NEWS FLASH
Croatia's two busiest airports - Zagreb and Split - saw their passenger numbers increase in November, while Dubrovnik's figures slumped as it continues with the overhaul of its runway which has restricted traffic somewhat.
Zagreb Airport handled 234.075 passengers during the month, representing an increase of 5.1%. The number of aircraft operations grew 4.7% to 3.223. During the January - November period, Zagreb Airport welcomed 3.121.445 travellers through its doors, up 8.1% on last year. So far in 2018, it added an extra 235.080 passengers compared to 2017. The airport anticipates welcoming some 3.4 million travellers in 2018, which would result in an almost 10% increase on last year.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|
| JAN | 191.276 | ▲ 13.3 |
| FEB | 170.658 | ▲ 10.3 |
| MAR | 223.642 | ▲ 16.2 |
| APR | 253.853 | ▲ 5.7 |
| MAY | 300.676 | ▲ 11.8 |
| JUN | 331.533 | ▲ 6.6 |
| JUL | 379.193 | ▲ 7.9 |
| AUG | 372.590 | ▲ 7.2 |
| SEP | 345.770 | ▲ 4.5 |
| OCT | 318.074 | ▲ 6.9 |
| NOV | 234.075 | ▲ 5.1 |
Split Airport welcomed 54.856 passengers through its doors, representing an increase of 38.7%. The airport has already overtaken its 2017 end-of-year result and handled its record third-millionth traveller of the year in October. Overall, during the elapsed eleven months, Split saw 3.079.995 passengers, up 10.7%.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|
| JAN | 33.699 | ▲ 10.8 |
| FEB | 30.629 | ▲ 28.0 |
| MAR | 53.165 | ▲ 57.2 |
| APR | 124.352 | ▲ 0.9 |
| MAY | 304.135 | ▲ 18.1 |
| JUN | 474.646 | ▲ 17.6 |
| JUL | 695.506 | ▲ 5.9 |
| AUG | 627.846 | ▲ 5.7 |
| SEP | 455.595 | ▲ 8.2 |
| OCT | 225.170 | ▲ 13.6 |
| NOV | 54.856 | ▲ 38.7 |
Dubrovnik Airport's growth momentum ended as it handled just 26.615 passengers. The figure represents a decrease of 21.9% on the same month last year. Overall, the airport registered 2.516.173 travellers through its doors by the end of November, up 9.5%. Dubrovnik's growth will continue to slow in the coming months as the airport carries out the second phase of its runway overhaul, which will somewhat restrict traffic and capacity. Several airlines, including British Airways, Turkish Airlines and Vueling, have scheduled fewer flights this winter when compared to last.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|
| JAN | 22.280 | ▲ 15.3 |
| FEB | 24.074 | ▲ 5.5 |
| MAR | 47.684 | ▲ 40.9 |
| APR | 151.661 | ▲ 5.4 |
| MAY | 291.453 | ▲ 14.8 |
| JUN | 365.348 | ▲ 7.9 |
| JUL | 474.643 | ▲ 7.7 |
| AUG | 481.863 | ▲ 9.3 |
| SEP | 386.365 | ▲ 10.8 |
| OCT | 244.187 | ▲ 12.0 |
| NOV | 26.615 | ▼ 21.9 |
Isn't 3.4 a tad bit overambitious for ZAG? Isn't 3.3 more realistic?
ReplyDeleteAlso, as for DBV that's quite a drop. Is it really just because of runway works?
Yes it's because of runway reconstruction.
Deletelook and judge!
Deletehttps://www.airport-dubrovnik.hr/index.php/hr/web-cam
Will be curious to see January and February for ZAG with all the cuts announced. Hope they manage at least a 5% increase.
ReplyDeleteAnd we heard here ZAG will go 10%
ReplyDeletegoes to show how much bu.....t we get in the comments...
DeleteIt is interesting to see how immensely seasonal SPU is...so overall I really don't see it overtaking ZAG any time soon on full year level. Still, summer numbers are really impressive!
ReplyDeleteYou have many other examples in other European coastal towns and cities with similar seasonal tendencies:
DeleteALC
BOJ
CHQ
ODS
etc
Even BCN can be considered semi seasonal.
