Eurowings announces Croatia plans


Lufthansa’s low cost subsidiary Eurowings has announced plans to expand its operations in Croatia in 2018 and handle over one million passengers on flights to and from the country. The airline’s Senior Manager for Network Development and Airport Relations, Ivan Oreč, noted that Eurowings will increase frequencies on six routes in 2018 and is in talks with the Croatian National Tourist Board over incentives for next year, based on which it will add new routes. Mr Oreč said, “We are in the final phase of talks with Brač Airport over the introduction of flights. Services are expected to launch next year. We also plan to add a new route to Osijek and increase the existing two weekly service from Stuttgart to three per week”.

Commenting on its operations to Zagreb, to which it will launch flights from Dusseldorf today, the airline said it is cautious about future expansion in the city. “Zagreb Airport’s costs are above average so we are being careful. This year we will handle 170.000 passengers on flights to the Croatian capital, which will grow to over 200.000 in 2018. We see a good mix of business and leisure passengers to Zagreb with average loads of between 80% and 90%”, Mr Oreč said. Today’s inaugural service from Dusseldorf, as well as the return flight, both have a cabin load factor of 100%. The head of the Zagreb Tourist Board, Martina Bienenfeld, said the organisation will continue cooperating with Eurowings through joint advertising and will look into expanding their partnership in the future.


Eurowings noted it will continue to put an emphasis on Rijeka, with the airline  recently extending its seasonal service from Cologne into the winter. “Bookings for the winter months have been improving. As with any new route, it takes time to develop. We are working on diversifying Rijeka’s offer in order for it to become a city-break destination”, the airline’s Network Development Manager concluded. The Croatian government had previously said Eurowings could open a base in the sea side city. Meanwhile, Zadar is also expected to benefit from the airline's winter operations during the 2018/19 season with seasonal flights to be extended.

The low cost airline has become Croatia’s second largest, behind Croatia Airlines, with a passenger share of 10%. It has overtaken eaasyJet which was the previous title holder. Eurowings is currently Croatia’s fastest growing airline, handling over 900.000 travellers to the market this year, and the only foreign carrier serving seven cities in the country, which should increase to eight next year. Furthermore, Croatia has become one of the airline’s top ten markets. Eurowings noted today it has “major expansion plans for Croatia over the next three years”.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:05

    Fingers crossed for Zagreb base.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Wasn't the Croatian government pushing for them to open a base in Rijeka?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:22

      I doubt they would choose Rijeka as a base.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:09

      Like the manager said, the airport is just too darn expensive.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:30

      Well someone has to pay for the new terminal.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    Great news. We will be seeing more and more of them in Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Intresting move, hope they will open more winter routes

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:07

    It's amazing how much Eurowings has expanded in Croatia already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11

      1 million pax is a lot.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    If the manager for UK and Netherlands is there could it mean they will launch UK-Croatia flights? Does Eurowings fly from the UK?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:35

      It does. They could have easily replaced Monarch but nothing unfortunately.

      Delete
    2. I dont think Eurowings will start flight from Netherlands, as Transavia and Rynair are the big 2 lcc in Netherlands

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:10

    Brac will be getting flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Hope it's more then 1 destination :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:01

      Me to....minimum 2

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:10

      Vienna Brac please Vienna Brac with EW Europe!!! Please no more 450 EUR for the direct flight ticket with Czech Airlines!!

      Delete
  6. JU520 BEGLAX09:11

    Tx Admin, for another free live coverage for all of us, we really appreciate!

    Croatia in general has become an expensive country. Buying at grocery shops, I could not believe the high prices. Its of course doable with a Swiss salary but all the locals, some def have troubles to budget their monthly spendings

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      +1

      Delete
    2. Someone has to pay for Agrokor's mess.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:50

      The prices in Cro were high even before Agrokor scandal.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:11

      Coastal cities during summer especially expensive... But as above anonymous stated Agrokor's Konzum was expensive anway. That's how it works if you allow a (almost) monopoly, and that's what Croatian politicians did. Hopefully things will improve in future since the trade-monstrum went bankrupt

      Delete
    5. I'm sorry, but what does the prices of Croatia's stores have to do with this press conference and aviation?

