Canada's leading leisure airline, Air Transat, anticipates recording even better results on this year's seasonal service between Toronto and Zagreb. After carrying some 5.000 passengers on its seventeen rotations between the two cities during 2016, the carrier has boosted its operations from one to two per week this year and will run flights until later on in the season. "We increased our capacity on the destination from one to two direct flights from Toronto for our summer 2017 season in order to offer our customers more flexibility in their choices of holiday duration and packages", Air Transat's Marketing Director, Debbie Cabana, told EX-YU Aviation News. This year, Air Transat will commence operations to Zagreb on May 30 and run services each Monday until October 16, while a second weekly flight, on Wednesdays, will operate between June 18 and September 3.
Air Transat's Commercial Vice President, Gilles Ringwald, highlighted that, based on current bookings, the passenger structure on these flights is varied, featuring a mix of both diaspora and leisure travellers. "We have seen all categories of passengers. There are those wishing to visit Croatia or just visit family and friends. Our advantage is that we have an extensive European network, allowing our passengers to combine their trip to Zagreb with other cities, such as Venice and Budapest", Mr Ringwald said. However, the Commercial Vice President noted it was too early to extend the flights past the summer months. "This is a seasonal service running between June and October because our estimates show there is low demand during the winter", he said.
Meanwhile, one of Air Transat's main competitors, leisure airline Air Canada Rouge, has ruled out launching flights to the former Yugoslavia for the time being despite venturing further into Eastern Europe. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, Air Canada Rouge said there was no other news to report concerning new route launches beyond what has already been announced, but added, "We are continuously looking at all opportunities, including Croatia, and other destinations. Like all airlines, there are a number of considerations involved when we are selecting a destination, including customer demand, airport infrastructure and competition from other carriers. The Air Canada rouge fleet is growing and that fleet growth will power both network and capacity growth", the company said.
I think they should have left ZAG one weekly and introduced one weekly to Dubrovnik as well. Or if there is enough demand then 2x weekly ZAG and 1x weekly DBV.
ReplyDeleteZagreb is a safer choice then Dubrovnik because this way you get tourists and diaspora rather then just the one.
Delete+ business
Delete+ politics
+ sport, media, religion, science, education...
I think DBV could actually work during season, maybe 1pw
DeleteDubrovnik would only work in the high season
DeleteHow many Canadian tourists came to Croatia last year?
ReplyDelete2015 Croatia:
Delete- 95.000 tourists
- 244.000 nights
* for 2016 there are no data jet
2016 Zagreb:
- 18.766 tourists (+15,1%)
- 37.284 nights (+20,7%)
2016 Zagreb top tourist from
1. 94.537 Korea (+4,1%)
2. 61.037 Germany (-4,3%)
3. 55.446 Italy (+16,5%)
4. 53.541 USA (+0,2%)
5. 35.960 BiH (+34,2%)
6. 35.278 Austria (+9,0%)
7. 33.366 UK (+3,5%)
8. 31.477 Spain (-5,9%)
9. 31.453 China (+5,0%)
10. 31.334 Bulgaria (+8,6%)
total in 2016:
- 1.154.622 tourists (+7,1%)
- out of what 920.303 foreign (+7,1%)
- 2.023.733 nights (+12,2%)
- 1.620.899 nights (+13,5%)
But for 2017 results will be even better as in Zagreb they build
- 1x 5*****hotel
- 4x 4***** hotels
- 20 other hotels and hostels
- there would be newcomers Emirates and Monarch + lot of more frequencies or bigger planes on other airlines (Croatia, Air Transat, Iberia, ČSA, LOT, Qatar, Turkish)
1.630.899 foreign nights*
DeleteAre these hotels already built or are these projects?
DeleteAdris is making a new 5 star hotel on Ban Jelacic Square, suppose one of the big hotel brands might take it. Still, Zagreb needs more 5 star hotels. Miskovic plans to build Intercontinental in the near future as well.
DeleteIt will be Meriott.
DeleteOther hotels in different part of construction. Some of them will be open before summer season.
