Ryanair grows Croatia operations


Ryanair will expand its operations in Croatia this coming summer season by introducing a total of five new routes in an attempt to catch up to its low cost rivals on the market. The budget airline, which last year held a 5% capacity share in Croatia and was well behind easyJet and Eurowings, will strengthen its seasonal base in Zadar by launching flights to Frankfurt, Memmingen and Bremen, while also adding services from Frankfurt to Pula and Rijeka. In addition, it will boost frequencies on its existing services to the country. As a result of its new Frankfurt flights, the carrier plans to discontinue operations between Hahn and Zadar. "Our Zadar summer 2018 schedule, offers fourteen routes in total, including three new routes to Bremen, Frankfurt and Memmingen and we look forward to further growing our Croatian routes, traffic and tourism in the coming years", Ryanair said.

Overall, during the peak summer months, Ryanair will offer over 12.000 seats per week from Croatia. However, despite adding new routes to the market, the airline still has no flights to the country's two biggest tourist hotspots - Dubrovnik and Split. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News recently, Dubrovnik Airport's General Manager, Frano Luetić, said, "We have been in talks with Ryanair for over a decade, however, our stance remains unchanged. Ryanair is more than welcome in Dubrovnik but under the same conditions as the other sixty airlines operating here. We are strong and united in this regard, hence, we would not want to destroy the excellent relations we have with other carriers in order to post big numbers". Ryanair has requested for Dubrovnik Airport to reduce its fees and sign a multi-year agreement prior to it starting operations.

Similarly, Split Airport has said it cannot reduce its fees to accommodate Ryanair. General Manager, Lukša Novak, noted, "In Croatia, they [Ryanair] still operate exclusively from airports which provide support for their flights. We have held meetings with them and established contacts, however, for now, they will not come to Split as we have not changed our policy. Neither Split, nor Dubrovnik, need to stimulate carriers during the season as traffic continues to grow. That would only create a mess on the market. We are always open for talks, but we do not intend on changing our business policy". Ryanair operates flights to Croatia exclusively during the summer and currently plans to maintain twenty routes from the country this year.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    It's time for them to open a permanent base in Zadar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Is there enough demand during winter?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      Frankfurt am Main definitely. Maybe no need to keep the base but they could keep a few flights.

      Delete
    3. Alen Šćuric Purger09:20

      LCC made demand by themselves. Of course there is no need for 30+ flights per week, but for sure they can have 7-10 flights per week and use that based aircraft for some more routes out of Zadar in W-shape for example ZAD-FRA-PUY-FRA-ZAD

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:40

      Eurowings didn't have a very good experience with winter operations this year to coastal airports. Loads have been relatively poor.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:56

      Eurowings is not an LCC, more like a hybrid airline.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:50

      Well their fares have been at LCC levels this winter.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:51

      Plus they offer connections on Lufthansa so it's unfortunate their loads have not been better this winter. Hope they stick with these routes next winter.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:09

      Demand in winter might eventually come from tourist agencies offering cheap long stay for pensioners in seaside resorts.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous22:22

      Wondering why Ryan doe not start Eindhoven - Zadar

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Wonder if they will close Hahn-Pula too now that they will launch Frankfurt-Pula.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      It is still available for booking.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:52

      Hahn-Zadar was until last week too.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Glede SPU i DBV, ja ne vidim problema.
    Isti uvijeti za sve.
    Ryanair.......uzmi ili ostavi.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:52

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:11

      Exactly. However, maybe Dubrovnik should consider offering cheaper service outside four main months of the season.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa will get tough competition on Frankfurt routes which they should keep year round.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      ?????

