Wizz Air's CEO, Jozsef Varadi, has described as "unfortunate" the carrier's limited presence in Croatia, noting that high costs at Zagreb Airport and the coastline, as well as seasonality, are deterring the carrier from expanding its operations in the country. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, Mr Varadi said, "Unfortunately, if you look at the Croatian coastline it is a very seasonal business. It is intact for a few months and then sort of dies out for the rest of the year. Zagreb Airport is quite in a similar situation as Belgrade Airport in terms of costs, so I think it is a high-priced airport environment with fluctuating demand. Should the costs come down, I think they would attract us".
Wizz Air maintains limited services to Split, with flights from London Luton, Warsaw and Katowice, but is well behind other low cost competitors on the Croatian market, such as easyJet, Eurowings, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Volotea. Over the years, Wizz has also operated a number of other services into Croatia including Dubrovnik and Zagreb. The airline initially launched operations to the Croatian capital in 2009 with flights from Dortmund but later suspended the service. This winter season, only one low cost carrier, Eurowings, is maintaining flights to Zagreb. However, it too noted last year that the airport's charges are "significantly higher than most major European airports, making it less appealing for low cost carriers". Croatia's busiest airport hiked its fees following the opening of its new passenger terminal in 2017 by two euros per each international passenger for a total of seventeen euros. Wizz Air also ran flights from London to Dubrovnik, which were terminated in 2012.
Mr Varadi noted that overpriced airports are a problem throughout the former Yugoslavia. "For whatever reason, it is still kind of an inherited issue in the region to price airports very high and this is not the recipe for success. The recipe for success is take down airport costs. As a result, you are attracting a lot more capacity into the airport and that capacity will stimulate the marketplace and you will recoup that investment through volume". He added, "I think there is still a lot of legacy thinking with regards to airport management and airport costs. If you look even at some of the privatised airports, not in the former Yugoslavia, but for example in Tirana, it is a privatised airport but we have the same issue in Tirana. To some extent, Skopje is a privatised airport and the development of Skopje is not aided because of the airport, it is more aided by the government's intervention. I think those strategies have to be thought through. But clearly, you have millions of examples in mainland Europe what recipes to follow if you really want drive your aviation and airline industry and, I think, in the former Yugoslavia it revolves around airport costs and the airport operating environment".

Comments
Btw does anyone know how much cheaper LJU is compared to ZAG?
Ovaj lik u poslednje vreme samo kuka. Izgleda da gubi trku sa Rajanom u Istocnoj evropi, pa mu svi drugi krivi.
i
i
Nema tu puno mudrolije, cijena usluga.
Hoces povoljniju cijenu? Povecaj promet.
They are.
Well said.
They will aslo probably go seasonal.
"Jeli, jes' ti j... nekad nesto van svog sela?"
Ono sto oni zele nisu nove linije, vec letjeti na postojecim s nizim troskovima......
Sad jasnije?
I wonder where are now all those experts saying how ZAG is only legacy carrier airport and that ZAG does not need those terrible (U)LCC's.
OK, some may say others only fly in high season. Well, so could Wizz. What prevents them from opening a couple of seasonal routes, the same way as so many LCCs do?
ZAG is probably full of Koreans, but they do not arrive directly from ICN with KE! They land in Germany, make few tours visiting few countries including Croatia and return on the same way they arrived.
KE in November and December in ZAG is terrible. Please check the actual data.
This is excellent opportunity for LJU.
If you look at the airlines operating they are>
Emirates > not flydubai
Iberia > Not Iberia Express
Air France > not Transavia or Hop! (terrible name)
Top 5 star airlines: EK, KE, BA, etc.
Also 99% of the routes are to primary and less secondary.
Primary destinations: DXB, SEL, CPH, YUL, etc.
Other countries have even tertiary cities such as Växjö or Treviso.
ZAG is a highly sophisticated product of the French, it´s making them lots of money and they want to keep it that way.
Trieste... It's not like Treviso is around the corner with LCC connections to entire Europe.
Still not enough profit I guess.
Also ZAG posted a loss last year and it's not going to get better this year either.
ZAG not so much. Don't compare apples and oranges.
"Highly sophisticated product of the French" is currently negotiating with Ryanair - the company with the worst service in Europe!
I really hope you are joking!
you crack me up :-). I don't thing he understand what is the point of your comment
Aerodrom je aerodrom, sam sebi nije svrha postojanja.
They have new aircraft, they are SAFE, not 1 sole crash ever since they were founded.
Thanks to them people can now fly for less money and discover new places never seen before.
Dude, you can fly from Continental Europe to the Canary Islands for 80-100 squid return.
You can fly from BNX to CRL, the capital of Europe for 5€.
You can fly from INI to BTS for 5€.
You can fly from ZAD to Germany for 15€. I didn't hear anyone from Zadar complaining.
But anyway, back to Zagreb. It really remains the most sophisticated airport in ex-Yu and possibly the entire Balkan region.
Then come and tell us how "great" KE in November and December in ZAG is!
Yes, I have flown with them. Many times.
You did not understand my post. I did not mention safety issue anywhere. I meant service. Huge, huge difference in aviation world.
Attractive price? Ok, sure. What does it have to do with the quality of service? Nothing.
Once again, I was talking about service. S-E-R-V-I-C-E.
Have you ever been left by FR on some distant airport where FR cancelled their flight and did not offer you any alternative?
This is called service buddy.
Sure, FR presence in ZAG is determinating factor for ZAG's "sophistication" :-)
Yeah, we're standing on the top of the world, no one can't touch us.
