Croatia Airlines will pull out of the Kosovo market this year by terminating its seasonal flights between Zagreb and Pristina. It marks an end to its gradual reduction of operations on the route. The Croatian carrier has discontinued ticket sales for the service. It maintained year-round operations between Zagreb and Pristina until 2016, after which services were downgraded to seasonal summer flights. Last year, the airline ran only two weekly rotations between the two cities from July 11 until September 5 with its seventy-seat Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. This is despite previous plans to open a base in Pristina in 2017, which never materialised.
The Croatian carrier commenced operations to Pristina back in 2008, with three weekly services. The route was primarily targeted at transfer passengers at a time when there were limited options for travel from Pristina. At one point, it operated up to seven weekly flights between the two cities. However, with the arrival of new and low cost carriers in Pristina, as well as an increasing number of travellers from Kosovo using Skopje Airport due to its generally cheaper air fares, Croatia Airlines became less competitive. In 2017, the carrier handled just 4.820 passengers on its flights to and from Pristina, well down from the 19.000 travellers it carried in 2009, which marked its best performing year on the route. On occasion, the carrier has also operated charters from the Kosovan city to Germany. Adria Airways now becomes the only airline from the former Yugoslavia to maintain flights to the city.
Pristina is the second seasonal service to be suspended by Croatia Airlines this year. As previously reported, the carrier will also terminate summer operations between Rijeka and London. On the other hand, it will launch three new seasonal routes this summer and one year-round destination for a third consecutive year. These include flights from Zagreb to Dublin and Mostar, Dubrovnik to Munich, as well as from Split to Copenhagen. Furthermore, it will boost frequencies on several routes out of the Croatian capital. "This season, Croatia Airlines will operate scheduled flights to 39 destinations in 23 European countries, with the capital Zagreb connected with five Croatian airports", the airline said in a statement.
Would someone be so kind to calculate their average load factor on this route last year based on the figures? So total of 17 return flights, 4,820 passengers and Dash 8 equipment with 70 seats.
ReplyDeleteNot sure that calculation would work because OU had some charters from Pristina to Germany last year. Don't know if those are factored into those passenger numbers.
DeleteAh I see. Thank you anyway.
DeleteThe figure definitely includes charters flights because capacity on ZAG-PRN-ZAG was only 2380.
DeleteHow many charters did they operate? Which routes?
DeleteWinter 2017 they flew from Pristina to Basel, Dusseldorf, Hanover and Stuttgart
Delete* With A320
DeleteWith those flights they probably made more money that a full year of ZAG-PRN-ZAG ops.
DeleteIt's a smart idea that they lease inoperative planes during winter. They should do more of it.
DeleteWell now we know where they got the plane for Mostar from.
ReplyDeleteSame story as with Air Serbia's Belgrade-Ohrid route.
ReplyDeleteimagine OU takes over this route :D
DeleteIt would be nice if OU started ZAG-OHD actually.
DeleteI'm not surprised. It was a guessing game each season to see whether they will keep PRN or cut it.
ReplyDeleteIt's peculiar that in this day and age scheduled services still don't stand much chance in PRN against the plethora of 'tour agency' charters. 'Family business' still rules the day apparently.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone doubting this, just check the ratio of scheduled and charter traffic to PRN and the seasonality of both.
I don't get it. Kosova Dispora is rich but stupid for buying VERY EXPENSIVE tickets from stingy tour operators. Most of them are mafia owned. I hope Wizz Air will base an aircraft in Prishtina and blow all these tour operators away.
DeleteYou can add 2 and 2 together and see why the 'government' controlled airport taxes stay at comparatively high levels, keeping matters at status quo and keeping Wizz Air at bay.
DeleteKako mi to kazemo dole, sve je to povezano kao creva..
If Serbia and Kosovo* managed to get an agreement, would Albanians fly with Air Serbia, or would they avoid it for the simple reason because it is a Serbian airline?
ReplyDeleteIf the airfare was acceptable the majority would fly it.
DeleteFlights to Kosovo* could be handled by Aviolet planes, for example, where the national prefix is not named. Or wet-leased planes, on behalf of JU.
DeleteIf you are in fear of flying somewhere just because of what's painted on your aircraft, then it's better not to fly there at all.
DeleteFlights can not start without an agreement in Brussels. No plane can lift off from Belgrade and land in Pristina, no matter who operates it.
DeleteThey will start sooner or later when political deal is reached and I doubt there will be any problem.
DeleteEveryone should move on and leave the past behind. Business is business.
DeleteIsn't there a number of passengers from Kosovo already using AS?
DeleteIt's a difficult proposition. As long as Serbia has a hard stance against Kosovo, forget it.
DeleteThe PRN airport would welcome AS but first it has to come to a legal binding agreement between Kosovo and Serbia to full normalization of relations
DeleteA good opportunity for JP.
ReplyDeleteJP aready flies double daily to Priština. Seems like OU was not able to compete them as they offer better connections via LJU.
DeleteIt helps that Adria has a base in PRN and is well known on the market.
DeleteI guess this is good news for SKP. Not surprising OU is adding frequencies to Skopje.
