Air Croatia delays launch

Air Croatia to launch flights from March 1 and add Budapest service

Start-up Air Croatia, which was to inaugurate flights from Zagreb to Prague and Rome on December 18, has delayed its service launch until March next year, the company has confirmed. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, Air Croatia says that bookings on its flights prior to March 1 were slow. “The interest for flights before March 1 is really low and 80% of our bookings are after this date, which is why we have postponed until March 1, in order not to lose too much money during January and February by flying empty planes”, Air Croatia says, It adds, “Those few booked before March 1 will of course receive a full refund and two free tickets for the first flights in March so nobody will be affected”.

The company says that despite a major advertising campaign in Croatian media, the majority of its booked passengers, some 95%, are non-Croats. Furthermore, in addition to its Prague and Rome flights, Air Croatia has also decided to launch services to Budapest after Qatar Airways announced it would suspend the short sector on its flights between Doha and Zagreb from March next year. Air Croatia will operate three weekly flights between the two capital cities, each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Further flight details can be found here.

Air Croatia plans to wetlease an Estonian Air Embraer E170 jet, which has the capacity to seat 76 passengers. Services to both the Italian and Czech capitals will operate five times per week, Monday to Friday, and carry Estonian Air flight numbers. Besides Rome and Prague, Air Croatia also plans to launch flights to Milan and Dusseldorf in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, in an earlier statement, the company confirmed it would also run services to Bucharest, Helsinki and Stockholm starting next Easter. Notably, the company aims to link the Croatian capital with unserved markets which hold great potential, while at the same time avoiding direct competition from rivals.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10:33

    What's the rationale behind Zagreb Helsinki?

    ReplyDelete
  2. There has been a scheduled chater flight to Portoroz on Thursday, more here:

    https://www.facebook.com/PortorozAirport?fref=nf

    I think this could get a place on the news :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:30

    Again the Administrator do see it is not an airline, it is a chartere of the aircraft, not an operator and could not wet lease anything since do not an AOC.
    Public must know they only sell other airline's tickets on chartered aircraft.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:55

    what a surprise!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:03

      I was about to post the same thing, its a con job, most people in Croatia never heard of Air Croatia, or have any clue what Air Croatia suppose to be, let alone that is a supposed airline with scheduled flights out of Zagreb run by an Albanian, a Herzegovinian and a Bosnian out of post box somewhere in Switzerland.

      No wonder people give no credence to these conman, they've been announcing flights out of Zagreb for better part of last two years, yet they've got no plane, no air crew and surprise surprise no office to speak of.

      USKOK should be looking in to this.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:32

      USKOK will not look into it.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:48

      Sta znaci USKOK znam da je neka vrsta Policije.
      INN-:NS

      Delete
    4. Anonymous01:31

      Ured za Suzbijanje Korupcije i Organiziranog Kriminala

      Delete
  5. Anonymous12:04

    The company says that despite a major advertising campaign in Croatian media, the majority of its booked passengers, some 95%, are non-Croats.

    This confirms what we've been saying all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:05

    What a failure.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous13:19

    Air Croatia Fail

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:27

      @AnonymousDecember 6, 2014 at 12:05 PM
      @AnonymousDecember 6, 2014 at 1:19 PM


      It wasn't even a serious thing to start with, no one in Croatia knew of this company or has any idea who these people suppose to be, only this Blog has reported on Air Croatia, in Croatian media nobody know who these people are and what they're all about.

      Only serious Croatian airline companies in Croatia are SunAdria/Trade Air and Croatian Airlines, and this won't change for time being, I don't believe Air Croatia is real or has any intentions of doing any flights out of Zagreb, same as I don't believe that Chinese/Croatian outfit that suppose to bring one major airline out of China to start with with regular flights.

      SouthesternCommerce something, sounds doggy to me what ever they call themselves.

