Croatia Airlines plans to introduce eight new routes in 2025 and maintain all 28 destinations it served during the 2024 summer season. The carrier’s expansion is tied to the arrival of its new Airbus A220 aircraft and their on-time delivery. The company expects to welcome its second A220-300 by the end of the year, as well as a further three units before the start of the peak travel period during the summer of 2025. A total of 73 routes are planned next summer, with a 12% increase in the number of operated flights and a 14% rise in flight hours in peak season compared to this year.
Croatia Airlines plans to increase its capacity by a substantial 57% next summer, offering 108.000 seats per week. However, apart from aircraft deliveries, these plans also depend on securing necessary slots. The carrier also intends on resuming some of its seasonal summer flights much earlier than this year, at the start of the summer season, which begins in late March, and maintain operations until the very end of the season, in late October. Croatia Airlines previously said it has up to twenty new routes under review, which would be introduced gradually as the new A220 are delivered, with the carrier to operate a total of fifteen by 2027.
Commenting on Croatia Airlines’ plans, the head of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, said, “I am delighted that next year our national carrier plans to continue flying to 28 international destinations with a significantly increased number of flights and seats. The importance of air transport to Croatian tourism is undeniable, especially in connecting Croatia with key European markets outside the peak summer months, during the pre- and post-season period when there is room for tourism growth. High-quality air connectivity is a fundamental prerequisite for positioning Croatia as a sustainable, easily accessible, and attractive year-round destination”.
And most of them out of Zagreb finally!
ReplyDeleteAny ideas which ones?
DeletePRG, OTP, LIS and some liesure route in the Mediterranean area
DeleteI'm guessing they will be using that ZAG incentive policy for the launch of three or more routes. Capital connection incentive or something like that. There was a list of destinations there that the airport outlined.
DeleteThose are good picks. All previously served but ok
DeleteCapacity increases on existing routes is interesting also.
DeleteYeah, one of them should be ZAG-PRG
DeleteI could see SOF, OTP, TLV, LIS being launched and more flying to the UK.
DeleteGood choices!
DeleteI think they should focus on more connections to Southern Europe. Direct flights to Lisbon or Porto would be amazing, especially with the growing interest in these destinations. Plus, they’re still underserved from this region
DeleteI just hope they do better research then they did for new routes this year. Zagreb-Tirana was a complete fiasco. I am really surprised that they plan to bring it back next year considering they say how they will restore all routes from this summer
DeleteHow about some North African destinations like Casablanca, Cairo or Marrakech?
Delete^ Is there demand for those routes?
DeleteBratislava
DeleteBTS?? Lol! They already fly multiple times daily to VIE, which is located just 50km from Bratislava city centre
DeletePa baš ne znam koliko je bio fijasko sa linijom za Tiranom. Letio sam A220 među zadnjim letovima u ljetnom rasporedu letenja i bio je skoro pun. Ali naravno lakše je pljuvati nego nešto potitivno reći.
DeleteIt was full because in the last 3 weeks of planned ops they cancelled second weekly flight and had just one weekly.
DeleteThe reality of things is that Croatia is not an outgoing market. There is NO demand, leasure or business. The so called season lasts two months. Secondly, if anyone had read anything you would know that on the main markets Croatia (both company and state) is oriented on - a recession is looming. Europe is about to enter a time of political and economic upheaval. In the coming period leasure won't be on people's minds.
DeleteYeah sure, everything and everyone's mindset is nothing but apocalyptic. Incoming season is 5.5 months at least and there's a lot more outgoing demand than you'd think, also proven by FR in ZAG, but with minimal outgoing flight routes, demand is artificially being kept very small.
DeleteAbout time
ReplyDeleteThat's not the point. The point is that they stick to their transitional plan and grow with the arrival of new aircraft. The new fleet will deny them any rćexcusr for loss making. All it takes is two more years.
DeleteThe point is that they have very bad slots at many airports massacring their home airport making a hub and spokes model impossible. They MUST focus on restructuring arr/dep at ZAG so they create some proper waves. That is the most important thing imho.
Delete1707, thank you for your comment. I never said my point was the only one to be made yours is also relevant. OU has yet a lot of work to do, but sadly, not with either this or any other future Govt.
