easyJet to end Paris - Zagreb service

easyJet drops Paris - Zagreb flights
The low cost airline easyJet will suspend services from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Zagreb next summer season due to poor passenger loads. Although the airline planned to operate four weekly flights on the route over the winter season, frequencies have been reduced to only one weekly flight. Three extra services will be added only during the Christmas and New Year period to cater for holiday passenger travel. The airline launched the Paris - Zagreb route last year. However, passenger numbers took a hit recently after Croatia Airlines significantly reduced its ticket prices throughout its European network. easyJet will continue to operate its flights from Dortmund and London Gatwick Airport to the Croatian capital as per normal.

easyJet’s Paris suspension will be warmly welcomed by Croatia Airlines which will now only see competition from Air France on the route. Currently, the Croatian national carrier plans to operate daily flights from Zagreb to the French capital during the 2012 summer season. Furthermore, it will introduce a new service from Zadar to Paris (commencing May 1), to be operated once per week and will increase its frequencies on the Dubrovnik - Paris service from two to three weekly next summer.

easyJet will operate its final service from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Zagreb’s Pleso on March 23. France is the fifth biggest country market out of Zagreb Airport after Germany, Croatia, the United Kingdom and Austria.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    So does this mean that OU and AF are going to bring back the sky-high prices to Paris?

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  2. Anonymous09:33

    Easyjet will also end flights from Paris to Ljubljana. It is a pitty. No more cheap flights to France.

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  3. Anonymous10:31

    where do you have this information for Ljubljana and Easyjet? and if it so how comes that they do not cut it with the same message as for ZAG?

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  4. Anonymous11:33

    Maybe its time they start flights to Belgrade!

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  5. Anonymous12:06

    The ex Yu region have to establish his own low cost airline, like Wizzair in Hungary and Ukraine. Why we are waiting so far for that?? I can not understand that air traffic growth everywhere except in ex Yu region.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:14

    So Croatia Airlines kicked them out of Zagreb through good prices?

    Well, I do believe that.

    Last February I have flown to Paris from ZAG, the price by OU was some 30 euros cheaper, actually 60 euros because I also had one small piece of luggage.

    Anyway, I had little choice with Easyjet, arrive in Paris on Friday at 14h and leave Paris at 8:30 Sunday morning.

    With OU there were more flights to choose from: leave ZAG at 6:50 (Friday) and leave Paris on Sunday at 18:30. More time in Paris for less money!

    I just don't care for LCC's much, their inflexible policies, extra costs for luggage, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aero13:18

    Apologies for OT>

    BEG success may be justified by being one of the most transperent apt in Europe.
    They`ve just published their Q3 report:
    http://www.belex.rs/eng/trgovanje/vesti/hartija/AERO

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous14:00

    Topic is EasyJet, Paris & Zagreb.

    BEG "success" is based on the fact of being only international airport in Serbia and high emigration rate / running of Serbs out of Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Aero14:13

    I made my apologies.

    For you from "new (old) wave participants" in recent weeks here on this blog, maybe it will be worth of knowing that OTs used to be common here, with no offenses to anybody.

    But if you form "new (old) wave"say so, enjoy you time here, and welcome!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am happy that OU came out as a winner in this competition but at the same time I hope that this doesn't mean higher prices on the route. I have been thinking of flying from the US to CDG next summer to see the "Tour De France" and then fly CDG to ZAG or LJU. I hope I can still finda good deal.

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  11. Purger15:12

    I don't know. I was flying Easy on ZAG-CDG some 10 times and LF was always more than 85%.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous15:54

    Well so much for Zagreb as a regional hub. How can anyone claim that they can be it when they can't even attract enough flights to a city like Paris.

    Any news on Skopje?

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  13. last anonymous - the issue at hand is a load factor competition. OU has government behind it, and thus can reduce prices as much as possible to increase loads. Easy Jet don't have that opportunity, so they got out. There is AF on this route too.
    This has nothing to do with LDZA that eventually will be the regional hub. It's simply a capital of a country that everyone wants to visit. What we've seen so far is only the beginning.