Is Marriott a five star hotel? The one in Belgrade is nice but I wouldn't give it five stars.
DeleteThe one in Belgrade is a 4* Courtyard
DeleteSo I guess Lufty lost these 5.000 passengers. Their monopoly in ZAG is slowly coming to a long awaited end.
ReplyDeleteGiven the exponential growth in demand for flights to Croatia competition promotes rather than inhibits growth. LH is not affected. I am confident that a UA announcement imminent
DeleteLH did not loose 5k pax. Perhaps a smaller fraction of that. Air Transat generated more pax. as most direct flights do...its about motivation and direct flight as a marketing tool brings a destination in a higher focus. Hence more pax.
ReplyDeleteThese flights to ZAG cater to the diaspora. Flights to SPU or DBV would be a completely different story.
DeleteCorrection: diaspora + tourists
DeleteYeah but how many Canadian tourists actually go to Zagreb? Most end up flying on LH or OS straight to the coast.
Delete- 18.766 tourists (+15,1%)
Delete- 37.284 nights (+20,7%)
So if Transat carried about five thousand passengers where most were diaspora how did these come? Also, if a Croat with a Canadian passport enters HR, will he be counted as a Canadian tourist?
Delete5.000 is 2.500 one way, and that is just 13,3% of all Canadian tourist to come to Zagreb last year.
DeleteIn same time you have some Croats to travel to Canada.
Don't know about Croats with Canadian passport (but that makes sense). Anyhow it is the same if someone is Croat and which passports he/she has when he is contributing on route. When you calculate potentials on some route you don't care which passports passengers use.
Well we do care now because it seems like a large chunk of these Canadian tourists in Zagreb are actually Croats from Canada.
DeleteSure, like those 100.000 Koreans in Zagreb are Croats from Korea.
DeleteEven if they are. Who care. They are passengers, support route, bring money to country. That is good. And for them route is very good.
The only difference being that there is a large Croatian community in Canada while there isn't one in South Korea.
DeleteThe reason why it's important to mention this is because otherwise we are distorting facts regarding Canadian tourism into Zagreb.
People who are Croats from 2nd, 3rd od 4th generation doesn't even consider themselves as Croatian but Canadians of Croatian origin. Even don't speak language any more. Those are perfect tourists as they want to come to lend of their grandfathers and bring some friends and family with them. The best possible promo.
DeleteThose of 1st generation still have Croatian passports and citizenship and are not calculate as Canadians, but do support that route what is most important.
And what is the difference. Even those who leave Croatia to make new home in Canada are tourist, unfortunately nothing more than that. Just little percentage of them will come back to Croatia for living. Those who will not, every time they came here are more than welcome tourists.
If those are just Croatian diaspora, why there is no 20.000 Canadians "tourists" in Belgrade per year, as Serbian diaspora is almost the same as Croatian in Canada?
DeleteSome people here are obsessed with Belgrade and Serbia. No one even mentioned them.
DeleteMost Serbs from the US actually have a Serbian passport which they use when entering the country. However, Serbs who enter the US with a Canadian or US are classified as tourists.
DeleteHrvati u Kanadi, SAD-u, Australiji, UK i sl. izgleda da imaju najbolju demografiju na svijetu, kojom brzinom raste broj posjeta.
DeleteNeću ni spominjat one po Aziji, njih nitko nije uspio ni registirati
Ne pametuj vec procitaj komentar gore.
DeleteSo Croats from Canada use Canadian passport to enter Croatia.
DeleteBut Serbs from Canada use Serbian passport to enter Serbia.
That is some kind of Canadian law or just national obsession?
Come on, even biggest hater can see how stupid that sounds!
Ajmo malo pazljivije sledeci put:
Delete'However, Serbs who enter the US with a Canadian or US are classified as tourists.'
He aims... and he misses.
I verovatno je mislio: who enter Serbia with a Canadian or US passports are..
Deleteuh-huh..
DeleteA kada kroz 5-10 godina broj posjetitelja iz Kanada i SAD-a u HR bude dvostruko-trostruko veći..
