Croatia has intensified talks with airlines and tour operators for the establishment of nonstop flights to the United States. The head of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Stančić, held meetings with key stakeholders within the US travel industry in New York earlier this month . "One of the more important topics we discussed with several major partners was the introduction of nonstop services between Croatia and the United States. I am delighted to note that our colleagues on the US market have offered us strong support for the establishment of these flights, which would be of great importance to Croatia, and not just for the tourism sector", Mr Stančić said. He added, "I am optimistic concerning this matter and I believe that Croatia will have nonstop flights to this important market in the near future". The Tourism Board plans to open its offices in New York next year and has agreed on an action plan with the United States Tour Operators Association.
Earlier this year the Croatian Ministry for Tourism said services between Croatia and the US would begin next year on a seasonal summer basis, before being upgraded to year-round operations in 2019. Tourism Minister, Gari Cappelli, noted, "We are in serious negotiations over the introduction of year-long flights from Croatia to New York, most likely from Zagreb and Dubrovnik, even from Split. All signs point towards the introduction of seasonal flights during the high season in 2018 and year-long services in 2019". He added that the Croatian embassy in Washington has taken upon itself to seek out potential operators.
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| Foreign carriers have tried to capture part of the US - Croatia travel market |
The world’s second busiest carrier, Delta Air Lines, told EX-YU Aviation News it is satisfied with its presence in the region, noting that it codeshares with Air France and KLM between Paris, Amsterdam and Zagreb, as well as with ČSA Czech Airlines between Prague and the Croatian capital. “Codeshares are an important part of Delta’s network strategy as they allow us to reach parts of the globe that we do not operate to ourselves. We have many partnerships of this nature around the world”, a spokesperson for the airline said. They added, “Although we continually evaluate our markets and make adjustments to our network when required, we are happy with our current network footprint in the former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe in general and at this stage do not have any plans to update this”.
American Airlines, the US' largest airline by fleet size, noted, "American constantly evaluates our network to ensure we are maximising our fleet and profitability while matching customer demand. While no airline can serve every destination, our joint businesses and alliances with airlines like British Airways and membership in Oneworld allows our customers to seamlessly connect to Croatia". On the other hand, Star Alliance member United, which has a wide-ranging codeshare agreement in place with Croatia Airlines, said, "While we have not announced anything about this market [Croatia], we’re always looking for new opportunities". Despite the reluctance from the big three US airlines, it should be noted that any European Union-registered carrier can operate services from any point in the block to the United States if it holds a valid foreign air carrier permit with the United States Department of Transportation.
The General Manager of Zagreb Airport, Jacques Feron, previously said it would be "fantastic" for the Croatian capital to offer direct flights to the United States. "In the US, New York would be an excellent destination, although it is true that this metropolis is well connected to all major European airports", Mr Feron said. The Deputy General Manager of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, told EX-YU Aviation News in August that the airport has identified the United States and South Korea as two markets which could sustain services to the coastal city but noted that the development of long haul flights is still some way off. "These two far-away markets are the most important for Dubrovnik. According to the city's tourist board, visitors from the US are the second most common, behind those from the United Kingdom, which is specific to the Dubrovnik region", he said. Mr Luetić noted at the time that despite the potential, there are still no concrete announcements concerning the establishment of such services.
Comments
Rumor is that they plan to send their B767 from EWR. It will be a seasonal flight. They always made the most sense since OU is in Star Alliance.
P.S. Love the pic in the article.
Perhaps a carrier like DY could consider it because Dreamliners are easier to fill being smaller compared to bigger a/c such as A330 or B777.
Awesome. Looking forward to seeing what else ZAG has install in 2018!
US carriers have a horrible service especially UA, DL & AA.
Similar to MXP, ZAG may try DXB-ZAG-JFK or DY. OSL-JFK-ZAG-JFK-OSL
Not for long ;)
Guys, stop with this US\China flights obsession. It's not the end of the world not having them...
They are already doing it from MXP and ATH
biggest legacy carriers - DONE
intercontinental flights - IN PROCESS
LCC - you can motivate them anytime, and it is logical to do that after those two goals to be finished
Also, as a touristic country which have 10m pax in aviation, ofc mostly they come in season, our national carrier has to do more, i am speaking about taking a320 long range on leasing and starting flights from ZAG and DUB in high season with no matter of making big profit just starting to make some moves, it is expansive but i believe it could make postitive affect for country with support of coutnry and ZAG airport with less subsidies...
intercontinental flights - ON A VERY LONG STICK
LCC - VIRTUALLY NONE
The world’s second busiest carrier, Delta Air Lines, told EX-YU Aviation News it is satisfied with its presence in the region, noting that it codeshares with Air France and KLM between Paris, Amsterdam and Zagreb, as well as with ČSA Czech Airlines between Prague and the Croatian capital. “Codeshares are an important part of Delta’s network strategy as they allow us to reach parts of the globe that we do not operate to ourselves. We have many partnerships of this nature around the world”, a spokesperson for the airline said. They added, “Although we continually evaluate our markets and make adjustments to our network when required, we are happy with our current network footprint in the former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe in general and at this stage do not have any plans to update this”.
