Zagreb has become one of Korean Air's best performing routes in terms of bookings just weeks following the launch of the three weekly scheduled service between Seoul and the Croatian capital. The Korean carrier noted that its average cabin load factor on the Zagreb - Seoul - Zagreb flights this September, operated by the three-class 218-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, amounts to 99%. As a result, the route has the highest average cabin occupancy rate within Korean Air's European network, ahead of Barcelona at 98% and Zurich at 92%. Furthermore, Zagreb has placed fourth among the carrier's global destinations with only Okinawa, Phuket and Sydney ahead. "As the holiday season approaches, the Zagreb route is close to full", Korean Air said.
The airline conceded that the early strong results were primarily down to the upcoming Chuseok festival, a major three-day thanksgiving holiday during which demand for travel on the Korean peninsula increases significantly. "Due to the nature of the festivals, which allow for protracted holidays, long haul routes are showing better booking rates than mid and short haul routes", the airline said. However, it added that sales for its new Zagreb service have exceeded expectations so far. Furthermore, it noted that the route is not being used purely by point to point passengers. "The new Incheon - Zagreb service is the first direct nonstop route from Asia to Croatia. It is also being used by customers to visit other countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans", the airline said.
Korea's largest tour operator Hanatour, noted, "Most of the people who are travelling to Zagreb during the holiday season are young but there are also examples of large families travelling together as a group". Close to half a million Korean tourists are expected to visit Croatia this year. The Korean carrier will upgrade its equipment on the service at the end of next month to the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. However, it will then switch to the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner as of January 2, 2019. The two jets seat between 248 and 269 passengers. Korean Air will operate the return service from Zagreb to Seoul via Zurich over the winter months.
Comments
I wasn't aware Emirates added a stop on its way to Zagreb. Anyone know which stop it is? OSI? BWK? INI? Also, OU operates nonstop flights to Asia as they serve Tel Aviv while LY operates flights to ZAG.
It would be interesting to see which countries they are.
Will they be sending a bigger plane in the next few weeks to ZAG?
No, they might send A330 300 on few days, as they did already, but no bigger planes planned, this is new route, it would be stupid to commit to a larger aircraft, Zagreb if we are really honest, doesn't need anything larger than A330 200, if at some point in future there's demand, B787 800 can be sent, but beyond this no need for larger aircraft.
Zagreb should expand its terminal and sort its stuff first, also not pleased how the Turks got in on the action @Zagreb airport, they're literally cannibalizing airport finances for their own end. Story in Slobodna Dalmacija is making me very angry with TAV and the Turks.
I think Government should step in, tell the French, we agreed with you, not the Turks, you're braking our contract and we'll devolve this relationship unless you take actions and re-gain control of operations fully.
Turks it seems are siphoning funds from Zagreb airport to prop up TAV turkey, $110 million in 2017, no idea how much in 2018, this has to stop. Croatian Government must step in and take control of the airport.
After all, if these news were true, wouldn't there be already an upgrade in frequency or equipment?
Let's get real.
No, not most of them, Actually most Koreans visit individually, most are young, in their 20s and most are traveling alone, discovering Europe. Tour operators have a significant chunk of the market, around 20-25%, but nowhere near to your statement, "most".
Same goes with the Japanese visitors.
Anonymous17 September 2018 at 09:10
Wasn't there a drop in Korean arrivals this year?
Yes, 36000 visitor drop for first 6 months. Sadly, totally unexpected, however numbers should be up again, we'll need to wait till the end of the year to find out how many visitors from S. Korea, but i expect it'll be around 450 000 this year, last year we had 444 000 and so far this year 277 000 visited Croatia.
@Anonymous17 September 2018 at 09:06
No daily service is a bad idea, really bad idea, just look at Emirates who launched daily service and maintained it winter, well November last year, according to Nemjee numbers, 8988 passengers used the route, 20 rotations in November generated barely 62% load factor, you really don't want that sort of number on wide body aircraft, anything under 75% is a loss.
