Dubrovnik Airport has confirmed it is negotiating with the hybrid carrier Flydubai for the introduction of flights from its hub in the United Arab Emirates next year. It comes after the airline's Senior Vice President for Commercial Operations, Jeyhun Efendi, told EX-YU Aviation News last week that the carrier will unveil a number of new seasonal European routes for next summer within a month's time, one of which could include Dubrovnik. The service is expected to operate up to four times per week and will mark the first time the two cities have been linked with nonstop flights. Flydubai introduced its first seasonal routes this year by adding services from Dubai to Tivat, Batumi (Georgia) and Qabala (Azerbaijan), which have all proven successful. The decision to launch these seasonal routes was in direct response to customer feedback and demand for more leisure destinations within the Flydubai network.
In addition to carrying tourists from Dubai and other Gulf states to the Croatian coast, the new service will also cater for the growing number of travellers visiting Croatia from the Far East. Flydubai has a wide-ranging codeshare and partnership agreement with Emirates, allowing passengers to book their trip with both airlines via Dubai on a single ticket. The hybrid carrier would face no direct competition on the route, however, it would go up against Turkish Airlines which vies for the same passenger base on its Istanbul - Dubrovnik service. Furthermore, Emirates maintains flights to Zagreb and enables travellers to reach Dubrovnik, Split and Pula with a single ticket and baggage through-checked as part of an interline agreement with Croatia Airlines.
Flydubai was established in 2008 to create opportunities for travel, tourism and trade within the flying radius of its fleet of Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Last week it announced a commitment to a $27 billion order for 225 Boeing 737 MAX jets to support the growth of its fleet. Since launching its operations in 2009, Flydubai has created a network of more than 95 destinations in 44 countries and opened up 67 new routes that previously had no direct air links to Dubai or were not served by a UAE national carrier from the city. Dubrovnik Airport has already secured a number of new seasonal routes for next year which will be operated by airlines such as Edelweiss Air, Transavia, TUIfly, Thomas Cook Airlines, Volotea and Smartwings.
Great news. 2018 will be another big one for Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteDBV will be booming in 2018
DeleteThis will give Dubrovnik a big boost
DeleteGood to see! Its incredible how many announcements are already on the left hand "new route launches" section to Croatia. And usually airlines announce new routes in January.
ReplyDeleteon the right, not left :p
Deletehaha yes! ;)
Deleteand I'm sure there is still more to come :)
DeleteA bit odd since they already fly to Tivat and Emirates flies to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteTIV serves for a different market. As for EK and ZAG it may take some passengers away but probably nothing significant.
DeleteThey will test the market and eventually decide for either Dubrovnik or Tivat.
DeleteWhat makes you say that? They tested Tivat last year and it did really well for them. They said it themselves that the Tivat flights attract a lot of Albanians, something flights to Dubrovnik would not be able to do. Plus they even extended Tivat until the end of the summer season because of strong loads.
DeleteI don´t know to be honest. Just the proximity makes me wonder why this argument of proximity is always used in the LJU ZAG case but here on much smaller markets it does not hold.
DeleteThey both have enough demand. Dubrovnik is the second most famous Adriatic coastal city and tourist destination, after Venice, while Montenegrin coastline is breathtaking and is only being discovered.
DeleteMashallah
ReplyDeleteSo they will fly to both TIV and DBV? That's interesting.
ReplyDeleteI always thought SPU would be first but I guess DBV is more high class in that sense while the area around Split is filled with those coming as mass tourism.
But what are the facilities like at Split, especially now that the construction of the new terminal is going on? They might not have been able to get a slot, does SPU have a business class lounge? All of these play a factor.
DeleteGiven the crowds at SPU I doubt anyone has time to go to the lounge. Also, do they really need it? I am sure that the market is the same as in TIV.
DeleteThe bigger question is if they can get slots, which are important to them because they need to land in Dubai in the evening to provide good connections which would mean a departure at around 12.50/13.00 from SPU.
DeleteDaaaaaa
DeleteBusiness lounge....to je bitan faktor pri odabiru destinacije.
Ko Maxim po diviziji......
No need to be rude. I said that airport facilities are one of the factors and Split certainly does not offer them. Or if you think kilometre long lines for check in is normal. In that respect Dubrovnik is superior to Split.
Delete@ Anon 9:28
DeleteTypicno....
Bas si mu srezao
Aristokracija wanna be
Delete@ AnonymousNovember 20, 2017 at 9:30 AM
DeleteIt all depends on what kind of passengers they are counting on. If I remember correctly, the Tivat flights did not have great onward connections from Dubai but the majority of passengers on that route were P2P.
The biz lounge in Split is beyond terrible. Tiny Tiny, it smells, hardly anything else but some soft drinks on offer, old, uncomfortable, bad service. I guess they didn't renovate it or do any upgrades as it will be closed down soon with the new terminal opening.
DeleteOh, and by the way I think the very high airport fees/charges at SPU do also play it's role.
Delete4 flights p/w is quite good.
