdd 3 weekly to Sofia, Bucharest and Prague. None of the airports are served from LJU or Graz, so they have practically no competition
DeleteWho cares about what is served from LJU? Also I highly doubt OU will choose any route where Ryanair already flies. So we can expect some of PRG, OTP, ARN, TIA, LIS, BER
Delete1. Sofia, Bucharest and Prague: bilo pa propalo
Delete2. PRG, OTP, ARN, TIA, LIS, BER: bilo pa propalo
Propalo radi COVIDA19 ponajviše. Bukurešt je bio profitabilna linija, kao i Lisabon
DeleteZagreb Airport need to give the same incentives to OU as they give Ryanair if they want OU to expand there
ReplyDeleteI remember the same incentives being offered to anyone launching unserved destinations; OU didn't apply, Ryan did.
DeleteThe incentives were not given to Ryanair. They were up for grabs by anyone. Croatia Airlines didn't bother to apply to two tenders
DeleteIt's a stupid logic with these subsidies... The analogue would be if a motorway operator would subsidize bus drivers to take a certain route. Absurd, you would say then...
DeleteBut subsidies by an airport are perfectly OK??? THERE IS NO DEMAND. THIS IS A TERTIARY MARKET.
Would be good to see them bring back some Scandinavian route.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they go down the same path as Ryanair and introduce some leisure destination for local population.
ReplyDeleteToo late now
DeleteWhy is too late? The whole population from Croatia already made agreement not to fly with anyone else than Ryanair or what is the case, can you please explain?
DeleteThey can try but I also think it's too late. The best routes are taken by strong competitor.
DeleteLet's face it,OU need to focus on connecting with main unserved destinations out of ZAG,there are plenty of them still available. But it's never late to introduce leisure as well,like Heraklion, Hurgada, Rodos, Sicily, Sardinia... If you want to do job properly you will succeed.
DeleteThe thing with OU is that they don't need new destinations but a new business model and strategy. Without it, all is in vain. A new fleet should be the reason for the new strategy, and I guess we will soon see if they have it or not.
DeleteWhat new routes would make most sense for them from ZAG?
ReplyDeleteAny one of those destinations from the incentive list would make sense.
DeleteJFK but they don't have that kind of perspective.
DeleteIt's been mentioned a few times on this blog that Berlin and Prauge will be launched from Zagreb soon. I guess we mostly assumed it would be Ryanair but I guess it might be OU.
DeleteThey need to buy back some slots at Heathrow so they can offer daily flights to Zagreb like they used to.
DeleteThat would be very expensive
DeleteCan't believe they didn't restore Milan, no-brainer route. And now they have LH partner there.
ReplyDeleteWhich LH partner?
DeleteITA?
DeleteITA does not fly from MXP.
DeleteOf course they do.
DeleteAZ operates to LIN not MXP. MXP is ccld as hub by ITA
DeleteSpeaking of partners, I wouldn't be surprised OU discontinues Copenhagen since SAS will no longer be part of Star Alliance.
DeleteMalpensa has direct flights to Newark with United Airlines, a S* member
DeleteSorry, you are right. No ITA at MXP as of January 8, 2024. Shame...
DeleteEto koliki je ITA hrkljus.
DeleteWhy fly to MXP when you can do FRA 5 times per day - OU motto
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteDon't get too excited.
DeleteWhen is the first new plane coming? Seems like it keeps getting postponed. I imagine they wait to launch new routes with a new plane
ReplyDeleteI doubt they will wait for the new plane. They will just reduce something else. I believe SKP is getting reduced.
DeleteOU is not purchasing/leasing just one plane.
DeleteThis year they will get one. And a correction. It is not purchasing a single plane. All are being leased.
Deletewould be very surprised if SKP would be reduced since this route is its busiest from its regional flights.
DeleteDoes anyone know if Split - Skopje will continue this summer? There are still no flights on sale.
Delete1010, fake news! 6 will be purchased, and nine will be leased.
DeleteAll of Croatia Airlines' A220s are being leased, as confirmed by the airline. Three are being leased from Azorra, six from Griffin and six from the Air Lease Corporation. The airline is due to take delivery of two aircraft this.year.