Good to see Korean Air is going cautiously and plans to do stuff according to demand not like emirates. BTW good to see Zagreb is doing so well for Korean Air.
Is there any chance they will start Ljubljana?
No, Zagreb is only one of the a dozen routes they fly to in Europe, they stopped Oslo, Stockholm, Athens and Marseilles flights due to poor performance last year. Only seasonal charter flights there now. Vienna, Milan, Zurich are all nearby and they won't be flying anywhere near due to these 4 destinations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Korean_Air_destinations
Zagreb will act as their regional hub or sorts for visitors to Balkans and Hungary, Prague is for Czech R and Poland, and Vienna for Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.
Maybe only A333. There is rumors about route upgrade next summer season.
No such rumors, on other forum, guy who works for Korean air keeps us up to date, no plans for anything beyond what we've got now. 3 weekly flights with A330 200 and From Jan 2nd with B787 800. Plz don't speculate if you aren't sure.
The last paragraph of the article mentions equipment upgrade to 777-200ER next month.
Frequency upgrade is not as simple for LH routes as planes are scheduled sometimes months in advance. However, the contract between Korea and Croatia allows KE to fly to ZAG 5 times per week. Any frequency upgrade beyond that would require renegotiation of the bilateral agreement between two governments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asiana_Airlines_destinations
They even stopped flying to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is 3rd largest airport in the EU, economic and commercial capitol of Netherlands, country of 17.5 million people and GDP of $875 billion. If they don't fly to Amsterdam, there's little or no chance of them flying to Zagreb or Dubrovnik, or any other city before Amsterdam.
The article clearly states that KE will upgrade the service to 777-200ER at the end of next month.
Hm, not sure it is smart move by Korean Air, B777 200ER is too big for Zagreb on a regular basis and new route. I guess Korean air has some data that justifies sending, oh ok re-read the article again, 248 seats, I was like afraid they might be sending 300+ seats B777. I guess it is a slight increase in number of passengers, might be ok. We'll see. They did send A330 300 few times already, and they are considering sending it again later this week. However, I would be happy with A330 200 year round, three weekly service, I am ecstatic tbh.
Add Chinese carrier in 2019, perhaps even US Carrier say Delta (wishful thinking and hoping)
we could see nice coverage of Americas, Asia and Middle East, with Emirates, Qatar and Turkish. Only south-east Asia is missing, Singapore or Thy Airways would do us nice, Although someone said Asiana X or something is expanding...
there are no seats "Blocked" fro ZAG or ZRH. The number of seats is determined by the forecast for the demand on each Origin Destination pair, that is ZAG-ICN and ZRH-ICN. Since this demand varies according to date and weekday of travel, the proportion of the saets given to each OD varies also.
Dubai is resurfacing both of its runways, one after the other, with work commencing in late February through late May. There'll be restrictions for all carriers flying to or out of Dubai main airport.
According to Nemjee numbers, and I trust these numbers, as they' seem about the right figures for Zagreb, June through November are really really impressive loads for EK, last May there was a fall in pax which was something that I didn't expect, considering in April EK had 13000 pax on route, which produced 85.6% LF over 20 rotations, however this dramatically dropped down to 58% in May when EK had only 12600m on the route with 30 rotations. I expect this year, June through October load factor to be above 80% comfortably, not confident with November, hopefully EK reduces November to 20 rotations.
I project this year EK will have around 10 000 pax in November on the route, but with daily flights or 30 rotations this would only generate 46.2% load factor on B777 300ER, or 62.5% on B777 200 LR. However if EK reduced November to 22 rotations, this figure improves dramatically, 63.1% for B777 300ER and 85.4% for B777 200 LR.