Prvo skoci pa reci hop
DeletePa brojke to i govore, o tome se radi.
DeleteKroz 5-10 godina će se skočiti bar jednom, po pitanju Kanade i SAD-a. Zapravo, što se tiče upravo Kanade i SAD-a brojke govore da će se nekoliko puta skočiti.
Da se vratiš unatrag 5 godina, Kanada je jednom skočila a SAD dva i pol puta
Kao sto rekoh, prvo skoci pa reci hop.
DeleteGood news about the frequency increase. Shame they don't want to try year-round.
ReplyDeleteThey good perhaps try operating via Prague or Venice during the winter.
DeleteNot really a shame probably a conservation smart approach given the plethora of new airlines arrivals including pending.
DeleteI'm predicting that ZAG will take number 1 position in terms of pax for the Balkans
OK, enough with the megalomaniac predictions. Predicting it based on what? That tourists will just flock to Zagreb just because? Yes, the pax numbers will go gradually up, but this "Balkans competition" is so childish.
DeleteBTW, I'm from Zagreb before you call me a Serb or a HR hater.
Totally agree.
DeleteChildish and nothing else. Who care who have more, bigger, better. It is about quality of living, possibilities, collaboration... Everything else belong to 19th century. Not even to 20th, especially not to 21st.
frishki - predictions regarding Zagreb and Croatia are not megalomanic. The tourism has been developing at the growth rate that is twice as big to that of the EU average for over decade now. Country's potential has not even been properly tapped yet, as there were no investment projects until couple of years ago. Despite all this, Zagreb is #1 tourist destination (# of visits) in Ex Yu and Croatia is dominating this region. Any serious route development that will be happening in the future - ZAG will for sure capture a large piece of that... Austria and Greece for sure are more developed, but then again the entire Europe is concentrated with countries whose incredibly strong tourism. Croatia has a #23 world rank in terms of the numbers, and it is likely that it will occupy ranks in between 15 and 20 in several years from now. For a country of 4,4 million - I would say pretty damn good.
DeleteSo, no our comments are not megalomanic. What is megalomanic are the aspiration of some other destinations in the region that think are a whole league above ZAG just because they managed to get some transfer pax due to price dumping. That very same city has lower GDP and 20% less tourism than Zagreb. You need to have a tourist product base in addition to a business strategy.
That's my opinion. Fanboys - fire away now ... :)
Huh? When did Serbs say that they were a bigger tourist destination than Croatia?
DeleteWhat has been said here is that Serbia and Croatia are different markets so they shouldn't be compared.
Also, the initial post spoke of Croatia dominating the Balkans, not the ex-YU region.
Finally, don't forget that a part of this growth in Croatia came as a result of civil unrest throughout the Middle East and north Africa.
A part of the growth in most Mediterranean countries (not just Croatia) came from civil unrests in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
DeleteYet we are not talking about all those countries but Croatia.
DeleteNemjee ok. You have a point. But there was no civil unrest 2005-2014. During that period Croatian tourism also maintained 5% annual growth double of the european rate. Civil unrest helped Croatia grow 9% in the last 2 years which is again double the eu average.
DeleteDont forget Croatia suffered from civil unrest 1990-1999. Others (spain, greece, italy) got ahead because of that too. Now Croatia is catching up to where it should be.
Which is why I said that a part of this growth came as a result of civil unrest, not all of it.
DeleteWell, Greece's economy keeps on collapsing every six months but they still manage to keep on growing at this rate. Next collapse of their economy will take place in June-July when they will have to pay 7 billion to their creditors- money they don't have.
Don't forget that as far as infrastructure goes, Croatia was more advanced in 1997 than Greece was.
Nemjee - perhaps yes. But Croatia did not start moving forward until 2005. During all this time Greece rapidly grew + the olympis in 2004.
DeleteThe war was so bad that it had deep psychological influence over many investors / various stakeholders. Croatia was catching up until 2014. its prewar numbers which means it still has room for growth. Lots of it.
