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| Qatar Airways to skip Budapest stop on Zagreb bound flights |
Qatar Airways, which launched services from Doha to Zagreb via Budapest in 2012, will now operate some of its flights to the Croatian capital without a stopover. Starting October 3, the Qatari national carrier will operate three of its weekly services nonstop, every Monday, Friday and Saturday. Flights will be served by an Airbus A320 jet, which has the capacity to seat twelve passengers in business class and a further 132 in economy. On the remaining days of the week, Qatar will continue to run flights via Budapest with an A321 aircraft. The Qatari carrier has fifth freedom rights between Budapest and Zagreb and vice versa, which allows the airline to sell tickets on the short segment as well.
Qatar’s new nonstop service to Zagreb is a testament to the route’s success since it launched just over two years ago. Flights to the Croatian capital have proved popular with tourists transiting through Doha from the Far East. Furthermore, the route also provides good connections for passengers heading from Zagreb to South East Asia and Australia. Earlier, the CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, said, “Whether it’s Bangkok, Dubai, Shanghai or Manila, our seamless connections from Zagreb to the East, via our Doha hub, will provide holidaymakers and business travellers from Croatia with a wider network of destinations to choose from”. He added, “Croatia, with its flourishing tourism industry, remains a popular destination for travellers from the Middle East, Asia Pacific and beyond. With our new service, we look forward to making it easier for travellers from around the world to fly to Croatia without having to connect through busy European hubs”.
Qatar Airways has a limited presence in the former Yugoslavia. Besides Zagreb, the airline also maintains flights to Belgrade. However, the service continues to be operated with a stopover in the Turkish capital Ankara. Unlike its Zagreb route, the airline has been unable to secure fifth freedom rights between Ankara and Belgrade.
Zagreb becomes the only city in the former Yugoslavia with a nonstop service to the Qatari capital. The new schedule for the nonstop flights between Doha and Zagreb every Monday, Friday and Saturday can be viewed below. All times are local.
QR217 departing Doha
| Departure | Arrival |
|---|---|
| 07.05 | 11.55 |
QR218 departing Zagreb
| Departure | Arrival |
|---|---|
| 12.55 | 19.15 |
Fantastic news for Zagreb, as well a,s for entire ex-yu western region.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good. If I find cheaper ticket from ZAG, I can easyly fly to BKK via Doha, without Ankara stop. Congrats from Belgrade!
ReplyDeleteWith the 400km trip to Zagreb, i would rather choose the stop (and double meal) instead.
DeleteOn the other hand chances are slim that prices will be lower since besides the recent taxes hike Zagreb actually has only two airlines that compete to the Middle-East and Asia, while Belgrade has five. You will have more luck trying from Sofia or Budapest.
DeleteIf you like to travel that is and prefer 400km in a ground transport vs. half an hour in the plane on the ground. That without mentioning the numerous non-stop options from Belgrade, some of them double daily (vs. three weekly).
DeleteA lot of cars from Serbia mostly with BG licence plates are seen every day on Zagreb Airport!
DeleteI am thinking now where would they fly from Zagreb that's not offered from Belgrade.
DeleteWhen I say where, I mean what destination would attract so many Belgraders... I can't think of any.
AnonymousJune 7, 2014 at 12:58 PM
DeleteA lot of cars from Croatia mostly whit Osijek and Zagreb licence plates are seen every day on Belgrade Airport, and?
Air traffic has no boundaries!
Great news for Zagreb and Croatia in general, hope there are more carriers to come to Zagreb, there is still potential for new routes
DeleteCongrats to ZAG.
ReplyDeletehow long does it take to DOH with an 320 ?
They're catching up with Skopje now, Skopje already has a direct link to the Middle East.
DeleteIt takes around 6 hours in both directions. It is not big difference even if they are flying with B777 it would be between 5.30 and 6 hours.
DeleteAnyone has noticed the orange detail on the sharkleted plane's tail, any idea what that is?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Zagreb! Congratulations to Qatar for getting so much passengers in Zagreb although Croatia is in deep economic crisis. This is just beginning and hopefully after one year all flights would be direct to Doha.
ReplyDeleteSo much passengers?! Man, we're talking of three weekly flights!!!
DeleteIt is still significant increase for Qatar in Croatia...as well as to overall Eastbound capacity from Croatia. It is good and nice to see their (or any other airline for that matter) business growing from/to Croatia.
DeleteThis is good for Zagreb especially since their links to Africa, the Middle East and the rest of Asia have been pathetic, to say the least. Another advantage for Qatar is that they are currently the only airline in Croatia that can offer one-stop flights to Australia. I am sure this is where Qatar gets a lot of its passengers from, especially now during the summer months.
DeleteAnother advantage Qatar has is that there are no direct flights from Zagreb to Dubai.
I believe Dubai has become one of those markets which can sustain flights from pretty much any medium sized European airport.
It would be interesting to see if they got some incentives from Zagreb airport to launch direct flights.
There are some talks of FZ starting ZAG and LJU from winter time as they need to do something with their planes that are not needed in Ukraine presently. I am sceptical over that though...however, not sure if this move by Qatar can influence any possible FZ decision on ZAG.
DeleteAs we all know, they will have a problem with their crew.
DeleteNow, on the other hand, since both of these destinations lack direct flights to Dubai and since they are generally not very competitive markets, rotating their crew in both cities could actually be possible. It's not as if they will have to trash their fares in order to fight off competition and unlike Qatar in Zagreb, they could rely on considerable O&D market there.
