Croatia Airlines reveals fleet renewal plans

Croatia Airlines to grow fleet by ten aircraft

Croatia Airlines has revealed plans to lease up to six 100-seater aircraft in the coming years, while the first two of its four ordered Airbus A320neos are set for delivery in 2021. After converting its 2008 order for four A319s to the more efficient A320neos last month, the airline says its other two jets from the European plane manufacturer will arrive in 2022. "Croatia Airlines is very pleased with this latest order amendment that will allow us to renew our fleet with four new aircraft, by one of the world’s most prestigious aircraft manufacturers. The negotiations with Airbus, who showed great understanding, took more than two years but we have concluded them in a mutually satisfactory manner", the carrier's CEO, Krešimir Kučko, says. He adds, "The delay in the initial 2008 order was inevitable due to the company’s demanding restructuring program. We are very glad that we have come to an agreement with Airbus that fits perfectly with our ambitious future business plan".

Airbus' Vice President for Central and Northern Europe, Kimon Sotiropoulos, notes, "Airbus is pleased that Croatia Airlines has become the latest customer for the A320neo. It will give Croatia Airlines access to the most modern aircraft and extend the partnership between both companies well into the next decade". Croatia Airlines says it negotiated better terms and conditions for the neos than it did for the 2008 order for the A319s, which cost 175 million euros with an additional increase of 3% on the purchase price for every year until their delivery. However, the airline did not disclose the value of its neo order, saying only that the aircraft at list price cost 400 million USD.

Croatia Airlines says it will kick off its fleet renewal next year with the lease of two 100-seater jets. A further four will join the fleet in the coming years. "As the restructuring process is successfully coming to its end, Croatia Airlines can turn back to growth, primarily through fleet expansion and new flights and destinations, already in 2016 with introduction of two 100-seaters, followed by four more in the years to come", Mr Kučko says. The Croatian carrier has previously said it aims to add flights to Eastern Europe next year. "At first, Eastern European countries within the European Union are our priority. At a later stage we intend to fly east outside of EU boundaries”, it noted. Croatia Airlines currently has a fleet of twelve aircraft – two Airbus A320s, four A319s and six Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:06

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:07

      Valjda bravo CTN?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:18

    Wonder which 100 seat aircraft they will choose

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Maybe SSJ100s :D

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:29

      First idea was Embraer E190, but now they talk about CRJ.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:35

      Is Lufthansa CityLine still offering their CRJs? Adria will get two. Why not Croatia?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:22

      yes, LH still have 11 CR7 on stored

      Delete
    5. Purger18:02

      CR7 bi bio najveća glupost koju mogu napraviti CR9 još kako-tako, ali CR7 je opako gutanje love. Pa što mislite zašto ga je LH stored? I ako ćemo mi sad progutati i opet Lufthansina go*na onda nekog doslovce treba egzemplarno streljati na Trgu bana Jelačića za veleizdaju.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:25

    To me this looks like they probably won't get sold if they are making fleet renewal and network expansion plans.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:30

    BUD with RJ????? You are joking right????

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:34

    You wrote about this yesterday. Don't start again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:42

    Dobar potez CTN-a!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous10:29

    OU is on way out got it. No more plains for them, they could not afford new airplane. How much air fuel you need to burn to save for 215M Euros? Bravo Kroacija. Absolutely no way for ASL.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:45

    How much fuel do you burn to fly 70 passengers on an A320?
    Too much and that's why you stop flying to LCA and fly only a few days a week to the rest of your network.
    Simple mathematics.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous10:53

    Routes under 75 minutes should be served by ATR, for sure not by RJ. RJ for short flight like BUD is suicide decision!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous11:00

    Not even close, if you put people on an ATR for 75 minutes next time they will drive to that destination.
    With an RJ the trip is much quicker and the same plane can make many more trips in a day.
    Intra ex-yu flights with ATRs? Sure, but not to the destinations that the poster above mentions.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous11:21

    You don't know a bit of traffic business.