ReplyDeleteSo no Ljubljana :(
ReplyDeleteThere is still hope you never know. Let's wait and see all the new destinations they announce.
DeleteDon't say that. I am sure LJU is on the table because it was mentioned with DBV some days ago
DeleteIf they don't come the last hope is Qatar Airways since they also said they were considering Ljubljana.
DeleteMight still happen, but I think Ljubljana deserves Qatar Airways. I know that a significant portion of outgoing traffic from ZAG towards the Gulf (with QR and EK) consists of Slovenians.
DeleteA significant portion? Is that mor or less than 5 %?
DeleteDon't know about exact percentages, but I would assume more than 5%.
DeleteFlydubai said it used to be around 20% when they flew.
DeleteDoesn't surprise me. Which isn't to say that all, or even most of them are from Ljubljana. If you look at the map, it seems that Zagreb metropolitan area is bi-national, It includes part of Slovenia around Krsko. It's like Copenhagen and Malmø.
DeleteMaybe they could do DXB-DBV-LJU with fifth freedom rights between DBV and LJU. Like they are flying Sarajevo-Podgorica now.
DeleteI think the DXB-DBV route will have enough passengers without the LJU tag.
Deleteand also I think LJU deserves it own nonstop flights to the UAE.
DeleteMichael, FZ said they were Slovenes, didn't say where exactly they were from.
DeleteI figured. Just want to say that regardless where they were/are from, Ljubljana could fill up a Qatar Airways A320, or a FZ Boeing 737.
DeleteSeems to me they are trying to beat Qatar Airways to it.
ReplyDeleteQR might go to Ljubljana now.
DeleteWould it be sustainable for FZ, QR and TK all to fly to Dubrovnik?
DeleteI doubt it at this point.
DeleteThis will definitely be the biggest competition to Turkish Airlines. Considering they fly over 7 flights per week to DBV during the summer, there is obviously a market.
ReplyDeleteNot really as TK sells its seats to Turkish tourists.
DeleteA lot of passengers on the TK flights are Asians.
DeleteWill this affect EK's Zagreb flights?
ReplyDeleteNot alot. Now could be more flexibility because you can buy EK ticket to ZAG and return via DBV.
Delete+1
DeleteOU is extremely uncompetitive when it comes to.codeshare agreements so I doubt they will give a good price via ZAG.
DeleteThey might keep ZAG at 5 per week during the summer.
DeleteYes, Anon 10:16, you wish!
Delete^Not really. Allowed to write something other than "Bravo Croatia" here right?
DeleteNo, if it ain't praise expect to be attacked.
DeleteYep. Pretty much expect to be accused of being a Serb jealous of Croatia if you don't praise Cro airports, or of being a Serb-hating Croatian nationalist, if you say something critical of the Belgrade airport. :)
DeleteMichael +1000
DeleteSerbs are pretty critical of BEG especially as far as its aesthetics go... its management too.
DeleteGreat news. How many passengers could we expect Dubrovnik to handle next year?
ReplyDeleteprobably 2.5 million
DeleteSPU will have around 3 million, DBV 2.5 million ZAD 0,7 million and BWK 70.000. So Dalmatia around 6,3 million PAX in 2018.
Delete@AnonymousNovember 20, 2017 at 9:43 AM
DeleteDubrovnik might handle 2.7 million,
Split around 3.1-3.2 million
Zadar, 670-700 000
Pula, 720-750 000
Zagreb, 3.5- 3,6 million
Rijeka, 200k
Osijek, 70k
Brac, 40k
Croatia total: ~11.25 million
I think ZAG might easily reach 3.9 million next year with all the increases.
Deletewhere is Zadar getting an additional 100000 pax from next year
DeleteWhat increases?
DeleteAir Canada to Toronto
Eurowings to Dusseldorf
Aegean to Athens
maybe few more Qatar flights in first part of year
Emirates in first 6 months that was not last year
the end of short list
But in same time
no more Monarch 2pw to Manchester
and Monarch 3pw to London,
no more 5pw Croatia to Heathrow
ČSA seasonal (will miss 3 months in 2018)
Brussels seasonal (will miss 3 months in 2018)
less Swiss flights
less Air Serbia flights
no more flydubai flight (were on in begging of the year)
What less flights by Swiss? They are not changing anything.
DeleteIt is 1 flight pw than last year
DeleteHow many in total this year then? Was it triple daily in code-share with OU?
DeleteNo, it's not. Croatia 14 pw, Swiss 3-4 pw.
DeleteNext hopefully we will see some long haul flights to Dubrovnik
ReplyDeleteThere are a few markets which could surely work.
DeleteI think it could work, especially to the US. There is definitely potential.
DeleteNorwegian could base 1 aircraft at DBV and launch flights to North America.
Deletethe cost is still too high to justify such routes.
DeleteIt is a pity that there are no long hauls on the horizon. I'm sure when the airport actually decides to find someone to operate these flights they will be more successful.
