Croatia Airlines has seen its passenger numbers grow 10% during the past eleven months, with the carrier yesterday handling its two-millionth traveller for 2017. It marks the first time the airline has achieved such a feat in its 26-year history. The two-millionth passenger was a Croatian national flying between Copenhagen and Zagreb. This year's growth was fuelled by the launch of four new seasonal routes from Zagreb, including Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and Bucharest, while the airline continued to maintain services to Lisbon, Milan, Prague and St Petersburg, which were introduced in 2016. The company anticipates welcoming over 2.1 million passengers by year's end, with 11% growth recorded so far on international flights and a 7% increase on domestic services. Last year, Croatia Airlines handled 1.939.000 travellers.
The Croatian carrier has begun preparations for the upcoming summer season, with the airline recently announcing the launch of new seasonal flights between Split and Copenhagen, which are to launch on May 5, 2018. However, it is yet to decide on the final make-up of its fleet for next year. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the company said that it "hasn’t made a definitive decision in terms of wet-leasing aircraft for next summer season". This year, Croatia Airlines arranged a five-month wet-lease arrangement with Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum) for two Bombardier CRJ1000 jets, allowing it to launch new seasonal routes. In previous years the carrier has also leased aircraft from Zagreb-based Trade Air.
Croatia Airlines' former CEO, Krešimir Kučko, who stood down last month, previously noted that the carrier would introduce aircraft of similar capacity to the CRJ1000 in 2018 as an addition to its existing fleet. He argued that this would bridge the difference in capacity between its Airbus aircraft, which have 144 to 174 seats, and the Dash 8 Q400 with 76 seats. Meanwhile, the airline has confirmed it is is negotiating the extension of its lease for the six Dash 8s. It noted, "Croatia Airlines intends to extend the operating lease of these aircraft and is just now in the negotiation process with the lessor". Croatia Airlines took delivery of its first Dash 8s in 2008 as part of a ten-year lease agreement, which expires in 2018.
Congrats! Why are they waiting with the election of a new CEO?
ReplyDeleteThey are not. Jasmin Bajic is the new CEO. Selected in October
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/10/croatia-airlines-names-new-ceo.html
No, he is CEO for 6 months. Temporary one.
DeleteYes, but its only temporarily.
DeleteThere is a 99% chance they will extend his term for another 6 months.
DeleteKnowing OU I wouldn't be surprised if it was another 6 years.
DeleteAs 2nd member of EC, but CEO will be someone else.
DeleteCongrats OU!
ReplyDeleteGood year overall for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteAgree! Passengers growth, new routes, profit.
Delete"profit"
DeleteProfit? Hahahahahaha
DeleteWill they be introducing any more new destinations next year?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it. 8 new destinations for 2 years is good. They would need to expand their fleet again if they are going to introduce more new routes
DeleteIt would be great if they make some sesonal routes year-round. For example Helsinki, Milan, maybe Stockholm...
DeleteYes.
DeleteDublin is on table. They have problem with negotiation about slots.
They negotiate with Mostar, huge chance for that route to be open.
They negotiate with Trade Air but there is no final decision about carrier.
Interesting. What are they negotiating about with Trade Air. F100 lease?
Delete@AnonymousDecember 6, 2017 at 9:07 AM
DeleteThey'll have to, to remain relevant.
Dublin, Madrid, Istanbul and Edinburgh are potential destinations. Dublin and Edinburgh being most likely.
OU must exceed this year's record, and handle at least 2.25 million pax in 2018.
Revenue vise this also has to go above 2 billion Kuna. Currently Airline has revenue of around 1.8 billion or $300 million.
You think they will handle 250,000 passengers in 25 days?
DeleteI highly doubt Istanbul will be launched. They were crushed by Turkish Airlines on this route just a few years ago and Turkish took over the same slots at Istanbul.
DeleteNo chance for Istanbul against TK.
DeleteWhy isn't Pegasus launching ZAG? TK seems to be making a killing on the route.
Delete@anon 9:38AM
DeleteHe was commenting for 2018., not 2017.
@AnonymousDecember 6, 2017 at 9:38 AM
DeleteThis year they won't exceed 2.1 million, this is what I think.
Next year they need to exceed 2.25 million pax, or do much better than this year.
@frishki you are right. I didn't notice he wrote 2018.
DeleteIstanbul is also on table. They even had meeting with Turkish about it. Some other routes are on table. But Dublin and Mostar has most chance.
DeleteWill they add more routes from brac?
DeleteIstanbul is in negotiation with Turkish on code-share as 3rd daily flight. If it will be open it will be done by collaboration with Turkish.