Yup. Zagreb in its slowest month of February has more pax than Split or Dubrovnik in April and November combined. But still Split handles more pax than Belgrade in the busiest month
DeleteAnd Split almost handles more passengers in July than Zagreb in July and August combined.
DeleteThis will always be like that.
DeleteYou can't compare a busy July in Split with a sleepy July in Zagreb.
When Zagreb sleeps, Split is out hunting and the other way around.
That said, we may see Split right behind Belgrade very soon.
Anon 14:20
DeleteMinus 50k which is March in Split.
The problem with airports like Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana is that their growth is directly linked with the national carrier. I’m afraid that all are doomed to stagnation or generic growth rather than substantial considering the state of their respective national carriers and apparent protectionism. Airports like Split and Dubrovnik are not that dependant of the national carrier as of LCCs but even they have their limits because of the predominantly inbound demand which is linked to tourist accommodation capacity. Another story if they become something like cruise ship homeports that would create large inbound demand, as in Venice.
DeleteI don't think your argument is really valid here. For example in BEG we have a situation where the national carrier stagnates but foreign airlines boom and expand really quickly. I think their growth is not tied to the national carrier but rather to how healthy the local market demand is.
DeleteRight, you will see that on Thursdays at DBV when TUI UK will send 3 787 in 2019. And many 757s and 738s..
DeleteDBV was always the pioneer airport when it comes to ultra modern widebodies.
DeleteLast summer, Dreamliners, Rossiya 747 and many many more.
Other bigger airports are simply proud of temporarily widebodies forgetting that DBV in summer receives at least 10 of them daily.
Anyway...
Rossiya B747 is ultra modern to you?
DeleteSPU will overtake ZAG next year. ZAG will have smaller growth than SPU and for now there is no new routes and airlines announced from. The capital, but SPU will have much more capacity and many new seasonal routes in S19. This year there will be just around 200.000 difference, SPU can accept those numbers in the summer.
ReplyDeleteI think we will have to see how ZAG performs in January, February and March when many cuts takes place. During those months SPU will keep on booming so even more reducing the difference between the two airports. We will have to see how FZ affects the numbers now.
DeleteFZ won't negatively affect numbers. During winter EK LF on 777 was 50% 4-5pw which translates to around 86% load on 737-MAX8 7pw. The reason why EK flew 777s last winter was because they did not have any agreement with FZ and they didn't have any suitable aircraft for the demand so they had to fly 777s to qualify for first year incentives. In fact, since FZ capacity is still larger than the number of passengers that flew to and from DXB last year, and they offer better schedule (7pw vs 4-5pw) for transfer passengers (which on DXB flights constitue majority of passengers), I would assume FZ will actually have a slightly positive effect on ZAG growth in the winter months.
DeleteDY cut two 1pw flights with 189 pax plane until April which translates into 9720 seats from Jan to beginning of April.
A3 cut one 2pw flight with 78 pax plane between 17 Jan and 24 Feb which translates into 1694 seats. However, this flight did not run last year at all. So effect on growth will be net positive if at least one passenger flies between 1 Jan and 17 Jan or between 24 Feb and April.
KE added one 3pw flight with a 248 pax plane, which translates into 19344 seats from 1 Jan to 1 Apr, however, this capacity is shared with ZRH on the outbound leg. If we assume that no passengers board the aircraft in ZAG during entire winter season, that is still 9672 seats added which is almost enough to offset DY cuts (off by one ATR-42).
And then we have Iberia flight additions, the fact that OU did their maintenance on Dashes last year so they won't be cancelling flights, and so on...
tl;dr: the beginning of 2019 doesn't look so gloomy for ZAG when you take into account all factors, in fact, we might see a growth increase this winter, instead of decrease. :)
We should also add KLM which reduced AMS by one weekly and BA which cut two weekly flights. Also, didn't we have SN Brussels last winter as well?
DeleteNumber of offered seats is different than LF... For example, KE is almost empty for whole November (!!) and FZ have poor booking in last few days when they start the route instead of EK. January and February may be just worse regarding booking than November...
DeleteAnd you know that how?
DeleteBecause I work in the airport frishki.
DeleteWho brought the additional 11,5k passengers?
DeleteGiven the numbers from the previous months my guess is a combination of Qatar and LOT.
