Low cost carrier Ryanair has announced it will suspend and reduce the number of flights at seven airports in Spain due to excessive fees imposed by the state airport operator Aena. According to the airline, Croatia is expected to be one of the countries that will gain more flights as a result. Ryanair will cease operations to the cities of Jerez and Valladolid. It will also reduce the number of services from Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, Zaragoza, Santander, and Asturias. Overall, it will reduce capacity on twelve routes by 18% and wipe out around 800.000 seats on the market compared to last summer.
The airline, which is the largest in Spain in terms of passenger numbers, announced the redistribution of some aircraft and capacity to Croatia. EX-YU Aviation News can exclusively report the carrier has filed a preliminary schedule for new routes from Dubrovnik to both Katowice and Marseille. The flights are yet to be put on sale, with a preliminary schedule to the Polish city available here and Marseille here. Both routes are currently slated to commence on March 31, however, this is subject to change as the airline is yet to put the pair on sale. They will complement the already scheduled new route between Dubrovnik and Gothenburg. As previously reported, the carrier has also filed a preliminary schedule for flights between Hahn and Rijeka, which are yet to go on sale.
Over the course of the week, Ryanair has added additional frequencies on several of its flights from Croatia. Cementing its position as the country’s largest airline, it currently has a peak of 419 departing weekly flights from the country in July and August, up by 39 flights on last year. Weekly departing capacity over the peak summer travel period stands at 78.020, which is up by over 7.000 seats per week. However, the reduction of operations in Spain will impact one route to Croatia, with the seasonal service between Girona and Zagreb reduced from the initially planned three weekly to two weekly rotations. As a result, frequencies will match those from last year.
This is all nice and well but there are two things we need to wait and see:
ReplyDelete1. FR's impact on OU.
2. FR's impact on ZAG's finances and if they will actually report a profit this year.
Croatian state doesn't pay anything towards ZAG finances.
DeleteAnd little towards OU.
But the millions of visitors FR is bringing leave billions of Euros to Croatia's economy.
So don't cry too much about them.
ZAG and OU are companies who are in the business of making money. Neither one should be loss making. Board of directors at both companies do not get their bonuses because some local restaurant or hotel profited from Ryanair.
DeleteIf the airport doesn't profit from them then it means it's not a sound business model. There is a reason why Spain isn't caring about Ryanair leaving. Someone else will step in.
Little towards OU? Are you aware the amount of money the government has poured into OU over the years?! Also, they need to be profitable because the EU doesn't allow them to receive subsidies. So your argument is not valid, so many you shouldn't cry so much.
Can't imagine large number of Girona locals spending a lot of money visiting Zagreb.
DeleteExactly, it's a cheaper alternative to OU's ZAG-BCN.
DeleteSo an Irish company operating in Croatia and not paying taxes there is trying to push out a Croatian company which employs Croats and pays taxes in Croatia. This is what they call predatory capitalism.
No Croatia is in single European market, thus making Ryanair equally Croatian as Irish.When it comes to taxes, lower taxes Croatia and Ryanair will open one of its airlines inside Croatian register making it Croatian.
DeleteThey will never leave Ireland due to their fantastic and business friendly tax system.
DeleteAnd the Single European Market doesn't change which country profits the most from their expansion. They are taking Croatian money and taking it to Irish banks. The same way OU brings foreign money into Croatia when they fly tourists.
Bravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteIt is very bad news for Aviation! Ryanair expansion need stopping! No Airport makes a profit from them!
ReplyDeleteAnd tgat is why they stupidly continue to offer incentives to Ryanair. Necause they don't make any money out of it.
DeleteAre you for real?
Then why aren't all airports dying to work with them and why did some force them to pay more? Obviously they are not all that.
DeleteMAD for example forced them to use airbridges and to pay for them. FR accepted.
So you are comparing Madrid to Zagreb?
DeleteAs a matter of principle yes. Don't forget that FR has gotten quite big in ZAG. Leaving the market won't be easy due to all the money, profits and revenue they are making there.
DeleteThey can threaten ZAG but...
Fantastic news for Croatian tourism. 2025 will be another record year.
ReplyDeleteRyanair has been steadily increasing its presence in Croatia, and it’s paying off. 419 weekly flights? That’s impressive!
DeleteFR just shows how inept OU is. A country which relies on tourism should have a national carrier of significance, not this basket case run by government cronies.
DeleteDoes it have to have it? Bulgaria, Italy, Cyprus, Malta... are also tourist powerhouses but they don't have a strong national carrier.
DeleteWhat about Portugal, Spain, Greece, France, Turkey, Austria, even Montenegro regarding its size? And many others. And I disagree about Italy : both Alitalia before and ITA today are big and strong carriers
DeleteAlitalia was a joke and ITA is very small compared with the Italian market.
DeleteIt doesn't change the point of the comment.
DeleteAegean as well is small compared with the Greek market. 16.5 million pax on an 80 million pax market.
DeleteAnonymous 16:25, Alitalia was a joke? Check their history. Then speak.