ReplyDeleteZAG-PRN was good as dead for years. What's the point of maintaining flights just 2x per week, especially a regional route.
ReplyDeleteIt was maintained for political reasons.
Deletesorry but that is nonsence
DeleteIf it was political they would not have kept it for almost 10 years.
DeleteSo Croatia Airlines can't sustain flights to neither Podgorica or Pristina.
ReplyDeleteTheir ops in ex-Yu countries is almost non existent now. The only one they have left is seasonal Split-Belgrade.
DeleteSo one that looses out here in Zagreb Airport. If they want to become a serious hub in this part of the world, their regional connectivity has to be good.
DeleteHuh? Mostar, Sarajevo, Skopje
Delete@ 9.16 fail
DeleteShame. I have flown this route on business several time and the plane was almost always full, especially in June and July. I hope they resume it one day along with Tirana.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the passenger structure if you know?
DeleteMostly transfers.
DeleteGoes to show that full planes does not equal profit on the route. Especially if most were transfers on the route.
DeleteWith the timing of those flights I'm not surprised.
ReplyDeleteThe times were fixed for transfer passengers with late departure from Zagreb and early morning arrival.
DeleteWas this the case last year too when they were flying seasonally?
DeleteYes.
DeleteDeparture from Zagreb 22.05
Arrival in Pristina 23.40
Departure from Pristina: 05.45
Arrival in Zagreb: 07.20
It's interesting how Adria can manage to get transfer passengers from balkans to rest of Europe, but OU failed to do that. Probably also new destinations from LJU will be filled with quite some passengers from balkans.
ReplyDeleteWell one of the reasons OU failed on this route was probably because Adria was strong on LJU line and managed to take a lot of transfer passengers. JP has a good reputation in Kosovo.
DeleteOU does not have proper waves unlike JP, they are limiting themselves
DeleteIsn't there a morning and afternoon wave at ZAG?
Deleteyes and no, read Purgers article on tango6 about it
DeleteThe waves are very sparse should I say. Go to ZAG airport website and look at this mornings departures.
DeleteI wrote this below but didn't see there was a related discussion.
DeleteCroatia Airlines offered very good connections to some key routes.
Flights from Pristina that had good connections via Zagreb with Croatia Airlines in 2017 were Amsterdam, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Zurich.
All of these were with a short connecting time.
@last anon
DeleteSo very strange the route did not work with so many transfers!
The article reminded me of Kucko's plans to open bases across Balkans. What the hell happened to that?
ReplyDeleteKucko who?
DeleteThe CEO of Gulf Air :D
Delete"What the hell happened to that?"
DeleteIt obviously never happened. They realized they neither had the fleet or money to do it.
Thank god for that. Much better to focus on Zagreb than trying to be something your not with multiple foreign bases. It never works. Ask Adria.
DeleteI agree with you but I think they should have went ahead and opened a base in Sarajevo. They could have based a Q400 there. It would be a money maker. Sarajevo is so badly underserved and they would surely let OU fly from SJJ to western Europe. It would also be a good income alternative for OU during winter months.
DeleteSarajevo would work but they would have an issue with fleet in summer because they need every plane they can get. They could have opened bases only if they got new 100 seat planes.
DeleteKucko at one point had an idea for OU to buy YM. LOL. Don't take what that guy says seriously.
DeleteBuying YM would be a great move for OU! Shame that did not materialize.
DeleteThey should start flights to Tirana! I don't know why they are avoiding this market. They could get transfers and point to point passengers. Tirana has worked really well for Adria and Air Serbia which is proven by how many weekly flights they have. ZAG-TIA with dash a few times per week would work.
ReplyDeleteHas Croatia Airlines ever flown to Tirana?
DeleteYes but long time ago.
DeleteThey should try it again. I agree with anonymous at 9.33. There is a lot of potential.
DeleteWhen Kucko had the Balkan base idea, Tirana was one of them, even though they were not flying there (and still aren't).
DeleteShort sighted decision in my opinion. They should have just kept it seasonal for a month or two this year. By next summer visas for Kosovo citizens will probably be lifted and there will be a big increase in travel without doubt. It's much more difficult to leave a market and then try to re enter it later.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWithout doubt one of the most despised routes by OU crew. Odd hours and the company found a really bad hotel where it put crew in over night.
ReplyDelete:D
DeleteWhere to find good hotel in Pristina? Read in NYT how they arbitrated Grand Hotel. Tirana is more decent city.
DeleteLast time I was there, in early 2008, I stayed in a 5 star Hotel Prishtina and it was 13 degrees in the room...
DeleteNot to mention that US Military was my host.
Interesting how they can make Skopje a success but they struggle in Priština.
ReplyDeletebecause there is a healthy O&D market HR-MK
DeleteIf a route isn't turning a profit cut it! That goes for all airlines.
ReplyDeleteBut you should try to make the route make money. I don't think OU particularly tried here.
Delete+1 Anon 10:11. Overall, route profitability is very complex thing as route itself can lose money yet have positive effect on overall business. Maybe, theoretically, even if ZAG PRN lost money, maybe it could have made something beyond ZAG more succesfull. Just a theory, as I of course dont have any single data to make any reasonable conclusion.
