Croatia Airlines plans to expand its operations with the addition of four to six aircraft and the opening of new bases across the former Yugoslavia as early as 2017. The carrier's CEO, Krešimir Kučko, says Croatia Airlines will, as a result, become a true regional leader. "The plan is to maintain our strong position in the region through the opening of new bases, for which we need to acquire new aircraft. We are currently negotiating and are in the process of wide-scale planning", Mr Kučko says. The carrier intends to open bases in Sarajevo, Skopje and Pristina, as well as Tirana. "We will link these cities primarily to points in the European Union. A base in Belgrade is not an option for us. Wherever a national carrier is present, our plans would be difficult to fulfil", Mr Kučko adds.
According to Croatia Airlines' CEO, the carrier has already crunched the numbers for its planned regional expansion and decided on its route network. "Everything should be defined by the end of the year and implemented from April 1, 2017", Mr Kučko notes. He adds, "The pace at which each base will be launched will depend on the arrival of new aircraft. Depending on the demand, we would use 100-seaters, Airbuses and Dash planes". Concerning the purchase of new jets, the CEO notes the airline will have a "clear picture" by the end of the year. "We have been in talks with plane manufacturers for two years now. In June we could provide our owner with a proposal", he says.
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| Croatia Airlines' planned new bases |
The opening of new bases should ease Croatia Airlines' dependence on its highly seasonal home market. "During the third quarter we achieve strong results which cover the negative effects of the first and fourth quarters to such extent that we achieve profitability at the end of the year, as was the case the previous three years. Winter is a constant problem and the two types of aircraft we currently operate do not fully meet market demands", Mr Kučko says. He concludes, "The acquisition of aircraft with the capacity to seat 100 passengers is the only possible solution on which we could build a sustainable long-term business model".
CROATIA AIRLINES PASSENGER NUMBERS AT PLANNED BASES (2015)
| Airport | PAX |
|---|---|
| Sarajevo | 59.497 |
| Skopje | 46.809 |
| Pristina | 7.126 |
| Tirana | / |
Comments
I hope CTN will obtain sufficient support from Star Alliance partners for this endeavor.
"The carrier has already crunched the numbers for its planned regional expansion and decided on its route network"
No offense but these are low yielding markets which needs a low yielding focused operation (LCC). This is why Wizz is successful here.
I am wondering if OU will be relying on subsidiaries to make this work. Out of all these cities mentioned I only think due to geography and cultural ties that Sarajevo would work for them as an outside base.
Good that the airline is finally thinking 'out side the box' but I would prefer a different strategy than this unless move is as someone mentioned before covertly being directed by Turkish Airlines, than this would be a completely different matter.
If not I see the two airlines entering a price war that will destroy both.
Don't know if you can understand this though...
2. Base in Skopje and Sarejevo make sense.
3. But base in Tirana and Priština is most stupid thing I ever heard. Adria has base there and already fly to LH group hubs. Where can Croatia fly from there. That is nothing but pure personal PR in goal to stay on this position. Dream goal I think.
Sarajave can happened, Skopje not without Turkish help, Priština and Tirana not even with that in near future. That is not real. Also Croatia should first take care of Zagreb hub (flights to DUB, OSL, ARN, HEL, MAD, DUS, FOC, DME, OTP, SOF, TIA, OMO, TGD), possible base in Split (more flights to MUC, FRA, VIE, ZRH, CDG and BRU + charters) and summer base in Dubravnik (more flights to MUC, FRA, VIE, ZRH, CDG + charters). After that they should plan to open base in Sarajevo, and maybe, but maybe Skopje. Priština and Tirana is just idiotic dream.
Croatia has to do something not just to wait and do nothing on Air Serbia expansion. I think it would be smart to open INI-ZAG route also. Why not? Air Serbia is welcome in Zagreb, Pula, Dubrovnik and Split. I am sure Croatia would be welcome in INI on same way. I would do
INI-ZAG-VIE-ZAG-INI (so VIE route with stop in ZAG without need to exit plane + connections via ZAG to other destinations).