      What is more important is that Zagreb airport has finally picked up, numbers are going up with projected growth for 2014 at 5.5%, considering how the year started it is a very positive end.

      2015, however will be great for Zagreb airport and 2016 as well, especially with completion of new terminal Zagreb is set for dramatic growths in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

      Projected pax - Zagreb airport.

      2014 - 2.44 million, 19400~ flight operations
      2015 - 2.84 million, 22400~ flight operations
      2016 - 3.27 million, 24100~ flights operations
      2017 - 3.75 million, 25600~ flight operations











      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:47

      Wow, suddenly your projections just became much more realistic.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:49

      Not completely realistic but still. Funny you don't dare anymore to make BEG or others projections following your miserable failure last year.

      Delete
    4. Let's just remember and laugh:

      http://exyuaviation.blogspot.com/2013/12/wizz-air-leads-ljubljana-airport.html

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:59

      @AnonymousDecember 6, 2014 at 3:49PM

      Zagreb prediction is based on French investors own prediction and plans.

      I like to think they know what they're talking about since they are after all 2nd largest airport management group on the planet with 2 of Paris airports under their wing, as well as Istanbul airport, Amsterdam airport to name few.

      Serious plans are afoot and I am confident in my data. I am not sure Belgrade airport would go so fast as some of you think,

      Yes many new airlines are coming to Belgrade and this is where growth is going to happen (not with air Serbia as much).

      I think Ethiad might play major role at Belgrade airport but I see no major dramatic changes in terms of numbers, a steady growth of between 300-400 000 per year.


      Zagreb airport you all forget had steady growth of 8-9% per year before economic crisis, only in 2013 numbers went stagnant for obvious reasons, Croatian airlines cutting down on many flights (15% reduction in operations out of Zagreb Airport) and than you had 8 days of strike in May and than 2-3 days of strike in November. Don't forget first 3 months Zagreb recorded growth, only with summer schedule and reduction in operations by Croatian airlines did numbers go down, but even than Zagreb airport was on its way to good year until 8 day strike which literally shut down the airport for 8 days, basically Zagreb airport lost 10-11 days due to strikes, and than another 2800 flights out of Zagreb airport due to Croatian Airlines cutting number of operations, this is a lot of passengers (roughly 250 000 passengers) no wonder Zagreb didn't grow, it is actually going to have a slight loss of 50 000 passengers by my projection this year.

      2014 will be very good year for Zagreb airport, first construction of new terminal will start in earnest, hopefully this blog maintains updates with photos coming on a regular basis.

      2nd, old terminal will be done up first only new 5700sqm section will be added in 2014, as early as April works should start on that, its a $12 million update, no major reconstruction planned, this should lift capacity of the terminal to 3.5 million pax and than planned arrival of loads of new airlines that fill in the holes in Croatian Airlines lackluster attitude towards its main hub.

      KLM, Iberia, Alitalia, CSA, LOT, SAS, Finnair, Brussels Air, Air Swiss, and few others all will be invited back to Zagreb and some that already fly will be asked to increase their frequencies, Iberia, TAP, Valuing, Norwegian Air Shuttle.


      8-10% growth in 2014 is expected (based on new carriers alone, not Croatian airlines performance) and the full effect of this strategy should be visible in 2015 when growth of 20-25% is expected. New management is aiming for 5 million pax by 2020 and 8 million by 2025, I posted their plans (with links) on this blog several times, you can also google for them, I have pdf document of their strategy on my computer and I can tell you its researched and well planned.

      After all would you invest $440 million in to an airport if you hadn't had any faith in your vision or plans ? I can assure you, French aren't stupid, and Company behind ain't stupid, after all they're 2nd largest airport group in the world. I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing.

      Also, some of tyou said Ljubljana Airport won't recover, I was only one saying all along it will, and they have a great future ahead of them, although Ljubljana airport is too close to Vienna and Venice to benefit from links to these two important cities for Slovenian Economy and commerce (30% of Slovenian GDP is linked to these two markets - northern Italy and Austria) so Ljubljana Airport can't benefit from these links much, but i see great future for Ljubljana airport, my prediction 2.7 million by 2020.



