    ATR is superior on cost of RJ under 250 nM, and much better in terms of cost under 400 nM. Budapest-Belgrade is just 218 nM. In same time Ljubljana is 318 nM but still good for flying by ATR for you?!?!?!?!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous11:32

    You know nothing of how a competitive business works.
    An ATR to BUD will just send the passengers to their cars and buses because the road between the two cities is good and fast.

    ReplyDelete
  13. OT:

    SKP: September - 145.965 pax. or +26,05% compare with 2014

    January-September - 1.092.275 or +17,89% compare with 2014

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:26

      SKP or MAK figures?
      Impressive either way.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:42

      SKP only!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous02:52

      Well-done, Skopie.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous12:14

    No, that is about shortness of the route. Just in reach countries you can succeed with so short route (218 nM). Or if route is subsidized like Zagreb-Zadar for example. So, there would be not enough passengers for ATR or RJ. And in same time ATR is smaller and costs are several times smaller. So, it that route can succeed it can be only with ATR. In very first second I said that route does not have chance. Highway, just 2,5 hours driving, not big P2P market, Budapest with too many routes for connection via BEG.

    But to put even bigger plane with huge costs especially on so short route (as short route is RJ is more expensive per nM) is madness.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous12:15

    *reach = rich

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous12:35

    Najbrze sto mozes stici iz Budimpeste do Beograda je tri i po sata sve ispod toga je rizik na autoputu voznja preko 160 km. Izlasci i ulasci u Beograd i Budimpestu nisu moguci vecim brzinam od 100 km zbog guzvi na autoputu. Zadrzavanje na granici retko kada ispod pola sata. Samo pricate gomilu gluposti napamet.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Finally some decent news from OU but I'll suspect that the new operators of Zagreb Airport twisted the arms of OU a but here.

    Nevertheless, it is good to see that OU will be aiming to create growth and not just rely on organic growth as they have been doing for at least 10 maybe more years now.

    Also, the timing couldn't be more perfect for the restructuring to be complete. The new terminal less than 18 months away, Economy is starting to show some signs of life in both Croatia and the EU as well as Croatian tourism trying to position it self as a year round destination.

    I hope they also improve the on board product.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous13:38

    Gluposti pričate vi. Naravno da se čekanje na granici ne računa (imate ga i na aerodromu), kao što se ne računa i ulazak u grad (pa gubite i vrijeme za dolazak iz Beograda do aerodroma, te iz aerodroma u Budimpeštu. Dakle to su iste stvari i zato se u komparaciji sa štednjom vremena avionskog prijevoza računa samo distanca između dva aerodroma i efektivna vožnja.

    Želi li kalkulirati cijelu priču onda ispada

    Beograd centar - Budimpešta centar 3,5 sati

    Avion 4 sata:
    - Beograd centar - Surčin 0,5 sati
    - Chekiranje i dolazak prije leta 1,0 sat
    - Let 1,0 sat
    - gate, policijske formalnosti, prtljaga 0,5 sati
    - izlazak iz terminala (parkiralište, taksi, bus) + aerodrom BUD - centar Budimpešte 1,0 sat

    Pa da se ne razbacujemo sa karakteriziranjem da je nešto glupo, jer ispadate smješni.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous14:02

    Ovo ce ostati dobar potez CTN ako u flotu dodje CRJ9 a ne E190 kao sto se pricalo.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's been talk of CRJ1000 as the most probable option, 2+4. Destinations such as PRG, MXP and OMO are to be taken into consideration for now. Futhermore, although there's been serious thoughts about OTP and SOF, no recent aspirations could be confirmed.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:14

      Hvala na informacijama to bi bio odlican korak za CTN jel se znaju jos neke destinacije mozda ?
      INN-NS

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:02

      INN-NS

      Gotovo sigurno Bukurešt i Prag, možda i Sofia. Izgledno je i ponovno upostavljanje linije Zagreb-Tirana.

      Lijep pozdrav.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:04

      Hvala nadam se konkurenciji mozda onda uradi Klik u ASL pa se pocnu ponasati agresivnije .
      Steta sto nema nista od DME ili ARN.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    5. Purger18:07

      PRG, OTP, MPX i OMO su must za CTN.