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Sorry I just realized my comment didn't make much sense. I meant that Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa will get competition on the Frankfurt-Zadar route. Ryanair should keep it year round.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:53

      I think the demand is big enough for all three airlines.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    I don't get how Dubrovnik and Split are so expensive for Ryanair? Practically all LCCs fly there and they don't seem to have problem with the price.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Exactly! Even Wizz flies to Split and they have complained time and again how Croatian coastal airports are expensive.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:53

      Look at how expensive Wizz is to Split.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    Great news. Hopefully they will extend some of these flights into winter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Hope so too. To me it's crazy that they don't have a single non-seasonal route to Croatia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:54

      Doubt they will be extending anything in Croatia. If easyjet with much more routes and passengers to Croatia hasn't, neither will Ryanair.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    so they will fly from CRL and STN to Rijeka or not? Only bookable are routes from Stockholm and Frankfurt...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      No, only Frankfurt and Stockholm this year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      Rijeka airport send to few different journalist list with destinations for this summer and they wrote in statement that routes from CRL and STN will be there...but obviously not true ...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:55

      Maybe they will become bookable soon. Fingers crossed.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:14

    With more and more legacies flying to SPU and DBV, I don't think Ryanair is their top priority.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:42

      The biggest advantage of having Ryanair flying to Dubrovnik would have been the all year-round flights which they said they wanted to operate.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:16

    Few days ago in Serbian news I read Ryan is closing the base in Temisoara.
    https://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/svet.php?yyyy=2018&mm=02&dd=23&nav_id=1362325

    This is not ex-yu, but our close neighbourhood that lot of people from North Serbia used. Whet do you think, does Niš have better chances to get base now? May this help Osijek or Banjaluka or maybe TUzla get Ryan?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      They quit Osijek last year because Osijek didn't want to pay them money anymore

      ps you have that news on the left hand side too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:30

      Right... I missed that one. So, it is true then.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:17

    More or less Ryan will have the same number of routes this year as last year - 20 (they have opened some and closed some) but they will have more flights than last year because they are adding frequencies on a few routes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:18

    Good to see SPU and DBV remain strong in their positions about Ryanair!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      I think now they should start focusing on getting some seasonal long haul routes.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:21

    2018 is going to be fantastic for Croatian airports.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      The amount of new flights already announced to Croatia this summer is really impressive.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19

      Croatian airports will handle over 10 million this year.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:22

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:27

    FR is very aggressive and I don't think they will be at all happy with easy jet continuing to expand in Croatia. I predict they will be launching more new routes to Croatia next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      They have not been overly aggressive in Croatia. In fact easy is the dominant LCC is the country, then Eurowings and then Ryanair. Eurowings is the only one which operates year round though, including to coastal airports.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:28

    I'm still surprised at the fact Ryanair will be flying from FRA!!! Gosh the times have changed since LCCs, especially ultra LCCs were relegated to secondary airports and villages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      I think FRA gave them some great deal. Lufthansa objected.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      Main airports are realizing they can no longer ignore LCCs.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:01

      Exactly, the main LCC players in Europe (FR,EZY,W6,DY) have become so large it is very difficult to ignore them. If an airport wants to develop rapidly (let's say you build a new terminal), LCCs are the way to go. They can easily base 10 737/A320-size aircraft with less than a year notice.

      Which other airline can do this?

      Delete
  16. A total of five new routes will be inaugurated. And a total of 6 routes will be discontinued.
    From ZAD to HHN, CPH, GLA and BRS
    FRom RJK to STN and CRL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:30

      They are still operating more flights than last year.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:33

    And still no plans to fly to Zagreb :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      And I doubt they will be coming anytime soon.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      SPU GM says it all: "In Croatia, they [Ryanair] still operate exclusively from airports which provide support for their flights."

      ZAG will never provide them support.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:42

      Well maybe ZAG decides it's time for an LCC to open a base and they provide some subsidies.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:48

      Because none of the major LCCs don't want to seem to fly to ZAG.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:51

      U cemu je takav zal za Ryanom?
      Zakon ponude/potraznje.
      Ako ima netko tko bi subvencionirao Ryanove letove za ZAG/SPU/DBV, samo naprijed.
      Ali, ne smatram potrebitim ugadjati Ryanu samo zato da bi letjeli.
      Kao sto vidimo, ima podosta drugih koji ce letjeti pod tim i tim uvijetima.

