Qatar Airways to Zagreb

Heading to Zagreb in 2012
One of the world’s fastest growing airlines, Qatar Airways, yesterday announced it will launch services from its hub in Doha to Zagreb along with another six routes. As a result, it will become the first airline from the Middle East to operate scheduled all year round flights to Croatia. Flight details are expected to be released soon. The new route will be launched sometime after February 1, 2012 and is likely to be operated by the short haul Airbus A319-100LR or the A320-200. Other routes Qatar Airways will be launching in 2012 include Tbilisi (Georgia), Baku (Azerbaijan), Isfahan (Iran), Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Kigali (Rwanda) as well as Mombasa, Helsinki and Perth. “Our mission has been to operate to key business and leisure destinations around the world, but also to underserved markets where others dare not venture into. We take bold decisions to serve certain markets because we believe it makes strong business sense”, Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker said yesterday. In the region, Qatar Airways operates flights to Budapest, Sofia and Bucharest.

Meanwhile, employees at Zagreb Airport are planning industrial action starting tomorrow which will disrupt some flights betwen 11.00 - 16.00 CET. The workers union say the strike action is needed in order to “defend worker rights at the airport, especially with the possibility of a takeover”. Last week the workers' union requested for the CEO of Zagreb Airport, Tonči Peović, to be replaced due to falling profits.

EX-YU aviation news will keep you updated with developments relating to Qatar Airways’ Zagreb launch as well as the pending strike at Zagreb’s Pleso Airport.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Excuse me, but what rights are threatened of these workers?

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  2. Anonymous09:19

    Welcome Qatar!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JU520 BEGLAX09:27

    I flew this year Business Class via DOH to MEL.....

    you'll love it. enjoy one of the best inflight services currently avbl on the market..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:31

    Congratulations Zagreb, well done!

    OT: What is the deal with SkyWorks apparently starting flights from Bern to Nis next summer? I went on both the airport and airlines websites and they say nothing about it. Any information?

    Sorry for the off topic, just curious. Once again, well done Zagreb.

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  5. Congrats to ZAG! excellent

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  6. Anonymous09:49

    Nice. They have nice prices for BKK from whole of Europe.

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  7. Anonymous09:52

    Congratulations LDZA!

    Regards from Slovenia :)

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  8. Anonymous09:58

    I will be definitely one of first passengers. Inshallah!

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  9. Great news!!!
    Welcome Qatar Airways! Nice addition to ZAG! Congrats from BEG! :)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous10:35

    CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CITY OF ZAGREB AND TO THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA ON THIS!

    Also congratulations to their national soccer (football) team on making it through to the EURO 2012!

    Lots of love from your favourite, most-loving and most important neighbouring country - Bosnia and Herzegovina!

    Pozdrav svim Bosnjacima, Hrvatima i Slovencima! :)

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  11. Anonymous10:55

    Im not sure if it will be a profitable route? Im happy but will this be a dejavu like easeyjet and SAS? Try to operate the route but with bad cabinload?
    / Philswe

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  12. Zvonimir11:22

    I know there is a large croatian community either in Perth or in Melbourne.
    Perhaps connecting flights Zagreb-Doha-Perth or Melbourne work.
    We see after...

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  13. Anonymous11:37

    Nice news but frankly speaking it looks like a major business blunder (mistake). I really don't see how that route can survive. Dubrovnik or Split would have made much more sense than Zagreb actually. Let's wait and see, if it materializes at all (Georgia flights were postponed for around a year after the planned launch.)

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  14. OU can play here the ex-yu feeder, since both are SA-members.

    regarding the profitability concerns , Qatar has not the best Load factor in general , even on germany bound flights (for example it has occupancy of 51% on the MUC flight, for May this year). Any info on Sofia and Bucharest loads?


    What do you think was the reason they choose ZAG over BEG (is it the already existing DXB-BEG flights ,the ever increasing croatia tourism , the OU ex-yu network .... ??? )



    @anonymous 10:35 AM

    you never get tired of making a fool of yourself

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous11:47

    Well perhaps it could survive if to link it with Sarajevo, to make DOH-SJJ-ZAG-DOH, otherwise it seems they'll be transporting more metal than people in the air.

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  16. Anonymous11:49

    @SKP

    Also would be interesting the info of LF on the Baku and Tbilissi flights, as well as Budapest and Moscow.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous12:22

    Great news for connecting passengers from Australia, hopefully more EX-YU capitals will be announced by Qatar Airways.