DeleteSo, what are the KE numbers per months? Why would the first month almost be sold out and all of a sudden no one is flying KE?
DeleteI don't have the KE numbers yet so I can't say but judging from previous months LO and QR seemed to have the biggest growth. Some months LO even managed to double their performance. KE no doubt contributed but I don't think they were the main growth factor.
DeleteThat is so weird. When we were looking for flights to KUL in mid October, Qatar which is usually the cheapest (and best) option from ZAG - was the most expensive, by far.
DeleteMaybe their planes are being filled by various tour operators that have access to special fares.
DeleteKE has around 30-40 pax from/to ZAG whole November, and even now in December is not different! Few days ago even under 20. I presume the flight via ZRH is not attractive for Koreans, or maybe price is not ok. Number of Koreans in CRO is not a number of KOR who are flying to CRO. A lot of group pax arriving to Italy (Venice) , Austria (VIE) or even Germany (MUC) and bd than traveling through Eastern Europe by bus, including also Croatia. I believe KE will switch next year this route to seasonal, but for the first year they need to fly year round to get discounts.
DeleteThen why were the flights in September and October almost completely booked and that even KE said that ZAG was one of their top international destinations? What the hell happened? Why would numbers completely sink? Something is off.
DeleteI don't know, that is what I see on the check in. The truth is that they were fully booked whole september and october, but now is totally different. For now doesn't look good and I think that guys in Seoul will not tolerate that poor LF...
DeleteSo, did it start with the ZRH triangle or...?
DeleteWow, I can't believe that KE is so empty in ZAG.
Delete30-40 passengers in whole month? It must be disaster.
If this continues we might see KE flying to ZAG no longer than AA flies to DBV.
Not 30-40 pax for the whole month. It's per flight.
DeleteIt could be that they are full to/from ZRH.
DeleteHainan was also full from PRG but it did not help BEG to keep this route.
Delete@frishki,
Deleteit was written like this
"KE has around 30-40 pax from/to ZAG whole November,"
It was written like that, but I doubt that's what the OP meant. Do you know what would that mean? Couple of passengers per flight. OP should clarify that statement.
DeleteYes, I agree. You could be right. Probably per flight.
DeleteOk well anon might be correct about the load. I just looked on expert flyer app to see how many seats are taken next Monday ICN-ZAG. Total of 17 seats occupied and 35 blocked in economy. Ok this may increase at check in but it's not a lot. In business 4 occupied and 2 blocked. First 1 seat occupied. This is just one day of course, I took the first departure from today.
DeleteAround 30 to 40 pax per way per flight. So one rotation around 60 to 80.
DeleteThat started with winter schedule, yes, and it is not connected with ZRH booking because they are not limited on leg because there is connected flight. Who has better booking - use more seats and that is all.
Anon 12 38, yeah, those are that numbers, as u can see, booking is low...
DeleteZAG just refinanced its debt last week. Don't expect too many new routes soon. The airport's financial situation isn't great exactly. Only exception could be China if a political deal is made. And of course Ryanair if government agrees to lower concession fee.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe fancy airport like ZAG is counting now on FR...
DeleteWe had so many comments here that these "terrible" LCC are not needed in ZAG at all and that they could stay in the "poorer" countries.
Congrats to all airport sin Croatia. Next year 14 million Pax is possible..
ReplyDeleteIt's virtually impossible for ZAG to reach 3,4 million this year. It would need 280,000 pax in December.
ReplyDeleteThat is why next year we are aiming for 3.5 to 3.6 :)
DeleteI predict this slow growth rate of ZAG to stop. There are already this winter season many reductions and cancelations and no new routes announced. This time of the year is the best to do so but no new routes. Many airlines are not satisfied with expensivness of the airport and are on verge of cancellations (Norwegian, Vueling, Eurowings, KLM, Emirates, just to name a few). Plus OU is on verge of collapse. Future does not look bright. It is even shown in very conservative predictions of the management for next 3 years.
ReplyDeleteKLM also reduced flights this winter by one flight and Eurowings is cancelling their three weekly ZAG-TXL in summer.
DeleteI see QR is 13 weekly. Wasn't it supposed to be 14?
DeleteYes, it's a temporary reduction. They probably feel less heat now that FZ flies in winter.
Delete