Korean Air, which will commence scheduled flights between Seoul and Zagreb on September 1, has unveiled further details for its upcoming new service. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, the company said it was seeking to boost cooperation with Croatia Airlines ahead of the route launch and ruled out operations to other points in the country for the time being. "Korean Air currently has an interline agreement with Croatia Airlines for connecting flights from Zagreb. We will continue our discussions with the Croatian carrier for further cooperation such as codeshares", the company said. Croatia Airlines currently codeshares on several flights with Korean Air's rival Asiana. "For now, Korean Air is entirely focusing on commencing scheduled flights to Zagreb in September. After the route stabilises, we may consider to fly to destinations in Croatia other than Zagreb", Korean Air said.
During the winter season, Korean Air will operate flights with the routing Seoul - Zagreb - Zurich - Seoul. The airline has confirmed it hasn't secured rights to sell tickets on the intra-European sector. "For the time being, it is impossible to purchase tickets from Zagreb to Zurich. However, we will consider ways to make it work in the future", the airline said. With the addition of the new route, Korean Air will operate international flights to 111 cities in 43 countries. Services to Zagreb will be maintained with the Airbus A330-200 aircraft over the summer, and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner during the winter season.
Korean Air has operated charter flights from Seoul to Zagreb since 2010, and the number of Korean visitors to Croatia have steadily risen each year. A Korean travel program featuring Croatia and first shown in 2013 is considered influential in first inspiring leisure travellers to the country. The Croatian Minister for Tourism, Gari Cappelli, recently said the country was looking to secure flights from four far away markets in the coming period. These include Japan, China, South Korea and the United States. "One of our main goals is to improve Croatia's air connectivity. The establishment of new flights is crucial to increasing the number of arrivals, especially from far away markets. We are particularly focusing on Japan, with which we recently signed a bilateral Air Service Agreement, but also China, South Korea and the United States, which all account for a growing number of tourists", Mr Cappelli said.
Excellent! Can't wait to see them in ZAG!
ReplyDeleteThey were in ZAG last week :P
Deletethe 787 tho ;D
DeleteLet's hope one day they send the A380 :D
DeleteIf the number of Koreans visiting Croatia was spread out on flights Korean could fill the A380 on a daily basis.
DeleteNot all Koreans in Croatia arrive by plane.
DeleteSure, but they arrive by plane in Europe. Now will have direct flight to ZAG
DeleteI haven't had the opportunity to check so I was wondering what are the return fares from Seoul to Zagreb like and are they competitive against EK and QR.
ReplyDeleteLooking at prices in September from Zagreb to Seoul (return), Turkish Airlines is the cheapest, followed by Qatar Airways and then Air France!
DeleteIt's logical that Korean will be more expensive since it's a nonstop flight.
DeleteCan OU sign a codeshare with Korean Air considering they have a deal with Asiana?
ReplyDeleteWhy not... those flights will be from ZAG to the coast and region, nothing to do with flights via FRA.
DeleteMaybe the codeshare agreements they have with Asiana forbids them to cooperate with their biggest rival.
DeleteHighly doubt it.
DeleteDoes OU have any codeshare with Sky Team member?
DeleteYes, with AF and KL.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteBravo Koreja!
DeleteI don't understand why they haven't managed to secure rights for Zagreb-Zurich?
ReplyDeleteLike it said here in an article two weeks ago, Swiss are very strict in issuing fifth freedom rights.
DeleteEspecially if Swiss plan to reestablish ZAG flights in winter.
DeleteInteresting that Zurich struggles for them during winter so they have to link it up with another city.
DeleteThey have always flown ZRH via VIE and only separated them 2 years ago. At that time however they sold VIE-ZRH.
DeleteI hope, next winter we will have year round direct from ZAG, 2-3pw.
Deleteactually, I agree with fact that they are not granted permission to sell tickets between zagreb and zurich.
DeleteGreat news for ou, personally flew with ou from split to zurich via zagreb with dash, always but always 100% LF, i don't understand why they don't put bigger plane, maybe because they have two daily or whatever...
swiss if not already, will be aware of that and will go during winter...
I would definitely prefer to fly with the B787 to Zurich than the Q400.