      Delete
    6. JU520 BEGLAX00:17

      I was referring to Eurowings claim of the high airport fees in ZAG

      Delete
    7. True dat. And when u consider the unbelievably low wages for the employees of Agrocore, the whole situation is a total disgrace!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:12

    Please be base in ZAG and more flights from other Croatian cities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      That would be the ideal scenario. I really hope it happens.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:46

      It would be very interesting to see if routes overlapped with OU...

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:14

    Anyone know the load for their inaugural flight DUS-ZAG today?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12

      It says 100% both ways in the article.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:33

      Thanks, the admin added it later on when he updated the article so I didn't know before :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:36

      That's impressive for the first flight.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:44

      I think the route will perform well. Remember they initially planned 2 flights per week but increased to 3 because of strong sales.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:15

    wow a million passengers is huge. That's half of OU on a yearly basis and they don't even have a single plane based in Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      They are cutting more and more into OUs share.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:14

      OU has a 38% passenger share this year and EW only 10%. They have a long way to go.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:23

      I said they were cutting into it, not that they have overtaken them. Eurowings passenger share last year was 5-6%!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:32

      And they will fly from all of Croatia's airports from next year.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:50

      No, they will not fly from Lošinj International Airport, and they can not do that as Airport runway is to short.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:10

      They are not cutting into anyone's share. Without them OU wouldn't be any larger. They are helping the Croatian economy by carrying Pax to Croatia that would otherwise not have come or flown.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:20

    Hopefully ZAG, at least making a base for one plane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:15

      Not a single LCC will base a plane in Zagreb. You can thank the French for that.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:52

      No, you can thank OU for this.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:14

      Oh no, we thank the French for their high airport charges which they have increased even more! Actually not OUs fault at all. Trust me, OU would be the first to profit massively from lower ZAG charges (taxes, fees).

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:44

      And first one to go bankrupt when Ryan and Wizz jump in.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:31

      That is not a valid argument. Zag offers lower fees during an incentive program to airlines which open new lines. Ryan and Wizz would already profit from that now- and OU would still have to pay full fees for all its existing routes!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous06:36

      All incentive programs come to an end when airlines have to start paying regular fees. That's the problem.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    Uskoro nece vise imati problema sa OU.

    Ne moraju ni jednu bazu da prave u CRO.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:22

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bravo sta? Sto je Croatia Airlines pred likvidacijom, a EW preuzima letove?

      Delete
    2. Alen Šćuric Purger12:32

      Croatia nije pred likvidacijom. U najgorem slučaju ima još 5 aviona i par motora koje može sell and leaseback, ima 4 slota na LHR, imovinu za rasprodat, te vrlo vrijednu tehniku. To je dostatno za bar 5-7 godina ovakvog životarenja. Potom se može živjet na kreditima i prezadužit se, a onda će država uletjet sa 150+ milijuna EUR koje ima pravo ponovo "dokapitalizirat" 2012. godine pa sve te kredite poplačat. Što će reći kompanija je mirna još bar 15-20 godina.

      Osim ako nekom neće biti u interesu ubrzat uništavanje da se kompanija za kiki-riki proda Lufthansi, pa krene ko lud trošit pare. Onda mogu zglajzat i za dvije godine.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:17

      Prurger, you're right as usual. But I think option no. 2 is more probable. Although opt. no. 1 is - fomally - possible and in accordance with EU rules, Croatia is not Italy, and the Germans (the real economy-rulers of southeastern Europe since "ancient" times, especially when it comes to Slovenia and Croatia, with a certain exception during the second Yugoslavia) won't allow it to happen that way. OU will either go bust as of the end of winter season 18/19 or be sold to LH-group for peanuts.

      Delete
    4. Alen Šćuric Purger14:02

      True. But not 18/19. Lufthansa priorities:

      1. Air Berlin - huge investment
      2. Alitalia - even bigger
      3. Brussels into Eurowings
      4. Condor and SAS

      And than Croatia + Adria (maybe Montenegro and Air Serbia).

      Of course something can become urgent (like Adria problems, Darwin takeover because of possibility to become enemy property...) but for now Lufthansa wants Croatia to be on live artificially ("on machines"). When time will come for takeover Croatia will go bell-up in a second. And Lufthansa will be savior without any money.