If there is one country in the region with 'untapped potential' then that's definitely Serbia and to some extent Bosnia, which besides the wars was also demonized, unlike Croatia which was portrayed a victim. People are discovering Belgrade more and more and what's important they keep returning.
Deletehttps://issuu.com/lotpolishairlines/docs/ka_1612/49
There is definite potential in both Serbia and Bosnia, but I'm sure they will never reach Croatia's numbers, just like Croatia will never reach Greece, etc.
DeleteP.S. Zagreb still has a lot of room for improvement, but, like I wrote above, needs much more 4 and 5 star hotels... Facades are being renovated and the city is really nice and clean, people are great, could use some extra promotion and a better nightlife!
DeleteYeah but HR and RS attract different kind of tourists.
DeleteMaybe they could work together like Croatia and Slovenia do, who knows, and offer like 3 days in ZAG + 3 days in BEG!
DeleteNemjee, does this apply to Greece too?
Delete"Finally, don't forget that a part of this growth in Croatia came as a result of civil unrest throughout the Middle East and north Africa."
Also, I think that the fact that the economy in Greece is in such a poor state has resulted in greater numbers of Greeks moving abroad to live and work, hence increasing passenger numbers. Sure, probably the number business travelers is down but that must be more than compensated by increased numbers of political travelers and more people living and working abroad. Just a thought.
Did I say it doesn't apply to Greece?
DeleteIf your argument about Greeks moving out was true then Ryanair would be increasing it's presence in ATH, not reducing it by 22%. Don't you agree?
OBSERVER I don't know why but you seem to be so obsessed with NEMJEE calm down.
DeleteNemjee, it was a simple question, didn't mean to be aggressive.
DeleteI think Greece is benefiting from:
- Troubles in the Middle East;
- Additional travelers targeting better value holidays due to its financial crisis (this view exists although I don't necessarily think it's valid, but if the country gets more visitors then I'm all for it);
- Increased migration from Greece;
- Perhaps the reason Ryanair is not expanding in Greece to benefit from Greece migration is since Greeks are moving to destinations not served by Ryanair (Middle East for example), but there are more Greeks in places like Germany and Norway since the crisis hit;
- Aegean is doing a good job too, adding destinations like JED(!!?) or KWI.
In any case, I might be wrong but I've read here arguments about migration driving growth in places like Sofia or troubles in the MENA having a positive impact in Croatia. Well, I think the same arguments apply in places like Greece of Cyprus.
Please don't take this as an aggressive post, but a question of why are some arguments not used consistently when describing growth in Greece or Cyprus?
No problem. The 'issue' for Ryanair is that their entry into the Greek market did not represent a revolution. The market was already competitive and they weren't the first airline Aegean had to fight off. Even before FR, Aegean used to sell domestic flights for as little as €19 while offering a decent onboard product.
DeleteSo what happened when FR launched flights? They offered slightly cheaper fares for a product that was far inferior to Aegean's.
I think the biggest challenge for FR was that ATH was unwilling (rightfully so) to grant them special conditions which would have distorted the market.
Over time Ryanair suffered and they had to adjust their operations to meet their demand. I saw that they are shifting some of this capacity to Thessaloniki where there isn't a single dominant airline as is the case with Athens. It's worth noting that easyJet is rather strong in Greece as they have been flying to ATH for a long time now. Basically Ryanair attacked a lot of airlines and they lost almost every battle. Now they are launching some rather random destinations like Athens-Krakow/Katowice.
This goes to show that airlines like Ryanair and Wizz Air can be defeated as long as their opponent is smart enough. Ryanair is also suspending Paphos-Athens. Every year there are around a million passengers flying between Larnaca and Athens. It's a massive market yet they couldn't make it work. Now they are replacing this route with PFO-TLV so let's see how they compete against UP!, Aegean, TUS and soon Cobalt.
Greece, just like Spain, Portugal or Croatia, is seeing its numbers increase thanks to the instability in MENA.