      Delete
    6. Pa nije zagrebački koncesionar Caritas da njima plaća da lete na ZAG. Vjerojatno mogu dobiti popuste za otvaranje novih linija, kao i ostale kompanije, ali ovo lihvarenje nema nikakvog smisla.
      Jedino da Grad Zagreb odluči subvencionirati te letove, ali ja kao porezni obveznik ne bih bio sretan tom odlukom.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:30

      Ryan is perfect option for tourist destination, but it is not for ZAG. Representatives of Ryan were in ZAG 2 years ago, and I am happy they did not realize flights from ZAG. EasyJet, Eurowings, Vueling... are totally different story, but Ryanair no thanks!

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:26

      lol @frishki, pa nije ni Fraport Caritas pa eto ima FRA Ryanair

      Delete
    9. LOL, jel ti to uspoređuješ jedan FRA i ZAG?

      Delete
    10. Nemjee11:35

      If Wizz Air can pay full fees at BEG then I don't see why FR can't at ZAG.

      In my opinion ZAG should approach Wizz Air.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous11:48

      I think ZAG's fees are actually more expensive than BEG's or at least BEG's T1 fees.

      Delete
    12. Nemjee12:12

      Can't ZAG offer lower parking charges to airlines that want to park their planes at the old terminal? It could be the BEG equivalent of T1 whose planes use gate A7, A8, A9 and A10.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous12:18

      I don't think they know what they want to do with the old terminal. Management wants to make it a cargo terminal but that still hasn't been realized. There is also an idea to make it a low cost terminal.

      It would be a good idea in my opinion to make it a LCC terminal and offer some competitive fees for LCC airlines.

      Delete
    14. How do you know what they want and are doing with the old terminal? The cargo is up significantly each month pretty much since they've took over. Cargo obviously brings more $$$ than LCC passengers and airlines.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous13:31

      The airport wants a cargo terminal but ZLZ doo as representatives of the state that also have a big say in what happens at the airport want a LCC terminal (I spoke to one of the managing directors).

      Delete
    16. Well, if you spoke to one the managing directors...

      Delete
    17. Anonymous13:43

      I did. I really don't care if you believe me or not. I say one because there is a total of five of them and all five represent interests of the state. There are no other employees in the company.

      Delete
    18. If I would be the concessionaire, I would chase the money, not the number of passengers. When you pay that much for the airport, you don't focus on passengers numbers. There have to be priority.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:48

    They should consider Brac :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:33

      Nije iskljuceno da se to desi kad brac dodatno produzi uzljetno sletnu stazu

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:48

      Da. Od jedne plaze do druge plaze otoka. Super.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:02

    Great news. We will be seeing more and more of them in Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      It's goos news but Croatia should do more to attract airlines to fly year round. Then it would really be an achievement.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:07

    Bad news for Croatia Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      Only on Frankfurt route. I don't see how the other destinations would affect them.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:41

      Yes its bad for OU on the FRA route. Now tourists will use LH from say NYC to FRA and then continue on FR to ZAD instead of with OU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:16

      Last anon, why would anybody do that? It would probably be similar price with the risk of loosing connection and hustle of transferring baggage on your own?!

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:11

    I wish Ryanair good luck and a lot of pax! I hope to see further growth from other airports in Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:11

    What happened with FR in Osijek?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:35

      Missed that. Typical FR.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:20

    Ryan needs to step in before someone else does on the Eindhoven - Zadar route, I really don't understand how Zadar has zero connections to the Netherlands while they do to the UK, Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Luxemburg etc.

    I know lots of people who would use this line to Eindhoven and from Eindhoven to ZAD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      +100

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:39

      ZAD has a connectipon by TUI from this summer to AMS.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:32

      One per week with a total of I think 8 flights the whole summer and I cant even find the possibility to book it so I guess those are even charters. Unbelievable how nobody has stepped in yet.

      Delete
    4. The flights aren’t on sale anymore

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:34

    Ryanair is not known to come and operate at your airport for free I wonder how much in subsidies they get.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:43

      I would rather subsidise FR than failed national airlines.