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  18. Anonymous12:22

    Great news for connecting passengers from Australia, hopefully more EX-YU capitals will be announced by Qatar Airways.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous12:33

    Great news ;)

    Does anybody know something about that dalmatian.hr, mentioned yesterday?

    Will be something concrete from it or it is just a story?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous12:39

    CESTITAM HRVATSKOJ!

    Pozdrav svim Bosnjacima, Hrvatima i Slovencima iz Australije! :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. frequentflyer13:24

    What a great day for travellers, and for ZAG!

    Firstly, what month is the service being launched?

    Having travelled as recently as 3 weeks ago using QR from BUD, I can recommend such an excellent service, and both planes were full in both Y and C when heading through to MEL. I fly QR now quite often because of the consistency and service offered. For a quite new service to BUD, it is getting both yield AND cabin load demonstrating viability, unfortunately some on this forum only grasp the latter...

    Make no mistake, this is an instant grab at the diaspora market from Oz (MEL & also PER), NZ and S.Africa - and it is profitable for the airline, otherwise they wouldn't be trying it. Flights are likely 4-weekly at first with 320 (almost identical distance/flight time to VCE and BUD), and if the route succeeds be bumped up to daily frequency.

    Ignoring the M.East in favour of pipedream routes to US etc just doesn't make sense in today's world. OU has numerous *A partners to send its pax across the Atlantic on, the mid-east is now becoming the world's intersection - for trade, and travel.

    OU is potentially in the box seat here: if the flight times are identical to BUD (lunchtime arr, ~1700 dep) connections to/from: SJJ, SPU, DBV and possibly BEG (if this route ever starts) feed can the QR flights. Pax are guaranteed interlining of tickets and on-board service. ZAG airport again becomes the sticking point in the scenario!

    This is where the whole FlyDubai argument falls in a heap, and BEG suddenly plays second fiddle in this regard. Pax for BEG/Serbia get LCC inferior service for the 6hr-flight from the Gulf, while ZAG/Croatian pax are entitled to a full-service carrier. It speaks volumes about where the airlines (and governments) see priority, sustainablity, and more importantly, $$.

    Dobro vam došli QR, i sretno!

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  22. Purger13:34

    dalmatian.hr is not company but parody. Here in Croatia it is great source of laugh. Evers Easter they announce starting of flights and they did not even start AOC, don’t have anything exempt modest web page.

    As LCC they plan to fly with several types of planes (Boeing, Airbus, turboprops) and they thing all other LCCs are stupid and not to sea potential in 5-6 types of planes in fleet. Even more LH, BA, AF etc. are all stupid trying to unifying their fleets.

    Also dalmatina.hr will be the first European company to fly intercontinental LCC. Ryanair stop those plans, but dalmatina.hr will show them all! Come on!!!!

    The 3rd stupid thing is flights from Croatia to Australia and South America. Austrian stop flights to Australia, Lufthansa doesn’t have them from Germany, Qantas have less and less lines every year but dalmatina.hr will show them all!

    It is not company, that is not business plan, dalmatina.hr is child dream.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous14:01

    The whole charade with anonymous posters trolling this blog with attempts at armchair nationalism is now sufficiently out of control that the administrator should disallow anonymous posters and subsequently ban those accounts which spew nationalism. There are enough other internet fori for hate speech, living in the past, etc.

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  24. Anonymous14:16

    Exellent news for Zagreb. I love it.
    BTW last days due fog interesting ACFT on some routes. A319 OU from LDZA to LQSA,EDDM this morning JAT sent due poor load AT72 from LYBE to LIRF..
    Nice to see this combinations ;)

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  25. Anonymous14:48

    Congratulations to Zagreb and CRO from Slovenia, well done!

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  26. Anonymous15:11

    BTW, FZ is introducing 5th and 6th additional flight to Belgrade in the days before and after New Year's Eve, on DEC27th and JAN3rd they will fly twice.

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  27. This is a terrific news for ZAG. It will make so much easier for passengers from AUS and NZL to fly home with just one stop. I am sure that this will hit LH pretty hard as I doubt anyone traveling to Asia from SLO/CRO/BiH will go via MUC or FRA again, when it's so much more convenient and faster via DOH.
    Good luck and let's hope BEG is next with EK. This is kind of competition that we need and not nationalist crap. Pozdrav svima.

