Trade Air to launch domestic Croatia flights

Croatia Airlines’ monopoly on domestic flights comes to an end

Croatia Airlines will face competition on domestic flights for the first time as the country’s charter airline, Trade Air, announces the launch of scheduled flights. Trade Air will soon launch services from Osijek to Zagreb and flights between Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik. The news comes after Trade Air was selected by the Croatian government to operate the routes. The airline, which boasts a fleet of three Fokker 100s, plans to lease a thirty seat Embraer E120 as well. Trade Air has been issued a license to operate the flights over the next three years and has been granted 5.6 million euros worth of subsidies by the Croatian government.

“Scheduled flights represent a new segment of business and a strategic shift for Trade Air. We are now waiting for all bureaucratic procedures to be completed before launching services”, a statement from the airline reads. Trade Air will initially sell its tickets via Croatia Airlines and its offices not only in the country but throughout Europe as well. The airline says it will use most of the subsidies to cover the Osijek - Zagreb service. Furthermore, it plans to hire more crew as it expands its operations. The airline currently employs 51 people.

Trade Air’s arrival will be most welcomed by Osijek Airport which has, without success, been lobbying for flights to Croatia’s capital for almost a year. Croatia Airlines refused to operate the service earlier in 2013 stating it was unprofitable. The Croatian national carrier won’t see direct competition on any of its domestic flights as it does not cover the services to be operated by Trade Air. The charter airline believes business will pick up to pre-crisis levels as a result of the new scheduled domestic flights.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:34

    OT: Germania launch Skopje - Berlin (SXF) twice weekly from December 20th.

    Skopje marches on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has already been reported here and you can find the route info on the right hand side.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:00

      Thank you for adding it on the right hand side.

      I somehow can't locate the article where it's been mentioned.

      Delete
    3. http://exyuaviation.blogspot.com/2013/07/airlines-interested-in-skopje.html :)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:23

      Thank you. Silly me.

      Delete
  2. JU520 BEGLAX10:18

    not so sure if in a Country like Croatia local routes will be a real success.
    Most countries of this size don t have big local airtraffic, or if than it s passengers in Transit to a foreign Destination...

    but time will tell and will see. in any case wish them a good start..

    OT: CR9 at LJU had emergency landing yesterday in LJU after smoke dedectators showed smoke in the engine. but after landing it was discovered that no fire and only some leftovers from the engine cleaning liquid were causing some smokes

    btw I m so excited about EY/JU...I can t wait to have it launched.. finally some very good News for your YU aviation region

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      Do you know where the aircraft was flying to/from?

      Nice to see Turkish Airlines sending their B737-900ER to Belgrade today!

      Delete
    2. They send A321s every day... It's not really a big deal.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:30

      A321 are scheduled for the most days but downgraded to
      A319 or 737-800 most of the time.
      Scheduling of TK is an optimistic one from a time when there was less competition (no PC and EY).Darko you will have to look on the airport page in the evening and to flights that have already landed to see the actual use of aircraft.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:26

      Darko is usually full of crap, most of the time we should ignore him.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:54

      So why dont you follow your own advice?!
      Even you dont take yourself serious...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:37

      Because it is a friendly advice for those who do not know it yet.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous10:34

    OT: Intresting article about Etihad Jat deal
    http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/jat-airways-etihad-deal-secures-jat-and-serbias-future-making-etihads-6th-equity-alliance-member-119155

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just read the article, Interesting how 41% of Jats traffic is Eastern Europe and OU ignores that part of the world.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous11:02

    the aircraft was on route LJU-CDG.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why not Osijek - Dubrovnik? They should connect Osijek with coastal cities.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:14

    Croatia Airlines flies Osije-Dubrovnik!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, but Croatia is just to expensive and the frequency is to low!

      Osijek - Dubrovnik: 1 weekly, ticket price: 110€

      People living in and around Osijek need flights on the weekend due to the vacation starting fridays.
      It ist quite hard to take vacation from Tue till Tue because there are no flights on other days...

      I cant´t believe, that there are not enough customers...
      There are 110.000 people living in Osijek and other 100.000 in East Slaviona.


      Delete
  7. OT:
    5 daily flights during summer 2014 with 3 737-800, one A321 and one ATR72/F100 ( F100 to be leased) between Sarajevo and Istanbul.

    2013, SIA expects more then 320.000 passengers on this route, beeing the busiest one (numer of passengers!) in former Ex-Yu, just a front of BEG-SVO and ZAG-FRA.

    Additionally, SIA expects new routes to Amsterdam and Rome as well as second daily flight to Belgrade, daily to Copenhagen, 5-6 weekly to Cologne and Munich service with A320 / A321 next summer or even 2 daily flights.

    On the Sarajevo route, Lufthansa reports great load factor of 86 % (A320).

    The average load factor for all airlines in the first 6 months of 2013 was 79,1%.

    Both, Jat and Adria reported remarkable utilization of their flights to/from SJJ fling now with 737-300 / CRJ9.

    Also, Croatia Airlines switched it´s friday evening departure from ZAG / saturday morning departure from SJJ from DH4 to A319.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:00

      5 daily we have already now on Sundays...
      If this much frequency is profitable for the airlines still has to be seen.
      If not,we will see changes for next year.
      Especially Pegasus has a hard time against 3x daily TK
      in SJJ in comparison to Beg with 2x daily.
      Turkish Airlines in every case has done a good job and
      defends this route against its competitors.