      Delete
    2. That could pack up their $hit and leave whenever they like it.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:43

    Brexit could have an impact on FR and its EU routes.

    Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has warned of a "real and distinct" threat that flights from the UK to the European Union could be grounded from April 2019, meaning there will be "no holidays" that summer.

    O'Leary, who has this morning handed transport secretary Chris Grayling a briefing note outlining his fears, said the aviation industry had a hard deadline of September 2018 for the agreement to be reached.

    "Otherwise we will have to start cancelling flights, or taking them off sale," he said this morning.

    That would leave Brits forced to get ferries for holidays to Ireland or continental Europe, O'Leary explained, saying they would be "full of Irish and British refugees".

    "September 2018 is when we will start seeing the shit hitting the fan," O'Leary added.

    He insisted Ryanair would be able to navigate a possible summer of chaos by deploying its 70 UK-based aircraft in intra-European flights, but said EasyJet and British Airways would have no such fallback.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:44

    Time for FR to start domestic flights in Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      Doesn't Croatia Airlines get state subsidies

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:58

      I seriously doubt B738 will be economical on domestic flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:28

      OU said all domestic flights are loss making which is why there are subsidies and PSO in place. Any EU airline could have applied for PSO but none did so Ryanair surely won't be flying domestic flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:48

      Don't think Split Zagreb is a loss making route. Or Dubrovnik Split.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:04

      Well I remember one of their CEOs (think it was Kucko) said it is. Keep in mind Dubrovnik city also pays OU for these flights and that many passengers on this route are transfers, which means less money for the airline on this sector.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:02

      Lose si ti to upamtio. Grad Dubrovnik je subvencionirao karte svojim gradjanima a ne OU.
      Uvidjas razliku?

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:45

    Pretty great to see the management at Split and Dubrovnik hold their ground against Ryanair's demands. If the fees are accepted by other airlines, why should they get preferential treatment? Well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:40

      I think Ryanair would have been a really good addition, especially during the winter. Passenger numbers would have exploded.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:44

      Kakva korist od brojki kad nisu popraceni financijskim rezultatima?

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:01

    I think Ryanair should consider new routes from Nis and Maribor airport as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:05

      No chance for Maribor now that SHS Aviation owns the airport. The only airline they want to fly there is VLM. As for Nis, they launched a new route in October last year. With Timisoara base closing there is potential for new flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:05

      Somehow I think Ryanair will add FRA INI flights in near future

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:09

      Unfortunately Ryanair is avoiding Slovenia like the plague. It's the only EU country they don't fly to.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:12

      And Slovenia should be proud of it. FR lower prices to get rid of competition, then he put up prices. True face of low fare: bankruptcy and low standards.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:45

      How come then that Ryanair is doing well in Italy?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:12

      Yes, Slovenia should be proud of it. Not only was Adria charging more than 700 EUR for a return ticket to BRU, additionaly part of taxpayers money came to them as well... And they still didn't turn profit.

      Hardly see any LCCs going bankrupt any time soon, especially Ryanair.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous11:11

    FR is on a roll in ex-Yu. Just in last year new routes to Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous11:43

    I hope they establish more flights to Rijeka. That airport really needs more traffic.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous11:47

    It's a shame Osijek lost FR.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous14:56

    From Tmisoara to Croatia

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous18:04

    I have a friend in Amsterdam airport. He said me airport Pristina is in talks with Easyjet. Easyjet is ready to Launch Amsterdam-Pristina and Zurich Pristina.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous18:15

    By the way guys, FR just announced 11 new routes from Edinburgh but neither BEG, ZAG nor DBV included in the list :( :(

    – Edinburgh: 45 routes including London Stansted & 11 new routes to Berlin, Derry, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Lisbon, Memmingen, Stockholm Skavsta, Riga, Seville, Sofia, & Tallinn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:10

      Excellent, we don't need them!

      xoxo

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:00

      koji dio u ''ne odstupamo od svoje politke cijena'' ne razumjes?

      Delete

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