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  28. @Sam - thank you. I agree. The whole South east European region has room for growth.

    btw - I am worried about LDZA strike that's scheduled to happen tomorrow.

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  29. QR-BurgundiMember16:41

    @frequentflyer

    Well, i don't know exactly how much "money" and wealth is there in places like Entebbe, Kigali and Mumbasa, that got along in QR's list that includes Zagreb. All the added cities are minor airports and under-served. Zagreb by potential can't be compared neither with BUD or BEG. ZAG is a minor regional airport and will always be.

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  30. VisitBengaluru!16:46

    SKP says that Qatar is also Star alliance member ?
    Really ?
    Couldnt find anything about it in Wikipedia !
    But if it is true ,then it makes 100% sense to fly ZAG and not BEG !

    ZAG needs Qarar more then Belgrade
    which already have Flydubai !

    Two airline at the same point excluding ZAG would have been nonsense !
    Dont forget Etihad ! Maybe they also start service ?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Tupolev16016:56

    "This is where the whole FlyDubai argument falls in a heap, and BEG suddenly plays second fiddle in this regard. Pax for BEG/Serbia get LCC inferior service for the 6hr-flight from the Gulf, while ZAG/Croatian pax are entitled to a full-service carrier. It speaks volumes about where the airlines (and governments) see priority, sustainability, and more importantly, $$."

    LOL. Neither QR nor EK fly to Kiev, although it is an airport with 6 times more PAX than ZAG. Only an LCC from the Gulf flies to Kiev, which is Air Arabia, and since recently FZ. Belgrade has much more full-service carriers than ZAG full-service + low cost. This is very childish i think and it is clear to everybody that the route can't survive on long-term and will be seasonal at best. Qatar simply goes there where there is NO COMPETITION (African cities, Sofia, Zagreb, Tbilissi...). That's their strategy and nothing else. You have to face the reality and stop being blinded by your national pride and BEG/Serbia hatred. I don't actually see any reason to mention Belgrade and FZ in this topic. If you got something, why does it matters to you that your neighbor or friend got less than you did? Do you feel better because of that?

    PS: Taking into account that 80% of travelers from Zagreb are foreigners, i hardly see the point in the argument that "Croats get QR, while Serbs get FZ". That's ridiculous. I didn't knew that only Serbs are entitled to FZ/BEG flights and vice-versa. What an idiotic set of thoughts indeed.

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  32. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  33. VisitBengaluru!17:10

    I have flown as well Qatar,Emirates,
    Flydubai and Etihad all in economy !
    They are all the same - very good !
    Much more better than BA or
    Lufthansa ,
    which are better than US airlines
    - which are disaster !

    Qatar is only better to Flydubai because they have Business class !

    In India Indigo and Air India Express are trying to copy economy service of Flydubai because
    FZ is considered to have the best value for money in whole
    South Asia !
    Also there is article on internet
    which says majority of people in the UAE are confident with FZ even before EK and Etihad !

    ReplyDelete
  34. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  35. QR-BurgundiMember

    You forgot to mention (I guess it was intentional!) is that QR flies to Sofia, Bucharest, and Budapest. It does not plan to fly to Belgrade.

    Putting BEG in the same category as BUD is wrong on two accounts, one has 8 mil pax (more than Serbia's population) and the other one 3. BUD sees a lot of transfer passengers while both BEG and ZAG are regional airports - for now!

    Both ZAG and BEG are not on the list of top 100 airports in Europe.

    How do you think that BEG can become a regional hub? Which particular actions need to be taken in order for this to happen?

    You think that Slovens and Croats are going to abandon intercontinental connections via their Star Alliance hubs and switch to BEG?
    Or Macedonians now that Turkish TAV owns their airports in Skopje and Ohrid?
    Or Bosnians and Bulgarians?

    Maybe Montenegrins will transfer via BEG (if they don't use DUB)

    ReplyDelete
  36. MaxFromBerlin17:29

    I've been to Zagreb recently and i have to say, it a joke of a city. There is nothing there, a small sleepy city, with some elements of our German culture. The airport is very primitive, no air bridges even...

    ReplyDelete
  37. @Max -fine, that's the airport which will change soon. as for the city, it's nice and clean. has that feel of a balanced city where you have things to do, yet doesn't feel too urban. you get to places fast. architecture is beautiful, there are lots of parks etc. etc. more and more tourist come each year.