DeleteBerlin please
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, their main focus should be Zagreb and trying to deal with Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteThat ship has long sailed.
DeleteWhy?
DeleteSplit is more profitable for them during the tourist season.
Delete@12.27 because they have put literally no fight against Ryanair which has beaten them on the Dublin route and is outperforming them on the London route.
DeleteCroatia Airlines' growth opportunities are becoming smaller and smaller, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteAgree unfortunately
DeleteThere are still plenty of unserved destinations from ZAG. And many of them are major European capitals.
Delete09:34, yes and no. If they continue with the current model than yes, if they implement a similar strategy as JU than growth opportunity could be endless as we have seen with Air Serbia.
DeleteGood luck OU.
ReplyDeleteMAD, WAW, IST, DUS, BER, SOF... There are many opportunities
ReplyDeleteMAD, WAW and IST are all served by other airlines.
DeleteDUS too
DeleteSo what if they are. They can compete
DeleteOU's entire network strategy revolves around two cities in Germany. I doubt we will see anything revolutionary from them this summer.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete0954,so untrue to say the least.
DeleteIt is very true. Only new routes that have been introduced in the last year are to Munich.
DeleteCan't wait to see the new destinations.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't you? If you wanted, you could have said eager to/excited/looking for... There are plenty of choices, but in this case, I fear you will have to wait.
DeleteSo how many new routes can we expect in 2024?
ReplyDelete2-3
Deleteby 2026 Ryanair will have a bigger passenger share in ZAG if something does not change soon.
ReplyDeleteIt may be even earlier.
DeleteWhy 2026? Ryanair will have more passengers in 2024 already!
DeleteTrue
DeleteThey are so passive in ZAG. Let's see if things finally change.
ReplyDeletePassive everywhere
DeleteThey need to start thinking outside of the box and address winter month operations when they loose the most money. They shouldn't be a May-September airline.
ReplyDeleteActually they would do better if they dropped flying from January to Easter
DeleteEveryone would
DeleteHoping for PRG to come back.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Croatia Airlines!
ReplyDeleteOn what?
DeleteWhy don't they try Osijek-Dublin since they can't compete on Zagreb-Dublin route?
ReplyDeleteThey tries Osijek-Dublin charters and they failed.
Delete„They“ were not OU. It was an agency chartered OU and failed
DeleteOU could do LHR-RJK even x 1 p week. the LHR-ZAG used to go via RJK on day 3..always full.
ReplyDeleteOnly ryanair from uk to RJK. EZY dropped LGW-RJK saying low LF in 2023. Well, starting it on 29 March? far too early..29 May better and zero promotion in UK
Croatia needs to be promoted more in SOF and vice versa. We will see how FR will perform with ZAG and ZAD in SOF this year. Perhaps OU might consider DBV or SPU.
ReplyDeleteFor example JP performed also quite well in SOF being a newer route and JU seemed to have done well in VAR last year offering very good prices.
They usually publish their new routes as early as November the previous year, so I'm surprised they have left it so late this time around.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they will be seasonal routes
ReplyDeleteAll of OU's ZAG routes in the last 10 yrs have been seasonal, so it is safe to say they will.
DeleteAnd other than Barcelona, all of their new ZAG routes in the last 10 yrs have been discontinued
DeleteShould have used the last 10 years to build regional network and then Iaunch long haul
ReplyDeleteI just really hope they will add Prague (since there will be no competition for them on that line). Berlin would be cool too.
ReplyDeleteAirplane to and from America once or twice week would make money year round ...But what do we know ...Leave it to experts they are always in deficit and getting paid for it too...Same story everywhere. ..Experts..Lol
ReplyDeleteThey need to upgrade some routes too. Like how ZAG-ATH is competitive when you got Aegean's year round 3 weekly with A320neo when OU operate flights to ATH via DBV with Dash?
ReplyDeleteDue to inflation and prices still being high around the world, has there been any predictions how this will affect the passenger count and frequency of flights?
ReplyDelete