Croatia Airlines will expand its network with the arrival of new Airbus A220 aircraft but will continue to primarily focus on Europe and the Mediterranean region. The carrier’s CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said, “Our network analysts always keep about twenty potential routes in the pipeline. They undertake daily monitoring of the wishes and needs of our passengers, as well as trends in the aviation industry. Some of our routes are year-round from Zagreb, and some are seasonal from our Adriatic coast. All new potential destinations are primarily located in Europe and the Mediterranean”. He added, “The new A220 aircraft will ensure a better response to the specific needs of passengers and a more efficient business model, thanks to which additional business opportunities will be unlocked along with the gradual expansion of the network”.
Mr Bajić confirmed the first of fifteen A220s will arrive in Zagreb this June, followed by another unit at the end of the year. “The first of fifteen new A220 aircraft will join Croatia Airlines’ fleet in June 2024, followed by the second by the end of 2024. After the planned delivery in 2024, we expect the arrival of the next six aircraft in 2025, four more in 2026, and the last three in 2027”. He added, “The significant increase in the Republic of Croatia's credit rating (S&P, Fitch and Moody's) in the last eight years, as well as the entry into the Schengen zone and the introduction of the euro as a currency in 2023, helped Croatia Airlines increase its reputation and results on the financial and air transport market.
Croatia Airlines has so far announced the introduction of one new route this summer – a seasonal service between Split and Istanbul. So far, there have been no major frequency fluctuation in the network for the coming summer, however, further changes are expected. As it currently stands, Croatia Airlines has 1% fewer scheduled flights compared to summer 2023 and 12.3% fewer operations compared to the pre-pandemic 2019. “In 2024 Croatia Airlines is celebrating its 35th anniversary, twenty years of membership in Star Alliance and the start of the entire aircraft fleet renewal program. I believe everyone will agree that in the past three and a half decades Croatia Airlines has become a renowned brand both in Europe and worldwide, recognised by passengers for its safety and top-quality service”.
Do we already know the MSN of their first A220? And the livery - has it been revealed yet?
ReplyDeleteWe are getting close!
It hasn't yet
DeleteMSN 55290, registracija ce biti 9A-CAE
DeleteDo we have any clues in what way the livery would be updated?
DeleteThe livery guy gaslighting again...
DeleteAlways first to turn the discourse on an irrelevant direction...
Normal persons learn from experience while growing up and they learn early that magical thinking doesn't work. You can't just wish something to become reality. On their case adulthood has been somewhat postponed as whether there's a problem, big daddy comes and saved the day.
DeleteWell there go my hopes of them introducing Dubai or another destination in the Middle East. Great.
ReplyDeleteRealistically they should do Saudi Arabia - Split route next summer. The amount of Saudi Arabians traveling to EU is insane
DeleteDubai with regional plane? What stops them to introduce Dubai even now with A319?
DeleteAirBaltic successfully used A220 on their Dubai routes.
Delete@anon 09:05
DeleteWill OU be competitive to Dubai against FlyDubai?
Well they can offer connections to anywhere in Croatia, something Flydubai can't.
DeleteAnd Flydubai can offer connections anywhere in the world thought Dubai with Emirates. Although their own network is pretty huge too.
DeleteWould it than make more sense for OU to maybe fly to Abu Dhabi and offer some type of codeshare on Etihad to Australia and Asia
Delete
ReplyDeleteSo more of the same just with A220s?
Yes, you'll be able to charge your phone on your hop from zagreb to mostar now. Enjoying a row to yourself because the load factor will be the same as a model number : around 22.0%
DeleteI think it is not that bad overall. Connected to LH hubs from which you can get to anywhere. I mean, it is OU, you can't expect anything spectacular.
DeleteYou cannot seriously believe that they will send their a220 to Mostar LOL. The load factor is aprox 39% today with a small airceaft like dash q800. A220 with over 100 seats will simply not be relevante for OMO. Not to mention the disadvatage the airport has with handling landings of largeer aircrafts. I guess croatia will have to cut flights to SJJ, OMO, SKP, osijek etc as they already fly half-full q-800 and will never be able to fill an a220. Such a pity but i guess they want to focus on other destinations
DeleteNo need to cut SKP or SJJ, just try with normal prices for an hour long flight and not 100-200 for oneway
Delete12:27 Do you understand that they get paid to fly to OMO? Dash or A220, it has no relevance.
DeleteSKP is almost always fully packed
DeleteExactly, flying time with a jet from SJJ to ZAG is 30 minutes. If you give attractive prices per leg, many more people will fly to ZAG or other destinations in the network.
