Croatia Airlines surpasses million

Record numbers for Croatia Airlines
Croatia Airlines carried its millionth passenger on Wednesday, the earliest it has done so since beginning operations 20 years ago. The Croatian national carrier recorded the figure 27 days ahead of last year and 4 days ahead of its record breaking year of 2008. The millionth passenger in 2011 was travelling from Munich to Zagreb. Srećko Šimunović, the airline’s CEO, said that the good result was achieved due to the development of Croatia Airlines’ destination network, strategic routing and an efficient fleet.

By Wednesday, Croatia Airlines handled 127.000 passengers more than during the same period last year. In international traffic the airline carried over 674.000 passengers, an all time record. In domestic traffic, on the other hand, the national carrier welcomed 266.000 passengers on board its aircraft, an increase of 16% on last year.

However, the airline’s finances are seeing record losses. Šimunović remains optimistic though, saying that he believes Croatia Airlines will be able to post a minimal profit next year. Turmoil in North Africa, a resurgent tourism industry in Croatia and more travel within the country are all factors which have led the airline to record large scale growth. As a result, Croatia Airlines will carry the most passengers out of all former Yugoslav airlines by the end of the year, leaving its rivals Jat Airways and Adria Airways well behind.

Comments

  1. Yes but the uprisings in North Africa will not last forever.
    Tunis will be back next year and so might Egypt so this situation is just temporary.

    He still fails to present a long-term survival plan for his airline.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peter from Sydney09:34

    What a disastrous result! Record numbers of passengers, record losses! Someone isn't managing things right! Your so right Nemjee, I don't think I've seen a CEO from any of the Balkan airlines offer a concrete long term survival package of where the airline is heading. The current record passenger numbers are not the result of Croatian Airlines planning, but just coincidence.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter,

    Exactly, I am just really curious to see what excuses they will present us with next year when they fail to record such passenger numbers.

    The sheer fact that they keep on bleeding money shows the fragile situation they are in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:19

    So basically, million passengers and millions in EUR in debt, so the government is paying money for each passenger to be on the flight.

    Mind you, if there were no passengers and flight operations the government could have had those millions that now are spent on strangers flying on Croatia.

    Idiotic, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Something does not add up. Why would an airline carrying its millionth passenger be millions in the red? I also see that NO ex-yu airline has so far presented a plan on where the airline is heading. I agree with Peter and Nemjee. Croatia Airlines recording its millionth passenger is just coincidence. But on the other hand I must say, OU is a good airline to fly with. They have a young enough fleet, nice cabin staff and good service.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous13:43

    CA has a record PAX number and the most comments here are negative.
    OK, be it as it may, but the fact remains that it is the ONLY airline in the ex YU which is worth anything, a member of Star Alliance, has a young and modern fleet, operates from 3 hubs in Croatia (totaling 4.5 mil passengers) and leaves everyone else in the dust.

    To all you negative (jealous) people out there I have a piece of news for you; no matter how much you wish it doom it will not go under this year or next year.

    Just as a comparison; in its heyday JAT (heavily subsidized by the Federal YU government) had 4.5 mil passengers flying to 17 domestic and numerous other European, African, Middle Eastern, Asian, Australian, and American destinations. Today, CA is approaching half of that figure flying only to several destinations in Croatia and Europe.
    What do you think the numbers are going to be when it starts flying internationally?

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ First Anonymous,
    Do you know that the Croatian government is subsidising OU? If so, then why is Zagreb airport still waiting to be paid by OU as reported on this blog a few days back?
    At the end of the day a profitable airline is not that common these days but I do agree that the current model / plan OU and other airlines in the region are following is out dated.
    The increase in passengers could also be due to a 'normalisation' of air travel or numbers slowly going back to pre WFC levels so it may not be all that terrible for OU next year at all while Tunisia / North Africa recovers.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If a business is making a large loss in the previous years than it is normal for a recovery to start by decreasing losses and not by turning a profit overnight.
    So halving a losses in just 12 month is a success no matter how you look at it. It will be an even bigger success if they break even next year. They would join a group of very few profitable airlines.
    Hence, I believe your comments are not at all justified.

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  9. Anonymous15:14

    Croatia Airlines is a nice airline. Really like it. I hope that they will commence Zagreb - Belgrade soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bačka Ploča15:39

    Most european airlines had financial red figures, due to the world economic crisis and also sometimes to bad management.
    Despite the occured debts Croatia Airlines has surely the best opportunity to balance debts and credits, new routes, new aircrafts and new partnerships, codeshares than other airlines in the ex-Yugoslavia..
    Some comments posted in this blog seem to be rather illogical, envy and stupid.
    Croatia Airlines achieved its best results in 2008, and these figures were not effected from Greece and North Africa.
    Tourism in Croatia is a great resource and the beginning of this summertime shows excellent results, June 2011 to compare June 2010, is +20% more.
    Let us the new CEO of Croatia Airlines work and we see if his forecast for 2012 will be matched or not.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous18:08

    Maybe Croatian does not so good
    but it also does not so bad.
    Improvement is a thing of years not of a season.Croatia is nearing EU -membership, so this will them also give an enourmous boost.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous20:46

    It is really sad to read about OU as the best airline in the region while it is heavily subsides by CRO government but still in red red figures!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What is all this talk about OU being subsidized by the Croatian government? If anything, the reverse is true.

    ReplyDelete

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