easyJet to expand in Croatia

easyJet carries over 600.000 passengers to Croatia in 2015

Low cost airline easyJet handled over 600.000 passengers on its flights to and from Croatia last year, but is yet to commit to resuming services to the capital Zagreb. The budget carrier will add four new routes to the Croatian coast this year, all of which will operate on a seasonal summer basis. "easyJet has recently continued its expansion in the Croatian market, placing four new routes on sale in November - from Pula to Hamburg and Paris Charles de Gaulle, and from Dubrovnik to Bristol and Toulouse. More than 600.000 passengers travelled to and from Croatia with easyJet", the airline's spokesperson, Matteo Taddei, says. He adds, "In the 2015 financial year alone we launched an impressive eight new routes including our first ever flight to Istria and in the first months of the 2016 financial year we have added four more routes". During the peak travel month of August, easyJet offers almost as many seats as Croatia Airlines from the country, with 21.960 seats offered in August 2015, compared to the Croatian carrier's 23.192. In addition, during the year, easyJet was the second busiest carrier operating out of Dubrovnik, behind only Croatia Airlines.

easyJet plans to continue expanding on the Croatian market in the coming years but has stopped short of confirming a return to Zagreb. It discontinued its services from London Gatwick to the Croatian capital at the end of the 2014 summer season. In previous years it had also suspended flights from Paris and Dortmund to Zagreb. Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Commercial Manager, says, "We see a growing demand for short and long breaks to Croatia and we’re continuing to make it convenient for our customers to visit Croatia’s fantastic destinations contributing to the local economy". Furthermore, the airline notes, "easyJet periodically assesses the opportunities on the basis of market research with business cases on several routes and then we choose the ones that result to prove more attractive for our customers. easyJet currently offers as many as 32 destinations to and from Croatia confirming the airline’s commitment to the country and to making travel easy and affordable for local passengers to connect to Europe".

Within the former Yugoslavia, besides Croatia, easyJet also maintains flights to Ljubljana, Belgrade and Pristina and will launch seasonal summer services to Tivat this year, where it aims to carry 15.000 passengers during 2016. However, the Croatian coast continues to be its main area of focus in the region. Asked whether the airline is considering opening a base in the country, Mr Tadei tells EX-YU Aviation News, "easyJet is always evaluating new options and opportunities to be more profitable and continue growing in Europe with the primary focus for the short term to thicken our presence in our core markets". The budget carrier's most recent annual results revealed bumper pre-tax profits of 110.1 million euros during the 2015 fiscal year - up 142.8 million on the previous year, thus representing its fifth straight year of record profits.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    I think they will return to ZAG sooner or later. I wonder whather they suspended them because of poor loads or high fees.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:47

      This what someone wrote a few weeks ago regarding Zagreb and Easy

      "2016 will be exciting even more than 2015 was, 2017 is expected to do be really exciting and 2018 arrival of low cost carriers nanelly EasyJet, GermanWings, Vueling, Norwegian should ensure rapid expansion of Zagreb airport. Terminal 1 will be done up, and made in to low cost hub, after renovation in 2018 T1 should be able to handle 3.0 million pax per year and with terminal 1 handling up to 5.5 million there should be plenty of room for growth."

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    600k is really impressive on a seasonal basis.

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  3. Anonymous09:09

    I don't understand why they don't base a plane in Split. They fly to 16 destinations from there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Because Split (and Dubrovnik) airports are expensive as hell and because they are probably not interested in subsidising airlines for basing an aircraft.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:30

    I hate Easyjet. They shouldn't have rights to be called LOW COST AIRLINE! Avoid it at all cost!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Why?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:40

      Calm down... easyJet is one of the best airlines I flew... In my opinion better than many legacy cariers - i.e. LH...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:05

      Easyjet is the most expensive LC airline I flew! I have never found ticket for less then 150EUR per flight!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:41

      Funny, earlier this year I got return tickets to Iceland on EZY for less than 100 EUR. Good times.

      On topic, I don't think they have what it takes to operate to inland Balkan airports. Their cost base demands a more lucrative market, and even BEG is not good enough for their model, let alone ZAG and others.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:44

      +1

      easy has cancelled a lot of routes to/from ex-Yu. In ZAG they cancelled London, Dortmund and Paris, from BEG they cancelled Milan and Rome. Mind you Italy - Serbia flights are the worst you could launch. They are highly seasonal and covered well by AZ and JU. Everyone failed there - Wizz Air, easy, Air One

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    6. Just take a look how cheap easyJet is on GVA route most of the time... Of course you could end up paying 150 € per leg if you book during high peak period when everyone wants to fly or in short time notice... I never had such a great experience with an LCC like with easyJet. They fly to main airports, prices were always good, planes are clean, interior plesant for your eyes (unlike FR), seats are comfortable... I'm sad that they stoped flying from BEG to MXP and FCO, because you could connect and fly pretty much everywhere with them for a little amount of money.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:35

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Naporni ste do zla boga. I to ti kaže sunarodnjak.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:47

    If OU doesn't open new routes this year Easyjet will easily overtake them with these 4 new routes.