Will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the end.
I guess one thing is for sure, there weren't that many passengers between Budapest and Zagreb to warrant the survival of this air link, as some have claimed in the past.
I believe that Budapest Zagreb and vv 5th freedom traffic was never significant factor for QR or this route, nor the reason to fly it. Due to proximity and schedule (unfriendly for anybody visiting Budapest for quick business needs) it is next to impossible to count on larger passenger base on O&D level. Qatar in Belgrade would definitely be able to pull more passengers if they were granted 5th freedom to Ankara.
DeleteAnonymous 11:53 AM, 3 direct flights per week, on other days via Budapest, so it means 7 times per week!
DeleteMan, Qatar Airways is offering 1140 seats weekly in one direction to Zagreb. Even weekly capacities on flights to Vienna are smaller.
ReplyDeleteOt: jel istina da Air Tahiti Nui slijeće 10.06 u Zagreb za A340 i vodi navijače u Sao Paulo?
ReplyDeleteYes, 291 seats sold. Price was very high: 5200 € per person, 6 days.
DeleteI te kako je istina. Prodano je 291 mjesto u zrakoplovu po nevjerovatnoj cijeni od 5200 Eura. Dosuse tu je uracunat transver i smjestaj. Svjedno ili su hrvatki bogati ili su svi digli kredite a nama obicnim smrtnicima ne preostaje nista drugo nego uzesti fotoaparat i direktno na Pleso!
DeleteWow fabulous company, great livery. Wish had a chanse to fly with them to French Polynesia
DeleteSounds very exotic
DeleteNo way! Air Tahiti, apsolutely beautiful!
DeleteThat news was published here days ago. You might have missed it http://exyuaviation.blogspot.com/p/air-tahiti-nui-to-zagreb.html
DeleteHvala administratoru, promakla mi je ova vijest od prije par dana.
DeleteSamo konstatacija da je nevjerovatno da je neki nacionalni prijevoznik jeftiniji od charter kompanija. Sada mozemo zakljuciti ovu temu ;)
What are possibilities that Qatar flight to Zagreb would stop in Ljubljana?
ReplyDeletezero
DeleteGuess, impossible atm. Zagreb is 160 km away only. Would be much easyer to drive with a car to Pleso
DeleteQatar Croatia web page is in Croatian they really take care
ReplyDeleteof how business must be.
I'm flying regular to Chongqing with them.
Connection time is short.
I don't mind a stop to Budapest but direct will be even better.
Use goopti ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt was refered to Ljubljana and Qatar
DeleteOT: Skopje May results
ReplyDelete109,029 PAX +24%
1,175 Flights +22%
Jan-May 418,698 +20%
:))) I have posted 2 days before.... You can also see..
DeleteGood for Skopje
DeleteMy bad ObedinetaMKD, I somehow missed it. Good results for SKP!
DeleteIf it wasnt for the likes of Qatar,Etihad and the other MEairlines,
ReplyDeletewe wouldnt have direct flights to the east at all...
Singapore or Cathay ,Thai and the whole Asian bunch-
Their view of Europe is bond on always the same places,
London ,Paris,Frankfurt ...meh boring!
How long it took for them to fly to Moscow...
They are dull giants.
Dalmatian trazi A320 Captains:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aviationjobs.me/2014/06/a320-captains-dalmatian-croatia.html
Old news, but worth reporting for archives:
ReplyDeleteAir Lease Corporation Announces the Placement of one Airbus A320-200 with Air Serbia
By Business Wire
Posted 05/21/2014 04:34 PM ET
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) announced the delivery of one used Airbus A320-200 to Air Serbia, a new customer for ALC. This aircraft was delivered to Air Serbia in March 2014.
“Air Serbia is a new customer in Eastern Europe for ALC. ALC looks forward to a long and successful relationship with Air Serbia as they expand their fleet and route network in Europe and beyond. Additionally, this placement further develops our close collaboration with Air Serbia’s significant shareholder and current ALC customer, Etihad Airways,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.
http://news.investors.com/newsfeed-business-wire/052114-141583430-air-lease-corporation-announces-the-placement-of-one-airbus-a320-200-with-air-serbia.aspx
Sutra BEG-SPU-BEG A319 :)
ReplyDeleteAnd tonight SKG with B737-300!
DeleteIt seems the summer season is in full swing, Tivat will be operated with the A319 tomorrow morning in stead of the Atr. No surprise there, I heard that for the past month, the afternoon flight never departed with less than 140 passengers!
DeleteE smanji ribu malo ... :)
DeleteHow they can fit 140 passengers in A319 or B733?! :-)
They can in the A320.
DeleteThe afternoon flight to Tivat has been operated by the A320 for a month now... for at least that long. It can seat 147 passengers in economy and 8 in business.
DeleteNow the four weekly flights to Belgrade have to become daily !
ReplyDeleteSo they can complete the Zagreb ones.
The stopovers become more and more obsolete...
No need to, there is Air Serbia/Etihad double daily.
DeleteFrom Belgrade to ME: 14x week nonstop with AirSerbia/Etihad to Abu Dhabi plus 3x week nonstop to Dubai with FlyDubai and 4x week to Doha with Qatar = 21x week from BEG, or 3 times as much weekly frequency to three times as much destinations.
DeleteWe could also add Pegasus which offers quite a lot of connections, especially to the Middle East and central Asia. I know they are not a Persian Gulf monster, so to say, but they are an important player.
Delete^They should at least become nonstop !
ReplyDelete