DeleteIn my opinion Rijeka-Heathrow is a bigger loss than Zagreb-Pristina.
ReplyDeleteNot really since you can still fly ZAG-LHR and Rijeka is 130km from Zagreb.
DeleteBy that logic Zagreb-Pristina is not a big loss either since Ljubljana is 140km from Zagreb so you can catch a plane to Pristina there.
DeleteTouché ;)
DeleteNeither of them are big losses.
DeleteIt's a big loss for Rijeka actually. No one has taken OU's place on this route
DeleteIn an article here there were some stats. 29,4% of passengers were P2P from/to Rijeka, 26,5 transferring through Rijeka (not sure to where exactly) and 33,4% were transferring from RJK through LHR to other destinations.
Oh and the link
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/01/british-monarch-look-to-gain-from.html
I am so glad they stopped flying to LHR. JP did the same and there was no drama.
DeleteThere is only so much demand from diaspora and JP and other low-costs are taking care of that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is a big deal BUT you have to wonder how Croatia Airlines can't sustain some straight forward routes which seem to work for other airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger mystery is Podgorica. They cut this route a few years ago. Air Serbia and Adria are both doing well there. We see airlines like LOT flying 6x per week to Podgorica, Aegean operating flights and now even Lufthansa plans to start TGD flights. So I just wonder how OU is the only smart airline not to see any potential there, not even seasonal.
I hope they restart TGD down the line. Or Montenegro Airlines start the route, but Croatia Airlines has more chance of success.
DeletePodgorica-Belgrade is a sizeable market and was working well even before JU was rebranded in AS. There were however always some transfer passengers on the route.
DeleteSurprised about this. They should have kept and used some of PRN's new incentives which are quite generous.
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't use any incentives since they were not a new airline operating to Pristina and neither were they planning to increase frequency or introduce bigger equipment.
DeleteThey have been struggling to make ends meet in PRN for years.
ReplyDeleteHow do people know this. Have you all seen their financial results for this route??!!
DeleteAre you serious? You don't dinf it indicative that they have been decreasing Pristina for the past 5 years to just 2-3 flights per week. Or you think they did this because they were doing so well on this route.
Delete@anon 11:30
DeleteStop asking people whether they have seen documents/papers/reports. This is a forum for lay people/enthusiasts using common sense to reach conclusions. If this was a money maker they would not cut it.
Flights from Pristina that had good connections via Zagreb with Croatia Airlines in 2017 were Amsterdam, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Zurich.
ReplyDeleteThey had a good offer of destinations. The problem is they were expensive and more and more of those cities now have nonstop flights from Pristina.
DeletePeople have to realize also that one of the main passengers on flights from Pristina to Zagreb were transfer passengers to the UK (London). London Heathrow which is not served from Pristina was one of the most traveled to destinations from Pristina via other European airports.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines this year is ending all morning flights to LHR so their Pristina flights loose the ideal connection. So loosing around 10 passengers per flight from Pristina (who went to London) no longer made it viable to keep.
It makes you wonder what other routes could be affected by this suspension.
DeleteInteresting point! That was 1/7 of the plane.
DeleteIt's like the article says - they were becoming less competitive with new airlines flying to Pristina and I'm sure Skopje's rise in the last few years had a big impact.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but don't forget that PRN will be receiving 8 new destinations vs. 4 in SKP. So the competition is still there.
DeleteOn the other hand, smaller INI is actively looking to grow too.
Not only is INI looking to grow but it is actually growing. This year it should be at 50% of SKP's traffic before Wizz Air's arrival.
DeleteWe have to all respect OU decision, after all this is one of the few remaining, true legacy carriers in the whole region. PRN might be stopped but there is currently not 1 sole ex-Yu carrier with direct flights to Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI think OMO and DUB will fit nicely.
One of few? Last time I checked there were 4 airlines in total. :)
DeleteNo major loss for PRN.
ReplyDeleteLoosing a legacy airline at any airport is a loss in my opinion.
DeleteDid JAT fly direct flights from Pristina to other cities outside of Yugoslavia?
ReplyDeleteDüsseldorf in 1996
DeleteZurich in the 90s too. It was packed.
DeleteAre there destinations unserved/badly served from BEG that are well served from ZAG, so that it makes logic OU commencing flights to BEG?
ReplyDeleteDublin
ReplyDeleteBrussels
Oslo
Helsinki
Lisabon
Mostar
Zadar
Pula
+ Split in winter
+ Dubrovnik in winter
Well, Oslo, Dublin, Helsinki, even Split could make it interesting for transfer passengers from BEG. And if they code-shared with Air Canada Rouge to Toronto, even more. With connecting flights to BEG and INI, the line to Toronto might not remain seasonal, but year round with reduced frequency.
DeleteHence, in my opinion OU should send Q400 daily to BEG and 4 times per week to INI.
Pa važnije je letit u Mostar. Šteta što Livno nema aerodrom
ReplyDelete