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  14. RedemptionExYu17:03

    aaahhhh.....shit!
    It is always the same ...everybody complaining that there is no low cost airline and cheap prices...but when you have them you dont fly them!
    The same with Belgrade and Flydubai ....now you can Fly NONSTOP to Dubai and with ONLY A SINGLE stopover to every point in Asia and Australia...but the stupid people dont want to fly!
    What will happen...suspension...and then people will the next 60 years have to fly with stopovers in Istanbul airport toilets!
    Today you even can NOT fly direct to most cities in Europe!
    See Prague or Hamburg....you people are stupid!

    ReplyDelete
  15. RedemptionExYu17:14

    To anonymous Nr1,
    Yes that is exactly what will happen...unfortunately!
    Wait what happens when AF terminates Zagreb..I could kill myself!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous18:33

    Problem of Croatia and Ex Yu is that everyone sticks to their national airline no matter how bad or expensive it actually is.Customer base is extremely conservative and
    dont want to try something new airline.They first wait to see if flights are profitable and when it is fly them.But this behaviour destroys profitability ,how can airline profitable if nobody flies them?
    So easyjet is no surprise,i expect a lot more airlines giving up Ex Yu airports.I will not be surprised if some destinations are totally abandoned or only flown by crappy national airline for the next decades.
    Ex Yu is a grave for foreign airlines an LCC.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous20:21

    I flew with EZY from ZAG to LGW, LF was over 80 %. Didn't know they were doing that bad. Shame

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  18. Anonymous20:54

    ^ They are not suspending LGW they are suspending CDG

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  19. Anonymous21:39

    @ anonymous @ 2 pm

    even with the emigration rate from belgrade, it would not account for much of the growth rate at the airport EVEN IF 100% of the people were flying out, which is not true as many drive or take trains... its cheaper, also a reason they want to leave serbia, to escape poverty. the serbs with the more money wanting to leave, and the ones being able to leave to the USA and Australia use airplanes mostly.

    tourism in serbia was and is on increase, also connecting pax and diaspora, so check your facts "anonymous" before you post shit.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous21:40

    & he apologized for off topic, and its funny for BEG and JAT posts, people post stuff about croatia as well and there is no bitching?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous22:51

    Leaving Serbia because of poverty?

    They only should try...they will see that life in rest of Europe is not often better!

    Theres is also poverty in UK or France...sometimes you see things you are shocked about that it can happen
    in such countries!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous23:06

    @ last anonymous

    true, but still there are more job opportunities in other countries, and MUCH MUCH lower poverty as it is high in serbia, where unemployment is about 23% , where it is less than half of that in average EU country...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous23:16

    In EU Serbs are not allowed to work...because they have restrictions
    for Non EU foreigners!

    And even as Eu member...with exemption of UK and Ireland....
    access to work is difficult to obtain!

    Ask Romanians and Bulgarians how it is to work without proper documents for 20% of average loan but to have to rent housing and
    buy goods for 100%...same as others!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous23:24

    Also Serbs who go now to EU working...do it illegaly !

    It is regarded in Germany and Austria as crime !

    If Police catch them up...money they loose...and then in jail and back to Serbia!

    Also you are then registered in computer of Police ...you will be screwed the rest for your life.

    As long as you dont get catched up you have nothing to fear...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous23:28

    Why should Germany or France give Serbs jobs?

    There are enough German and French people who have no job...
    but are even or better qualified
    as Serbs!

    Try to come..you will see what you have from it!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Purger00:05

    LF is not reason. EasyJet can not secure enough slots in CDG so they terminate routes which do not bring extra profit. Of course line where you have 952 pax in Croatia and 1.050 pax in Air France = 2.002 pax in concurrence with very low prices because of that concurrence is first in line to terminate.