DeleteBravo OU!
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDelete"Croatia Airlines plans to increase its capacity by a substantial 57% next summer"
ReplyDeleteWOW, that is massive growth for OU!
Impressive.
DeleteIt cannot happen - where will all this capacity come from??
DeleteFrom the new A220s. They probably won't return some A320-family planes until next winter
DeleteThey plan to keep a number of A320s in the fleet for longer.
DeleteTo be honest that's smart, also in case there are any engine issues with A220s.
DeleteThey're probably getting favorable terms from lessors for extending their leases too.
DeleteThe plan about A319 and A320 leaving fleet as A220s arrive was not true. A220 is not changing much, keeping old Airbus planes is.
DeleteIt is true and has been told many times by OU management. While it's nice they will have more aircraft their costs will be even bigger than in the previous financial report
DeleteIt’ll be interesting to see how Croatia Airlines handles it logistically with A220s, A320s and Dash 8s
DeleteWhere are the extra pilots and crew coming from to cover the needs of five A220 axpected to be in the fleet next summer? Assuming no existing plaes are leaving the fleet by then.
DeleteThey have 7 A319/320, 6 Dash-8, and getting 5 A220 till summer. I don’t get how 57% capacity increase works.
DeleteCapacity increase is how much seats they add. They will have an extra 5 planes for most of next summer. It makes sense.
DeleteThey can increase capacity by 1000% but if they still have a dismal 65% LF it's all pointless.
DeleteШта би са флотом једног типа авиона?
DeleteAnon 10:12
Delete57% capacity increase may work by increased aircraft utilization, for example by introducing more overnight flights.
Well, it might be a 57% increase in capacity but how much of an additional loss of LF will they have? And how much higher losses financially, especially if you factor in the high starting costs for the introduction of each new route.
DeleteIt entails cloning some of the pilots.
DeleteHopefully it won't all just be on the coast
ReplyDeleteIt won't
DeleteWith the A220s coming in, I’d love to see Croatia Airlines add flights to more remote destinations, like Reykjavik. Iceland has a lot of interest from travelers here, and it would definitely stand out from the usual European routes.
DeleteWonder if these will be mostly leisure routes a la Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing what new routes OU has chosen
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteProbably some one-time-a-week pathetic excuse.
DeleteGood, happy they will finally expand
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it's year round
ReplyDeleteExciting times ahead.
ReplyDeleteA220 appears to be a game changer for OU.
+1
DeleteThey will double debt.
DeleteThat's fine, the local tax payer will cover it.
DeleteNot as much game changer as much score changer. Only this score only goes negative.
DeleteFinally some good new from OU. Next year should be exciting
ReplyDeleteThis sounds ambitious. I hope Croatia Airlines can secure all the slots they need for this expansion. With the increased capacity, I wonder if we’ll see more competitive prices because their fares are expensive.
ReplyDelete57% more capacity is massive. Let's hope they have the crew and infrastructure to support it. I’m curious to see which new destinations they’ll add next year
ReplyDeleteAre they hiring new crew?
DeleteAirlines are constantly hire new personnel.
DeleteIt is not the same when hiring to replace people that retire, move or resign. This time they need to hire a lot more for 5 new aircraft by next summer.
DeleteIt’s about time Croatia Airlines ramps up its routes and capacity. I’d love to see flights to more destinations in Eastern Europe too.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice but keep in mind Skopje is thai most east european destination.
DeleteA much-needed expansion!
ReplyDeleteSome Mediterranean destinations like MLA, LCA, HER, RHO would be perfect!
ReplyDeleteTrue dat!
DeleteThey can't compete against Ryanair to MLA or LCA (Ryan serves Paphos)
DeleteThe A220 is a nice plane, but that’s only part of the picture. Croatia Airlines needs to improve its in-flight services and customer experience
ReplyDeleteOU management has been selling the A220 as magic that will solve all their problems.
DeleteA big capacity increase sounds promising, but Croatia Airlines doesn’t have the best track record with handling more flights efficiently. This summer they had a lot of delays and even cancellations because they didn't have planes.
ReplyDeleteWell next summer they will.
DeleteArticles outlines the fleet increase.
If they get those 3 on time.