      Slažem se za ARN u potpunosti. Ali DME bi bio ekstremno loš potez u ovom momentu. Ni SU ne može svoje letove za SVO napuniti od kada su uvedene vize za građane Rusije (od kada smo ušli u EU), te od kada je počeo rat sa Ukrajinom. Broj putnika se bitno smanjio. Iako sam 2010. bio zagovornik hitnog uvođenja DME, sada ta linija nema nikakvoga smisla. Svi režu Moskvu, a mi bi je uvodili.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:35

      Nobody mentions Mitsubishi Regional. My bets are on MRJ ( and closer cooperation with Japan in broader sense)

      Delete
    7. The MRJ looks like a great plane but with the 100 seat airline market becoming more competitive, Bombardier, Embraer, Mitsubishi and Suhkoi now all offering aircraft in this class, I think OU will be abale to get their hands on some cheap Embraers so this is where I think they will go.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous14:11

    Plane Mad je upravu ASL je prekopotreban RJ.
    Kao i zamena postojecih ATR
    Da se ja pitam porucio bi 6 SU95 i takodje 6 AT76 a koga zanima rado mu mogi reci destinacije gde bi mogli profitabilno da lete sa SU95.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous15:24

    OT: With regards to today's CityJet news and Intro Aviation being a strong contender for Adria Airways stake, maybe we could see SSJs in Adria colours too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:40

      In that way, with several new CRJ900 aircrafts for CityJet's SAS operations, they would have harmonised fleets :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:56

      CityJet also announced its return to central Europe after the end of financial consolidation. It can be even easier with tight cooperation with Adria under the same ownership.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous15:31

    Gde?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous16:07

    VCE
    MXP zameniti sa RJ i slobodni A319 slati za IKA.
    WAW zameniti sa RJ slobodni A319 slati za AMM.
    SOF zameniti sa RJ
    GYD sa RJ/A319.
    TBS sa RJ
    INN sa RJ/AT75
    HEL sa RJ
    i naravno treba poruciti jos 6 A350-900.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous16:42

    To sto bi ti da saljes u IKA i AMM nema nikakvog smisla jer MXP i WAW ne bi isli u istom valu kao i ova dva prva grada. Tehnicki JU ima dovoljno aviona i za AMM i za CAI... nazalost za IKA nema posto je on malo dalje.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous16:47

    Sad samo da objasnis sto SOF bolje radi od BUD?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous17:02

    @4:42
    Naravno da nebi islo ali bi se uskladilo sa planom letenja .
    IKA moze normalno sa A319 da se leti posto i OS leti .
    @4:47
    Normalno da SOF bolje ide zbog vremena kad se leti i uslkladjen je sa valovima.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous17:17

    neverovatna je sudbina Q400 - od sjaja do ocaja. u pocetku hvaljen iz sve snage, a sada ga se svi zele otarasiti po svaku cenu. nikad nisam shvatao komentare koji su podrazumevali superiornost Q400 u odnosu na ATR72/500/600. leteo sam u oba tipa i kao putnik nisam primetio nikakvu razliku u komforu. desetominutna razlika u trajanju leta je nebitna. nejasno mi je da niti jedna od ex-yu aviokompanija ne razmatra CS seriju ili to radi u tajnosti zbog konkurencije.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:33

      Zasto bi? Vidis da ga nude Airbusu?

      Delete
    2. Purger18:10

      Malo tko upće razmišlja o CSeriji.

      Iako su najavili prodaju preko 300 primjeraka do kraja godine, ista je podbacila i prodano je tek 243 komada za 17 kompanija među kojima su pretežno financijske i leasing kompanije, a od poznatijih kompanija tek Swiss, Republic, Gulf, Korean, Saudi i Air Baltic.

      Delete
    3. Cseries has some orders that orders that likely won't get delivered.

      The Republic order for 40 is very unlikely, unless they plan on leasing them out.