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  27. Anonymous00:27

    Okay Purger...but why then not switch to Orly airport..it is also airport in Paris ?!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Purger00:39

    For me I am happy that they don’t fly to CDG any more. 3 companies are too much for that line. I hope they will start to fly to some other airports where there are no other companies.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Purger00:39

    For me I am happy that they don’t fly to CDG any more. 3 companies are too much for that line. I hope they will start to fly to some other airports where there are no other companies.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous00:53

    But i prefer Easyjet before AF...
    maybe you r right and we will see some other destinacions .

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous06:01

    Dear colleagues,

    Please stop using word "concurrence" when you are talking about "competition".

    Concurrence is NOT konkurencija!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous06:05

    Aleks,

    I am glad that tourism is / was in increase in Serbia.

    Could you please support this by some statistic data?
    Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Maybe in Croatia people are conservative when it comes to flying on new airlines.
    When airBaltic launched flights, if I remember correctly their first month out of Belgrade they had an average loadfactor of about 74%. That doesn't seem that conservative to me.
    Not to mention that Lot which was a newcommer as well did surprisingly well.
    Maybe Croats are conservative which would make sense in explaining why there are so few airlines flying there.

    Also, flydubai is doing just fine in Belgrade. Don't forget that they are more or less scorring an average lf of 42% with 4 weekly frequencies. With their cost structure that is more than good.

    There is something people always forget, healthy loads do not mean healthy profits for the airline. Especially if they are flying into an expensive airport such as CDG.
    That is why I think U2 withdrew from the market. Not because they could not get more slots but because they couldn't make enough profit on the route.

    Air France has their intercontinental network to feed out of Zagreb so it left the other two to compete for a relatively small market.
    Like Purger wrote, there are roughly 2,000 passengers between ZAG and CDG on the two airlines. If you take BEG-CDG there are roughly 10,000 passengers during the low months and there are between 16,000 and 18,000 during the summer months.
    CDG has only 30% transit passengers from Belgrade which means that there is a lot of O&D to rely upon.

    Don't forget that from next year when Croatia becomes an EU member it will be illegal for the government to cover the losses of their airline. Which means that when U2 returns the outcome will be very different.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Purger08:50

    42% is not good LF not even for all business class airline, and espetialy not for LCC which must have at least 75-80%. 42% is disaster for LCC!!!!

    On ZAG-CDG there was not 2.000 pax per month but including easyJet there was 2.756 pax per week and that is around 12.400 pax per month.

    ReplyDelete
  35. 42% is not good LF not even for all business class airline, and espetialy not for LCC which must have at least 75-80%. 42% is disaster for LCC!!!!
    -------------

    Yes but you are missing the most important point, 42% loadfactor at the launch of the route is far from bad.
    Not to mention the discount they got from Belgrade and the cheap terminal they fly out of in Dubai. Their current costs are quite low which means that with rougly €30.000 they get with 42% loadfactor is not bad at all.

    Sorry but it is far from a disaster.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Thank you Purger! According to most comments here Croats are not educated fliers 'cause they shy away from LCC's?!

    Well,let's see: Croatia is the only country in exYU with domestic air traffic, it has most airports, its national carrier flies more people than the next 2 put together (Adria + JAT), it has a more developed IT industry and more developed habits of buying things online, BUT somehow it falls short of famous Belgrade!

    Now back to LCC. Why should I fly them if I can get a better deal from OU or AF just to keep the LCC in business here? (When I say the better deal it is often not only the price but flexibility and more flying options).
    When you, for example, want to buy a ticket with Easyjet and select the 'Flexy' option you will see that often their price far exceeds the one offered by the other two regular airlines.
    I also wonder, Purger you may have this information, how much did Easyjet pay ZAG airport and how much do OU and AF pay?