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  38. No offense to my Croat friends here, but I also think that Zagreb has lost its direction. I have been there many times and there really isn't much to do. The airport as it is at the moment, is a really big shame. Coastal cities such as Split, Zadar and Dubrovnik are much more fun to me and that's how an average tourist usually sees Croatia.
    Out of all Ex Yu capital cities, I would say Sarajevo and Ljubljana have the biggest charm.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Off topic but interesting:

    http://aerocroatia.blogspot.com/2011/11/jat-airways-uvodi-nove-linije-iz.html

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  40. hey Sam buddy. To some extent true, but just to put things in perspective. Zagreb has more foreign tourists than Belgrade which is 1,5 times the size of Zagreb. Coastal towns anywhere on the coase, whether that be Budva, Split or Zadar seem appealing as they are summer destinations. and in summer people mostly go to vacations. it's apples and oranges.

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  41. @ Purger

    Maybie you should check participants list of recent Berlin Worldroutes, or few days ago finished London Fair. DLN took part on both.

    Concerning lough and fullishness to idea of long-haul and low cost airline in Croatia, and whole ex-yu region, I think that only blind people cannot see both these operation segments are needed here. And just to remind you that people used to lough and consider foolish lot of big people, including for example, Nikola Tesla.

    For different type of equipment, and "no business plan", I think you lack lot of info. Maybie they just don't want to go public with their business plan for some reason.

    Concerning delays in DLN start, you must admit 2 facts - global economic crisis, and political protection of CTN by croatian government. I really hope that both of these are just about to finnish.

    Last but by no means least : numerous times you've been showing off here with your business cooperation and connection with Croatia Airlines "management" (deliberately under quotations"). If so, you don't have right to discuss DLN because of conflict of interests.

    And just for your info, I have absolutely nothing to do with DLN ( yet ), but I'm fed up with communist state of mind of CTN's "mamagement", employees, and supporters, who all think that they only have right to exist and work and they have right to prevent others from that!

    Best regards to all people who like avation!

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  42. Hi Petar - Hopefully, once they build a new terminal in ZAG, we see even more tourists. I think that investing in infrastructure should be a priority for any country. Croatia has built very nice highways and DBV has in my opinion the most beautiful airport in ex YU. The tourism and as a consequence air travel too is of a very seasonal nature in Croatia. The country should think of how to keep tourists coming during the low-season months as well. Build casinos, theme parks and resorts, organize island cruises tours, offer weekend-gateways (Croatia is 2 hr flight maximum from all major European cities). There is still tons of potential in all ex YU. If we just had right people in power and less bureaucracy.

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  43. Anonymous19:58

    OT :
    On ANNA AERO you can find news about
    Flydubais Belgrade service
    and also photo!
    Look at latest airline routes section!
    Also Skopje airport is featured.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anonymous20:18

    Neither BEG nor ZAG have a potential to become a regional hub anytime soon - one or two long hauls with narrow body, such as QR to DOH or FZ to DXB aren't enough. Simply, neither airport has a major home carrier, and transfer passangers are limited to ex-Yugoslavia residents, majority of whom already fly from ZAG and BEG as their home airports.

    Without attracting transfer passangers from wider region (looking to the east!), potential for growth is possible only in direct connection to domestic incomes, i.e. if local people get richer, they will travel more. Period.

    So, while it's really nice to see such an addition to ZAG's timetable, it is in fact just another narrow-body which doesn't open a huge oportunity for the airport itself. It just makes travelling to the Far East less of a hassle for locals, if the price is right, and with QR it usually is. As for someone based in BEG, SJJ, SKP, it is still just one of possible choices, perhaps still inferior to BUD. And the same thing goes with BEG and FZ, or EK if they evetually send wide body there.

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  45. BEGSupervisor20:31

    Not to be malicious and congrats for Qatar Airways, but one sentence here not quite right. First middle east airline to establish all year scheduled flights to Balkan is Fly Dubai, from DBX to BEG, started a week ago.

    ReplyDelete
  46. JU520 BEGLAX20:38

    @visit Bengaluru:

    QR is not a Star Alliance Member.