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    1. Anonymous16:08

      gospode Boze covece, pa jel' ti sebe cujes uopste sta pricas/pises : imaju 600 k sa 32 linije i sad ce sa 4 nove da dodju na 2,5 mil da preteknu croaciju?!?! pa stvarno ljudi mogu ovde da se nalupetaju i da ostanu zivi

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  7. Replies
    1. Anonymous13:11

      65 billion euros in debt. busting more like.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:05

      daj mi Boze sta mi zena misli, ne daj Boze sta mi majka misli :) Hvala na ulozi majcice ali supruga pobedjuje ovaj put :) caos !

      Delete
    3. @anon 1:11pm
      So what a debt doesnt say so much, its only 70% of GDP, Serbia has an debt of 80% of GDP.

      USA an debt of 103% GDP, UK 406%, France 222%, Germany 145%....

      So dont just stare on a number ;)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:29

      +1 Google Driver. Quite normal debt. Besides HR is a EU member which is another story. Good luck with the new Zagrab terminal.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous10:04

    I am sorry, but from the title I would have expected something new.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      Agreed, I hoped for some new routes from Zagreb.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:34

      I personally had no idea they carried so many passengers from Croatia or were so busy there.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      So is easy jet the busiest foreign airline in Croatia?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:45

      Probably. Look at how many seats they offer during the summer.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:04

      @AnonymousJanuary 5, 2016 at 10:39 AM

      No, Lufthansa is, Austrian after that, however EasyJet is in top 10, not sure if top 5. SAS. Thomson and Monarch are really busy during summer months, and SAS plans to start flights to Zagreb in late 2016 year round.

      Lufthansa - 1.1~ million pax
      Austrian - 900 000~ pax
      SAS - 800 000~ pax
      Thomson - 720 000~ pax
      Norwegian and EasyJet might be fighting for the 5th place,
      Ryan Air has around 500-550 000 pax
      Monarch - 440 000~
      BA - 400 000~
      Air France - 300 000~
      Swiss - 250 000~

      and so on



      BTW Zagreb is completely snowed in

      http://i.imgur.com/b0zHEAw.jpg

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:09

      Izvinjavam se na pitanju jel vi znate odtkad vec najavljujete dolazak SK i uvek sredinom godine ce doci pa ne dodje ?
      INN-NS

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:43

      SN, KL, BA, EY, DY, OK, SR, VY, IB, LO, ima ih jos, vecina onih koji su bili u najavi su dosli, isto kao i prekookeanski letovi za Koreju i Kanadu koji su postali/postaju redovni. Isto tako ce doci ili se vratiti u ZAG i ovih nekoliko preostalih koji su najavljeni - AY, SK, AZ, U2, ove ili najkasnije sledece godine. A tebi ako je krivo tvoj problem, negativnim pisanjem istinu promeniti ne mozes

      Delete
    8. Anonymous15:45

      cetvrti od pocetka nije EY nego LY - Elal - greska u pisanju

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:47

      i nije SR nego LX formalno, ali u osnovi je SR :)

      Delete
  9. Anonymous11:57

    OT:

    http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2016&mm=01&dd=05&nav_id=1081994

    Čestitke beogradskom aerodromu na još jednoj rekordnoj godini!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:03

      Bravo! GO BEG!!!!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:15

      koliki je onda pad u 12 mjesecu? 8-9% najmanje u odnosu na Dec/2014?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:14

      -10% number of flights
      - 6% number of pax
      +14% cargo

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:23

      They should return to growth by June

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:31

      Since when did the work of a company or organisation come down to 1 day, 1 week or even 1 month ? I thought the idea was to assess the results of any company over the course of 12mths - in other words, their financial year. That being the case, Belgrade airport have recorded passenger numbers in excess of what they achieved in 2014. Therefore, by any measure, that would seem to be a job well done, no ? Let's wait for their financial results, which may show something else altogether. But on passenger numbers alone, they did better than 2014, so i'm not sure how anyone can find reason to be critical of anything.

      Next year, we do the same thing and if their full year 2016 results are worse than 2015, then we can have reason to be critical.

      Same goes for Air Serbia. Reading some of the recent comments, the dooms day prophets seem obsessed with the month of Dec 2015, yet conveniently forget the record results reported in Q3, which will no doubt position them to have a better full year in 2015 than what they achieved in 2014.