Deleteabsolutely, but swiss won't allow it
DeleteI would say the Star Alliance monopoly on that route won't allow it.
DeleteWhat's most important is that this is a year round route, which is good to see.
ReplyDeleteYes! Enough with these seasonality routes!
DeleteWill the Korean codeshare on CSA from Prague remain?
ReplyDeleteYes- demand is much greater than the three weekly they will initially be offering.
DeleteI belive there will be a lot of passengers who will fly ICN-PRG-ZAG-ICN
DeleteNo because the returne flight is from Zurich direct to Seoul.
DeleteIt's now a question if CSA will keep flying year round to ZAG.
DeleteThe Croatian Air Authority could as soon as poasible revoke any codeshare of OU and Korean Air to ZAG other than on the direct flight in order to boost numbers on the direct flight and not to route pax via Prague, Vienna, Zurich etc. from and to ZAG.
DeleteTo oni ne mogu napraviti.
DeleteA sve i da mogu, zasto bi?
Well done. It seems Zagreb Airport's management is really trying to attract as many new customers as possible.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we get more good news soon.
Deleteexcellent news for Croatia tourism
ReplyDeleteI do wonder if the number of tourists from Korea will actually increase because of this new line.
DeleteI think the number will settle at around half a million per year.
DeleteI think it will be more than that.
DeleteWould be cool if JU and KE sign a code-share between BEG and ICN via ZAG.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the Croatian CAD would allow itm
DeleteGuess
DeleteIt's not CAD, it's CCAA - Croatian Civil Aviation Agency - official name in abbreviation in english language - just for your info
DeleteI am so sorry, will you ever forgive this massive oversight of mine?
DeleteAmazing how a tv show can impact on tourism and trends. Good luck with the new route :)
ReplyDeleteRight now many in South Korea are scarred to fly with middle east airlines. They will happily fly to Zagreb direct and pay more. I'm sure this route will be a success.
ReplyDeleteWhat nonsense.
DeleteMakes sense.
DeleteThough the direct route seems to make sense and there should definitely be enough demand for it, I still think many will fly with ME airlines. Why should Koreans be scared to fly with Emirates or Qatar?
DeleteThe whole focus of exYU airlines flying intercontinental has been back to front for years- money is to be made flying to Asia or the M.East rather than TATL to N.America.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSome please call Rouge and Transat with breaking news!
DeleteI'm quite dissapointed that Dubrovnik still can't attract a single seasonal long haul service. There are a few markets which could surely work. Maybe Korean next year.
ReplyDeleteKE will probably first start charters to Dubrovnik.
DeleteWhat would have more chance of success - Dubrovnik-New York or Dubrovnik-Seoul?
Deleteda li zaista mislis da ce iz njujorka ili seula leteti u dubrovnik i tamo sedeti deset ili sedam dana.
DeleteKe?!
DeleteSeasonally, both should be very successful 1pw or 2pw at least - as typical leisure routes.
DeleteNice. A really good year for ZAG.
ReplyDeleteFrench concession seems to be the best thing that ever happened to Zagreb.
DeleteWell you could argue that this would have happened anyway because Croatia joined the EU and the tourism industry is growing.
DeleteLast anon is correct. The French made a huge mistake by halving the initial airport project under which they won the concession.
DeleteTrue. Poor miscalculation on their part.
DeleteNot a miscalculation but a scam! They won the tender with one project and one set of deadlines and as soon as they won it they downgraded the project and price.
DeleteBut they are also expanding it ahead of plan. They are already installing additional check-in counters (A row) while construction of a new A380 capable gate and 20 000 sq m apron extension will start this fall.
DeleteWill be interesting to see how many premium passengers there are on these flights.
ReplyDeleteEK has done relatively well with its sales in first and business to ZAG.
DeleteI'm surprised they did not schedule B777 in September and October.
ReplyDeleteThey obviously thought the A330 was more suitable for a new route like this.
DeleteToo much capacity.
DeleteWill Korean's A330 be in Zagreb at the same time as another wide body?
ReplyDeleteZagreb is turning out to be a real intercontinental hub!
ReplyDeleteok...