DeleteIt's beyond me OU doesn't use the Saab not just to OSI but why not also to OMO and few times weekly to LSZ and BWK for ex. Would be a perfect fit.
DeleteBravo OU!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the A220s but I really hope they try to explore some new regions with them. Ryanair has shown leisure flights from Zagreb can work. OU could have done this over the last 35 years. Why not try flights to Egypt, Morocco, Middle East. Hell, try Saudi Arabia as well. There is certainly a market there. But it looks like Lufthansa will just be fed with more modern aircraft
ReplyDelete+1
Delete@anon 09:04
DeleteWhy not try now with A319?
^ Because the A220s are more cost effective.
DeleteA319 is a cash cow for almost all airlines. At the moment A220 may be more cost effective only if you put aside the cost of acquisition.
DeleteA319 is not a cash cow.
DeleteJudging by the tone of Mr Bajić statement, doubt we will see anything different from OU..... so hopeless.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteTop quality service? You offer business class passengers to London a box with crackers inside.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Their catering has been one of the most impacted in the last few years. A big slide down from what it used to be.
DeleteAirlines cut costs on catering a lot so I can understand OU to a certain degree but I don't understand why they destroyed their offer in business class.
Delete"As it currently stands, Croatia Airlines has 1.7% fewer scheduled flights compared to summer 2023"
ReplyDeleteThis is not true. Where are you getting such info from?
Yes, it is correct. Croatia Airlines currently has 16.779 flights scheduled during the 2024 summer season, compared to 16.972 scheduled flights during the 2023 summer season. This is based on GDS availability. Naturally it will change as we approach the summer season.
DeleteAnd on which routes there is decrease?
DeleteThe reductions are currently mostly concentrated in April with fewer flights on a range of routes from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik. As mentioned in the article, this is subject to change and their summer timetable has not been finalised.
DeleteSummer season 2024 is 6 days shorter compared to 2023 (=-2,5% less calendar days). Is this taken into account?
DeleteSummer season 2024 is 6 days shorter compared to 2023 for all airlines.
DeleteI'm wondering which are these 20 routes that they have in the pipeline. Any guesses?
ReplyDeleteMost of the routes that they have not resumed from Zagreb are now on the airport's incentives list. My guess it is some of those.
Delete^ Let's see if OU brings any of them back now that these incentives are offered.
DeleteI would say maybe Larrnaca and Spain and Lisbon. Croatia is quite famous in Spain. But they better be careful with those sudden and big expansions and do it slowly.
DeleteAn absolute farce with these "incentives"... The analogy would be a bus station subsidizing bus operators to drive to certain destinations. Is there demand it inst there?
DeleteI hope they plan more new routes from Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteThey do
DeleteI hope so but it is the end of February and still nothing. Summer season begins in a month and a bit.
DeleteThey do not need to start operating new routes at the beginning of summer season
DeleteLooking forward to the first A220.
ReplyDeleteNot too long to go now :)
DeleteHonestly I was expecting them to make a bit more noise about the new planes. What is their marketing/PR team doing?
Delete^ Agree. They need to build more hype around it.
DeleteIt's just an airplane. OK, some of the things in their possession aren't... But the thrill is about nothing. It's a Bombardier with 150 seats
DeleteIf the plane is arriving in June, I'm surprised they haven't already scheduled it on some routes.
ReplyDeleteI mean the A220
DeleteI think they are still finalising the schedule
Deletehope there won't be any more delays. First plane was originally supposed to come this month.
DeleteWhy is OU ignoring ZAG? They could at least add BER and ARN to the network
ReplyDeleteThey want to punish Zagreb Airport for Ryanair. And they're failing. Ryanair is doing very well in Zagreb so far this year and ZAG finances are doing fully fine.
DeleteBut at least they are finally scheduling routes based on demand rather than working on making Zagreb a hub and producing losses.
DeleteBasically all the new routes they introduced since Covid (including Mostar) are paid and subsidized route by tourism board or local governments.
DeleteThey should really take some more risk and extend some of their seasonal flights from Zagreb to year round.
ReplyDeleteThey don't have too many seasonal routes out of Zagreb anymore because they discontinued most routes which used to be seasonal and transferred them to Split.
DeleteHow about no more delayed flights
DeleteFlights from ZAG to Rome still going via Split. Will this ever change?
ReplyDeleteSame with Athens...
DeleteIf they haven't changed this now that Ryanair offers nonstop flight to Rome, they never will.
DeleteRyanair will boost frequencies to Rome as well. Croatia Airlines has become completely uncompetitive
DeleteThere is no reason for change. It's been done this way, irritating the costumer, since '89... It's a wining strategy
DeleteThey have been making steps in the right directions. Good to see growth is on the cards.
