New economy class at Croatia Airlines

New look seats on Croatia Airlines A319s
Croatia Airlines has begun rolling out its new economy class cabins in its Airbus A319 jets. The cabins feature the Lufthansa Recaro designed slim seats. According to the Croatian carrier, the new seats will provide more comfort to passengers. However, the airline plans to save with the introduction of the new design. Since the seats weigh only five kilograms each, the carrier will save on fuel. Furthermore, Croatia Airlines will be able to introduce an additional two rows of seating.

The new economy class cabin is featured on all four of Croatia Airlines’ Airbus A319s. Although there were plans to introduce the new seats on its A320s as well, it was decided against the move as the aircraft will soon be leaving the Croatia Airlines fleet. The airline also says the new cabins will be enhanced by new catering, to be introduced this summer season, which sets to promote Croatian cuisine.

Meanwhile, Croatia Airlines will have to compete on its Zagreb to Barcelona service this summer as the Spanish airline Vueling has announced three weekly flights between the two cities. Services will be launched on June 22 and will operate on a seasonal basis until September 17. Vueling replaces the recently bankrupt Spanair which used to operate on the route. Flight details can be viewed here. The Spanish national carrier Iberia will also operate seasonal flights to the Croatian capital. Flights from Madrid to Zagreb are set to operate twice per week until September 16. Details are available here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:18

    Few days ago I was flying with LH A319 with this new seats (LH Europa Cabin), but this seats like was total uncomfortable. Sorry for this but this is my opinion.

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  2. Anonymous09:55

    Lufthansa's seats are horrible and these look uncomfortable as well.

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  3. Anonymous10:15

    They aren't uncomfortable (although the padding is significantly thinner), but you'll feel every bump in the back of your seat. Then again, there's much more kneeroom than before, so that's a definite plus. OU doesn't have any flights longer than 3 hours anyway, so it's all good. Especially since the old seats were so horribly worn-out.

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  4. Anonymous10:28

    For all of us around 190cm and over, legroom is essential. This is, for instance, reason that Etihad will never see me again in its Coral Economy class. So, I believe this is good move by CA. On the other hand, with the reference to LF CA does not need additional two rows.

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  5. Anonymous10:38

    I flew recently with LH from FRA to LIS on these new seats. I am just 1,78. Still had the feeling that the plane is cramped. Seats are very hard and uncomfortable. They look like and feel like camping chairs. I feel sorry for OU, but what to say since they obey everything their german masterminds tell them to do!

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  6. Anonymous12:15

    I have to agree with the Anonymous above. I recently flew Air France A321 to Lisbon with these seats. They are a bit more uncomfortable (but I can live with it for a couple of hours). What bothered me more was the big gap between the seats so that you can see far ahead and see what people are doing, hence less privacy. And if you have a kid in front of you who keeps poking its head at you constantly it gets even more annoying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:54

      Air France doesn't have the same seats, although they look similar. Theirs are worse. Much worse.

      Delete
  7. Those seats look and feel horrible. It's like sitting on a wooden bench. Lufthansa has similar seats (with just sligthly more padding) on their A340-600s. Like someone mentioned before, I could feel every little bump and after only hour or two, your rear gets numbed. I am glad that US carriers still use those big cushioned seats. They might be old but much more comfortable that this new European crap.
    Cheers

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  8. Anonymous14:07

    During the last 30 days I flew CTN on several routes; AMSZAG, SPUZAG, ZAGISTZAG, all on A319 fetauring new Recaro seats. They are comfortable enough for all CTN routes, look good and definitely are better than the old ones. If they work in Germany they should do fine in Croatia as far as I am concerned, especially if it helps to ecomomise and it does not reduce passenger comfort. And it doesn't - I am 183 cm tall. As I am frequent flier (due to business) on all airlines in the ex yu region CTN offer the best economy class seats in terms of comfort.

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  9. A320 leaving the fleet? As of October 2010, the average age of the Croatia Airlines fleet was 7.3 years, why leave the fleet? I know there are 4 new a319 orderd, but i dind't know the 320 where leaving.

    In 2014 you will have -3 & +4 planes, total fleet size of 14. i though we where going in the direction of 20 ( 17 if the a320's would stay )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:56

      A320 has proven to be too big for OU. Their sale will partially help fund the new A319s.

      Delete
  10. frequentflyer01:42

    The economics win in this argument, but load factors are not likely to suffer due to the elimination of the 320 fleet.

    144 seats at 32" pitch is quite comfortable, i'm guessing the extra legroom in the front 5 rows is likely to disappear creating this extra space as well as these new thinner seats not taking so much bulk space. The weight of each seat is incredibly light, and as jet fuel continues to climb northwards any cost saving is a step in the right direction.

    The seats are fine for flights up to 4hrs - and no OU flight goes that long, or is likely to until the bullet is finally bitten and DXB is opened up. My only concern is what condition these very thin seats will be in 5 or 10 years time with such constant use!

    @ FSXNOOB

    Their oldest 320 dates back to the early 1990s, and the fleet 'righting' (seats vs no of planes) makes sense. An excellent article from Centre for Aviation around Christmastime explained why
    http://www.centreforaviation.com/analysis/croatia-airlines-eyes-return-to-profitability-following-fleet-and-network-adjustments-65399

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous06:48

    Reason for this change is in economics i.e. in decreasing overall weight and of course, not in giving us more legroom.
    Anyone has info, what is actual weight decrease per seat and overall in A319?

    ReplyDelete

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