Dubrovnik eyes additional US flights


The city of Dubrovnik expects to secure new flights from the United States in 2020 after American Airlines launches a seasonal summer service from Philadelphia to the coastal city next year. The head of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Romana Vlašić, told the "Dubrovnik Times", "After 28 years we will finally have direct flights from the US again, with American Airlines announcing services from Philadelphia. This pilot project from American Airlines will grow over the coming years to include more American cities as well as new airlines". She added, "Through our representative office in New York we have made contact with the airline and the travel company that represents them. We have already arranged joint marketing opportunities and cooperation. We are only too happy to help fill these flights and make sure that this new link is successful".

Dubrovnik Airport anticipates strong loads on American Airlines' upcoming service to and from Philadelphia, which will have a significant impact on the future development of air traffic to the States. The General Manager of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, previously said he believed the service would prove popular with both holidaymakers and the Croatian diaspora. "American Airlines chose Dubrovnik for several reasons. They have recognised us as a quality destination and our airport worked very hard during the negotiating process in order to secure these flights. Initially, this will be a seasonal service which will be maintained three times per week", Mr Luetić said. He added that the airport expects for the airline to boost frequencies on the route in the years to come.

American Airlines will operate its flights to Dubrovnik from June 7 until September 25 with its 209-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. Ms Vlašić noted, "We have been working intensively on the US market for years and it seems that this work is starting to bear fruit. There have been a whole series of promotional events that we have carried out in the US, from the New York Times Travel Show to specialised travel fairs in Las Vegas. Secondly, we are work with a luxury tour operator in the US who has proved to be very professional and has brought us many guests to Dubrovnik over the past few years". All three of the major US carriers - American Airlines, Delta and United - currently maintain codeshare flights to Dubrovnik through their respective partners.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    This is a good news. More options for travellers to/from Croatia and some additional income for Dubrovnik.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Excellent news! Congrats, Dubrovnik!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    What city could be next in the US that could work to Dubrovnik?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      New York, definitely!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      ORD too.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      New York would be logical!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:20

      One would say ORD, EWR, and ATL are clear favourites, but I wouldn’t be surprised by SFO/LAX either as more and more 787s are being delivered. As for non-hub cities, IAD might be a good guess simply because there are already many TATL routes from DC and DC has by far the highest percentage of population watching GoT of any other US state (northeastern states have more people in general watching GoT, but those would already be covered by PHL and EWR).

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:38

      What about west coast US? Any potential for flights from there?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    I definitely wasn't expecting DBV to become the first city in Croatia to restart US flights. Good on them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:44

      No other airport in the region has worked so hard to develop like DBV.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:51

      True. DBV is an excellent airport, especially for such a small city.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    The choice of Philadelphia being their first route to Dubrovnik is quite odd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Pennsylvania has biggest Croat population in US. That's why.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      I think this route will be used almost exclusively by tourists as the majority of the Croatian emigration in the US does not hail from in and around Dubrovnik. Using this route for them means little because they would have to transfer and buy a separate ticket on OU (OU is Star, AA is oneoworlrd).

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:11

      True. The fact that it will run for a few months in peak season to me shows that American is mainly counting on that too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:12

      Philli is an AA hub. Which else should they have selected on the east coast?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:13

      JFK.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:15

      I'm sure they thought about it before they announced the flights, pretty sure Philadelphia is a good choice!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:17

      Demand is especially strong from the West Coast. Philli make most sense for them.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:29

      Isn't Philadelphia on the East coast?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:31

      In an earlier article Luetic said why they chose Philadelphia.

      The General Manager said, "Philadelphia was chosen to be linked with Dubrovnik because it is an east coast hub for the airline and has excellent links with the west coast, Canada, as well the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Therefore, we expect a lot of transfer passengers as well. Furthermore, Philadelphia is close to New York, which is too congested".

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:37

      Philadelphia is main AA gateway for Europe, has more TATL flights than any other AA hub, so it’s logical choice

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:38

      Did JAT used to fly just Dubrovnik-New York seasonally or they had flights to another US city as well?

      Delete
    12. Anonymous09:50

      I think only New York.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:05

      BUD and PRG are doing extremely well for them and out of Philadelphia. No reason to believe Dubrovnik won't either.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous11:09

      ^ And even more interesting those flights operate daily.