However, I think it's worth pointing out that unlike Croatia, Greece and Cyprus managed to attract a large number of Russian holidaymakers who couldn't go to Turkey. I think Russian arrivals in Cyprus were up by 47% in 2016.
Finally, as far as ATH goes, this growth is primarily fueled by Aegean which has openly stated that their goal is to grow by as much as possible before the Turks open their new airport. This is why they have aggressively expanded over the last couple of years.
Aegean has done a phenomenal job at building a strong brand among the Greek diaspora. They are constantly creating new ads. This is an older one (from 2004 I think) but it was super popular:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3yTIrqG2LE
Airlines like Cobalt or Aegean are successful because they have the full support of their ethnic travelers, no matter where they live.
Each market is different which is why some comments on Croatia do not apply to Cyprus and vice-versa.
Hvala, Nemjee.
DeleteI'm in full agreement with you regarding the above.
Apologies again if I came across agressive, it was not my intention.
No problem, any time.
DeleteBut yes...LH's monopoly in ZAG was roo powerful. Austrian monopoly is even more ridiculous. Take them and OU, uou have 5 daily flights to VIE. Why ? VIE is not a LHR or FRA. In my opinion OS ks the first one to feel lossing a grip on ZAG with LOT, CSA and others stepping up with connections and capacity...
ReplyDeleteOS and VIE are also stupidly expensive so LO will harm them even more.
DeleteZAG is LH playground
Delete- 5x daily FRA
- 5x daily VIE
- 4x daily MUC
- 3x daily ZRH
- 2x daily BRU
- 2x daily Eurowings
Who ever comes to make more competition is good for Zagreb
ZRH 3 x daily??
DeleteU mean 17 weekly during SUTT?
Of course but in same time BRU is 16 weekly, and I made it simple to emphasize point.
DeleteWhiich one is better? Rouge or Transat, service wise I mean. I know there are people living in Canada that visit the site so I assume some of you have travelled on both.
ReplyDeleteAT je grozan a Rouge je obično smeće..ustvari sve tri kanadske aviokompanije su nikakve..treći je WestJet koji leti sa 767 do LGW i stalno otkazuju letove zbog starih aviona.
DeleteMa zapravo sve kompanije na svijetu su smeće osim Air Serbije. Čovječe ti pljuješ baš po svemu, ali zato je sve oko Air Serbije prekrasno i bajkovito.
DeleteAjmo malo realnosti. Hvala.
Ja mislim da si ti opsednut Er Srbijom. Ljudi je nigde nisu spomenuli.
DeleteAnon @8:34pm
DeleteNiko tu nije ni spomenuo Er Srbiju, sa kojom ti očigledno imaš problem
O čemu ovaj gore priča? Ja spomenuo nisam ni jednu drugu zemlju osim Kanadu i koje su tebi to "sve " kompanije koje sam ja napisao? Očigledno imaš neke komplekse pa ih lečiš ovde.
DeleteO čemu ovaj gore priča? Ja spomenuo nisam ni jednu drugu zemlju osim Kanadu i koje su tebi to "sve " kompanije koje sam ja napisao? Očigledno imaš neke komplekse pa ih lečiš ovde.
DeleteVjerujem da ce od iduce godine krenuti od pocetka ljetnog reda letenja, ali sumnjam da ce tako skoro krenuti s year round. Sanss za year round bi bile izglednije ako bi sklopili code-share s Air Canadom koja bi nudila velik broj konekcija prema SAD-u i Kanadi, jer ovako s Air Transat mozes samo do Toronta i Montreala.
ReplyDeleteAir Transat rijetko, vrlo rijetko koju liniju za Europu ima year round. Daleko veće destinacije su sezonske. Tako da će se to teško desit.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteAir Transat offers people the opportunity to purchase a ticket to say Prague and for you to return from Zagreb and charges as one return ticket which is really good for tourists. They also fly to Budapest. So a person can book a ticket to BUD, spend a few days there, go to Zagreb and return from there to Toronto.
ReplyDeleteYep. That's open jaw.
DeleteDoesn't every airline do that...?