Croatia ain't poor, it is a high income economy with $62 billion economy and nearly $15000 income per head, or 28000 Purchasing power parity. I know you're trolling and very jealous...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/World_Bank_high-income_economies_in_2016.png/1920px-World_Bank_high-income_economies_in_2016.png
Also in Zagreb you have all the Korean services, i/e Korean hostels,Korean restaurants, Korean shops. Nowhere else in the country you've got these, what is only missing, is Korean cars and electronics being made in Croatia, that should be the next priority for Croatian government, get Korean investments in, massive investments...
Again trolling, Croatian debt is around 285 billion kuna, https://www.debtclocks.eu/select-an-eu-member-state.html debt clock for all 28 member states of the EU, 285/384 projected Croatian GDP for 2018, and you end up with national debt of around 74.2% of GDP. In 2020, that ratio should fall down to 66.2%.
But on a negative note, makes you just wonder if OU had management with some initiative, vision and jaje....
No, there are more Korean visitors than Canadian, but not US Visitors.
in 2018, so far Croatia was visited by in 000 :
USA - 417 000 - up - 22.5%
S. Korea - 335 000 - down 3.5%
Australia - 187 000 - up 15.5%
China - 138 000 - up 37%
Canada - 120 000 - up 24%
Japan - 108 000 - up 20%
Taiwan - 69 000 - down 1%
India - 51 000 - up 7.5%
Brazil - 48 000 - up 3.5%
Argentina - 40 000 - up 30,5%
New Zealand - 32 000 - up 22%
Hong Kong - 24 000 - up 16%
Thailand - 21 000 - up 40.5%
rest of ASEAN - 95 000 - up 16%
South Africa - 20 000 - up 16%
Mexico - 15 000 - up 21.5%
UAE/Qatar/Kuwait - 16000, up by 43%
Chile - 10 000 - up 14%
Numbers for visitors to Croatia from non-European countries and over 10 000 per year.
Yes it is, it is only market that maintains direct flight to Seoul, year round, with November through to April, or March, Korean air will also link Zurich on its return leg. Previously Zurich was connected same way via Vienna.
So it'll be non-stop service from Zagreb to Seoul from April 1st to October 31st, and then on Zurich is added on return flight from November 1st to March 30th. Chinese carrier starts operations next year and should also have non-stop flights to Zagreb, we'll see which carrier in few months time. It is between China Eastern, Air China and Hainan Airlines.
Also we'll find if there'll be non-stop ANA flights to Zagreb, airport has been talking to Japanese carrier for some time now.
I have no idea what Hainan is doing in Belgrade, so couldn't possibly comment.
I really like to flight from LJU (paid 30-70EUR more per ticket) but be honest, sometime I must flight from ZAG, so great job ZAG!
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/08/ljubljana-airport-readies-for-new.html
R u ready for the challenge? :*
Do you really think that KE flies to ZAG because of ZAG and puts on their promotional videos Dubrovnik?
Don't be funny
TAP and Iberia are very strong in South America, they have strong networks over there, so they could play important role in braining more visitors to Croatia.
This is projected number of visitors for entire 2018,
USA - 575 000
S. Korea - 455 000
Australia - 255 000
China - 210 000
Canada - 175 000
Japan - 170 000
Taiwan - 120 000
India - 61 000
Brazil - 65 000
Argentina - 57 000
New Zealand - 44 000
Hong Kong - 35 000
Thailand - 42 000
rest of ASEAN - 150 000
South Africa - 25 000
Mexico - 20 000
UAE/Qatar/Kuwait - 21 000
Chile - 12 000
If TAP starts year round service to Zagreb, say 3 weekly in winters and daily in spring/summer months, and add to this Iberia double daily service in in spring/summer we'd be looking at 350 000 visitors from Latin America, with 100 000 from Brazil alone.
Potential from in 2020 if Iberia/Tap Service year round (TAP no longer flies to Zagreb):
Mexico: 50 000
Brazil: 150 000
Argentina: 100 000
Chile: 50 000
Rest of Latin America: 50 000
South America is untapped market, around 700-800 000 ppl with Croatian roots, we could easily bring some to visit.
With "left" government.... hope dies last :D
Anonymous17 September 2018 at 16:45
I understand you and you are right, capital feeds the coast.