DeleteSince they don't have their fleet finalized for next summer it means it will be wet leases again.
ReplyDeleteThat's unfortunate. They need a permanent solution to their fleet otherwise they won't be able to expand anymore.
DeleteThey could lease 2 of those CRJs from Adria next year.
DeleteNot an impossible outcome since Adria seems to be making wetleasing one of its main areas of business.
DeleteI hope they lease again the CRJ1000. Good plane, good economics and passenger friendly.
DeleteThose CRJ 1000s would have looked great in the full OU livery :)
DeleteAir Nostrum CRJ1000 is already listed on many flights as of May 2018 (BRU, LIS, HEL, DBV from what I see). Either they're sticking to the same plan as this summer or the system is not showing the accurate fleet. (I searched on Google flights and Kayak). Meanwhile, some ZAG-SPU flights in May are listed like this: Croatia 656 (Airbus A321
DeleteOperated by BH Air).
For expansion they plan they will need more than 2 planes, for present plan (if it is not spin) they will need at least 4 more planes.
DeleteThe A321 is randomly down for a Saturday SPU-ZAG in the moring and ZAG-SPU in the evening next summer.
DeleteKučko's legacy lives on!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how he is going over at Gulf Air haha.
DeleteHe turned out to be the smartest of them all.
DeleteKučko is criticized and even mocked harshly here, but it looks like he'll be remembered as the one who saved the nose diving company.
Deletein these parts of the europe it is especially hard (impossible?) to have a profitable airline business and market game is hardly a business based one since everything is state owned and politics are crazy.
Deletebut kučko played his waltz on the line very skillfully. he covered the potential losses in the books with sale of assets, always showing profit, thus avoiding being hammered in public.
his sale of heathrow slots was a good move. tough call, but the only one reasonable and he got it pushed through a thick government approval process.
more interesting to me was that he even showed the route losses were tremendous and the critics wouldn't acknowledge that, showing that critics never walked passed an airline finance dept and have no real understanding of business.
of course there was some bad moves. most noticeably failed strategy of opening regional basses across balkans and fight with unions.
also too bad he didn't introduce a 100 seater jet - a move that both JU and OU are postponing for too long
Nice. Congratulations Croatia Airlines. I hope you introduce more serious flights from the coast. I don't get the point of one weekly Split-Copenhagen. Not to mention how many weekly flights there are from SAS and DY.
ReplyDeleteIt was published here months ago that Croatia Airlines will focus more on leisure and charter flights. This seems to support that idea. Plus they have announced a lot of charters to Scandinavia for next summer.
DeleteIt is nonsense to expect a hub&spoke carrier to launch flights out of its base. Spreading its limited capacity to three airports is already weakest part of Croatia Airlines' business.
DeleteHow big of a role did they play in ZAG's growth? Seems like quite a bit, maybe 5% to 6% on an annual basis.
ReplyDeleteSeems about right.
DeleteSo other carriers contributed with around as much. I thought it would be more.
Delete@AnonymousDecember 6, 2017 at 9:14 AM
DeleteNot that much, I'd say 2-3% at most. OU's growth @Zagreb was tiny, increases along the coast were much greater.
This year OU (2018) is looking to expand the fleet a bit, 4 new 100 seat aircraft to be leased to own, bringing fleet to 16 aircraft. CS100 is being favored due to good capacity, economy and range. E195 is also being looked at.
Also 4 new A320 NEO are joining the fleet in 2021, bringing fleet to 20 aircraft. Older A320 and A319 will be kept in the fleet till 2025, used mostly for charter and summer season.
Replacement for these 6, most likely will be CS100, if OU signs agreement for lease of 4 CS100 in 2018.
Circa 2025 OU fleet might look like:
4 A320 NEO
10 CS100
8 Dash-8 Q-400
total: 22 aircraft.
Hope it turns out that way. That would be the perfect fleet for them.
DeleteWould be great to see some new livery, there are great young designers who could do a great job and make a rebranding, including their plane interior and magazine.
DeleteThey should not change anything. Keep it traditional. Who wants something else can fly with other carriers.
DeleteAny truth to the past rumors about SSJ?
DeleteThey should consider opening nonstop Zagreb-Athens next year without the stop in Dubrovnik to better compete against Aegean.
ReplyDeleteGood luck OU. Wish them all the best.
ReplyDeleteThey should now focus on making those 8 new destinations year-round.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI think all can be sustained in the winter time too.
They should have left Oslo, Stockholm or Helsinki, at least 2pw during winter season.