Deletedo not go that far. :)
DeleteLol
DeleteIt looks like ZAG is the intercontinental hub for Balkan region.
DeleteOnce again what countries belongs in the Balkan region by your opinion ? Just set the record straight.
DeleteCovjek trola. Ljudi moji ne reagirajte na te bedastoce. Provocira.
DeleteUnfortunately to be a hub you need to have connectivity and frequencies to feed the routes. Closest to that is Belgrade with JU but it is rapidly loosing the hub-like status.
DeleteProbably in Exyu region anyways.
DeleteWhat will have more wide-body scheduled flights (departures) per week? BEG or ZAG?
AnonymousJune 12, 2018 at 3:48 PM
DeleteKako mozete da kazete da BEG gubi status huba cak ce u buducnosti jos napredovati u tom polju.
INN-NS
@AnonymousJune 12, 2018 at 3:48 PM
DeleteBollocks !!!
The only hub close to Zagreb is Vienna, Munich is slightly further away, about the same distance Belgrade is from Zagreb.
A true hub must have 20 million + pax and daily connections with every continent, great offer of destinations and connectivity.
Only such hubs between Athens and Munich is Vienna. Munich, Amsterdam. Frankfurt, Paris, London, Madrid and Rome are true European hubs for they handle over 40 million pax and have all major intercontinental and regional airlines offering flights out of each of these hubs.
In ex-YU region, no hubs, only midsize airports offering flights, some with intercontinental service, in case of Belgrade flights to JFK and via Prague to China. In case of Zagreb, flights to Canada, South Korea, soon directly to China and Japan.
in terms of number of wide-body landings, Zagreb dominates, with number of weekly landings, by 4 carriers at this point, number that will grow.
@AnonymousJune 12, 2018 at 5:44 PM
DeleteGlad that we agree that it is very hard to call either Belgrade or Zagreb a hub :)
Well BEG would have double daily widebody by TK if it weren't for the Directorate.
DeleteNo ex-Yu airport is a hub in any sense.
DeleteBefore comparing to VIE, which is a true airport and airline hub (with 17m local and 6m transfer pax) BEG would need to more than double the traffic volume just to catch up with BUD and OTP and ZAG to triple, in an unlikely situation that both BUD and OTP stagnate or decline. And how real is that they will become transfer hubs, given the fact that both major operators at BEG and ZAG have less than 20 aircraft in their fleets?
Zagreb's problem, just as is Belgrade's problem, is small national airlines, really really small.
DeleteI am looking at Air Baltic, which started about the same size as either carrier OU and Air Serbia in 2000, and now it is twice as large as two combined.
Air Baltic has every chance of becoming an major carrier with 10, perhaps even 20 million passengers down the line.
The bright hope for Croatian airlines is, arrival of Emirates, Qatar, Korean Air, future arrival of Hianan and ANA and potentially Air Canada also going year round.
If OU can cement codeshare agreements for local, domestic and regional routes of Zagreb, it'll be busy airline year round, not only in spring and summer months.
Each of these carriers is capable of braining in 30-40 000 travelers over winter period. 30 000 / 5 months = 6000 travelers that need connecting flights to the coast or somewhere else in Europe.
If only OU can get its act in order, numbers would quickly go up for all concerned, OU would double its fleet in less than a decade, and OU with 24-25 aircraft, 4-5 million passengers is more serious proposition.
True, I agree. Air Baltic is a good example how an airline should be run. But I guess that ship has already sailed for OU and JU, as both of them would require a serous investment in a new fleet, not just for replacement of old aircraft. In Air Serbia's case it is obvious there won't be any money from Etihad anymore and Croatia Airlines will hardly ever recover alone from mismanagement of former CEOs, especially the most prominent one who was Lufthansa's player all along.
DeleteThe current fleet of Air Baltic is pretty similar to JU, however it is set to double.
DeleteAll ex-Yu airlines suffer from a lack of vision which goes at best at replicating JAT in various degrees, which is nothing but suicide in current market conditions.
Air Serbia is the perfect example of that.
And the biggest number of comments are regarding the obvious troll post.