      Republic is in a very tight situation financially and operationally, they have a huge shortage of pilots because they are a bottom feeder. I think they expected scope to be relaxed by the time this order was delivered or something.

      And for all the leasing companies that ordered the plane, I doubt about some of those orders such as Ilyushin.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:13

      Aleksandre i Purgeru,

      Kada sam pomenuo C seriju mislio sam pre svega na kapacitet tih aviona koji su upravo ono sto treba operaterima kao sto su CTN ili ASL.Takodje, pretpostavljam da bi fleksibilni pilotski rostering sa identicnim type rating smanjio troskove i olaksao trening. Imajuci u vidu losu fin. situaciju tog projekta, moguce je da bi dobra strategija u pregovorima mogla rezultirati povoljnim uslovima kupovine. ASL verovatno ima problem sa stavom ETD grupe, ali CTN bi nakon SWR bio drugi kupac iz DLH interesne sfere.

      Unapred hvala,

      ATCO

      Delete
    5. Jedini problem je neizvesnost projekta C Serije.

      Delete
    6. Purger20:35

      A zbog loših financija i upitnost krajnjeg proizvoda. Poglavito prvih par stotina komada sa svim porođajnim mukama.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous21:11

      Naravno ih treba kupiti Airbus.
      INN-NS

      Delete
  28. Anonymous18:01

    I'm not impressed. All this talk for 4 Airbuses that will already be "old" planes when they are delivered. They need some new planes NOW with more frequency. I travel to DBV a lot and it's always complicated (and usually expensive), especially in winter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:11

      I don't understand why these PSO routes in Croatia are expensive. The govt subsidises these routes for the benefit of its citizens to enable and facilitate travel throughout the country because of a lack of efficient and cheap transport - not for airlines to profit from this fact. That being the case, all that these PSO routes end of being, is a means for the govt to prop up and support airlines to make abnormal profits - in other words, de facto state aid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:35

      Agreed ! So why doesn't the govt introduce a price cap on these fares to prevent airlines from profiting like this ?

      Delete
  29. Anonymous18:59

    I think, for Croatia Airlines is big mistake not having flights to Tirana. I know some people wich working in Albania, and they flighing from Wien I think.
    Are CrJ cheaper then Embraer? Or why crjs are better for Croatia Airlines?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right now, the Embraers are getting much more orders and are in higher demand.

      Because of this, the CRJs can be delivered much faster and Bombardier is willing to give more discounts because of they are in a bad financial situation and they need as much revenue as possible.

      Delete
  30. Nemjee20:03

    I don't think he meant that IKA is too far for the A319 but that it's too far for it to go at around midnigh and to come back in the early morning. A potential schedule for IKA would be something like:

    BEG-IKA 14.00-19.30
    IKA-BEG 04.30-05.00

    So you would have to have a plane sitting for several hours in Tehran. There is no point in attracting passengers to the Balkans so your main target would have been western Europe. However, I highly doubt we will see flights to Iran any time soon. Etihad believes that the market from IKA to western Europe can be served via AUH.

    ReplyDelete
  31. OT: Serbia is #11 in list of most frequently served Eastern European destination from Western Europe:
    http://exyuavforum.lkwhx.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=75

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:39

      Is it good or bad?
      Which countries are considered "East Europe"
      Are other ex-Yu countries ahead or after Serbia?

      Delete
  32. Anonymous22:32

    Ali najjace je 6 A350-900, ULR verovatno hahahahahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous22:51

    Ne ULR nije potreban ali takodje vam mogu rado nabrojiti profitabilne destinacije koje znam .
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous23:07

    Any info if Air Serbia's Atr from Tirana has been repaired just of yet?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous02:51

    IKA can be reached with all A320 family.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Aэrologic03:08

    The schedule to IKA should be a bit similar to that of Abu Dhabi. For instance:

    BEG-IKA 00:00 05:30
    IKA-BEG 06:30 09:00

    The same plane could then be used on to London instead of sitting 4 hours in Belgrade from elsewhere. Besides London (what is the primary market out of Iran) which would have an ideal connecting time and make up maybe 50% of the passengers, already from 12PM connections out of Belgrade are available to OTP, ATH, IST, SOF, TIA, SKP, SKG, TIV, DBV, SJJ and to the rest of the destinations from 17:00. Not ideal but those destinations alone aren't negligible and the connecting times are perfect at least when going Easterwards. That's understandably as per the current schedule and could of course be improved.