DeleteThey should have. Hopefully they do make Scandinavia year round, in addition to Copenhagen.
DeleteNice
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to see what next year brings. This one has been very good so far for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested to see what next year brings. This year they sold slots and will have nice profit at the end of the year but what do they do in 2019 to show profit?
DeleteThey can always sell a plane.
DeleteAnd they still have 4 slots left at Heathrow.
They still have 4 weekly slots in LHR, 5 planes, some engines, lend in Zagreb airport, some real estate and Croatia Technics.
DeleteDa li zaista mislis da mogu da uzmu 5 miliona jura za pet starih aviona kojima se blizi D check?
DeleteAnd is privatisation still on the table?
ReplyDeleteI hope privatization will happen under new CEO. CEO Kucko didn't want to privatise the company under the motto it is not needed.
DeleteThere has to be some interest from foreigners for the privatisation to happen. I don't think there is any interest at the moment.
DeleteMaybe Gulf Air will buy OU :p
DeleteI have checked that the Airbus fleet is approx. 19 years old while the Dash fleet around 9. Does anyone know if they are considering the replacement of the Airbus jets soon?
ReplyDeleteThe A320neos start coming in 2021. But that will replace only part of the Airbus fleet.
DeleteThey definitely need to start thinking about what they will do with their Airbus fleet. Only 4 A320neos are on order.
DeleteIt would be best if they got several 100 seaters in addition to the A320neos.
DeleteSo their Airbus fleet is actually older than Air Serbia's?
DeleteThose Q400 are quite young so no need to have them replaced for another 14 years.
They are older than Air Serbia ones, but they own them unlike Air Serbia. And Q400 are much younger than Air Serbia ATR-72 + they don't have planes older than 30 like 737-300 Air Serbia are. So Croatia fleet in total is much younger than Air Serbia one.
DeleteThey don't own their entire Airbus fleet.
DeleteThe JU Airbuses are younger than OU in general around 13 years old but better equipped.
DeleteThe ATRs are old but very reliable and the backbone of the company.
JU total fleet: 21
OU total fleet: 12
5 of 6 Airbuses are owned by Croatia.
DeleteThat is strange, isn't it.
DeleteAir Serbia with 21 planes (A330 including) will have some 2,7 million passengers and Croatia with 12 planes 2,1 million.
So, with 75% more planes and 100% more seats Air Serbia will have just 25% more passengers.
Very strange!
Very strange that your figures do not come close to the following:
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/10/air-serbia-registers-passenger-milestone.html
I suggest you make some research before posting made up figures.
JU connects NYC and Balkans with the rest, OU connects the coast with the rest.
Still strange?
Last year, the Air Serbia carried 2.62 million passengers. So what did anon @ 12:48 say wrong?
DeleteSa isto toliko aviona Adria dobaci do milion i nesto putnika. Jedino im je zajednicko da svi prave gubitke. E to
Deleteje za patkometriju.
The higher OU figures are thanks to the coast and not to ZAG. The coast is maintaining the whole country economy.
DeleteYou know that most of the routes and flights are scheduled from ZAG?
DeleteAnon 3:08, that was verry stupid. Croatia is not only coast.
DeleteJust need to make one clarification on the JU fleet. While they may have 21 aircraft, not all 21 are committed to regular scheduled flying. The 737's - of which there are 4 - are primarily dedicated to ad hoc charter flying, while 1 ATR is kept as an operational spare and also is not in regular scheduled flying. So in truth, the scheduled fleet is 16 aircraft, not 21.
Delete@Danijel: Ok, what is it then? Zagreb?
DeleteAnon @ 3:08 PM Even if what you say were true, so what?
DeleteOf course, it isn't true. Not when it comes to aviation and even less so when it comes to the overall country's economy. For example, Zagreb contributes to the overall Croatian GDP with close to 40%. That's the city of Zagreb alone, not the entire metro region. It would actually be better if the economy got more decentralized. At any event, what you are saying is pure ignorant nonsense.
I think you meant "stepped down" rather than "stood down".
ReplyDeleteYou can say stood down as well. It's correct.
Deletegood luck OU!
ReplyDeleteI hope to see some new destinations this summer. My bets are on DUB, SOF and KBP
ReplyDeleteI hope so too but with what planes? They would have to lease at least 3 of them to launch 3 more routes.
DeleteSOF and KBP are with short rotations. DUB is more problematic. Thought I think that 1 plane will be enough if they manage to plan correctly the schedule.
DeleteIt will be tricky for OU to launch flights to SOF and KBP as JP was faster. If KBP handles 10 million in 2018 and Sofia 7 million, then there is definitely room for OU to launch ZAG to both cities.