DeleteGood news
ReplyDeleteWith these new additions, how many routes will Ryanair have from Dubrovnik?
ReplyDeleteCount it on Ryanair.com
DeleteI wish they’d focus more on Rijeka – it’s still underutilized.
ReplyDeleteRijeka Airport is completely mismanaged. They have lost easyjet flights this year so 2025 will be another disaster.
DeleteDuring last few years, not only they re-lost Easyjet (for the 2nd time; RJK was the 2nd in ex-yu to get Easy 20 years ago), but also they lost LOT (Warsaw, Sczecin and Zielona gora) , CSA (Kosice), Arkia (Tel Aviv), Norwegian (Oslo), Condor (Frankfurt and Dusseldorf), Volotea (Marseilles), Air Baltic (Riga), (1st airport in ex-yu to have BT), Enter Air (Gothenburg, Orly, Warsaw)... Air Serbia reduced year-round service to 3 peak season months only, Croatia Airlines discontinued Heathrow and Barcelona and reduced winter frequencies on Munich, Eurowings discontinued Hannover and cut for about 50% frequencies to Stuttgart, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Berlin. National PSO is ridiculous and totally detached from reality providing two weekly miniature turboprops to Split - Dubrovnik, in peak season when two jets daily could be deployed, morning and evening. As a conclusion : Potaracat i iskoristit teren za ispašu ovaca i pobiranje šparoga
DeleteIn the past Rijeka was connected with, Memmingen, Leipzig, Nürnberg and Münster by TUIfly too
DeleteCorrect, but it was really long time ago. All I mentioned above were later, after TUIfly. And if we want to go even more to the past, JAT had flights to Pula, Sarajevo, Split, Dubrovnik, Skopje and Niš from RJK, JAT again charters to Gatwick, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford, Linjeflyg charters to Stockholm, Malmo Aviation charters to Gothenburg, World Airways and Sun Country Airlines charters to New York, Malev to Budapest, Anić Airways to Budapest and Tirana, Pan Adria/Transadria to Maribor, Mostar, Split, Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Podgorica.... Probably there were even more, just can't remember everything...
DeleteRyanair expanding in Croatia makes sense. The country is booming in tourism, and they’re filling the gaps in connectivity.
ReplyDeleteLow cost options are always welcome
DeletePeople need cheap flights so they have some money left as Croatia is so expensive.
DeleteRespect to Spain for deciding to preserve their history, culture and environment over making a quick buck with overtourism
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBasically, I agree with you on preserving history, culture and environment. But for all those, it's too late in Spain. The entire land is totally destroyed and overcommercialized, especially the coast. If they made this move 20 years ago, I would agree with you. Now, unfortunatelly is too late for Spain. Whether Croatia would learn something from Spain or not, remains to be seen. But I believe the answer is no because too big money is in the game.
DeleteYep, it's really sad to see the transformation and degradation of Spain's coastline. Hopefully we'll learn from another man's mistakes instead of repeating them
DeleteIt seems that you think the Croatian coast has not been degraded. I disagree. Since the 1990s, development has been hectic and carried out without any respect for history and tradition. Regarding Spain, yes, the southern coastal regions are completely devastated. However, this news is mainly about canceling flights in the northern regions, which are far from overcrowded and still economically struggling. This is really bad news for the North.
DeleteMontenegro destroyed its coast as well, now it seems like it's Albania's turn.
DeleteSpain's economy is in tatters. They are increasing taxes on everything and have targeted foreigners especially with 100% taxes on nearly all private foreign investment. This will do a bit of harm to potential travel to the region and Ryan Air is adjusting to suit this.
DeleteSpanish economy is doing exceptionally well.
Delete@11.54
DeleteI am 10.49. And I don't think croatian coast has not been degraded. It has been degraded. But far far far less then one in Spain. And it would be good if it remained as it is right now. But as I said, they would probably go on ruining it because of huuuge money in game all around on all levels
Spain's economy is growing faster than Portugal's or France's, aka their neighbours. Besides, not everything is about money, the decision was made to protect Spanish culture and its people instead of destroying their heritage for cheap tourists
DeleteRyanair had another feud with Spain just recently where they had to pay 100 million $ for hidden fees, such as paying for printing your boarding ticket.
ReplyDeleteAw, and they also left Leipzig, Dresden and Dortmund in Germany and reduced their flights to other airports. They will reduce their capacity in Germany for almost 2 million seats & used the same narrative as well: " taxes are not that high in other European countries".
Wonder where else are they gonna dump that extra capacity.
Ryanair is running out of airports to fleece.
DeleteThey’ll be back - they always come back :) FR was throwing tantrums in ATH somw time ago and in the end they had to cave in as ATH did not reduce fees for them. And while FR was pouting, GQ expanded massively and took a big chunk of their pax.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Ryanair was never as strong after. Aegean and Sky Express took away a part of their market and they just can't get it back. Should teach them a lesson not to blackmail airports like that.
DeleteZAG needs to be cautious because if FR becomes too strong they will have the upper hand.
Especially as OU is so weak.