      Pegasus should go daily to BEG next summer
      and increase from 3 to 5x weekly to Antalya...
      PC is ideal for transfer flights to Israel and the Former Soviet
      destinations that would never see direct flights from Belgrade like Baku,Tbilissi,Donetsk,Krasnodar,Omsk etc.

      Delete
  8. Good to see that they will be looking to introduce the EMB-120 type for the domestic Croatia flights. Lets just hope they do it properly.

    They need to use a good chunk of the subsidy money on advertisement. Changing peoples way of thinking about flying in the region is a must for this to succeed and promo ticket prices should be included continuously. If this is done properly than subsidies will be well spent and maybe not required in the future.
    Prices should start from 150 to 200kn (30 euro)as promo or sale fare one way, no changes aloud and not be dearer than 350Kn, where you get a the option to change or cancel your flight with no fee and maybe a free meal and beverage service.

    If they do this they have a good chance of running the aircraft all day following a similar schedule to this roughly (very roughly):

    1357
    Osijek - Zagreb
    Zagreb - Rijeka
    Rijeka - Split
    Split - Dubrovnik
    Dubrovnik - Split
    Split - Rijeka
    Rijeka - Zagreb
    Zagreb - Osijek.

    246

    Osijek - Zagreb
    Zagreb - Osijek
    Osijek - Split
    Split - Pula
    Pula - Dubrovnik
    Dubrovnik - Pula
    Pula - Split
    Split - Osijek
    Osijek - Zagreb
    Zagreb - Osijek.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To my mind, there is no need for Zagreb-Rijeka !

      The distance between the cities is just 160 km and via A6 it takes 1,5 h !

      Delete
    2. Agree, but like I said roughly.

      Delete
  9. Today two B757 in LJU

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous18:49

    ^What airlines,destinations?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Finnair from Helsinki and DHL from Leipzig/Linz

      Delete
  11. OT:

    One very "nice" comparison for Zagreb-Munich-Zagreb route

    Flight:
    Zagreb - Munich 02.09.2013
    Munich - Zagreb 09.09.2013

    Booking via Travel2be: 138 €

    Booking via Croatia A. homepage: 168,67€


    Is this a joke ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once I flew Belgrade-Milan-Belgrade and the same ticket was cheaper on the Alitalia website, even though it was on JAT equipment

      Delete
    2. It is not uncommon, actually it happens often that travel agents and websites which compare airfares get discounted tickets to sell for airlines all over the world.

      Delete
  12. How cute, youre suprised hahaha. Dont forget that you live in one of the most corrupt regions in the world, so getting f....d is normal, now only for 30e :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nicky Name21:29

    Trade Air might try a summer niche market of Dubrovnik to Venice. With all of the tourists flying into those places they might get some day trippers who would like to visit the other city for a day or two to compare their beauty.

    With the help of local travel agencies they might just make some money and keep their planes flying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Croatia Airlines does this already.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous22:20

    Oh boy, croatians love to drive bus and car ... Regardless connecting flights. TDR will be clever enough to take the subventions an bye ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 10 years ago people in Australia liked to drive take the bus or train or just not travel between the big cities for leisure because flying was too expensive and seen more as something you did for business or an important trip. Now enter Low cost carrier revolution and all this perception about air travel has changed. I fly from Sydney to Melbourne sometimes just to have a coffee and good meal, the occasional horse race meeting or a sporting event.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous23:19

    I really hope these are some preliminary fares:

    Belgrade-Minsk-Belgrade €316
    Belgrade-Budapest-Belgrade €192

    It seems that all of their connecting flights start from €269 which seems ok. Their flights to St. Petersburg are horrible though.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous02:50

    Something strange with Zagreb airport figures, this year they handed 1 millionth passenger that passed through Zagreb airport one day earlier than last year on 26th, yet last year airport handled 1.047 million passengers in first 6 months, so in last 3 days, 28th, 29th and 30th airport handled 47000 passengers, what i find really strange with that statement is the fact that on average Zagreb airport handles 8000 passengers per day, Monday and Tuesday being bit slow and Sunday too with average of 50-55 landings and around 6-7000 passengers per day, and than you have busy days Wednesday,Thursday, Friday and Saturday with an average of 70-80 landings per day and 8-10 000 passengers.

    Using this methodology, management at the airport either fixes who gets the 1 millionth passenger ticket prize or they are really bad at math.

    This year Zagreb airport has handled 1087 000 passengers in first 6 months, I wonder how they going to explain 87000 extra passengers in last 4 days of June 2013, sudden onset of tourist arrivals due to Croatian EU entry ???

    Totally confused.

    I know 87000 might seem little for Budapest or Vienna airport over 4 days but for Zagreb it is a lot, it is 11 days of traffic.

    Anyways, Zagreb is set to hit 2.5 million pax, if no further airport of Croatian airlines strikes happen this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a bit strange unless it based on when the purchase was made, in other words, It was the 1 millionth person to book a flight through Zagreb and this was just the date travelled???

      Where did you get you June figures for Zagreb? 7% increase.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:56

      It was based on average increase of passenger flow based on yearly performance. Its a projection, based on number of flights agreed for that month and number of projected passengers + some charter flights.

      Delete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.