DeleteDUB will work immediately. Yet gain, it is connected to all the EU capitals except ZAG and LJU.
With Adria Airways growing and getting serious with new routes, it will be added competition for OU.
ReplyDeleteAdria should be smart and launch DUB flights!
DeleteAdria has a different strategy than OU. It is focusing on transfers primarily between the Balkans and West Europe. OU purely focuses on point to point and transfers from any point in Europe to the Croatian coast. They haven't really positioned themselves as a transfer airline from the Balkans (except from Sarajevo) which is a shame as they could do that.
DeleteAnd Skopje where they have 9 weekly flights.
DeleteNo, they have 7 weekly flights.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/10/winter-201718-croatia-airlines.html
It has 9 in summer. And for sure Skopje is feeding destination for Croatia.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteNice to see their pax numbers improved.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know their load factor for this year? Has it increased?
ReplyDeleteIn first three quarters LF was 74.2%, +3.9%
DeleteThanks
DeleteThat's a good result and will probably settle around 71-72% at the end of the year.
DeleteIt's a positive outcome especially if you consider they added capacity this year.
Delete162000 Pax per aircraft per year is pretty good ratio.
ReplyDeleteYes it is, but it is still not good enough to give them operational profitability. They still rely on asset sales in order to record a profit at the end of the year - which is NOT a criticism at all - perfectly legitimate - just stating a fact.
DeleteGreat news! And soon the neos will start coming.
ReplyDeleteNot that soon. First 2 come in 2021 and the other 2 in 2022.
DeleteWhy don't they apply for getting them sooner since it seems that air Serbia won't get theirs ? Just a thought no offense.
DeleteWith record profit and passenger numbers at the end of the year, now would be the time for the government to try and sell the airline.
ReplyDeleteand when they scan the books they will see the real picture.
DeleteGood to see that they plan to extend the Dash lease. It's an economical and reliable plane.
ReplyDeleteReliable? Yes, so is Alfa Romeo and Citroen and that's why they "Keep their price".
DeleteOU shluld open a base in OMO. They could have a single Q400 there and fly a few flights per week to Milan, Rome and Germany.
ReplyDeleteThey don't have an available plane during the summer to base it somewhere outside of Croatia.
DeleteOu shuld open a base in Bwk for 1 dash from where they can fly to frankfurt,munich,cologne,viena,beograd,milano,roma,oslo,amsterdam,paris...lot route they can fly from brac..
DeleteWhere do they get the plane from?
DeleteMoscow and Dublin could work out of ZAG. Hope they consider them for next year.
ReplyDeleteMoscow is covered by Aeroflot and OU flies seasonally to LED. Don't see them introducing Moscow anytime soon.
DeleteLED didn't perform that well. I wouldn't be surprised if it's reduced/suspended.
DeleteLED will have more frequencies this summer.
DeleteHrvatska je turisticki atraktivna zemlja i veoma je cudno kako OU ne moze pored svega toga da fungcionise i vise nego dobro. OU treba dobar menadzment, sve ostalo ima samo ga treba iskorostiti.
ReplyDeleteOpet - iznimna sezonalnost. Pogledaj ljetne mjesece i zimske, a pogotovo na obali.
DeleteVeoma je cudno da Ou nema vise letova prema bwk,isto tako da sa bwk nema direktne lwtove prema italiji,nekoliko njemackih gradova,beograd,bec,london,amsterdam.katovice..jako puno direktnih letova sa braca bi mogli imati i to bez ikakvog rizika..frankfurt sa braca bi Trebao ic svakodnevno kao i london,a talijanski gradovi sa minimalno 3 rotacije tijedno..
DeleteSezonalnost postoji svugde u svetu. Sa istom se bore najvece svetske kompanije poput EK, ali svak na svoj nacin. Neverovatno je da SPU ndma neke linije i zimi, koje bi bile i vise nego uspesne, a vec postoje samo leti.
DeleteOU je mala kompanijabkoja bi svoje trziste trebalo da iskoristi do maksimuma dok je LH nije pojela. Ne vidim da se nesto menja i da pokusavaju da se spase neminovnog scenarija koji ceka ceo region.
Kamo sreće da LH pojede OU šta prije.
Delete:) this article was up at midnight. Anybody else spoted it?
ReplyDeleteHowever, congrats to OU
I saw it, but then it disappeared after 5 minutes.
DeleteDid the 2 millionth passenger get some prize?
ReplyDeleteTwo return tickets to anywhere OU flies to.
DeleteNice
Delete