Croatia Airlines hopes for long haul flights

Long distance flights a possibility for Croatia Airlines

Croatia Airlines CEO, Krešimir Kučko, says it is his long term vision for the national carrier to launch long haul flights. Speaking to the “Ascend” aviation publication, Mr. Kučko said, “In the future, it is my desire to include intercontinental flights in our network. I would like to see the long haul model move from the dream phase to the planning phase, and then to the implementation phase. At the moment, however, we are focused on the development of our network of European destinations”. Mr. Kučko believes the focus of the airline must be on the European market and positioning the Croatian carrier within the European Union in the coming years. “We believe new business opportunities will become available after Croatia’s accession to the European Union. Additionally, we will strengthen and develop our network airline business model and contribute even more to the quality of Croatian and European air transport”, Mr. Kučko said.

Croatia Airlines has never attempted to operate long haul flights and such plans are still largely on the drawing board. Working in Croatia Airlines’ favour are not only existing business and diaspora links, which would generate traffic on long haul flights, but also a strong tourism industry which could attract potential travellers. Currently, no carrier from the former Yugoslavia has the capacity or means to operate transatlantic services, however, talk of going long haul has been on the rise. Recently, Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said Air Serbia would be ready to launch long distance flights within the next two to four years.

Mr. Kučko admits Croatia Airlines will have to undergo radical changes if his dreams of long haul flights are to become reality. “Croatia Airlines is undergoing a company restructuring process to consolidate operations and maintain its competitiveness in the market. One of the main objectives of the restructuring is to increase capital as well as refinance company debt and improve business operations. To continue successful operations, the airline must make significant changes to its current business model, which means repositioning in terms of strategy and market three fundamental profit centres: network, seasonal and charter flights as well as airplane maintenance for third parties”, he concludes.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Funny.

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  2. Anonymous09:26

    Good Joke .Stop dreaming and start working , Sorry that is something he doesnt know to do WORK , Otherwise the company wouldnt be in such bad situation .

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  3. Anonymous09:30

    The. Company is being run down rather quickly since Kucko toook control, and the passengers can notice a drop in standards!

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  4. Anonymous09:31

    Please dont put ETIHAD CEO name together in one interview as the CEO of Croatia Airlines .
    One is a business man and the other is politicaly nominated.
    P

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:23

      Very good point!

      BL1

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    2. Anonymous11:28

      Fully agree too. Mixing apples and pears...

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:41

    Just one question who is the CEO of Croatia Airlines because nobody knows him in the business world, in this world if you dont have the correct network you not going to make it.So he must be politicaly linked , thats bad for a company specially now they are in the EU. Good Luck.

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  6. Anonymous10:27

    They can't even run domestic and regional flights properly but long-haul will solve all their problems!

    Balkan mentality at its best!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:26

      What a perfect observation!
      Bravo!

      BL1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:35

      For an airline on a verge of bancruptcy, and in the middle of restructuring and downsizing as OU is, thinking of any long haul even in the distant future is....just hillarios!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous10:51

    AHAHAHAHHAHAH!! Yeah... sure. Because Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Lufthansa which are just north of Croatia don't matter.
    Plus, they would need to operate an A330-200 which is heavy and if there is no premium demand or cargo, it will bleed money.

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  8. Anonymous11:34

    I remember the time of the former Yugoslavia.
    We consistently held that we played best football in the world.
    In reality, whenever our team went out, every other one would knocked our team out.

    BL1

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:34

      not a bad idea. vatican ang germany will pay for the front seats.

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    2. Anonymous19:24

      Keep dreaming Kucko

      Delete
  9. Anonymous12:37

    here , the whole interview:

    http://ascendforairlines.com/2013-issue-no-3/croatias-super-brand

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:56

      I have read the whole interview, the joke just gets bigger.
      Is he serious ,
      One question what has he achieved in the business world .One word NOTHING, As I have never heard about .Only what I read in the international forum and that is not positive

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the link.

      Not a bad performance by Kucko here even though the questions were very friendly in their nature.

      In terms of long haul, he clearly does not have any immediate plans as can be ascertained by the last question where he talks about the next 5 years and who knows who the CEO will be in 5 years time if there is a CEO at all then.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:31

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:36

      I'm Serb and not once have I ever said anything bad about any ExYu nation. Please do not generalise us like that.

      Ps. Croats aren't that much different to Serbs, pretty much the same people actually so I believe whatever you say about us you say about every south slav as a whole.

      Regards from Australia

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    5. Anonymous02:25

      Croats are nothing like Serbs, Hercegovina Croats come closest to Serbs in mentality and attitudes, yes there are some Croats who still believe in notion of greater Serbia I mean Yugoslavia, Purger being fine example of such Croats, and you have strong sense of pride in Croatia as well as sense of nationalism which is a norm for most countries, but Serbs take pride and nationalism to whole new level, where Croats would be quite critical of their government, their ineptitude and we look on success with dubious sentiments, Serbs positively revel in even the slightest success country might have and Air Serbia is a fine example.

      in European and regional Context Air Serbia is just another state airline that will most likely end up like JAT, draining what little money Serbia has.

      In Croatia such deals would be looked on with suspicion and we'd try to dissect why, who, when, where, what??