    There is a myth about LCC which seems to be prevalent among the forum members here and that it can operate with profit with low prices but OU cannot (or any other regular airline) operate with profit with same prices unless the government picks up the difference!
    Well, in case of Easy, Ryan and the likes somebody also picks up the difference; in this case it is ZAg airport,Zagreb City Tourist Board, Croatia Tourist Board, County of Zagreb,and City of Zagreb (there maybe more).

    THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH PEOPLE!!!

    I have no problem with government picking up the slack of OU if that same OU flies some 1.9mil people of which some 82% are foreigners. If only half of them come and spend 100euros here (hotel, food for one!!! day) than government's 'help' of 15mil euros is no longer help but an investment which pays off by multitudes.
    I'd rather support (with my tax money) our own company then a private foreign enterprise which behaves like a pirate of the sky, demands hefty subsidies and leaves whenever it wants to.

    As far as Belgrade airport is concerned, and all other airports in exYU, none of them make it on the list of top 100 airports in Europe.
    If we take into account that there are only 21 countries with population higher that Serbia, the fact that BEG is pretty much the only airport in the country than the figure of 3,1 mil pax is not impressive at all! A capital of a country does not make it on the list of top 100!

    Same goes for Zagreb!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Yes, but you are forgetting that Belgrade just got a chance to expand in December 2009 with the liberalization of the market. How do you expect an airport to make it to the top 100 list in such a short time?
    However with an average yearly growth of over 15% it will reach that.

    Also the fact that Belgrade is the only international airport in Serbia doesn't mean much. Look at countries like Hungary, Slovakia or even Bulgaria (which has only one decent international airport).

    The most important thing is that the airport is moving in the right direction.
    Recently BEG has introduced security line for Business Class passengers which do not need to wait with the rest of the mortals, a new business lounge was either opened or it will soon. New investment is coming soon...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous10:04

    Since Serbia and BEG are the poorest in Europe, of course, there is lot of space for improvement.
    In next years, definitely before 2020, BEG will certainly reach 3.5 mil, maybe even more, of PAX, mostly flying by LCCs

    ReplyDelete
  39. Nemje;

    Response to your statement:
    ''Also the fact that Belgrade is the only international airport in Serbia doesn't mean much. Look at countries like Hungary, Slovakia or even Bulgaria (which has only one decent international airport)''

    Bulgaria 2010:

    Bourgas 1,705 mil
    Sofia 3,134 mil
    Varna 1,220 mil

    So, yes, Bulgaria has other significant airports!

    I support Belgrade's growth but we have to be realistic: it is only catching up to what it should have been years ago hence such strong growth (visa liberation, etc). Mark my words, the growth will stabilize in the next few years topping some 4 mil or maybe 4.5 mil by the year 2015.

    ReplyDelete
  40. ....and that one significant airport in Hungary has 8 mil pax per year!

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  41. Anonymous11:00

    Damien, you delivered very good reason why Croatia has less LCC
    and why they have more conservative
    habit.

    Croatians are simply more patriotic
    and will always prefer their national airline before foreign ones because Croatia is a good airline.

    Serbs are very unhappy with their Jat and are hungry for alternatives which are foreign lcc!

    Nemjee you say 50% is good lf for flydubai?
    Well i think Lf will improve in next time..it is right what someone said...people wait first what happen then they fly.

    And flydubai had only a bad start!
    It only can get better,
    flydubai has so many advantages you would be stupid not to take them.

    Flydubai is official feeder for Emirates and their network to Asia and Australia.
    As deal with Jat expires..Jat will never fly again to Dubai simply because their pasengers can not more connect to Emirates Airline... but Flydubai can!

    My greetings to all people in former Yougoslavia!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Bourgas 1,705 mil
    Sofia 3,134 mil
    Varna 1,220 mil

    So, yes, Bulgaria has other significant airports!
    ---------------

    Yes, remove the charter passengers and you will see what I am talking about.