A shot of reality check is desperately needed...
I would suggest to some Croatian visitors on here travel the world more. You might be surprised.
November: 234.075
ZAG: smaller metro area, not only airport in the country 40% less population and significantly lower amount of LCCs.
TAV s sitting back and earning their profits while the state gives subventions to W6.
I can't think of another airport in the Balkans with a direct route to Korea.
I can't think of another airport in the Balkans with connections to 2 of Canada's biggest cities.
ZAG has one of the most developed domestic network in the Balkans.
ZAG is now family of a huge French conglomerate which adds to the prestige of the airport.
I think ZAG can easily handle flights to SIN, KUL and maybe in 8-10 years possibly Australia where there is a huge Croatian diaspora.
I know you are thinking this is not possible but you all said this about Korean Air and look where we are now.
So it can have more visitors and passengers.
2017
BEG 5,343,420
ZAG 3,092,047
The level of "sophistication" :-)
Do not be afraid next time to ask something you do not understand
@ anon. 11:50
BEG 5,343,420 ==> Serbia 5,7 million pax.
ZAG 3,092,047 ==> Croatia 12 million pax.
Don't be surprised when the official data get published.
Maybe you will remember my words then, but I am sure you will not be around to comment it.
Croatia long sea coast
Incomparable
Try to calculate how many passengers Croatia has in continental part and then we can compare it with Serbia :-)
Serbia - further from the western Europe, lots of gasterbaiter passengers.
Croatia - a bit closer to western Europe, more tourists.
If someone is trying to say that Croatia is more sophisticated destination is absolutely crazy. Just like if someone is trying to say that Serbs have more money to travel.
We're all in the more or less same s**t.
@ Anon13.01- yes a lot of tourists are coming to croatia, the same as to Iceland or Switzerland? Iranians and Chinese are no tourists?
The Serbian population is also not travelling more. It is the gastarbeiters that travel home. Look at how many Serbs live in Switzerland and compare that to the flights you have. So only a few from Nis are flying to Zürich to spend there monthly income there in one day, but Serbs living in Switzerland fly back home. As simple as that.
Let's try once again.
BEG and ZAG are both continental airports and they can be compared.
BEG and DBV can't - different type of passengers totally.
Serbian diaspora is not bigger than Croatian, Serbs have less money to travel abroad, but still we have the fact that Belgrade, passenger wise, has been developed in last 15 years significantly better than ZAG.
Who can remember that 15 years ago the difference between BEG and ZAG was only approx. 400.000 passengers?
2002
BEG 1.621.798
ZAG 1.203.436
Difference 418.362
2017
BEG 5.343.420
ZAG 3.092.047
Difference
2.251.373
https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%80%D0%BF%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0
http://www.hrvatiizvanrh.hr/hr/hmiu/stanje-hrvatskih-iseljenika-i-njihovih-potomaka-u-inozemstvu/15
In both cases around 3 million
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_from_the_former_Yugoslavia_to_Switzerland
2,298,352 emigrants from Serbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_diaspora
ca 900.000 emigrants from Croatia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_diaspora
So on top of the popoulation which is factor 1,75 bigger in Serbia than in Croatia, the emigration is factor 2,5 Serbia vs. Croatia.
+100
You might claim what you want but if you compare BEG vs ZAG and say that the difference grew bigger in the last years, ok, but then compare how the traffic in the country grew as well. In 2002 I as a Croat from the SPU/ ZAD area living in FRA had to fly to ZAG, whereas I can now travel to both SPU or ZAD direct without ever touching ZAG to visit my family. And I am no tourist.
In your world you do not want to see that many locals also make use of the flights from coastal airports at least at the time they are available, which is in summer. If there would only be ZAG, it would have over 6 million today.
Why the number of passengers in ZAG in 2002 was so low if you all had to fly through ZAG?
Number of passengers who fly to SPU or ZAD as locals can be clearly seen during the winter. Summer season would increase that number for certain percentage, but not dramatically.
Without sea coast and foreign tourists airports like SPU would be on INI level.
SPU and ZAD have no flights (yet) in winter. Look what happens in SPU when airlines add flights.. Pax numbers go up.
Btw. Croatia was one of the fastest growings markets in EU this year with 17%
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9428738/7-06122018-AP-EN.pdf/50a52d8d-3f61-4517-ace3-d3f56ed5cd91
Maybe because OU is their biggest customer having more than 50% of the passengers at ZAG?
Btw what about LHR, will OU fly 3 times? That's what their website says.
= Wizz Air is satisfied
Zagreb Airport 17,00 EUR per passenger
= Wizz Air is not satisfied
only difference is in 5.000.000,00 subvention by Macedonian government
= bingo!!!!! how to make Wizz Air satisfied!!!!
http://www.airliners.de/so-lgw-tegel-exit/47761
Most of the bigger international airlines:
American Airlines
Air Canada
British Airways
Norwegian Air Shuttle
Korean Air
Emirates
And soon Singapore Airlines, Asiana & Cathay Pacific.
As for Japan Airlines, I think Slovenia will be quicker by securing LJU-NRT flights.
Croatia has quality and its avioprestige is growing every single year.
Additionally, Serbia relies heavily on charter and transfer passengers which is not the case with Croatia. Charter is becoming extremely important.
Without five million SKP would have 850.000 today.
He desperately needs it.
SKP is a mono airline airport and simply cannot be compared to ZAG.
You are just admitting defeat!