      And that will happen in some 3 years. If it will go by plan.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:18

      Why would LH by any of those? Because of slots in FRA? Because of bilaterals? Because of 20 planes they could easily and freely lease on the market right away? Because of their huge profits? Their strategy? Come on guys- get serious Alitalia and AB are of other dimensions and operate in much bigger and wealthier aviation markets, and they came in perfect time to grow EW into the third largest LCC, which otherwise would have taken years.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:28

      Who cares of OU? I care to fly, not that my country has a national carrier. Especially if it is not profitable and I have to pay for its lousy business model.

      Delete
    7. Alen Šćuric Purger22:46

      And why Lufthansa bought Dolomity? bmi? Austrian? Brussels? Swiss? Eurowings (than it was tinny company with ATR-72).

      Delete
    8. Anonymous23:32

      Toliko si glup? Da ih ne bi kupio iko drugi tako rade mamuti dok se ne raspadnu.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous08:05

      @last anon

      Tebi je sa takvim rečnikom mesto u toru, a ne na blogu o avijaciji.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:32

    How much will they get in subsidies? Before anyone attacks me, I'm not trying to take a dig I'm genuinely interested in how much money LCCs pocket in form of subsidies in all ex-Yu markets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      It depends. They can get support from tourism board, airport incentives and maybe local government.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      Incentives for ex. from the airport that every airline with new routes gets can hardly be called an EW-subsidy

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:46

      From local government they can not. Croatia can do PSO, and in same very complicated legal procedure local government can support their citizen for their trips like students, military, sick people to go to hospitals to Zagreb, Dubrovnik for their citizen as it is 10 hours driving to Zagreb etc. But that can be just refund of ticket for bus, rail, ship or airline to exact passenger not to airline or all passengers on the trip/flight.

      From local and national tourist board they can be financed (usually it is 50:50 county + city tourist boards / Croatian tourist board). Croatian tourist board can not, by their rules, finance routes if there is not at least 50% participation of local tourist boards. But local tourist boards (county, city + hotels, restaurants, agencies...) can finance 100% without Croatian tourist board if they want to.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous04:56

      "Local government" is not national government but, well, local. That means cities or counties, maybe local tourist boards, not the Government in Zagreb. So they CAN get incentives from local government.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:34

    Hope it's something good.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:37

    Baza u DBV!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Nema potrebe za tim, bolja bi bila baza u ZAG ili Rijeci, primjerice.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:49

      Not totally unlikely, costs at DBV are lower compared to both ZAG and SPU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:28

      Nece biti baziranja nikakave avio kompanije u CRO zaboravite na to. Zasto bi kada jedan a320 preveze sve putnike za Minhen npr. Kada ode OU mozda vam ostane Trade Air ili neka druga koju otvorite sa jedan ili dva aviona.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:44

      a zasto bi ou otisao?

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:53

    I don't think it will be such a huge thing as you people think but let's wait and see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      We will know soon

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:18

      Like you predicted anon 9.53

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:01

    T -12

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:13

    From the manager's statement, looks like there will be no base in ZAG next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:29

      Only fanboys were expecting a base in Zagreb. It is simply too expensive even with the incentives they offer.

      Delete
  19. Thanks for your live updates admin

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:26

    So basically nothing, what a shame!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks for the live coverage.
    Regarding the content, not very much isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately +1

      Delete
    2. Seems like they could have told us this from Germany. But this is free advertisement for the airline so I guess it made sense for the to announce it like this.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:15

      I still think we got some interesting facts and news :)

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:43

    Who is next ? most probably Serbia..line up..thats good

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:28

      It would be about time. They have a 1 lousy seasonal route to BEG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:43

      I think they will also operate some seasonal flights around christmas/new year for the first time.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:34

      Perhaps, they could have one or two routes from Nis or Morava airprt ? It would be fine, and a huge serbian, albanian and bulgarian diaspora live in Germany and Austria :)

      Delete
    4. Nemjee19:18

      I don't think they'll be expanding in Serbia any time soon. The market is much different than the one they serve in Croatia.