DeleteKorean flights have worked quite well for Prague, so why not Zagreb. It has beautiful beaches, delicious food and nightlife.
ReplyDeleteHave in mind Korean owns 49% of CSA.
DeleteNot anymore, they sold it to Travel Service which is owned by Chinese.
DeleteGreat news, go Zagreb!
ReplyDeleteStill wondering if Jin Air will start ZAG flights next year.
ReplyDeleteHighly doubt it. But I do think we will see Jin Air in BEG like they announced in 2020.
Delete@AnonymousJune 12, 2018 at 11:24 AM
DeleteI never took Jin Air announcement seriously, with arrival of Korean to Zagreb, there's little chance of Jin air starting flights to Zagreb now, however I don't believe Jin Air was ever serious about their plans.
Jin Air has no new planes on order, not even wide-body, and four B777s are all utilized on asian routes.
As I've see it, Jin air statement was more of a PR stunt, than any serious policy decision.
Jin air consist of 21x Boeing 737-800 and 4 B777 200ER.
If Jin Air was really serious, they'd be ordering ore looking at leasing B777s really soon. They're not.
As I've said, Jin Air isn't serious outfit, it is a LCC start up, in a market dominated by number of carriers, Jin Air is just one of 6 LCCs in South Korea alone.
However, Korean Air, will fly to Zagreb and this is at least bit of good news to look forward to.
Will this have an impact on EK, QR and TK? Lot's of Koreans use them to get to ZAG.
ReplyDeleteNo, Emirates takes huge number of Japanese visitors, Australian and New Zealanders.
DeleteLast year, E-visitor electronic registration of all visitors to Croatia, put number of Australian visitors at 210 000 and Kiwi visitors at 35000.
This year so far, number of Aussie and Kiwi visitors is up by 27% for first 5 months.
E-visitor registers passport id number, every hotel and hostel has is connected to the system e-visitor and must report each visitor.
The passport ID number allows the central system to monitor and interprets overall data. This is how we know how many visitors visited Croatia and how many nights on an average they spent in Croatia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJgd_-m_HjI
Croatia is the first country to roll out such digital system, it is very accurate, well to a point, as airbnb and similar services do not need to comply, or they don't comply as many try to avoid paying city and vat tax.
However, evisitor is very good way of determining how many visitors arrived, where from, and where they stayed, which cities they visited and how long they stayed in each city.
In Croatia there are around 5500 Airbnb hosts, and about 3200 CS hosts, with occupancy rate of around 50% for Airbnb and 20% for CS.
Majority of these are in Zagreb, about 50%, so from this we can attain some idea how many visitors visit Zagreb and Croatia each year and aren't included in evisitor digital data system. For Zagreb, around 170 000 visitors aren't registered visitors each year. Croatia in total around 320-370 000 visitors per year.
When you consider Croatia has 18.5 million visitors in 2017, 370 000 isn't that much.
Although, 170 000 unregistered visitors that visited Zagreb last year do constitute significant %g, around 11.3%.
I have flown from to ZAG from ICN using both QR and TK and you do see many of tbe same people from the ICN outbound flight connecting in DOH or IST onto ZAG. Koreans as a general rule prefer Korean airline companies and I think Korean Air should hopefully be successful on this route. EK and QR get alot of traffic to ZAG from Australia (both diaspora Croats and other Australians as Croatia is definitely on the tourist map for Aussies) as the fly to all major Australian cities daily or even double daily. I think the market is growing strongly so there should be room for all.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!!
ReplyDeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a good news for Croatia Airlines as well. They will offset seasonality problem a bit with many people travelling to the coast and back to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteOvo je dobro za hrvatski turizam!
ReplyDeleteGood luck, I hope these flights work out! :)
ReplyDeleteOvo je pre svega odlicno za HR privredu i prevoznike sto ce imati vecu zaradu od tih letova.
ReplyDeleteKE je napravio sa ovim odlican potez posto ovo ima verovatno veze sa Evropskim turama korejskih drzavljana koji dodju verovatno u FRA pa mogu da se vrate preko ZAG .
INN-NS
The flights do not connect with Korean services to Australia and they don’t seem to have reasonably priced through fares either.
ReplyDelete