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  47. Boy,am I tired of these comments 'Zagreb sucks' - 'Belgrade rocks'. Neither one of them are entirely true.
    Zagreb is not a big sleepy town (look at at a very long list of top musicians and singers who perform there, and not just there but also in Zadar, Osijek or even Varazdin) which do not on Belgrade. There are not only a lot of museums but also a great deal of world famous exhibitions which regularly visit that city....

    And there are more tourists visiting Zagreb than Belgrade regardless of the urban myth that Belgrade has the best night life in Europe.

    This is not to say that Belgrade does not have its qualities, I personally like the city quite a bit albeit for a short visit only.

    As far as the ZAG airport is concerned, yes, it is small, built in 1964, but on the other hand it has been refurbished, it has got a new color lit facade, it is clean and efficient.

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  48. Anonymous20:46

    Emirates,Flydubai and Qatar give a shit about if Belgrade or Zagreb are a hub or not.

    In their business models there is only place for a single hub ...which is their home base.

    Even if Belgrade would served by Flydubai only ...not any other airline..it would make perfectly sense.
    Because Dubai functions as SINGLE STOPOVER to Beijing ,Shanghai Australia ,Thailand and virtually everywhere.

    Same applies for Qatar and Zagreb.

    Look :
    Belgrade-Istanbul-Bangkok-Sydney with TK and TG...2 stops !

    Belgrade-Dubai-Sydney with FZ and EK...only 1 stop !

    The same with Zagreb :

    Zagreb-Munich-Bangkok-Sydney with LH and Tg...2 stops !

    Zagreb-Doha Perth...only 1 stops !

    If Belgrade or Zagreb were hubs...you would need also 2 stops
    if you are from SKP or SJJ !
    ...no advantage for Qatar and Emirates because the competitors
    offer the same.

    ReplyDelete
  49. AlAin-UAE-7822:04

    That QR flies to Zagreb was decided already long before FlyDubai even announced to have interest in Belgrade!
    Dont forget that Zagreb the same as Budapest Bucharest and Sofia are or will become destinations in EU member countries!
    Also of importance was that Belgrade was already aligned with
    EK by the special deal EK had with JAT...now FlyDubai only replaces JAT as a feeder but with much more better product!
    No flights to Dubai would mean a loss of Transit passengers ...why should Emirates let them go?

    Why is EK is for now not flying
    to Belgrade ?
    You know it already...
    their smallest ac is the A330...
    way too big ac for the beginning.
    Qatars decision for Zagreb is not a decision against Belgrade but against the dominance of EK there.
    Because always EK leads the bandwagon of the MEB3!
    Look Moscow ...while Qatar came second and still fly with A320..
    EK serves DME with double dailies!
    That even with bigger ac!

    Also "Frequentflyer" obviously has never flown FlyDubai by calling
    its service inferior...its quite the opposite!

    @visit Bengaluru :
    You are totally right...i also fly regularly to Bangalore(Bengaluru)
    and Chennai for work...i also take FlyDubai before all the others.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anonymous22:05

    Belgrade is 2 times the size of Zagreb and not 1.5.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anonymous22:25

    @ BEGSupervisor said
    The article says it's the first middle east airline to establish all year scheduled flights to Croatia not the Balkans.

    ReplyDelete
  52. AlAin-UAE-7822:28

    oh... i think i have deleted my own comment ?!

    ReplyDelete
  53. @ Anonymous 10:05 pm

    Official data for 2011 :

    Belgrade - 1.731.425

    Zagreb - 1.110.517

    And I suppose you would like it to be 2 times, but it's 1,5. Unfortunatelly for you.

    And after all, I don't know what does it have to do with the aviation. It's note only size that matters to fill the planes. For example, Geneve has 191.237, whole canton of Geneve 464.677 and city is uncomparably more important and dveloped, with the airport which has double or triple numbers compared to ZAG or BEG. So, I really don't know what's your point?

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  54. AlAin-UAE-7823:13

    Well...QR flying to Zagreb is not
    a decision against Belgrade but a decision against EK dominance
    there!
    Dont forget that JAT and EK already had a deal for transit pax who were flying via Dubai!
    Now FlyDubai only resembles JAT as a feeder.
    EK has always been leading the bandwagon of the MEB3...while QR
    still serves Moscow with A320...
    EK serves DME twice daily with even bigger aircraft!

    @"Frequentflyer" :
    Calling FlyDubais service "inferior" shows only that you have never flown with them...it is quite the opposite!