DeleteIt all sounds great and exciting and then you see their financial report and realize what a huge negative impact these expensive planes are having on their bottom line. I can't help but think that there must have been a cheaper alternative with which this welcomed growth could have been achieved.
ReplyDeleteFlying old aircraft that need a lot of maintenance and burn more fuel is what's expensive.
DeleteA220-300s have 25% lower fuel burn than A320 ceos.
You really do not understand aviation as people from Buzin. They fly with Dash 8 most of the winter.
Delete@10.40 reduced fuel burn does very little if all your other costs are out of control. Fuel this year is much cheaper than last but that didn't stop OU have a much worse year financially. And lower fuel burn does not help with record low load factor. It means there is something wrong in their marketing, sales and route planning departments
DeleteA lot of these new services could be more successful if they easily connect to services to the coast and the region. During the summer they should have at least double daily Pula direct, Zadar 3 to 4 daily and Dubrovnik and Split should be up to 8 daily services from Zagreb using a mixed fleet of ATR42/72s now that they plan to retire the dashes.
DeleteI agree. And many of their flights from the region actually mis connections by 5-10 minutes which is crazy. What is their planning/scheduling department doing?
DeleteDoes anyone have any idea when are they going to announce which new routes they intend to fly next summer?
ReplyDeleteProbably when they have guarantees that they will get the 3 A220s next year on time.
DeleteThe guarantees are part of the contract. Any delays in delivery are reimbursed.
DeleteI very much doubt at this point if they know Airbus will deliver the aircraft when they say. The first one was late by over a year
DeleteVery nice!
ReplyDeleteFinally something happening at OU
ReplyDeleteLet's hope next year is the year they finally wake up from their deep sleep
DeleteCore issues at the airline remain I new routes or a new aircraft type won't fix it
Delete15 new aircraft is no development?
DeleteI’d love to see Croatia Airlines add more flights to Scandinavia, especially from Zagreb cities like Oslo and Stockholm. There’s a big Croatian community in those areas, and it would be a great connection for tourism both ways
ReplyDeleteI don't get that SAS doesn't fly to ZAG. Odd
DeleteVery obviously, the (North)-Croatian community is not as big as needed for flying to the capitals there! They already failed how many times with exactly these flights? SAS will also know that but hey, they don't even fly from anywhere to places like VIE
DeleteAli bit će nekih drugih :) U svakom slučaju ZG raste ma koliko to neki ne žele priznati.
DeleteОвом изјавом желим да јавно признам да аеродром Загреб расте.
Delete1734, Bosnian community in Scandinavia and Croatian diaspora in North America should suffice.
DeleteORD would be perfect starting point to connect whole North America diaspora
DeleteAnon 11h49, yet it is proven so far it never sufficed...
DeleteIt's going to be a great year for Zagreb Airport next year again. That's for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt will, but, no T'Way next year. They removed ZAG from their website. :(
DeletePostavlja se pitanje je li za T'Way Zagreb bio komercijalno profitabilan. Evidentno nije. I zato je ukinut. Kako onda više vjerovati T'Way, poglavito u kontekstu toliko brojnih Jatovanja koji se daju u zadnje vrijeme, a koja se ne ostvaruju.
DeleteZagreb had a solid October, 18.5% growth. Nearly same amount of passengers as September. OU can't ignore and not be a part of this growth. Good to see they are finally doing something.
DeleteDoes this mean they will finally reach their pre Covid number of flights?
ReplyDeleteHopefully yes. Shameful they haven't yet
DeleteLots of plans, eh...
ReplyDeleteThey usually deliver what they announce
DeleteSo, when will they announce new routes?
ReplyDeleteNext year
DeletePrague, Prague, Prague!! I hope it’s not going to be 8 different cities in Germany (but I wouldn’t be surprised).
ReplyDelete+1
Deletesummer seasonal to OHD
ReplyDeleteNext season they will fly 4 Dash 8
ReplyDelete5 A220
6 A320
Lično bi volio da uvedu liniju za Oslo, Aci i mi se da bi i ona za Dublin bila solidno popunjena.
ReplyDeleteMožda ne svakodnevni letovi, ali ponedjeljak, petak i nedelja recimo