DeleteI don't think the airport will have much of a role here. The government is trying to get flights for next year and will probably subsidize them in line with their new policy.
DeleteHope they keep the same fares as elsewhere in their network in the region.
ReplyDeleteTheir fares are around 400 euros return so I assume it will be the same to DBV.
DeleteYou can often find it for less actually at 380 EUR.
Delete400€ for a low cost? i would certainly avoid them
DeleteFlydubai is not a low cost airline.
Deleteyes according the prices, but they are built as low cost campany (u need to buy every extra ....)
Deleteway overpriced. better use TK,QR or OU/EK
DeleteNot really. Luggage is free. You only have to pay extra for food and entertainment if you want it.
DeleteQR does not fly to Dubrovnik last time I checked.
DeleteExcuse me but it seems most of you are forgetting that Dubai is some five to six hours away from ex-YU. Do you think it's realistic for them to charge €200 for a return flight?!
DeleteAnon 11:42..QR has not been flying for a while to DXB :)
Deletenobody is talking here about DBV
DeleteflyDubai is expensive for what they offer
you can fly ZAG-DXB for 312€ with TKBUD-DWC 230€, ZAG-DXB with Ek 410€flyDubai charging 400€? muhaha
Do UAE citizens need visas to enter Croatia?
ReplyDeleteNo, they don't need visas for anywhere in Europe except the UK and Ireland.
DeleteYes! great news
ReplyDeleteThere network in ex-Yu is becoming very big: Belgrade, Skopje, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Tivat and now Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteYes but TGD, TIV and DBV are all seasonal.
DeleteStill it's an impressive network for an airline from Dubai.
DeleteCertainly.
DeleteAnd it should be noted that their frequencies are good. They fly daily to Belgrade, 4pw to SJJ, 3pw to SKP (this winter). It's not like Wizz Air where 98% of their routes from ex-Yu are two weekly.
DeleteCroatia Airlines should have started year long flights from Zagreb to Dubai and seasonal from Dubrovnik several years ago. Hope they enjoy other airlines taking away their passengers now.
ReplyDeleteThey could have. They could have also done a codeshare with Emirates years ago to feed their flights. Too late now.
DeleteThere's no money for them in that as there's no bribe so it wasn't something of interest...
DeleteAnon at 10.51am - they couldn't have done a codeshare with them had they flown to DXB, just like they can't do a codeshare now with EK flying to ZAG.. STAR Alliance doesn't allow it
DeleteNope, that is bullcrap. Star Alliance allows code shares with non member airlines up to a certain degree. A certain percentage must be code shares with other SA members, rest can be freely made with other air carriers also from other alliances.
DeleteNot sure how many Star codeshares we have with EK from Europe....
DeleteAnon at 11.41pm - if that is true, then why doesn't OU make a codeshare with EK now, covering the coast from ZAG and all the way to DXB and beyond, especially Asia and Australia ?
DeleteCroatia code-share out of Star Alliance:
DeleteAir France
KLM
Alitali
Trade Air
Maybe Emirates does not want to have code-share with Croatia. With Star Alliance members they have code-share just on:
Air India
South African
TAP
That's exactly the point Alen ... the earlier comment about OU flying to DXB and making a codeshare with EK is just stupid. Clearly, EK had no interest to do so back then, nor do they have any interest to do so now either
DeleteI expect to see an influx of Middle Eastern tourists to Dubrovnik next year.
ReplyDeleteBut hopefully at least less cruise ship mass tourists...
DeleteNice addition for Dubrovnik. Finally something further afield.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they go year round like Turkish Airlines.
ReplyDeletehope so
DeleteDoubt it. TK is not performing that well during the winter. The airport deputy manager said it a few months ago in some interview.
DeleteThe issue with Dubrovnik is that it has little outbound traffic. It depends purely on tourists which come during the summer.
DeleteWell a town with 40.000 inhabitants has an airport with 2,2 million annual passengers. Where should the outbound come from?
DeleteWizz is charging SOF- Dubai(DWC) 230€ return in jan
ReplyDeleteIt also charges for luggage and DWC is 50km from downtown Dubai.
Deleteare you a flydubai bot?
DeleteAre you a Wizz Air bot? I'm giving you the facts. Sorry you don't like them.
DeleteThat's a bit cheaper than what flydubai charges from Belgrade, luggage included.
Delete... and from SKP, just checked random dates in Jan- costs eur. 290 return, (included: 7kg hand luggage + 20 kg checked luggage)
DeleteI wonder which one of their ex-Yu routes is performing best.
ReplyDeleteProbably based on their frequencies
Delete- Belgrade
- Sarajevo
- Skopje
The way these guys are going I expect them to open Ohrid and Nis soon :D
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good development for Dubrovnik. Nice to see something different and not the usual routes from Germany or the UK.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteBasically, Emirates understood they should have better launched Dubrovnik rather than Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteInteresting logic to say the least. Apples and oranges.
Deletehaters gonna hate
Delete:facepalm:
DeleteSoon Pristina too
ReplyDelete