Iberia focuses on Croatian market


Spain's national carrier Iberia will significantly increase its operations to Croatia this summer season, with the airline to increase capacity by 44.6% compared to 2018. This year marks the first time Iberia has maintained flights from Madrid to both Zagreb and Dubrovnik over the winter months. "Currently, both destinations are offered twice a week from Madrid, though we will increase our services to both cities during the summer season. On the route from Madrid to Dubrovnik we will offer two additional flights a week in April, May, June, September and October 2019 compared to last year", the Spanish carrier told EX-YU Aviation News. As a result, it will maintain up to double daily flights to Dubrovnik and thirteen weekly services to the Croatian capital. The airline added, "We will also resume our flights from Madrid to Split from the beginning of July until the end of August". The Split service will run five times per week.

The carrier noted it will increase its capacity on flights to Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb in 2019 by 44.6%, offering up to 204.586 seats between the two countries. "Most of our passengers fly point to point, but we also have connecting traffic. Among the cities that feed more passengers to our flights from/to Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb last year were New York, Lisbon, Bilbao, Porto, Chicago, Boston and Miami". Overall, the Oneworld member saw its passenger numbers increase 105% on services to and from Croatia last year. The airline goes head to head against Norwegian Air Shuttle on its flights to Dubrovnik over the summer but does not face any direct competition on its Zagreb and Split operations.

The Spanish airline will add its fourth destination in Croatia this summer by introducing services between Madrid and Zadar. It will maintain two weekly services between the two cities, from July 2 until August 31, with its 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. Flights will be operated by the carrier's low cost subsidiary Iberia Express. "These new additions to our programme will reinforce our presence in Croatia, not only for point-to-point flights but for long haul connections as well", the company said. The Spanish airline entered the Croatian market exactly ten years ago with seasonal services to Zagreb and Dubrovnik. Its other low cost subsidiary, Vueling Airlines, maintains year-round flights from Barcelona and Rome to Dubrovnik, as well as seasonal services from Barcelona to Zagreb, Split and Zadar, as well as from Rome to Zadar and from Florence to Split.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Congratulations to OU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      What does this have to do with OU?

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    2. Anonymous09:14

      I think he is being sarcastic because they failed at this market.

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    3. Anonymous10:03

      I wouldn't say they failed, they just haven't done much with it... like many other markets they haven't done much with.

      Delete
    4. Or to be more precise : They haven't done anything any where. Total disaster what all "managements " till now had done with the company which had potential to be at least Austrian in terms of size, with better product.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:05

      They could operate daily flights to Spain from DBV. Yields would be better than to BCN from ZAG.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Great news! Time to visit Spain :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:03

      Do, it's a lovely country

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    It seems they get a lot of feed from the US.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      And interestingly none from South America.

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    2. Anonymous09:12

      I remember reading last year here on an Aer Lingus article that they said they get a lot of feed from New York on their Dubrovnik flights. Now similar with Iberia. Shows the necessity of those US flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:40

      There are lots of Spanish tourists in Dubrovnik these days as well.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:05

    Great news, Croatia keeps winning!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      These days all of ex-YU keeps on winning.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:37

      They never cared much for the rest of exYU

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:04

      Why should have they?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:11

      No, Slovenia does not keep winning. Successive governments didn't give a damn about aviation, so congratulations are due for all the x-yu countries that enabled their citizens to travel easily by air. Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, ...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:28

      And yet Slovenian citizens enjoy by far the higher living standards compared to all exyu nations.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:07

    Croatia Airlines should have launched Madrid years ago, back when Spanair went bust and suspended Zagreb. Oh well. You snooze you loose. At least there is Mostar...

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      +1
      At least they launched Barcelona.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      Yes but it's still seasonal. In the end, Vueling will start year round and OU will again loose out.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:26

      OU flights are now until early January to Barcelona. Hopefully they go year round in W19/20.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:56

      I don't understand how Iberia doesn't have problem with year round demand to Croatia but Croatia Airlines does.

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    5. Anonymous12:28

      Because they have transfer passengers from all over the world whereas Croatia Airlines does not.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:09

    wow almost half a million seats!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      Not surprising. Spaniards love Croatia.