      Performance - financial and otherwise - is assessed over the full year.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:54

      I was expecting at least 5 million this year such as Riga Airport for example. Even SOF is expected to have over 4 million not having so many transfer flights such as BEG. Lets hope 5 million is achievable in 2016!!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous16:59

      Odlican Rezultat i jedan od boljih u Ex Yu .
      Samo treba sad da se pocne sa izradnjom plana za prosirenje Aerodroma da nebi posle kocilo .
      I naravno ne treba zaboraviti da se to nebi desilo da nije bilo ASL.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:36

      SOF will have this year around 4.1 mln. pax. They don't have pretty much any transfer passengers. 99% of their passengers are O&D.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous22:19

      @Anon 6:36pm - Yes, thanks to Wizz they managed to get those figures. Same as BUD too. W6 will base a 6th a/c in SOF this spring and they will even deploy the A321 on some routes such as LTN...this is getting serious. BEG needs O&D too as a compensation and not to rely on transfer passengers. Unfortunately, few low cost carriers operate to/from airport. Hoping to see FR or more routes from U2 rather than reduced frequencies from LH or LX :(

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:57

      @Anon 10:19 PM
      SOF also will have Ryan operating on 2 routes starting from April - London Stansted on daily basis and Pisa 2x weekly. Their national carrier, Bulgaria Air, will get 3 A321 this year and will start 2 new seasonal destinations - Lisbon and Alicante. Air Berlin is returning with daily flights and El Al is boosting capacity - all their flights will be operated with B762 starting from April. Turkish is also adding a third daily flight.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous14:43

    OT: Split i Dubrovnik s rastom putnika za ovu godinu opasno se priblizavaju Zagrebu, pogotovo Split. Biti ce zanimljivo ove godine.

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    1. Anonymous14:52

      All Croatian airports will see strong growth in 2016,Zag 10%, Split 12-15%, Dubrovnik 15%. Im in tourism industry and early bookings for 2016 are at least 15% up compared to last year, please note that 2015 was record year. Problem with split is capacity, but hopefully by 2018 it will be ready to accomodate 3mil pax.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:12

      @AnonymousJanuary 5, 2016 at 2:52 PM

      HM, you're quite optimistic in your predictions I think.

      My prediction,

      Zagreb - 2.8 million pax
      Split - 2.1 million pax
      Dubrovnik - 1.85 million pax
      Zadar - 500k
      Pula - 400k
      Rijeka - 200k
      Osijek - 50k

      Zagreb continues to maintain 500-700k difference between Split and 1 million with Dubrovnik, this is the trend since 2005.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:14

      Nisi normalan! Nema sanse da ce Zagreb imati toliki rast!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:53

      vidi, za godinu dana novi terminal, plus kapacitet starog za LCC; CTN zavrsila restrukturiranja, ide privatizacija, sirenje flote i linija i vise tranzita, dakle nije nemoguce da brojke zag-a i prerastu ove za koje kazes da su preoptimisticne. uostalom koje pre 2-3 god. mogao misliti da ce beg imati toliki rast-vrlo verovatno slican scenario dolazi i u zag

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:19

      Samo ne znam sa ovim kapacitetom SPU kako ce da raste, punjenje aviona je preko 95 posto, a nemas gde da sednes na onon aerodromu, da ne pricam o koriscenju toaleta i sl... Sramota

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:28

      Ovu godinu ce Split izdrzat jos jedva, dogodine vise nema Ultre tako da ce tu odahnut malo.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous17:01

      Sta se desilo sa onim Avionima sto su najavljeni ?
      SPU bi verovatno mogao prestici ZAG da nema toliki problem sa kapacitetom i treba ozbiljno da radi na tome.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:03

      Kojim Avionima mili sine?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous17:08

      @ 4:19 i 4:28
      SPU ima problem samo subotom. I sa postojecim terminalom moze se postici rast od 15%, pa i veci, sa ravnomernijim rasporedjivanjem letova kroz celu nedelju, i sa produzavanjem sezone, na cemu se radi, koliko mi je poznato. Inace, SPU ce graditi i novi terminal, a sto se situacije na sadasnjem tice, subotom, u vrsnom opterecenju, slazem se da je teska, pa cak i sramotna, ali nasrecu jos samo godinu-dve

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:14

      Pa pricalo se o dolasku RJ u CTN pa pitam dali ima nesto novo .
      INN-Ns

      Delete
    11. Anonymous17:21

      ukucajte u google : "Slobodna Dalmacija, prvi covjek splitskog aerodroma, gradimo novi Resnik za 3 milijuna putnika

      Delete
    12. Anonymous18:58

      OT: Dubrovnik

      Dec: 18 417 +19,8%

      2015: 1 693 934 pax +6,9%

      Delete
    13. @INI-Ns - u ZAG se u posljednje 2 godine vratio zavidno društvo stranih kompanija. Tu naravno nije kraj. A OU u planu za ljeto 2016 ima 2 x nove destinacije + povećanje frekvencija i veličine aviona na postojećim rutama. ZAG solidno pozicioniran ulazi u novu razvojnu fazu.