    ....and that one significant airport in Hungary has 8 mil pax per year!
    ----------------------
    Yes because Hungary is a country with an economy (unlike ex-Yu regions) and has a functional home airline, something ex-Yu lacks.
    So their 8 million is a normal mark.
    Also Hungary's population is 10 million, which is some 6 more than Croatia and 3 more than Serbia.
    Also, Budapest not only attracts Hungarians but also people living in Souther Slovakia, Bratislava included.
    Last time I flew LCA-BUD our 737-800 was at least 30% full of Slovaks.
    Even the Slovak ministry of foreign affairs used to send their officials via Budapest, that is until CSA launched BTS-LCA.

    So things are not as black and white as some prestent them.

    ------------------
    And flydubai had only a bad start!
    It only can get better,
    flydubai has so many advantages you would be stupid not to take them.
    --------------------------

    Exactly, I mean they are going to fly almost daily around the holidays. So I suppose that their regular flights are close to 90% full at around that time.

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  43. @Nemje, don't be ridiculous! You are looking for all kinds of excuses, dissecting data, doing comparisons only to justify BEG (or FylDubai) performance.

    YOu cannot dismiss charters in case of Bulgaria just to bring them down to the level acceptable to YOU! It does not work that way.

    Even if Slovaks are using Budapest and this is driving Ferihegy's numbers up, than ask yourself a question: why don't other exYUgoslavs use BEG and thus raise its traffic numbers?

    You cannot diminish other airports and countries to suit your needs.

    If you look at Belgrade's pax numbers they are OK in context of comparing them to last or previous year; obviously there is a significant growth and that IS good.
    If, on the other hand, you look at it from the prospective of European aviation than BEG is rather insignificant and not on the map of top 100.

    The question to you is this; what do you think can be done so that BEG gets at least 5 mil pax per year (or even 7 mil)?

    ReplyDelete
  44. I am just being realistic, there is a major difference between airports that rely on O&D + business passengers and there there are those that attract tourists.
    If you want to talk about airports like BEG, ZAG or even BUD then you can compare them to airports like Antalya, Varna, Alicante...
    In simple words you cant compare apples and pears...

    Anyway, Belgrade can never reach 7+ million without a strong home carrier.

    Qatar just announced launch of Zagreb in 2012 so let's see how that route performs.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Da, Qatar Airways has started service in 2011 to Sofia, Bucharest,and Budapest. In 2012 they are adding Zagreb to the list.

    Well, will see how well it will perform. I am glad about this. New connection to Australia for Croatia!

    http://www.ameinfo.com/281304.html#story

    ReplyDelete
  46. Yes but the problem for Qatar is that it doesn't fly from Doha to Sydney which is not the case of Emirates and Etihad.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Sydney does not equate Australia: Qatar flies to Melbourne and Perth.

    I don't see a problem in changing planes in Melbourne or Perth. It means only 2 stops to Sydney or 1 stop to the other 2 cities in Aus.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous13:45

    Qatar airways has only one landing daily at Australia, they do not fly to Perth, while Emirates has 10 landings daily. That is huge difference.

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  49. I don't see a problem in changing planes in Melbourne or Perth. It means only 2 stops to Sydney or 1 stop to the other 2 cities in Aus.
    -----------------------------

    Yes but then what is the difference between flying on QR and Turkish/Singapore ZAG-IST-SIN-Australia?
    In that sense there is nothing new in having Qatar serving Zagreb besides gaining faster journey to Perth and Melbourne. Melbourne might be interesting as there are some Croats there but we all know that Sydney is the main thing.

    ReplyDelete
  50. @ Anonymous Nr 5 (Nov 15,12:06 pm)

    There are one more segment of operations, in addition to low cost, which ex-Yu airlines don't have. Long-range.

    And there is a start-up airline in Croatia, with plans to operate both low cost, and long range.

    They will try to start operations in 2012. Would they succeed in their plans, or not, we'll have to wait, and see.

    You can check more at www.dalmatian.hr

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  51. Anonymous20:23

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  52. Anonymous20:50

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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