      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:20

      Znaci BEG je u 2017 godini ;)
      INN-NS

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:09

      Je. Jesi li sretan? Te zadovoljava? Jel tvoj zivot ispunjen? Super, uzivaj. :-D

      Delete
    8. Anonymous22:05

      Jesam presretan kad vidim rast koliki je na LYBE =D
      INN-NS

      Delete
  8. Anonymous13:32

    I don't understand one thing: why would they launch flights to FCO if passengers can go from ZAG to FCO with ASL cheaper? And with these delays (there are already 2 of them if I am not mistaken) they won't have some confidence from passengers, respectively passengers won't see them as an better option than ASL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:56

      yeh ZAG-BEG-FCO is the most convenient routing *facepalm*
      buy a map for xmas honestly.
      they have direct flights with OU if im not wrong

      Delete
  9. Anonymous13:35

    CCAA treba da im naplati kaznu i to veliku za prevaru putnika.Da su ozbiljna aviokompanija nebi stalno pomerali datum.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:59

      Prevara je krivicno delo i mora se dokazati na sudu. Direktorati i Agencije ne bave se procesuiranjem krivicnih dela, time se bave sudovi. A sto se prevare tice, znam jedno preduzece koje nista ne placa Aerodromu Nikola Tesla, dampinguje cene, i poslovanje mu istrazuje Evropska Komisija. Mislis da bi mogla tu s neke strane da padne neka kazna, a?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:04

      Nemoze pasti kazna zato sto 49% pripada svetskoj kompaniji EY i to se sve resava naftom.
      Koliko vec godina istrazuje EU Komisija u AB i sta nista nisu bukvalno istrazili.
      A LYBE ako mu se nista neplaca dobio 1 mil i nesto novih putnika. Narod je dobio jeftine letove do Australije npr. Ima letove nacionalne avio kompanije izvan Evrope a ne samo u Evropi .
      INN-NS

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:32

      Anon at 8.59pm ...

      It is obvious that you have just come off the farm after a hard day's work, so put your feet up, get a drink, relax and read on ....

      I'm not sure what lie you are referring to here ... an airline which is already flying and breaking all year-on-year growth records, or, an airline which is yet to fly and breaking records for continuing to cancel its launch date ?

      As for "dumping" - you've confused that term with something you probably do once or twice a day yourself. LCC's are cheaper than Air Serbia, Croatian Airlines or most other legacy carriers. Air Serbia has taken on incredible capacity increases, new branding, new product and is now flying to many more places that it didn't to before. So what it is doing is initiating pricing initiatives to support it's strategic objectives of growing and taking market share. Why ? Because it has the financial means to do so. LCCs price themselves at a level where they need to be to similarly support their own value proposition and strategic objectives.

      As for Air Serbia not paying BG airport - dude, you are way late in the game here. It's obvious that news doesn't travel to your neck of the woods, so let me help you out here.

      Under the terms of the agreement signed b/w Etihad and the Govt of Serbia (which is all on the public record), the Govt of Serbia will contribute it's share of capital into Air Serbia - which the agreement requires it to do - by allowing Air Serbia to forego its airport fees/dues and instead, this substituting for the Govt of Serbia's contribution. This year, that will amount to approx. USD17m - which is still USD23m short on the USD40m that the Govt is supposed to invest in the recapitalization of the business.

      So you and others who continue to play this note, really need to give it a rest bcoz Air Serbia, far from not meeting its obligations, is actually way short on what it needs to be getting.

      You point on EU investigations - so what ? Alitalia, Air Berlin, Adria, and even Croatian Airlines have all been investigated to ensure that they are conducting their business in accordance with their obligations to the EU and EY treaties that they are signatories to.