DeleteAegean was pushing Ryanair out of ATH years ago...
DeleteThey were pushing them out but they never pushed them out. It was ATH's work that did it.
DeleteFR used to fly domestic flights from ATH to HER, RHO, CFU, JMK, JTR, CHQ, SKG 6x a day! Aegean pussed them hard by having more frequencies while not lowering too much their ticket prices and the travelers sticked to them.
DeleteATH did not reduce FR's fees at all and they essentially abandoned domestic flying.
You have to stand up to them.
Unfortunately airports like ZAD, ZAG and DBV have to play the game as the national carrier is so useless.
DeleteToo bad no one WANTS to fly to croatia anymore in 2025, here in Amsterdam, everyone i talk about it and guys who went there for 30 years, are nog returning anymore because of the idiot prices over there. Amsterdam is cheaper dan Split, while we here have 3/5k salary a month #idiots
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of people that will return, Croatia is becoming a premium destination with the number of guests from the Middle east and North America rising every year. What Croatia needs is a mix of wealthy and middle class tourists in order to keep prices down for locals
DeleteBut what Croatia doesn't need is tourist that will come and spend 50 euros a day while ruining the cities, just look at Split
Delete@FSXNOOB
DeleteCan you explain KLM raising both frequencies and capacity on all 3 croatian destinations for the next year? They will fly empty?
the author FSX…. writes a lot of nonsense and generalizes to extremes, so I can't take him seriously. Nevertheless, I would like to tell you, last Anon, that KLM doesn't just live from P2P connections, but from the very good intercontinental connections
DeleteKLM carries a lot of transfers from the US.
DeleteDalmatia is not the place to have a cheap holiday without spending anything outside your all inclusive hotel.
DeleteFor that market there is Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia.
Croatia is a premium destination like Italy, France, Greece.
Lol
DeleteWell, some prices are too high, but most of the prices are ok. Croatia is not a cheap destination anymore and that's a good thing for Croatia. In cheap destinations most people get a low salary. It's ok if your friends go somewhere else after 30 years.
DeleteI'm croatian, but living in Amsterdam for more then 30 years, i visit croatia ( Split ) 3-5 times a year, everyone who says ''Croatia is premium or high class'' now is a big joke. Yes they ask for premium prices everywhere, but what you get for that is far from premium or exclusive, so don't be a liar to your self pff. Power of Croatia was always the good price/quality you got, now you get OK quality and extreme prices
DeleteSorry zemo, but when you come home you probably don't use your yacht anchored in one of croatia marinas, you probably don't rent one of the villas Island croatia Tuscany - Istria, and you probably don't stay in one of Kempinski, Hilton, Martiott, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Radisson, Rixos...chains which all do business in Croatia. I believe above poster was referring to that kind of tourists. And in my opinion, Croatia has it all - for both budžet and deluxe guests
DeleteIt's only missing the main thing - at least for us who are on this blog and similar blogs - strong flag carrier
Spain’s loss is Croatia’s gain-unless you don't listen to us
ReplyDeleteOUs skin crawled when she saw this
ReplyDeleteIt didn't. It's the weekend, they don't check on the work until Monday at 10.30.
DeleteHahahahahahahaha, good one 🙂
DeleteThey check on the work at 9 already. But until 10.30 they drink coffee and gossip. Only then they start reading newspapers and blogs, until 12. Then, until 14 is lunch time. Then another coffee. Few phone calls to kids, friends, relatives. Then, until 15-16, they go home. Results of such hard work are obvious and therefore no additional proofs required.
DeleteCroatia needs to do something to extend season to 7-9 months per year , not just 3-4 months. Price are ok when you compare to other countries problem is that someone from Germany or Netherland is expecting lower prices although we are now same market, part of EU while they think of us as like eastern country, similar to Poland or Slovakia
DeleteRyanair lying through their teeth again. They found a different, more lucrative market and now are trying to make the most of the situation by whining about Spanish fees (in the hope that Spain will reduce them). They'll end up expanding Spanish bases as soon as they get new aircraft.
ReplyDeleteExactly that is why they are closing some random smaller airports. Why didn't they close BCN or GRO if they are so angry? No one is buying what they are selling.
DeleteYeah, MOL has become too predictable.
Delete@18:16 how do you not get it? That is PRECISELY why - if fees are not low, only the big and high-yield markets keep Ryanair flights.
DeleteI get it, you don't get it. It's Spain that decided that it's not worth it having FR fly from all those airports. It's a national decision and that is why the government doesn't care about Ryanair's tantrum.
Delete@07:24
DeleteDon't worry. Some people just haven't realized yet (after some 25 years), how FR "business" model actually works. FR is now just too big and anything that MOL says, doesn't have any impact anymore on company's financial performance. Nobody cares, if he's threatening to pull out of Spain or reduce operation, as some of know that he'll have to base new aircraft somewhere.
What are the conditions of the tender at ZAG, if the airline launches new rote that isn't served yet? For how many years does it receive reduced fee of 5€ per passenger?
ReplyDelete