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    2. Anonymous09:12

      Everyone wants to visit beautiful Dalmatia!

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:09

    hopefully they buy stake in OU ;)

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      Eh... Iberia is far from a good airline

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    2. Anonymous09:33

      Their economic performance has improved greatly under IAG.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:56

      Correct. Iberia's operating profit was EUR376 million in 2017.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:41

      So exactly why would they want to reduce their profit by buying a loss making airline of a note?

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:10

    Excellent news but horrible schedule for Zadar.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Positive thing is possible connections to Latin America.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:14

    Finally they've started year long flights. It took them 10 years. But I'm glad they are focusing more and more on Croatia. Perhaps Pula could be their next destination?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      ZAG could work 3 flights pw during winter.

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    2. Anonymous09:18

      They were cautious from the start but the Croatian market surprised them with its response so they had to make adjustments.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      @anon 9,14

      Pula would be a great addition. It's a shame Vueling no longer serves Pula.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:37

      What city did they fly to from Pula?

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    5. Anonymous11:40

      Rome, but it was very short. I can't understand why Split and Dubrovnik are linked to central and south italian cities, but Pula just can't. It's all about advertising. Of course all the italians in Istria come mostly from the north of Italy by car, but why there is no interest in central and southern Italy for Istria?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:49

      Yes pity about that. The route was suspended in 2015.

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    7. Anonymous12:05

      Sta nemaju na Jugu i oko Rima da im treba par gradica u Istri?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:56

      A sta nemaju na jugu i oko Rima da im treba u Dalmaciji? Ako tako gledas oni imaju sve. Par sardela na fish boatu i kao najljepse more na svijetu? Pa to imaju i oni.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:17

      Ono zasta najvise Italijani dolaze je kockanje i u doba SFRJ i posle. Najvise u okolini Portoroza i malo u Crnoj Gori.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:00

      Anonymus 15:17, ocito nemas pojma o turizmu u Istri. Talijani dolaze masovno u 8. mjesecu i to na more. Svugdje po Istri. Tvoja teorija o kockanju je vintage.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:58

      1.110.219 talijanskih turista u 2017. u Hrvatskoj koji su imali 4.915.170 noćenja. Malo li je? U isto vrijeme u Srbiji je sveukupno bilo svih stranih turista zajedno 1.490.000. Tek nešto malo više nego Talijana u Hrvatskoj.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:15

    Do IB and OU codeshare?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      No.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:13

      OU is not codesharing with any IAG airline. They mostly codeshare with airlines from Zagreb with which they are competing directly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:27

      Of course they won't codeshare with one world airline. They are Star Alliance.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:19

    Go ZAG, Go! People on here wrote how they will fail in 2019 but new announcements keep on rolling in. First Korean, then Lufthansa increased capacity, then Transat added a new flight then Aegean and now Iberia! This year it will be epic in Zagreb!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      As someone that is from Croatia, I would just say to hold off on the celebrations. I wouldn't label the year as "epic" for Zagreb.

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    2. Anonymous09:30

      Ahahahaha epic? Do you know what exactly epic means? Check in the dictionary, sweetheart.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:41

      Well we are only in January I am sure more announcements are to come.

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    4. Anonymous10:08

      Majority of announcements should have been made by now.

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    5. Anonymous10:52

      Which one would you prefer, not sustainable expansion like Adria-LJU last year and collapse of the market this year or a mild-stable growth during the turbulent times?

      Delete
    6. Well, you can put your party hats away. It's almost February and not a single new route announced. These several "upgrades" won't affect the overall numbers much.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:21

    From two weekly in winter to double daily summer. Very seasonal market.

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  14. Anonymous09:22

    Great news. Honestly I expected Iberia to expand in Croatia much much earlier. They have been flying to Zagreb since 2009. But better late then never. Hopefully Zadar works out.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:23

    Where is the demand coming from? The Spanish side?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      Mostly Spanish side, but Croats like to travel to Spain too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:30

      Did you read the article?