      Having laid out firm rebuttals to your supposed "arguments", I suggest you stick to the facts and the facts speak very loudly about where the lies are coming from - an airline which doesn't exist and continues to sell tkts to the public, while constantly shifting its launch date ...

      They should change their name to "Air Integrity" where the tagline further goes on to say, "service and credibility hand in hand"

      Delete
  10. OffTopic
    Incredible !!! - I booked yesterday and incredible DEAL on AirSerbia, Route as follows Sarajevo-Belgrade-AbuDhabi-Belgrade-Paris... and all for 165 Euros incl. Taxes !!!! Thanks Air Serbia ;-)... E-tickets and flights confirmation were issued within seconds. AltoughI assume it was a mistake in their system, no problem since everything regarding confirmation and ticket is done. Unfortunatly today there is no possibility anymore for booking a such intenenary, it just shows an "error" on airserbia.com.. Actually, you could book the flights i did ystrdy on all major travel sites like opodo, ebookers, expedia... etc etc and your reuturn flights could end up not just in Paris, but also in Frankfurt, Rome, Vienna (but not back to Sarajevo or Belgrade) ... Dont ask me how i came up to find such deals, but you all know us av geeks, we do exploring from time to time ;-) ... u svakom slucaju hvala Air Serbia za ovakav deal :-) ... Pozz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:00

      Wow... Nice. Hope you catch the A319 out of SJJ.

      Delete
    2. Its wrtten yes, but in anyway A319 is to/from AUH and to FRA too...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous07:38

      If I were you I would have kept such good deals for myself. Some airlines do not bother with mistake fares (except correcting them) but some go as far as canceling the deals and refunding them immediately.

      Delete
  11. .... btw any of you has ever had such deals on AirSerbia !!!???? ... for major world companies such "mistakes" are common but not really for small airline like AirSerbia... And yes its really crazy such intenenary for less then 200 Euros incl all Taxes !! :-) .. Jos jednom hvala AirSrbiji :-) ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:35

      Dumping is THE synonim for AirSerbia ;)

      you have saved 140€ from the normal fare (which is 310€ at least from what i see), but im not sure how youll get back from CDG to SJJ or vice versa, might not be actually saving money at all

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:39

      ZAG-AUH-CDG 254€
      SKP-AUH-CDG 285€
      (for febr)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:51

      What about ZAG-BEG-CDG?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:12

      137€ for random dates in febr ( not too bad)

      Delete
    5. yea... thats what i said... even the price of 254 Euros or 285 Euros or 310 is not expensive... andits not their usual fare.. Their usual fare is from 300 Euros BEG-AUH-BEG .... But definetely not from Sarajevo and return to Paris....and regrding my flight to CDG, my final destination was a CDG, thats one of the reasons why i looked at all these possibilities.. :-)

      Delete
    6. .. and btw they normal fare for such routing is from 580 Euros (like on etihad.com)... so saving is actually... around 400 Euros... which is a lot money... ;-)

      Delete
    7. Anonymous07:40

      It is clearly a mistake fare and has nothing to do with dumping.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous17:40

    Jos jedni prevaranti :)
    Kako su oni bili slicni njima, FlyDalmatia :)? To su sve slicne jajare. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:55

      Ma vazi bato, svi su jajare i prevaranti, samo oni koji Aerodromu nista ne placaju, dampinguju cene i poslovanje im ispituje Evropska komisija su olicenje postenja, transparentnosti i poslovnosti. Uzivaj u svojim zabludama, otreznjenje stize uskoro ;)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:09

      Otreznjenje? Vratice na se Jat i svicemo opet biti srecni! Jupi, juhuu!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:09

      Nece EU Komisija na vasu zalost zabraniti letove ASL.
      Njen suvlasnik je EY sto dovoljno govori da se ASL nece nista desiti.
      Vasa zabluda je sto svaki dan izmisljate nesto novo vezano za ASL .
      INN-NS