Brojke se odnose na registrirane turiste koji odsjedaju u nekom od smještaja i prenoće, a ne koji dolaze kruzerima na nekoliko sati.
Biggest legacy carriers.
Air Serbia has just 25% more passengers but still Belgrade does not have:
British
Air France
KLM
Iberia
Brussels
Emirates
intercontinental flights on very long stick?
- you really think that Air Canada Rouge, Air Transat and Emirates (11 of those flights opened in one year) + Korean charters + negotiation with others can not be defined "IN PROCESS"
LCC virtually non?
Last year Eurowings, Norwegian, Monarch, Vueling with 10 routes for sure is not "non". Belgrade had 22 routes last year with 8 airlines. That is just double number of routes and airlines in ZAG. Not such a big deal. On LCC Beograd is not like Budapest, Bucharest or Sofia with 100+ routes.
There is no A320 long range on market.
From DBV you have no range with A321LR to USA or Canada. From Zagreb very limited just to New York, Boston and Montreal, with one stop (Pula or Montreal) it can fly to Toronto.
You mean condescending ?
Only hub airports can maintain year round service to North America with US based airlines, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Munich , Dublin and few others.
Zagreb and Croatia can only hope to seasonal flights, and even then perhaps Zagreb and Dubrovnik. However, I doubt Dubrovnik will get any NA flights, most NA carriers have tendency to serve largest cities in the country first, and only if capacity is sufficient they'll venture out.
NA flights will happen, but I predict in 2020, not sooner.
BTW in 2017, 150 000 Canadians visited Croatia, and some 500 000 US Visitors.
In 2018, 175 000 Canadian visitors are expected and 575000 US visitors.
Actually no, that's not true. If we included Cruise-line visitors of which there were 1.2 million in 2012, the numbers would be far greater than 500 000 or so American visitors in Croatia in 2017.
US visitors generated nearly 1.5 million nights in Croatia in 2017, I am looking at official statistics for first 11 months.
Zagreb alone had 150 000 US visitors so far, Only South Koreans and Germans exceed in number of visitors to Zagreb, 175000 S. Koreans and 187 000 Germans.
However, as I've said before, I don't expect direct US flights before 2020. If we get these flights beforehand, it would be a bonus, but I doubt it.
Airport has incentive program in place, it shows prospective carriers what they can expect.
Number of legacy carriers will go up, and it looks like some will increase their frequency, BA is looking to add Manchester and Gatwick to Zagreb in summer months. 2nd flight of Gatwick and 4 weekly flights out of Manchester, they'll be announcing flights soon. Keep posted.
I would like to see SAS back in Zagreb, out of Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen on year round basis and adding Gothenburg and Bergen on seasonal basis. Finnair on seasonal basis too, and Aer Lingus asp, on year round basis. 20 000 Croats live and work in Ireland now, some 600 Irish families live in Zagreb, mostly employed by Irish business but some opening their own business such as Irish pubs.
I would also like to see Alitalia back in Zagreb, but they're facing serious financial wows, no idea if that is possible, and if Alitalia will survive 2018.
Return of TAP and Iberia upgrading their service to year round, not just 7 months of the year.
Only after these legacy carriers have established themselves, i'd allow LCCs in, Wizz or Ryan or both. 2020 or after, not before.
Zagreb needs to have good legacy cover, at least 80% of the traffic must come from legacy carriers long term, 10-20 years. LCCs just add bit of bonus, we don't want Zagreb turning in to Sofia, Krakow, Riga or Budapest, LCC base.
US should be removing visa requirements for Croatian passport holders, either in 2018 or at the latest in 2020.
Well that's just a dream then...:)
I can't see a (big) difference to A330 and B777?
BEG for instance interestingly managed to sustain JFK for a long period and flights are all year round, not bad for an airport handing 5 million passengers annually. RIX is another good example.
As long as ZAG is well connected to the real airports, there is no need for direct flights.
Only once these are resolved it should think of the US.
Air Transat will most likely pull out of Toronto - Zagreb but serve Montreal - Zagreb instead. It might happen in 2020, not sooner though. 175 000 Canadians are expected to visit Croatia in 2018, 200 000 in 2019, even if both airlines had daily flights to Zagreb they'd be hard pressed to cover even a third of that demand.
US Carriers will serve destination that has large US visitor numbers.
Croatia is one such destination, with 500 000 US visitors it is top 10 destination in the EU.
UK, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece and Croatia comes 9th.
Ahead of Czech R, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Portugal, other major destination for US visitors.
In 2020, it is expected some 800 000 US visitors will visit Croatia and spend up to 3 million nights in Croatia. This I think warrants major US airline to establish direct link with Zagreb, idealy with NYC.
On a seasonal basis at first, but once 1 million US visitors to Croatia is reached, then US airline would need to seriously consider year round service. 1 million US visitors will be reached around 2022.