ReplyDelete*direction
DeleteThey made a step closer to the edge of the grave. One airplane costs cca. 270.000 $ monthly. 12 will cost 3,3mio a month, it's gonna be in the neighborhood of 40mio$ a year .. I'd like to see where that revenue is gonna come from? I truly, truly wish I'm completely and utterly wrong.
DeleteGood luck to OU this summer. It will be a big one with the A220s coming and new livery.
ReplyDeleteIs this the 'livery' gaslighter/es again? The livery is IRRELEVANT.
Deleteat least they are trying to improve
ReplyDeletethey should base one aircraft in BEG, I hear BEG-DUS route was quite popular
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand these types of comments. Neither are they funny nor do they make any sense.
Deletethat idea is superb
DeleteDunno why DUS is so "unlucky". Usually associate it with the germanwings crash from BCN that was also bound to DUS but sadly ended up quite tragic :( Strange coincidence.
DeleteThis is crazy. Almost all European airlines will be above pre covid levels this year in terms of flights.
ReplyDeleteIt's not almost all. Most legacy EU carriers are still below 2019 ops. Even Air France which has the Olympics this year.
Deleteas well as KLM, Iberia, SAS...
DeleteBravo OU!
ReplyDeleteBravo taxpayers
DeleteLet's see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteWhat?
DeleteJasmin actually speaks? First time I see him give a statement about anything.
ReplyDeleteReading what he says, he sounds deluded like the "prestige" commentator here (maybe that's him). I don't know who associates Croatia Airlines with prestige or top quality service. Don't get me wrong, I wish OU all the best but the reason this guy is quiet is because he is a typical political appointee. If he keeps quiet, no one will notice him or the atrocious results him and his management team have achieved. For all the potential the Croatian coast and Croatia in general has, he has been failing badly in delivering any meaningful growth.
DeleteBeacuse the growth is not the goal. He obviously works good for goals the owner set for the company.
DeleteProfitability isn't a goal either.
DeleteAnd the moment he says anything it becomes obvious what a political bot he is.
DeleteIt's completely irrelevant to them whether or not what they're saying makes any sense.
As mentioned above: Croatia Airlines brand being recognized for its top quality service not only in Europe bit worldwide, is gobbledygook. Meaningless drivel.
Their Split operations are developing nicely. It would be good if they could extend more routes into the winter.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about? Do you have any data to support your theory?
DeleteJasmin just needs to make sure no more delays and get them in on time.
ReplyDeleteProbably should have tried to jump on the Egyptian a220 they're getting rid of to speed it up.
Hi Slav.Man, Quick question for a survey we are running; what do you think about mandatory carbon offsets for all pax traveling on non-essential purposes?
DeleteHow long does each lease for the A220 last?
ReplyDeleteThe are several different types of depreciation models...
DeleteWith A220 additional business opportunities will be unlocked? Will they be locked again with Ryan Max 200 and later Max 10?
ReplyDelete: everyone will agree that Croatia Airlines has become a renowned brand worldwide, recognised for top-quality service
ReplyDeleteI don't agree. Not recognized for top quality service compared to real top quality airlines like Qatar or Singapore, not distinguished or even well-known in Europe let alone other continents where it doesn't fly to.
It is about prestige. OU is an official Star Alliance member.
DeleteThat doesn't automatically make OU top quality, profitable airline or worldwide renowed brand. Adria Airways was also Star Alliance memeber what look what happened to them in the end.
DeleteExactly
DeleteYeah, this is a head in the sand type of dumb comment by the CEO but what else is he supposed to say?
DeleteIs the A220 scheduled already on any route?
ReplyDeleteNo, not yet
DeleteWhat does it mean, "pipeline" routes?
ReplyDeletePipeline = possible/potential. So they always have 20 potential routes they could launch.
DeleteCorporate BS. A term from dreary boardrooms where recycled ideas are mirrored around until they become self-evident truths and rock solid facts.... And then ... Ms. Reality kicks in
DeleteAs I always think, Croatia Airlines has missed a great opportunity in not getting a couple of upcoming A321XLR and using them for flights across the Atlantic during the summer season, and around Europe during the off months.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey could have gone with 10 A220s and 4 A321xlrs
They decide about nothing. Never did, never will, nor are capable. The only thing they can decide about is petty malice and spite towards/against own employees. That's how they prove they are managers.
DeleteNo excuse for this missed opportunity with the a321XLRs!! It’s as if they want to keep Croatia Airlines in the gutter.
Delete