DeleteOT: Antonov 124 in ZAG yesterday (with new terminal)
ReplyDeletehttp://i.imgur.com/7PxEYQo.jpg
Cool, its still there. Any idea what she's transporting?
Deletehttp://www.zagreb-airport.hr/web-kamera
No idea, but the photo's great! New terminal looks absolutely beautiful!
DeleteThat Anatonov is going to Dammam in Saudi Arabia. It is carrying weapons destined for Syria or possibly Yemen.
DeleteNO! It is here because of logistic and scene for musical "Cats".
DeleteWhat? Isn't musical Cats in Zagreb in late March?
DeleteMusic is not allowed in Saudi Arabia as it is considered "haram". So dont BS me as I said what it is carrying and that is 100% confirmed.
DeleteThe cargo did not consist of weapons but Croatian produced parts for a Hydro power plant being built in Saudi Arabia.
DeleteOpen up this facebook link (also supplied above) to view the pics.
https://www.facebook.com/makellazag/posts/1449321551753291
They have one of the crampest seating on earth. They managed to fit 345 seats on the A330-200 in 2 class config -.-
ReplyDeleteLCC...
DeleteQuestion for Admin: In your article, Air Canada Rouge ruled out launching flights to ex Yu. Did Air Transat comment on adding any other destination within ex Yu? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEmirates denied launching flights to ex yu weeks before announcing Zagreb. Does not mean Rouge will not start flights at one point.
DeleteASL will not purchase any new planes, ASL will not purchase this one nor they finish new A320NEO order... they leave that concept.
ReplyDeleteASL goes to hybrid/low fare model this year and will shrink network for 17% YOY, they have already cancelled flights to IST they will cancel AUH also.
Rumor says that ASL will wet lease 3 planes to AB.
Interesting time for ASL is ahead of us.
Source?
DeleteThe A320NEO is on order for Etihad, which will give those planes to JU, so go and spread your venom elsewhere
DeleteAnon 4:25 pm what was that ? Are you ok ?
DeleteFake news.
Delete"Rumor says that ASL will wet lease 3 planes to AB"
DeleteShould it not be the other way around? I guess some people are not following what is happening with AB
They will probably lease them the three B733s, that's pretty much the only thing AB can afford now.
Deletethat makes zero sense
DeleteSizofrenija je cudna bolest
DeleteHybrid model will, indeed, be introduced in terms of pax fare choices when they migrate to Sabre. Lower fares with option to purchase luggage, etc. Actually, very similar to EY model, except there will obviosly be fares which do not include checked baggage, in line with almost all European carriers.
DeleteAs for AUH cancellation, that might happen if the plane is needed elsewhere (IKA, AMM, or whatever), and if - and only if - EY is willing to step in and introduce 2nd daily flight with own metal. For sure HQ in AUH will not cannibalize its own profits and connectivity only to tweak JU's financial performance. That might even be finacially sound move for JU, depending on yields to AUH, which I do not know. However, with current schedule, an EY plane would sit on tarmac in BEG for cca 19 hours a day, as AUH departures are around midnight and 1 PM, arrivals at 5 AM and 12 PM.
It makes no sense for JU to even THINK about reducing their schedule at this point in time, ie. the time when BEG airport is launching the concession process.
Delete@ Anon 10:52
DeleteA decision has not been made yet .... two options are still on the table one is upgrade EY71/72 to 787 or take over JU flight with a second EY plane..... Currently option one is more realistic because of parking time at BEG, already EY 320 sitting at BEG cca 7H....
Passenger numbers 2016 for Germany, CH and Austria were published:
ReplyDeleteGermany 223,2 mio
Austria 27,7 mio
CH 52 mio
Population to compare
Germany 82.2 mio
Austria 8.7 mio
CH 8.3 mio
I care. Stop hstin' every time someone posts an OT.
DeleteHow are domestic pax counted?
DeleteOnce or twice?
All passengers are counted twice. It's impressive how much more traffic Switzerland has compared to Austria.
Delete