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:31

      Ne valja kad se cene obore radi probijanja na trzistu, ne valja ni kad se cene podignu na normalan nivo... Cudan je deo planete ovaj nas Balkan... ;)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous01:25

      @8:55
      Wow, mislio sam da su ovakvi ljudi kao ti odavno pokoseni..
      Uvek ste mi vi tu istrazivaci, ma bas si mi pametan ljubi ga majka, ne da ti se da budes bot,a? Ocigledno je da nemas pojma ni o cemu.
      Kao prvo- ASL nista ne placa aerodromu jer je cilj da se prvo povrate od Jatovih gubitaka, i pocece da placaju kad stanu na noge, tada ce i dici cene.
      Kao drugo- to sto dumpinguju cene je potpuno normalno kada nista ne placaju, zasto ne bi to uradili, jos i privlace vise putnika, pogotovo transfernih. Mislis da LH, EY i drugi veliki igraci ne bi imali nize cene kad nista ne bi placali aerodromima koji su im hubovi?..
      Kao trece- EK je odaavno zavrsila sa ASL, samo jos rade na isitivanju EY u vezi Air Berlina, cak su i preuzimanje AlItalie odobrili Etihadu,tako da te molim iskreno da se ne blamiras vise ovde.
      Air Serbia ima odlicnu taktiku sirenja po regionu i prikupljanja putnika sa podrucja koja imaju potencijal a nisu dobro povezana sa Evropom kao Beograd (Crna Gora B&H..), i imaju niske cene za transferne putnike, pa ce dobijati putnike i iz ZAG, BUD, SOF, SKP...). Zaista bih voleo da te sovno ispljujem ovde, ali necu te vredjati kako moj komentar ne bi bio obrisan. Samo cu reci da si napunjen umisljenoscu i nemas veze sa onim o cemu pricas. Tebi bi kao putniku trebalo da bude drago sto mozes jeftinije iz Beograda (ili ako si iz regiona ASLom do Beograda oa dalje, jos je jeftinije) da ides ka Evropi nego sa drugim aviokompanijama, a i da je pritom usluga sasvim solidna, iako ima dosta stvari da se unapredi kod njih. Ali ne, ti gledas SVUDA mane, cak i kad shvatis da EK vise ne istrazuje ASL, da ASL-u vise nisu damping cene, i kada pocnu da placaju, bice "jao kuku bas su skupi" ili ces vec nesto drugo naci, takvi kao ti su do pre dve godine tvrdili da ce Jat bankrotirati i da ga niko nece kupiti. Kada su videli da nastaje ASL, trazili su mane u neplacanju poreza aerodromu, iako su to obicne seljacine poput tebe koje ne znaju ni sta znaci suvencija i zbog cega je data. Molim te da se sklonis sa bloga o vazduhoplovstvu ako nemas zive veze sa njim, idi cuvaj ovce da ti ne pobegnu ;)

      Delete
  13. Anonymous22:27

    Busy cargo day at BEG yesterday:

    http://www.beg.aero/strana/13101/dolasci-kargo?brojLeta=&destinacija=&datum=2014%2F12%2F05&vreme=&timeZone=1&type=IA&flightSearch=true

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:34

      My friend flew to Australia tonight via Abu Dhabi and he told me that there are 115 passengers on his flight. Nice! :)

      Delete
  14. Coma00:02

    OT : There seems to be some fog in SKP, as Wizz Air diverted to PRN, waiting to see what will happen with Austrian F70 that is currently circling around.
    I wonder will they make some improvements soon, so the previous scenario will not happen again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:12

      Oh no, not this fog issue again! They should really get that under control.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:38

      looks like F70 from Vienna is also diverted to PRN...poor pax!!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous00:27

    another wizz from Geteborg circling around but looks like they are just about to land, both aircrafts...

    ReplyDelete

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