      Croats are also Catholics, write with Latin alphabet and for over 1000 years we were part of western civilization. Serbia was never part of western Civilization even during Yugo-era Serbs were pulling federation towards Russia, their ethnic kin and Serbs have more common with the Turks than Croats or Slovens.

      Serb culture, music, influence, mentality and attitudes, strongly Turkish influenced.



      Delete
    6. Anonymous05:39

      Nek' si ti nama rekao.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous08:54

      Interestingly enough that you did not mention how your Croats actually speak Serbian since you imported Stokavica from us in 1835. Even your greatest linguists and writers could not understand how certain Serbs opposed this...
      Also, it's cute how you said that you were part of a Western civilization, I guess you are referring to both Hungarian and Austrian slavery which ended with your lands being liberated by Serbian troops.

      While you were obeying your lords in Budapest and Vienna, Serbia was the first Balkan country to liberate itself from foreign occupation in the Balkans. We did this without any foreign support and only the Serbs (including Montenegro) had their ethnic monarchy.
      So please, the next time you want to undermine the Serbs, make sure you read some history.

      You present the Croats as something they are not. They are an incompetent and corrupt nation like the rest of the Balkan bunch. If I was wrong you would not be in the current state of total collapse. The other day, even HRT officially announced that it was a failed tourist season. So you failed even in that sector which is currently the only branch of your economy that actually brings some money.

      Regards from Belgrade and come down from your mighty-high position.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:58

      @ Anonymous 8:54 AM

      Thank you for reminding us of the Serbian version of world history. It is a good laugh. But let me correct you on several points.

      Croatian language is older than Serbian (you actually speak the eastern variant of Croatian!) and that is due to the fact that Croats, not being slaves in the Habsburg Empire, had a chance to develop rich Renaissance arts and literature.
      During the rule of the House of Habsburg both Hungarians and Croats maintained their own parliaments, something that was unfathomable in the Turkish province of Serbia! Croatian and Hungarian nobility elected Ferdinand von Habsburg on January 1, 1527 as their king, and in return he promised to protect their lands from Turkish invasion.
      And no, you did not even liberate yourself in the First World War, much less anybody else.
      Here is some information for you about the Croatian language:
      The first purely vernacular texts in Croatian date back to the 14th century and are distinctly different from Church Slavonic. In the 14th and 15th centuries the modern Croatian language emerged, with morphology, phonology and syntax only slightly different from the contemporary Croatian standard language.
      The standardization of the Croatian language can be traced back to the first Croatian dictionary written by Faust Vrančić (Dictionarium quinque nobilissimarum Europae linguarum—Latinae, Italicae, Germanicae, Dalmatiae et Ungaricae, Venice 1595), and to the first Croatian grammar written by Bartol Kašić (Institutionum linguae illyricae libri duo, Rome 1604).
      Jesuit Kašić's translation of the Bible (Old and New Testament, 1622–1636), written in the ornate Shtokavian-Ijekavian dialect of the Dubrovnik Renaissance literature is despite orthographical differences, as close to the contemporary standard Croatian language.
      One of the oldest universities in Europe was established in Zadar in 1396, Zagreb University was established in 1669. When was Belgrade university established? 1905!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:54

      HAHAHAHHAHAHA oh honey, you had nothing until Strossmeyer came along and actually elevated Zagreb from the status of a village to that of a provincial town. So there was nothing of Renaissance there.
      Also, when it comes to the coast, I would like to point out, from Italian (read Venetian) sources that there was nothing Croatian there but that the population there was considered as Slavic, not Croatian. All the progress there had NOTHING to do with Croats but with the Italian administration! What you are doing here is historic plagiarism, which seems that you Croats are experts in. Interestingly enough, it was exactly this population that showed affinity towards Serbia in the aftermath of the Balkan wars, which caused great problems to Italy. Sorry to disappoint you, but the Slavic people on the coast accepted 'Croatianism' only when they came under direct control of Zagreb.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:56

      Not really control but influence. This started after the Concert of Vienna when Austria-Hungary got almost total control of Dalmacija and when its domination of the Adriatic coast seemed to be secured.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:10

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous12:46

    http://www.jutarnji.hr/guzva-na-nebu-u-suboru-rekordnih-2511-letova-zrakoplova-iznad-hrvatske/1119313/

    New record for Croatia ATC

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  11. Anonymous15:35

    When does AZAL gets it`s Dreamliner?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous19:17

    CEO Kučko contract is expiring in september this year. His contract is 1+3 (if he's good in the first year, his contract will be extended for further 3 years). It will be very interesting to see will his friend primeminister Milanović extend his contract or finally appoint someone who's an expert and at least try to save Croatia Airlines.

    Good luck my dear Croatia Airlines, you will need it!

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  13. Anonymous19:32

    Let's hope Kucko is replaced in September with someone who knows what they are doing!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:17

      Its time that Croatia Airlines stops with politics and start to become an airline they do have professionals.
      Stop playing, 1 year playing is enough , look JAT was an airline nobody wanted, to in one year suddenly into an interesting airline in the regio.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous23:48

    Kučko just can't stand what's happening in the neighbourhood. That's all.

    According to what we've read under the link, OU is the most successful airline in the whole world minus Slovenia.

    BL1

    ReplyDelete

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