      ZAG je izdragnjom novog terminala za idućih 40 godina riješio poteškoće u nesmetanom razvoju prometa. Tu nema "nadoštukavanja/petljanja/širenja/seruckanja", već će NPT sa 5 mil pax jednostavno moć biti proširen na 8 mil.

      Zamisli kako jednostavnih transfera - mala, nova i funkcionalna zračna luka - tko nebi tamo htio presjesti.

      A što se samog Zagreba tiče, već je sada #1 najposjećenija destinacija u bivšoj Jugoslaviji. A još nije ni krenulo.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous21:41

      G. Petar - Drustvo stranih kompanija se nije vratilo radi lepog izgleda Zagreba nego zato sto CTN sve vise slabi i slabi pa da oni malo pomognu i dobro se poziciniraju .
      Ja nigde nisam napisao da ima malo mesta u ZAG nego u SPU i da zato ne mogu prestici zagreb.
      Pa i LYBE i ASL su prvi u svom rangu ne znam cemu sad da se prepucavamo.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    15. Anonymous21:53

      Ma sto su prvi, daj covjece ne umaraj vise s glupostima!!

      Delete
    16. Anonymous23:27

      OU u Zagrebu ne slabi jer joj broj putnika raste bez obzira što joj ne raste broj linija (zimska frekvencija je veća za zanemariva dva leta).

      Dakle stranci rastu iako i OU raste. Nije istina da OU slabi. Raste sporo, ali ne slabi.

      Uzgled Split je imao jako velik minus u 12. mjesecu:

      2014. 32.102
      2015. 28.652

      Zagreb je pak porastao za 4,3% u 12. mjesecu:

      2014: 163.830
      2015: 170.420

      Porast SPU u prošloj godini 202.743
      Porast ZAG u prošloj godini 156.827
      razlika je tek u 45.916 putnika

      Da bi ovom brzinom dostigli razliku od ZAG od 632.398 putnika trebalo bi im 14 godina.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous16:10

    Po tome bi se moglo reci onda i za Dubrovnik da bi mogao za par godina, tocnije od 2017. kad bude gotov novi terminal imati znacajan rast. Jer odavno se razmislja i o otvaranju baze OU u Dubrovniku.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:29

      A gdje bi to letjeli bazirani avioni tijekom zime kada DBV ima oko 18.000 putnika mjesečno ili oko 600 putnika dnevno?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:51

      Znaci ima 18.000 u zimskom mjesecu i to je vrhunac? Mogu gdje hoce, u toplije krajeve ili bilo gdje drugo u Europi. Zasto ne bi rasli iznad tih 18.000?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:52

      Nitko ne bazira avion ako u ZL ima 18.000 putnika. Prvo treba porasti brojka sa nebaziranim avionima, a onda se eventualno bazira avion. Malo elementarnog znanja o avio prometu!

      Naravano da će rasti, ali sigurno neće biti baziranih aviona dok god broj putnika mjesečno ne pređe 100.000, a to je danas jakoooo daleko.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous01:19

      Znaci Zadar koji ima 5000 putnika zimi imaju bazu Ryanaira? Ti ces mi pricat o elementarnom znanju...

      Delete
  12. Anonymous17:37

    Sorry for OT, but does anyone now the best connection from Belgrade to Dublin, since there are no direct flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:01

      to answer your question, one should know whether you look for the best in terms of price, or connecting times, and approximate, or exact period of travel. If it's price, and your travel is spring/summer, the best you take the bus to ZAD and than Ryanair to DUB for some 40-50 euro return. If you need to travel soon, and cannot waste time and ride buses, you should consider one-stop legacy carrier from BEG

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:05

      and you have Ryanair form BUD, too, during winter months as well, but slightly higher prices.

      Delete
  13. easy jet should start flying from SKP finally ....

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:26

      W6 has expanded way too much. Not sure if they want to compete with the LTN route. Sole possible suggested routes: GVA or LGW

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      GVA's what's left from their bases really.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous22:23

    ZAG needs more routes especially after the construction of the new terminal. They may leave the old one to low-cost carriers such as U2 and FR AND NOT CLOSE IT like in BUD! Potential routes are obviously BER, DTM, STN, FMM, GRO, etc. Good luck with the 3 million mark ZAG!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:32

      ZAG has route to TXL (BER). ZAG needs ARN, HEL, OSL, DUS, GVA, MAD all year, MXP, OTP, SOF, DUB, ATH, CAI

      Delete

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