Low cost airline Eurowings is considering introducing flights between Cologne and Osijek following the successful launch of its service from Stuttgart to the Croatian city this May. Osijek Airport's General Manager, Domagoj Marinić, said, "Recognising the excellent cooperation the airline has with us, and that we have taken upon ourselves to promote these flights, Eurowings wants to, in a way, reward us and are seriously considering introducing services from Cologne this autumn". He added, "Their decision will be known very soon, as early as July, and we are extremely hopeful". In recent times, budget airlines have recognised Osijek's potential, with Wizz Air launching services from Basel as well. "The flights from Stuttgart and Basel, which are each maintained twice per week, are performing better than expected. The average cabin load factor is around 75%. It is interesting to note that these services were launched at the same time as they were on the Croatian coast but recorded better results. This is probably because travellers from four different countries gravitate to Osijek Airport and there are many gastarbeiters in the area", Mr Marinić said.
Eurowings has previously said it plans to continue expanding its operations from Croatia next year after boosting services to the country by 55% this summer. The airline's Network Development and Airport Relations Manager, Ivan Oreč, noted that Eurowings will carry some 900.000 passengers on flights to and from Croatia, having added ten new routes to the country so far in 2017. "As was the case in recent years, we continue to have a high growth rate in Croatia and this will be maintained in the future. We plan to extend our cooperation with the Croatian Tourist Board and airports across the country", Mr Oreč said. He added that Croatia is one of the top ten markets for the low cost airline, noting that it continues to show strong growth.
However, Eurowings cited high costs at a number of airports in Croatia, particularly Zagreb, as a deterrent. "Charges at certain Croatian airports are still quite high. As a result, we are very cautious when it comes to future investments. However, we anticipate for the continued support of the Croatian Ministry for Tourism, as well as local communities, in order for us to grow at the same pace in the coming years", the company's Network Development and Airport Relations Manager said. The Croatian government has previously noted it is in talks with the Lufthansa subsidiary to open a base in Rijeka next year. Eurowings is the only foreign carrier to maintain operations to all of Croatia's main airports - Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, Zadar, Osijek and Rijeka.
Pleasw stop with rumors of Rijeka, a base at the important international airport. Orec also said, next 2 years there are no plans to base A/C in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteIt was said by the Croatian government so it's not a 'rumor'.
DeleteWhere did he say that about not basing an aircraft for two years?
DeleteIt was an interview few days ago. Sorry don't remember who was the source/interviewer.
Delete@ano 9:28
DeleteIt was more rethoric what I ment. Rijeka has no potential to be a base - yet
Rijeka is a sleeping giant and it's time will come... it just needs a chance like INI got.
DeleteRijeka will not be a base for Eurowings next summer season, for sure, but company will increase the number of operations to/from RJK. I think Rijeka need connection with Frankfurt, Moscow and more destinations in UK. Hope Eurowings will go year round on route to CGN one day!
DeleteHLX used to fly year round flights from CGN and HAJ to RJK.
DeleteYeah, but that was years ago. Now is there more potential for year round flights. Maybe for Lufthansa on route (at least seasonal) from Frankfurt and for Eurowings for year round from Cologne. Also we need more flights to UK, especially to London (now just 3 months of STN)
DeletePa kad već govorite o Rijeci, iskreno mi nije jasno kako Eurowings prije kreće sa year-round iz Osijeka a ne iz Rijeke. Oke, jasno, puno je ljudi otišlo iz Slavonije, ali odlaze ljudi i sa Kvarnera. Uz jednu razliku, na Kvarneru ima turizma (cjelogodišnjeg, barem u teoriji) dok u Slavoniji i nije toliko izražen.
DeleteMali je Kvarner...
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteBuaahahahahhahaha
DeleteBravo for which part - them considering Osijek or in the high charges at ZAG being a deterrent for future investments ?
DeleteDon't know how their fares are in Croatia but everywhere else they are not that cheap. To me they are as overrated as Vueling.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Osijek needs more Ryanair or Wizz Air. Airlines that can attract a mass of passengers, not only from continental Croatia but potentially from neighboring countries as well.
Agree. Osijek could be attracting pax from nearby such as novi sad. The potential growth is definitely there
DeleteI don't think Novi Sad could work for Osijek. The city is just 80 km from Belgrade and there is a good highway between the two cities.
DeleteThe most direct way from Novi Sad to Osijek is via some regional roads and it takes close to 2 hours to make the trip.
Osijek's market would be north-western Serbia, Sombor and its surrounding towns.
Osijek should work on promoting itself in south-west Hungary, especially in Pecs.
Masses right....for as cheap as possible and this all on the back of our environment, employment relationships, overcrowded destinations and the public social system
DeleteNot sure if you work in the aviation sector, I do since 31 years. I can tell you, many of us dont like them at all. Chaep for you, means cutting costs elsewhere. The employment conditions for pilots and F/A at Ryanair are very questionable. Unfortunately lots of them, have not much choice if they would like to come forward and get the needed flying hours to advance further
I have my enthusiasm for aviation but not at any price! I hve the feeling that more and more people nowadays go blind thru their lives or they are so busy with consuming that they dont see or dont want to see all the consequences of these mass movements
So what are you proposing? For OSI to keep on running after airlines that can barely make two weekly flights work? That's not a sustainable business model. The airport needs to find a way to attract airlines that can operate in its business environment; those are not Lufthansa or SAS but airlines like Ryanair or Wizz Air. The latter two can make money by offering €40 return fares, the former two can't.
