Adria and Croatia Airlines to boost winter operations

Star Alliance members Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines will strengthen their operations this coming winter season, beginning October 29, with additional frequencies and new routes. As previously reported, the Slovenian national carrier plans to add over thirty additional flights each week from its Ljubljana base when compared to last winter. Although some of the frequency upgrades are yet to be listed in global distribution systems, Adria plans to boost services to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Moscow, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tirana, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich. The biggest increase in operations will be to Zurich, with an additional five weekly services for a total of twenty, followed by Podgorica, Pristina, Copenhagen and Tirana.

In addition to strengthening its network with extra flights on existing routes, the airline will also introduce a new three weekly service to Kiev. "We believe that with this new service not only do our passengers gain better connections to Kiev, but we will also be connecting Ukraine to other European destinations via Ljubljana", Adria Airways' CEO, Arno Schuster, said. He added, "We believe that with the introduction of this new service, which will enable faster and easier travel between Ukraine and Slovenia, our two-way economic cooperation will grow even stronger. Ukraine, the largest country in Europe, is also considered one of Europe's richest and oldest cultures. Its major cities, headed by Kiev, are also becoming increasingly interesting to tourists, thanks to their rich architecture, music, and art".

Croatia Airlines will extend its seasonal flights from Zagreb to Barcelona and Lisbon into the winter months. Services to Barcelona will be maintained twice per week, each Tuesday and Sunday, while Lisbon will operate on Mondays and Fridays, until January 8, after which both will be suspended until the start of the 2018 summer season. The Croatian carrier introduced seasonal flights to Barcelona in 2009, while operations to Lisbon were launched last year. Both have proved solid performers for the airline, which will utilise one of its Airbus A319 aircraft on both routes during the winter months. Furthermore, Croatia Airlines plans to strengthen its service between Zagreb and Copenhagen for a second consecutive year with the addition of another weekly flight for a total of seven. On the other hand, the carrier will reduce its operations to London Heathrow Airport from nine to four per week. It comes following the sale of its five weekly slot pairs at the UK's main airport to Delta Air Lines this January. The airline leased back the slots (free of charge) from Delta over the summer through a Slot Use Agreement.

Croatia Airlines initially planned to offset its sharp seasonality by leasing 100-seater aircraft on a year-round basis, however this is unlikely to materialise with the two wet-leased Bombardier CRJ1000 jets to be returned to their owner in mid-October. The carrier previously noted it would use 100 seat jets during the winter instead of the larger Airbus aircraft on a number of routes and, in turn, this would allow it to offer its surplus Airbus capacity to the ACMI market. The airline has also called on the Croatian National Tourist Board and local authorities to follow Zagreb's lead and help draw in tourists during the winter months, as the airline alone cannot achieve this.

EX-YU Aviation News will bring you detailed network changes for the 2017/18 winter season for each national carrier from the former Yugoslavia in the lead up to October 29, as is the case each year.