However, would be happy with 3 weekly flights year round out of Beijing and Shanghai.
in 2020, 400 000 Chinese visitors to Croatia, this would indeed mean 2nd Chinese carrier would be all but certain to start flights to Croatia, Airport management said flights out of Shanghai and Beijing.
- Zagreb (land and spend 1 ir 2 nights)
- trip to Plitvice Lakes
- trip to one or more Adriatic coastal cities
- back home via Zagreb
Koreans often take holidays of 1 week duration unless they are retirees.
A380 cannot land to ZAG"""
Of course it can, who told you it can't !!! A 380 can't land in Belgrade, cause taxiways are too narrow and space between the terminal and the taxiway is too narrow.
Posebno onaj kojem poslodavac placa karte.
A tak'ih je poprilicno
Seriously tho, it could be the second largest in terms of the number of Slovenes using it. Right after LJU, no?
At any rate, in the case of these long haul flights, Zagreb feeds the coast and vice versa for sure. Otherwise people can just fly directly to the coast which is more than sufficiently covered and starting with next year that will include American flying directly to Dubrovnik.
Still, Zagreb has more potential of being a year-round destination. It's successfully become a tourist destination in its own right - No.1 in the country just ahead of Dubrovnik. It is the capital, the center of business, industrial, corporate, financial center...etc. accounting for something like a third of the entire Croatian GDP if I'm not mistaken. It's the only city in Croatia that can really be called large, the only metropolitan area with a population of over a million.
It's good than new 4 and 5* hotels are being opened. However I maintain that more decentralization is better, especially for a country like Croatia. The disparity between Zagreb's standard of living and the rest of the country (apart from Istria) is obviously a huge problem. Slavonia is a disaster. As for the coast, It'd be nice if Rijeka looked up to Slovenian Koper more in terms of developing as a cargo port, it's another example of criminal level of neglect in my opinion. I remember what Rijeka used to be in Yugoslavia and what it could've become beyond that by the time we entered the EU.
And regarding Zagreb airport, once the Chinese and possibly Japanese and American carriers arrive, it is high time to start attracting LLC.
That said it's no wonder they've been flocking onto these flights, given it's their home country flag carrier, given the number of Koreans visiting Croatia and the really affordable prices even out of Seoul. I was checking out the tickets from Seoul to Zagreb just the other day for a week in advance and both economy and 1st class were sold out. There were only a few seats left in business and they were only $2,500. A direct, nonstop flight in business class, considerably cheaper than any other business class alternative with one stopover. Cheaper than EK, QR, TK, Aeroflot, Austrian...and not to even mention BA, KL, AF or especially Lufthansa.
No they didn't yet. For now would be wishful thinking if I said it only, however this isn't the case, Croatian Government stated this and Zagreb Airport Management said it. So it is a more of a hope, it happens soon sometimes next year.
this year 220 000 Chinese visitors are expected tovisit Croatia, next year 300 000, even if no Chinese carrier shows up, this are significant numbers, any major carrier would be damn to ignore. Only problem i can foresee to these flights is global economic recession.
currently I think around 20% of all passengers @Zagreb are from Slovenia, some 620-650 000 in 2018, this figure is bound to grow to around 1-1.5 million long to medium term. Airport should really if they're considerate put signs in Slovene. Germans are 3rd largest group using the airport, some 300-320 000 Germans used the airport in 2017, we should also put signs in German :) Just a thought.
18 September 2018 at 11:49
+1
In Croatia i did not saw (never) signs in Slovenia language "Dobrodošli" and "Nasvidenje"
You can buy ticket for EK from "LJU airport"
So you came to LJU and then "EK" drive you to LJU train terminal and from there you go directly in ZAG airport.
Twice weekly service would connect Zagreb and Dubrovnik with Beijing and Shanghai. More on this very soon. Flights should commence next year in summer, Zagreb would most likely be year round with Dubrovnik only over summers.