    However, the chances of that happening are slim unless the JU managements takes a decisive step in that direction despite EY's preferences. After all Alitalia is flying to Tehran so it's not like there's an embargo.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Nemjee08:59

    I don't think your schedule would work.

    Your London flight would have an ideal connecting time in one direction, not both. JU has that afternoon flight only during the summer season and it's only two weekly slots which is not enough to remain competitive. JU's LHR flight tends to be operated by either the Airbus from TGD or TLV (or another that was undergoing regular checks overnight).

    Also, the 09.00 arrival could offer nice connections to the region but you are missing regional afternoon flights which would feed your midnight departure to Iran. Not to mention that both Athens and Istanbul already have direct flights to Iran. Overall, your schedule would require passengers to spend many hours at BEG which is not ideal.

    Until JU builds up at least double daily flights to most of its destinations, it will be difficult for them to launch tricky destinations such as IKA.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Aэrologic14:26

    We were just extrapolating about how those flights could fit in the current schedule and that it is nothing impossible. Besides, I didn't have time to check but i seriously doubt that all the other airlines have ideal schedules/connecting times and passengers in Iran are not as spoiled as in the West (or in Serbia). Due to the simple geographical location of Iran which is at least 3 hours away from any European hub, Air Serbia wouldn't be the only one with a less than a perfect schedule. There I maintain that they could remain competitive even with the current one and that it would be far from a suicide. Aircraft utilization-wise, this would be the perfect roster. The two weekly flight to London would mean that 75% of the time the passengers have an 'ideal' connection if JU was to launch 4 weekly flights at the beginning (100% on the way there and 50% on the way back). That's high enough.

    I just checked and basically no airline offers both ways 'ideal' connectivity to Tehran besides Turkish and Ukraine (thanks to their geo-location again) and LH cause of extremely high frequencies to anywhere in Europe what certainly comes with a premium. With most other airlines, from Austrian to Aegean passing by Pegasus 5-10 hours wait are the norm to most W. European destinations at least on one way. Thereby there is certainly place for Air Serbia in that market with reasonable prices, superior service and the fact of exclusivity to a number of SE destinations that only TK can match.

    PS: An aircraft departing Tehran at 04:30 as you said would arrive to Belgrade at 07:00, not at 05:00, thereby it would need to depart IKA around 3AM in order to arrive on-time for the morning wave. That's a bit less of a wait but still too long to make it doable.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous14:58

    Nemjee, you might want to check your maths...

    ReplyDelete
  40. Nemjee15:08

    So a passenger that wants to avoid a long connection is spoilt according to you? Odd.

    Also, like I said, until JU adds more frequencies to its European network, destinations with tricky scheduling (as is the case with IKA) should be avoided.
    As far as Aegean goes, their IKA flight is timed to arrive to ATH at 04.00 so that passengers can connect onto the domestic network which start to depart at 05.00. Also, don't forget that several Star Alliance airlines have departures at 06.00 so Iranian passengers can get faster connections to places like Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich...

    Furthermore, those afternoon LHR flights are seasonal, what will you do in winter?

    Also, I checked for this winter and these are the one stop options between IKA and LHR:

    AZ via FCO, connection of 2 hours with BA.
    OS via VIE, three weekly, connection 40 minutes!
    IR via VIE with AB, connection of 2 hours.
    KK via IST with BA, 2 hour connection.
    IR via IST with BA, 02.15 connection.
    IR via BEY with BA, 01.30 connection.

    These are just some examples of what Air Serbia will have to go up against. In order to remain competitive with 6 hour connections the fares will have to be dirt cheap. Given that IKA is roughly 3 hours from Belgrade, I don't think they can really afford it.

    ReplyDelete

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