DeleteIf we are to follow your logic and actually keep Ryanair and Wizz Air from flying there then OSI will never achieve self-sustainability and will be eventually shut down.
This is perfectly fine if Croatia thinks it doesn't need an airport east of Zagreb but if it thinks otherwise then it must find a viable solution to this problem. Croatia is not a rich country and I am sure it can't really afford to endlessly fund OSI's survival.
Look at what happened in Nis once the airport adopted a more realistic business model.
In terms for destination and the problem of the mass tourism, OSI and INI can definitely be excluded. LCC have brought advantages to many peripheral regions where they are meanwhile more and more a burden to an increasing destinations
DeleteIn terms of their employment conditions, you should definitely not support them at all
I am purely speaking from OSI's point of view. They shouldn't care what are the working conditions at W6 and FR when these two can make sure they stay in business.
DeleteFor OSI it's a matter of life and death. Even these EW flights are not enough.
Congratulations Osijek.
ReplyDeleteSlightly OT question: does Eurowings fly to Belgrade? Or has intentions to fly to Niš?
Yes, it does.
DeleteThey fly from BEG for about a month and a half in summer and they expressed interest in flying from INI as well.
DeleteEW flies from STR to BEG
DeleteIt's amazing how much Eurowings has expanded in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteGreat news for Osijek. Anyone know how many passengers they've had so far this year?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is around 100.000 so far?
Delete100,000? They had 30,605 for the whole of last year.
DeleteThey should just buy Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of new flights being launched to Croatia this summer is really impressive.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. We will be seeing more and more of them in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa striking back at other low cost airlines in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteTrue. LH group is really going after the Croatian market this year.
DeletePurger made very good article about Eurowings in ex Jugoslavia and how they are near to Wizzair with potentials in near future
ReplyDelete"Rat dva istinska giganta regije – Eurowings protiv Wizz Aira"
https://tangosix.rs/2017/02/05/rat-dva-istinska-giganta-regije-eurowings-protiv-wizz-aira/
I wouldn't qualify Eurowings as a 'gigant' but ok
DeleteThanks Anonymous 11:24
DeleteAnonymous 11:36 company with 90+ planes is huge. It is fleet of 1/4 of biggest carrier by number of passenger in Europe (Ryanair). Eurowings today is 12th the biggest company by fleet size in Europe.
For sure Eurowings is bigger than Wizzair.
But point of article is future, especially in region. And in 2 years Eurowings will have 200+ planes. And that is more than huge, isn't it?
enormous, vast, immense, very large, very big, great, massive, cosmic, colossal, prodigious, gigantic, gargantuan, mammoth, monumental, tremendous, stupendous; giant, towering, hefty, bulky, weighty, heavy, gross, monstrous, elephantine, mountainous, titanic;
Deleteepic, Herculean, Brobdingnagian;
princely, generous, handsome;
informaljumbo, mega, monster, whopping, whopping great, thumping, thumping great, humongous, hulking, bumper, almighty, astronomical, astronomic; ginormous
^ Don't get the point of the last comment.
DeleteNice news. Well done Osijek!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice but remember that some of these flights are still compensating for the loss of Ryanair from earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised if Wizz launches flights from Luton soon.
ReplyDeleteWould be a good replacement for Ryan.
DeleteOsijek is an interesting airport since its passenger base is very different than others in Croatia. I see their only chance in LCCs catering for gasterbaiters.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice to know OSI's pax stats for the year so far if anyone has them.
ReplyDeleteOT: Split will handle around 48000 pax just this weekend with 198 planes!
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad Osijek Airport got its act together from its Sea Air days and found some responsible partners.
ReplyDeletehahaha omg Sea Air. Completely forgot about that fiasco. Been too many in the region.
DeleteAs long as they increase passenger numbers in Osijek I'm happy.
ReplyDelete"It is interesting to note that these services were launched at the same time as they were on the Croatian coast but recorded better results".
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised. Unlike many airport on the Croatian coast, Osijek can sustain year round traffic. It's just unfortunate that it has been so overlooked in the past.
It is also unfortunate that the airport isn't being used for what it was originally built for - cargo traffic.
DeleteRemember that it was constructed for cargo but for cargo in Yugoslavia. The airport had an excellent position then. With the new boarders that has changed.
DeleteWhat is Osijek Airport's terminal like? How many passenger can it handle?
ReplyDeleteIt has the capacity of 100,000 to 150,000 passengers per year.
DeleteThank you. So no need to expand the terminal at this time.
DeleteDesava se... http://informer.rs/vesti/drustvo/141697/POMOC-STIZE-Srbija-putnike-Atinu-uputila-novi-avion
ReplyDeleteAnyone knows what is wrong with YU-APH?
DeleteThey are constantly in the air.
DeleteMeaning no time for proper servicing?
DeleteOh please, these things happen to every single airline. On Friday a Croatia Airlines Q400 broke down in Vienna and passengers were stuck there for over 24 hours. No need to go into conspiricy theories.
Delete