    @VisitBengaluru :
    You know what you say...i also
    frequently fly to Hyderabad or Colombo for work...
    in economy class Flydubai can easily compete with all other
    airlines which are flying there!

    Not to mention any other European airline...

    ReplyDelete
  55. PRAGuc23:24

    Okay guys, chill a bit with these comments. Belgrade is better, Zagreb is better... You are like sooooo boring with that..
    Anyway, JAT is starting flights to Split, Pula and Dubrovnik, but what will Croatia Airlines now do? Will they continue flying from Dubrovnik? Or is there a deal that OU connects Belgrade and Zagreb? :)

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  56. Anonymous23:29

    @ Pozdrav iz Rijeke:

    Actually Belgrade does not have 1.7mil people, this includes places and villages 50km from belgrade.The actual city only has 1.2 mil and it looks it. One only needs to see Vienna with 1.6 mil and see how much bigger it is in physical terms from Belgrade.

    Zagreb has 800.000.

    But I agree with you, the size is not important, it is the quality of life, earnings, cultural offerings, quality of public transport, and many other things which make a city desirable place to live in.

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  57. zagi zagi zagi za Zagreb za svijet, zagi zagi zagi za Zagreb nek se čuje... :) good times. or am I too old ?

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  58. Anonymous00:17

    Sorry to disappoint you:

    Zagreb ~600.000 pop.
    Belgrade ~1.300.000 pop.

    That's actually more than double. Don't count all the villages around.

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  59. AlAin-UAE-7801:03

    Oh look...i did not delete myself!
    It has been someone else ...

    Now i wrote the same text twice.

    This blog should care more about
    its readers and their comments!
    It took me some time to write and to rewrite the text ( ! )
    Did you know that my first text never appeared on screen
    for hours?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Anonymous06:12

    VisitBengaluru!

    If Etihad Coral Economy class is very good for you, you must be very short guy or child since legroom is 28 to 29". In addition, served food is absolute crap, which also reveals your "good" taste.

    MaxFromBerlin

    You cannot hide yourself behind your "maxfromberlin". You are actually Milojko from Kragujevac working in Germany and have never succeeded to be part of German society. I bet you have never been in ZG.

    ZAG / BEG crap is for small kids.
    I could only notice huge jealousy towards Croatia, which btw is not baseless.

    I have not noticed any jealousy in any of comments regarding FlyDubai and BEG.

    Anyhow, most undeveloped country in Europe deserves better in any sense and I am sincerly looking forward, for many different reasons, to any improvement in Serbia

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  61. Anonymous06:43

    I see a lot of comments of jealously towards Croatia as well with these previous comments! Just because the Croats were capable of LEGALLY defending their homeland in the 1990's, just because they have a stable democracy, just because they attract more than 12 million tourists from around the world each yeah, just because the country has a good reputation in general, just because they are a proud member of NATO and soon to be a member of the EU (even though this will be bad for the country) and just because the Croats are good-hearted, well-educated, beautiful and proud people, it does not mean that you have the right to push Croatia beneath your feet...! I welcome this piece of news for Croatia as it will enable me to travel back to my homeland much easier and more frequently from Melbourne, Australia.

    By the way, this is coming from a very patriotic Bosnian Muslim with BiH and Croatian citizenship coming from the town of Kozarac (Krajina) who has a long history with Croatia, both with the military, the 1,000 year-old history and with Catholicism as well!

    I love Croatia just as much as I love Bosnia and Herzegovina!

    ZAGREB AND SARAJEVO ARE THE TWO CITIES IN OUR REGION WITH THE MOST CHARACTER AND THE ONLY PLACES WHERE ONE CAN FEEL AT HOME! - My opinion, of course!

    Belgrade to me is a lovely city, has good nightlife and Skadarlija is very, very pretty, but it's a shame that much of the rest of the city is made up of 'concrete blocks' and largely unused, open space.

    Greetings from Melbourne, Australia! :)

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  62. Anonymous06:44

    Correction - each year*

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  63. Anonymous08:08

    Jesus, how pathetic are you people on here.
    I love how some of you use the argument that Belgrade is not on the top 100 list of European airports. Well you know what, Belgrade will have 3,1 this year so that means it needs another 200,000 passengers to become the 100th.