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    3. Anonymous10:05

      I did. It doesn't specify whether the majority of passengers are Spanish or Croatian.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:24

    I've flown with many airlines but never with Iberia. What's their service like?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      They don't charge extra for luggage, they charge for snacks and drink in economy on short-haul, while everything is free on long haul.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      Kupis kartu,ukrcas se i idjes

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:35

    It's great to see more and more legacy carriers on the Croatian coast.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:36

    "Among the cities that feed more passengers to our flights from/to Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb last year were New York, Lisbon, Bilbao, Porto, Chicago, Boston and Miami"

    Interesting seeing as OU flies to Lisbon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      And the OU flight is codeshared by TAP.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:40

      OU flies only from Zagreb to Lisbon. The sentence you quoted refers to feed for Dubrovnik and Split route as well.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:01

      Yes but they could fly Croatia Airlines and transfer through Zagreb, but they choose to transfer through Madrid instead.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:04

      Of course they transfer through Madrid when there are double daily flights to DBV. How many times does OU fly to Lisbon?

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    5. Anonymous10:08

      4x per week.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:22

      Exactly, proves my point.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:39

    What about Rijeka and Osijek???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Brac too

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:02

      nista od toga, uvijek i samo Zagreb, Split i Dubrovnik. Osijek, Brač i Rijeka su marginalni.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:10

      ^ Nove linije se otvaraju tamo gdje postoji interes.

      Delete
  20. Not just Iberia, IAG concentrate in Croatia, with
    - British to fly to Zagreb, Pula, Split and Dubrovnik,
    - Vueling to Zagreb, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Split,
    - Aer Lingus to Dubrovnik and Split

    Purger

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:04

    How many Spanish tourists in Croatia in 2018?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      250,387 in 2017. Data not out yet for 2018.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      Ok, thank you

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:18

      290.422 in 2018.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:12

    What about Brac? It could be an interesting destination for them

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      Interes za direktnim letovima za brac sigurno postoji i svake godine ce biti sve veci...pogotovo kad 2021 bude gotovo dodato produzenje uzletno sletne staze i rekonstrukcija terminala...

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:16

    It's going to be a busy summer at Croatian airports.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:22

    Maybe Iberia sends an A321 to Zagreb or Dubrovnik this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:39

      They will. They did last year on many flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:43

      Oh I didn't realize. That's great to hear. Their A321s have 174 seats.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:30

    Nice, so many new routes for Zadar this year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:41

      Why is Zadar with Iberia Express and the rest of the Croatian destinations are on Iberia mainland?

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:39

    Iberia flies to many central European destinations only on a seasonal basis, Budapest and Prague where they went year round only recently flew for many years only on a seasonal basis. They stopped Warsaw and Bucharest, after flying there seasonally. So it's great to see Zagreb AND Dubrovnik flying year round and them opening a fourth new route to Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:41

    I hope that Croatia will soon be connected to other Spanish cities other than Madrid and Barcelona. Bilbao, Oviedo, Malága, Sevilla and Valencia are all potential destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:49

      Iberia does not fly from other cities. It's only hub is in Madrid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:51

      True and neither does Vueling. Their hub is in Barcelona.

      Delete
    3. so not true. Vueling hubs are:

      List of bases
      [hide]

      A Coruña
      Alicante
      Bilbao
      Florence
      Ibiza
      Lisbon
      Madrid
      Málaga
      Oviedo
      Palma de Mallorca
      Rome FCO
      Santiago de Compostela
      Seville
      Valencia

      and they do fly from those destinations around.

      Iberia Express did fly to Zagreb seasonally from Valencia and Alicante.

      Purger

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:44

    Congratulations Croatia

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous10:51

    And still no Iberia or Vueling flights to Ljubljana. Such a shame.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:54

      Vueling used to fly Barcelona-Ljubljana seasonally years ago.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:50

      Obviously it did not work out if they didn't come back and Adria didn't start flights.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous11:50

    Excellent. I hope they keep ZAG and DBV during the 2019/2020 winter season as well and increase Split to daily next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:51

      Oh and I hope Zadar sticks too and that it won't be a one season thing like Aegean last year.

      Delete

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