To sve treba vratiti u Zagreb. Otvaranje novih linija spušta cijene ostalih. Danas, nakon što je u Zagreb došao KLM, Brussels, Swiss, LOT, ČSA, Air Malta, Air Serbia, Vueling, Air Transat, Qatar, flyDubai... cijene su se prepolovile. Danas 8 od 10 letova radim iz Zagreba. Jednostavno mi se ne isplati vozit autom, plačat benzin, cestarine, parkiranje...
JU could make some money on SJJ transfers, too, if they were to make SJJ double daily, with a morning departure to BEG (though SJJ opens too late to catch JU's first wave out).
Bice zanimljivo kako ce se na tim mestima izboriti sa LCC , a za ASL su ovo odlicne vesti posto nece vise izgleda da prave HUB u ZAG sto je steta.
INN-NS
Most of those RJ will be in ZAG. Kučko announcement if of course something else but reality. I am sure they will do nothing else but base one of those RJ in SJJ. That's all.
It would certainly make JU to offer better prices to compete with that.
If you don't mind the connection those are some good deals.
Cheap oil has definitely changed the game, this is a good time to travel.
INN-NS
There's no demand for these destinations out of Zagreb, in fact out of Sofia for Croatia there's little demand.
Also OU is stretched as it is. fleet expansion by 2022 should see OU at around 22 aircraft, perhaps then it might be possible.
You are correct. AF/KL/DL are competing on an equal footing with JU.
If they can offer cheap prices and harm JU margins so can JU and harm their margins?
LOL!
I am puzzled why they do not at first think of W-routes such as ZAG-FRA-SJJ-FRA-ZAG. Same with let's say MUC in the middle.
But how about Traffic rights in these countries? Does anyone know?
- Sofija, Bucharest and Zagreba are European union capitals (politics, trade, collaboration...)
- NATO (military collaboration, education...)
- there was 28.900 tourist from Bulgaria and 10.600 from Romania in Zagreb in 2015. Number of Romanian tourist rise 13% and Bulgarian 10%
- there are lot of Bulgarian and Romanian workers in Zagreb especially in sports, ballet dance, education...
- trade between Croatia and Bulgaria is 168 million EUR, 39 million EUR with Romania
Izgubljeno je 6 godina, no sve to je još uvijek moguće. Baziranje jednog aviona u SJJ i u SKP znači oko 25 tjednih letova. Ne vidim baš nikakvog rizika u letovima za LH grupu (FRA, MUC, VIE, ZRH, BRU), najveće hubove (LHR, CDG, AMS, DME), te za neku nišu (npr. Skandinavija za Sarajevo) 25 letova na nekih 5-6 linija nisu nimalo upitni. Nemojmo zaboraviti da bazirani avion može letjeti i letove za ZAG kojih iz SKP ima 7 do 10 tjedno, a iz SJJ 10 do 13 tjedno.
Još ako je sve to dio deala sa Turkishem (što me uopće ne bi čudilo), onda je to 100% siguran posao.
U tom slučaju ostaje još 4 RJ za zagrebačku bazu, a konačno i bazirani avion u SJJ i SKP može se koristiti i u ZAG kao W let (SKP-FRA-ZAG-FRA-SKP) ili via ZAG u zagrebačkom valu, npr. SKP-ZAG-DME-ZAG-SKP.
Konačno, i Makedonija i BiH najavljuju otvaranje kompanija i žele to financirati. CTN je EU kompanija i može imati više od 50% udjela za razliku od Air Serbije ili Turkisha. Nije li to indikativno?
Down with reality, it is a JU hater!
I do remember how could LH, AF, BA destroy Ryanair and easyJet in 1995 with just few millions, but they did not. And today they are in huge problems with those competition. Just 20 year latter Ryanair and easyJet almost destroy LH, BA and AF and they spent much more money to compete. So, did Turkish learn from that mistake?
That plan would be very bad for Air Serbia.
Exactly, you got the message. Air Serbia haters drop dozens of messages against JU based on competitive pricing, but they are absolutely nowhere to be found when competition offers exactly the same prices! They are not "experts" and neutral observers but hateful trolls on a mission against one company, ignore them.
+1
They are massive companies with massive networks and they can easily afford to drown JU by offering some seats of their aircraft below cost.
JU on the other hand has only one longhand aircraft.
It can not win a price war against those airlines.
Simple enough for you?