    Also, who cares if Zagreb has more tourists per year? It's probably people who go to the coast and then decide to visit the capital.
    Also Belgrade is developping in a different direction. Radisson Blu is scheduled to open in a couple of months in place of the Old Mill. Kempinski has bought Hotel Jugoslavija and had recently announced its plans to continue with the construction.
    Also, like it or not Belgrade has been voted number 1 undiscovered destination by tourists by nightlife and for you haters, most notably Damijen, Belgrade has twice more concerts per year than Budapest and Vienna put together.
    Just check the site of the Belgrade Arena and you will see who performs there and how often.

    It's a fact, Belgrade is bigger as an airport and it has a better infrastructure.
    All you Croats pretend as if Qatar announced daily A380 flights and not two/three times per weekon its A319.

    And no, Zagreb is far from ranking in the same league with Bucharest or Budapest. It's in the same league with Sofia and Skopje.

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  64. everyone needs to chill. Both Zareb and Belgrade are very much in the similar league and have a long way to go in terms of development. Zagreb is charming, clean, beautiful, yet has some major infrastructural issues, i.e. needs more bridges, needs to connect few central east-west roads (Branimirova), and AIRPORT is a shithole !
    Belgrade is more urban, bigger, has more things to do. But oh boy is it dirty... needs new buses too :) j/K
    Doubletree hotel will open up in Zagreb early next year. And we are the first ones getting IKEA store in the region too :)

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  65. Anonymous08:29

    There is IKEA in Hungary and that is in the region.
    Also, there was an IKEA shop in Yugoslavia but it closed with the war.

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  66. Anonymous08:50

    Look people, airlines essentially do not care if your airport is nice and shiny, or a dump like ZAG (or honestly, BEG for that matter as well). If there is bussines there, they'll fly. Just look at US hubs, such as JFK, LAX - I would fly to ZAG/BEG any day of the week instead of those hellholes. So, that is why I think SKP doesn't have a bright future, just thanks to the new terminal, which is really nice. But it is not in direct connection with number of flights, nor pax. People did not commute to BUD because Ferihegy is beautiful, right?

    It is nice to have QR flights from ZAG, as it is nice to have FZ flights from BEG. It would be even nicer if they had QR from BEG, and FZ from ZAG as well. Or EK. End of story and get over it. This will actually happen if we all get a little bit wealthier. And it is NOT going to make ZAG and BEG world class hubs, nor better than the other city, which is actually the point.

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  67. either way. not what I meant anyway. Hungary is in the EU, the rest of ex-Yu is not.

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  68. Bored of ex-yu stupidity09:39

    Turned into really sad and pathetic comments towards the end of it. How is bigger, who is better, who is going to get this new store, who is going to buy new underwear first... Zagreb or Belgrade...LOL...It is just laughable what some of you people bullshit about...Grow up all and chill out a bit!

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  69. JU520 BEGLAX10:19

    anonymous 08:08 18NOV

    thanks for the information about the radisson blue and kempinski in belgrade. didn t know about it, but just found an article about the radission on the rezidor group web as well as some info on the Kempinski

    I loved the Intercontinental. great architecture for that time, very impressive. In the 80s Swissair even had their crews overnighting their....

    Greats from ZRH and bytheway: You all in Ex Yugoslavia are great and have beautiful places and spots u can be very proud of!!

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  70. Purger10:31

    @ pozdrav iz Rijeke

    dalmatina.hr announce start to fly every end of the year for next Easter. For many years now. That is unprofessional and demotivated for investors, passengers, airports...

    Now, they plan to start flying 2012. They even did not contact CCAA for AOC. If they really want to fly 2012. today they should have AOC finish, they should finish negotiations for fleet (they should have sign contracts for planes), they should have at least 30% employees especially pilots, maintenance, management, they should start to sell tickets for flights in April (and that is last second to start in November). And they even don’t have headquarters. That is not even dilettantism, that is like my 10 year old doter want to open air company.

    They were in Routes? So what? If you pay you will be listed on Routes too!

    Also you have to know that I am journalist of Aeronautika and consultant or HSPP, so I am well known as one of the worst critics of Croatia Airlines. As consultant of HSPP I work on analytics and plans for Croatia Airlines but as tool to force them to change. I am not employee of Croatia Airlines.

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  71. Anonymous11:18

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  72. Ok - buddy, chill. I am from Zagreb, I love it, but no need to be so un-classy.

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  73. Since the comments have nothing to do with the topic at hand, they have been disabled.

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