      Delete
    15. No, this is not because of the Croat diaspora. PHL is a former legacy US Airways hub (now AA). It has many, seasonal only, destinations in Europe: PRG, BUD, LIS, ATH. JFK is pretty crowded and PHL slots cost them less in terms of operations

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    DBV is the only city in Ex-Yu that has an American carrier. Impressive. And according to Vlasic we may see more US carriers in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Yes and BEG is the only to have year-round flights to the US. Each airport has something that makes it unique.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      DBV will become year round for AA in 5 years time. It is impressive how DBV manages to attract demand despite its size. Beautiful town :)

      Delete
    3. Sto je tu impresvno?
      21.stoljece je i ta jedna linija nije impresivna vec porazavajuca cinjenica

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:18

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:22

      Impresivno je jer je ovo prvi put nakon dugo vremena da jedan američki prijevoznik povezuje Hrvatsku s SAD-om pa makar i sezonalno. Žalosno je to što ZAG još uvijek kaska po tom pitanju, iako se nadam da bi i ZAG uskoro mogao dobiti liniju (možda Delta)?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:54

      Nema sanse.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:57

      Itekako ima šanse, makar sezonalno.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:58

      Zagreb se najprije mora dobro povezati s Evropom, a ne da svako malo netko ukida linije jer nema vise povlastica za prvu godinu. Sto ce ti veza sa SAD-om kad nemas kako puniti te avione? Ili mislis da zracna luka racuna samo na americke turiste?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:20

      Zagreb should be worried that neither BA nor KL will be daily in winter in stead of dreaming about seasonal flights to the US.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:25

      ZAG should be worried about Croatia airlines' future in the first place!

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:38

      I am sure ZAG management has a plan B in case OU goes bust. U2, W6...

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:06

      Hopefully, they will probably need it, since the government is doing absolutely nothing to help OU!

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:28

      Has the government given up on appointing the new CEO? It will be almost a year soon.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous14:23

      Zagreb has Emirtates/Flydubai, Korean, KL , BA, and others. Does not matter if its daily or 5 times a week. It HAS them. ZAG will not have 20 daily flight between LON as FRA has for example. It has the frequencies that are demanded by the travelling public. And its good like that.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:45

      So the most important thing is to HAVE them. No matter how often they fly. Jadan ZAG dok postoji takav nacn razmisljanja.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous15:07

      Anon: 14.45

      Ok by that logic 5 daily ZAG-FRA is really bad as LON-FRA has 30 daily. That is a strange logic.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous17:31

      You do realize that there are no non-stop flights to Scandinavia or Italy from Zagreb? How is that ok? Are you telling me there is no demand for exclusive ZAG-FCO the whole year? ZAG should be worried as DY suspended ARN while OU isn't planning on even keeping a single weekly flight.

      With LJU getting more and more LCCs and now BNX in the game ZAG management needs a wake up call.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous19:47

      Anon 15:07

      I am not talking to star alliance hubs. I am talking about a whole continent. Nemozes pikirati na laung haul letove u ZAG ako nemas cvoriste. A ZAG to trenutno nije. Fali puno toga a da o klempavoj OU ne govorimo.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous20:12

      Slažem se s Anon 19:47!

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:06

    Due to the runway works in January and February only aircraft the size of DH4 and AT7/E75 will be able to land at the RWY. 2/3 of the runway will be renewed, with the rest already done. After the RWY is in use again all AC types will be able to land at DBV with no restrictions and hopefully more airlines will come to DBV :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Will they extend the runway?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      Pitty that BA and vueling have to stop operating during that period due to AC limitations. But then Pula closed down in January and February completely. So better to renew the runway in phases.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:17

      BA is removing flights in November. It has nothing to do with runway works. Also it is not true that only DH4 and ATR can land on the runway in January and February since British will be flying for a part of January. So this is false information.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:19

      Middel January to end February

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:19

      Turkish Airlines is also flying to Dubrovnik in February and they don't have DH4s.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:21

      Payload restrictions.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:39

      Dajte se malo informirajte. Tri faze se radova. U studenom i prosincu su najveća ograničenja što se tice piste, ne u siječnju i veljači

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:08

    Congratulation to Dubrovnik.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:10

    New York has to be the next destination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:51

      Philadelphia is quite close to NY.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:23

    Could there be an option that we get some low cost flights from DBV to the States with Norwegian perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Well if you read the article you will see that the Dubrovnik tourist board is focusing more on affluent US travellers so I don't think we will see DY start TATL from Dubrovnik. Would be great but I highly doubt it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:52

      DY has actually cancelled some flights from Europe to the US recently. But I think Dubrovnik is focusing on US carriers, not European.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:32

    I see this route going year round in 2020, maybe once per week. in winter months. Dubrovnik is trying to extend the season, plus for those who don't care about beaches and swimming I would much rather visit Dubrovnik in winter when it is a lot less congested.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      I don't think it will go year round that soon. They might extend the season but it is not cheap maintaining such a seasonal route in winter, especially once per week.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:01

      Da, super, ali u sklopu nekog veceg putovanja. Iskreno, sto bi to moglo privuc Amera da dode SAMO u Dubrovnik za tjedan dana preko zime?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:57