      In Serbia they would have to fight for business and diaspora passengers and those are already well served by Air Serbia, Ryanair and Wizz Air.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:44

    Practically no new announcements, so, why the conference?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:48

      Free promo!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:52

      Ovo je uzas !

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:19

      Što?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:55

      Glupost totalna. Ljudi ocekivali brdo a rodio se mis. Nista. Zero.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:46

    Blow me MZLZ, and Euro Wings you suck!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:35

      Lol why the agro?

      Delete
    2. Eurowings cancelled in 2018:
      SPU-SZG
      DBV-SZG
      PUY-MUC
      RJK-HAJ

      decreases
      VIE-ZAD 1x (2x)
      MUC-ZAD 1x (2-3x)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:39

      I don't think it's cancelled I just think they have not finalized the schedule because they are still in talks about subsidies.

      Last year they only finalized their schedule for summer 2017 for Croatia in December.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:08

      yes they are cancelled. SZG capacity is already planned for the summer, no SPU and DBV unfortunately. same goes for PUY-MUC (poor LF). Dont blame EW, they have tried at least

      Delete
    5. They had to try at least 1 weekly service

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:50

    This time next year - Eurowing Croatia Airlines welcomes you to the flight #661 to p.mile matere as we sold out everything we could so our cousins can have new cars. Viva la Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous11:20

    Basically their entire presence in Croatia is dependent on subsidies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:27

      That is how low cost airlines operate, especially in highly seasonal, tourist oriented markets.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous11:30

    Anyone know on which 6 routes they are adding frequencies?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:42

      Stuttgart-Osijek will go to 3x weekly like it says in the text. Not sure about the others.

      Delete
    2. Flights from Tegel to Dunrovnik will be increased up to 2x

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:36

    Good to see that they will make Zadar a year round route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:46

      But which one will it be? Dusseldorf, Vienna, Cologne, Hamburg or Munich?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:48

      The one that sells the best.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:05

      Which is...

      Delete
  29. Anonymous11:40

    Lufthansa's strategy for EX-Yu is clear - EUROWINGS plus 4K invest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:45

      How is 4k invest part of Lufthansa's strategy?

      Delete
  30. Anonymous11:48

    When you look at how much Eurowings and easy have expanded in Croatia, you got to ask yourself where did Wizz Air go wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:52

      Their cost base is much lower and they can't afford too many flights to Croatia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:13

      They do fly to Split and have been increasing flights the last two summers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:41

      Didn't they used to fly to Zagreb?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:06

      Yes they did

      Delete
  31. Anonymous11:49

    I'm really dissapointed that they are not doing more with Zagreb.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous12:04

    I do wonder what this could mean

    Eurowings noted today it has “major expansion plans for Croatia over the next three years”.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alen Šćuric Purger12:26

      Takeover Croatia Airlines

      Base in Zagreb and Split, latter in Dubrovnik also.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous06:35

      Only if by takeover you mean allow it to go bankrupt and then replace it.

      Delete
  33. Anonymous13:07

    I hope we will see a more significant expansion in the years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous14:01

    With Dusseldorf they have pretty much covered all German points to Zagreb. Would be fantastic to see Vienna-Zagreb next.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Why not Smartwings to open a base in ZAG. They offer charter and regular service from many east capitals. So they could offer same in ZG

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous14:32

    Little mor for OMO flugjts (schedule):
    Here we are flight schedule:
    EW9700/9701 (Dusseldorf)
    DUS 0530 0740 OMO (3) 16May-24Oct
    DUS 0505 0715 OMO (7) 20May-21Oct
    OMO 0815 1035 DUS (3)
    OMO 0745 1005 DUS (7)

    EW2700/2701 (Stuttgart)
    STR 1540 1725 OMO (3)
    STR 0530 0715 OMO (6)
    OMO 1820 2015 STR (3)
    OMO 0750 0945 STR (6)

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous08:51

    I was expecting something big. This announcement is lame. Good to see all year round flights to Rijeka. About time they do something with that terminal. A lot of potential and a gateway to my favourite part of Croatia. Needless to say all amazing the growth for Croatia in 2018

    ReplyDelete

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