      This is fantastic for Dubrovnik and Croatia in general but I don't think these flights could work year round like some claim. The issue with Dubrovnik is that it has little outbound traffic. It depends purely on tourists.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:36

    I think that next up they should definitely target Canada or South Korea flights. After they secure one destination from each they should look into adding more points in the US.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:50

      They said that US and South Korea are their main long haul markets.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:50

      I can't see Korean Airlines flying to Dubrovnik in the near future and cannibalising their newly established Zagreb route. Perhaps Asiana could attempt it on a seasonal basis down the track? Canada flights are more realistic I think given that Canadian Airlines already have a presence in Zagreb and now Split from next year too.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:37

    Routes from US to Dubrovnik definitely have potential.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:46

    Romana Vlasic is a professional and I'm glad she is leading the Tourist Board. I didn't know she got promoted. She used to be the deputy in charge. So I think tourist development in the city is in good hands and we will see more US visitors (and flights) in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:53

    American hubs that have potential to be linked with Dubrovnik in my opinion are:

    - Chicago
    - Dallas
    - Washington
    - LA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      Demand from LA is particularly strong to DBV and Croatia in general.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:41

      These routes definitely have potential.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:30

    I'm surprised that American was the first to bite the bullet and start flights to Croatia. I would have thought it would be United considering its Star Alliance membership and potential for codeshare with Croatia Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:33

      Dubrovnik actually has a nice collection of OneWorld member airlines:
      - American Airlines
      - British Airways
      - Iberia
      - Aer Lingus
      - Finnair
      - S7 Airlines

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:39

      Star still has bigger presence:
      - Austrian
      - Lufthansa
      - Croatia Airlines
      - Adria
      - Aegean
      - Brussels Airlines
      - LOT
      - SAS
      - Turkish

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:36

    I'm really interested to see how this will perform. Hope for the best and we see new US routes to DBV in 2020 :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:40

      If 30 years ago JAT and Pan Am could have full planes from Dubrovnik to New York, I'm sure American will succeed too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:48

      Američko tržište jedno od najvažnijih svjetskih emitivnih tržišta u Dubrovniku, a u korist tome govore i brojke.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:42

    Delta flies to the the most secondary European airports out of the US airlines. So perhaps they could consider Dubrovnik in the future too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      Or Zagreb

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:56

      Delta will likely come to Zagreb. The only question is when

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:45

      ...and that is because...?

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:43

    I think we will see the same scenario like with the Toronto-Zagreb flights. One airline begins the route, is relatively successful and immediately others will follow.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous11:01

    And so many people doubted that these flights would materialize and we are now already talking about potential new destinations :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:09

      I like the fact that DBV is quiet about potential new destinations until they are about to materialize. No big words, just hard work.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:03

    AA is making the right choice by choosing Dubrovnik.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous11:06

    If flights are successful, AA will do the same as it did with Prague and Dubrovnik. Start flights from May instead of June and operate daily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:10

      * Oh and also they start in May and operate until end of summer season.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:47

      I don't know if AA will increase the frequencies, but I'm pretty sure these flights will be packed!

      Delete
  22. Anonymous12:00

    DL just announced MSP-PVG and they have been adding a lot of frequencies from there. Maybe we could see MSP-ZAG or DBV in the future?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous12:08

    I am now more convinced than ever that DBV will be the second busiest airport in ex-YU and the busiest airport in the Western Balkan area.
    Well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:13

      Don't know, it all depends on what happens in SPU. I don't think DBV can overtake them.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous12:16

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous13:35

    Well done Dubrovnik. This will benefit the entire community. Great to see 3 Croatian airports with long haul flights next summer.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous15:45

    This will affect some airlines flying to DBV, particularly BA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:47

      Interestingly Aer Lingus also sees good transatlantic feed on the DBV flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:55

      JU also carries quite a few tourists from New York to Dubrovnik and Split.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous15:56

    On top of this I hope Dubrovnik can somehow interest Air Transat to launch flights from Toronto.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:50

      AC Rouge would be a nice addition, since Air Transat will be flying to SPU!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:28

      True

      Delete
  28. Anonymous16:05

    American Airlines u japanu su preuredili enterijer 12 njihovih Airbus321 aviona serija 23 i trenutno imaju najudobniji i najkonforniji avion serije Airbus321 u americi sa 102 luksuzna putnicka sjedala transcon verzija ali sa pristupacnim cjenama usluga od Aerodrom New-York do San Francisko.
    Ujedno jos koriste udobne all-economy class avione sa 135 putnicka sjedala proizvod douglas corporation DC9-83 zadnja serija iz 1999 godine koji putnici jednostavno vole taj taj avion na kratke letove u trajanju od jedan i po sat, u Americi sa jeftinim avio-kartama.

    ReplyDelete

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