Croatia Airlines anticipates handling some 2.280.000 passengers this year, which would make it its busiest on record. The carrier expects for the overall annual increase in travellers to amount to 5%. The growth will be achieved in part due to the earlier lease of two Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft for the summer, which will bring forward the resumption of a number of seasonal routes. The first of the leased jets will be joining the fleet on April 1 and the second on April 18. Furthermore, the carrier will upgrade its seasonal flights between Zagreb and Dublin to year-round operations and is considering prolonging flights to a select number of other seasonal destinations in the lead-up to Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will take place during the first half of next year.
The Croatian carrier will avoid possible industrial action after it inked a five-year collective agreement with trade unions representing its pilots, mechanics and cabin crew. The development comes following two years of negotiations, as well as last year's attempted strike which was banned by the country's Supreme Court. The agreement "is in line with the airline's financial capabilities", the company said. It added, "Additional wriggle room in reaching a deal was made possible by the recent amendments made to the law on income tax rules. The contract is of great importance for the next development phase of Croatia Airlines which is aiming to find a strategic partner in line with the government's National Reform Programme. By successfully reaching a deal with trade unions, it is assumed that future services will be free of disruptions. Therefore, it is expected that this agreement will positively impact on the national carrier's competitiveness and lead to a better position on the market in the future, with a constant focus on the needs and satisfaction of passengers".
Croatia Airlines previously noted that its main goal in 2019 is to ensure stability in the increasingly volatile air transport sector. "Croatia Airlines will continue to focus on managing all business risks, and on ensuring the best possible conditions for regular business operations. Jet fuel prices are expected to continue being the most significant risk, and the company will, in that regard, try to reduce its negative effects on the airline's overall business operations". It added, "The further improvement of the quality of service and network business model are also the company’s goals, as well as further investment in the fleet in order to maintain the highest level of flight safety".
Comments
What sort of creative thinking is applied here? :)
The more time that passes, the harder it will be to find an invester.
Their best bet was to do this a few years ago while they were still riding a good wave. My fear is that they have now missed the boat
1. Aegean +1
2. Iberia +2
3. Transat +1
Any other ones?
A3 and OU obviously serve quite different markets here. A3 has a lot of connecting traffic from ATH, which OU does not have. Then OU is after the P2P market ex GR, an that is between ATH and DBV. Surprise that OU does not have planes stationed at DBV and must fly the plane there. SO they serve the (limited) ZAG-ATH market, plus they sell seats on their strongest domestic route and then serve the market P2P between ATH and DBV.
So much about their mindset. This is the best they can do and they obviously have much more knowledge than you.
But for this, they need gun sales people - which I'm afraid, is another topic altogether
1x Aegean on Athens
2x Iberia to Madrid
1x LOT to Warshaw
1x Vueling to Barcelona
1x Croatia to Dublin
3x Korean to Seoul (start was September last year)
= 10x per week more this year
earlier start of OU seasonal flights (in April)
Dublin during winter
But still very modest.
Purger
Yes, I know they bring less money than P2P but better something than nothing.
So I would exclude them from above list
Bravo in squeezing 9 new destinations into the schedule to increase aircraft utlisation - but they should also have got a few sales/marketing people from easyjet as well !
Several times I've read statements on this blog that OU shouldn't care about incoming tourists traffic but to focus on Croatian citizen needs and I'm still struggling to understand point.
Wouldn't be better if OU is engaged in this "tourist" routes which are highly profitable and then to reinvest that profit in routes that are necessity for Croatian citizens?
In currently used model in OU they are having negative numbers so government needs to provide additional money, one way or another (PSO, mkt, tax law improvements, etc.)
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/01/croatia-airlines-brings-forward-crj.html
Croatia Airlines welcomed 2.168.863 passengers on board its aircraft in 2018, representing an increase of 2% on the year before. The figure represents the secpnd tme the company carried over two million travellers in a single year. Of those, 1.642.285 passengers were handled on international flights, up 3% on 2017, while 526.578 travelled on domestic services, which is on par with figures achieved the year before. "Despite the negative impact of the price of jet fuel, increased competition and the traditional seasonality of the Croatian market, Croatia Airlines' business achievements in 2018 were at a satisfactory level", the company concluded.
Why don't we give them at least 12 months to see how new destinations will be working?
And then let's talk about easyJet sales managers.
it would be in best interest of OU.
At least they fly to SKP but have they ever flown to any city in Bulgarian?
It won't happen
As far as I remember, Yugoslav Airlines NEVER operated flights from ZAG to Rome via SPU and DBV. JAT did have daily flights to FCO via SPU or DBV but they were originating in BEG. Passengers from ZAG to FCO flew domestic flights between ZAG and SPU or DBV and there connecting to FCO flights. What OU did inherit and did not change is PATTERN of operations which clearly shows their state of mind which is still in long gone era and that's the reason why they are not progressing. Flight ZAG-SPU-FCO-SPU-ZAG should have long ago become ZAG-FCO-SPU-FCO-ZAG ; almost the same time frame, almost the same costs, same number of legs/cycles, and uncomparably more options for both transit and P2P passengers in both directions on all sectors, without the complete disaster for ZAG passengers of intermediate border/customs control
If not we end up subsidising foreigners travels to other countries.
Anyway, congratulations to the amazing new livery. Legacy style.
They are focusing only on profitable segments of the market and so should OU.
Purger
You are forgetting that they still have another 4 slots at Hethrow which will only gain in value as time passes.
It is not just about dislocation planes, but in that case you must have pilots, cabin crew, maintenance, spare parts, operation staff etc. there. Even that can be done if Split and Dubrovnik can support all year traffic, but with 20-30.000 passenger in winter months that can not be done. EasyJet has 33 routes with more than 100 weekly flights from Split and Dubrovnik, but can not open not one all-year route from those two airports.
And seasonal base is even harder to organize than all year. Even LCC, who open bases much easier concerning their business model, can not do that easily. Just look at Ryanair example which close Zadar seasonal base and will support huge amount of routes and flights to Zadar from other bases. And even Ryanair was not successful in their goal to open all year routes from Zadar.
they own a single a320 and 4 a319 with a combined age of almost 100 years
Not only that but they are also increasing regional network from March in stead of June.
BEY from 31.03, 3 to 4 weekly.
LJU from 31.03, 11 to 12 weekly.
TIA from 31.03, 7 to 9 weekly.
OTP from 31.03, 6 to 8 weekly.
ATH from 14.04, 7 to 10 weekly.
These are just some of them. Obviously JU has understood that it can no longer operate like it did in the past. Also notice that most of the increases are NOT in the traditional ex-YU area.
So OU has no excuse really. Sure they are extending the season by a little bit but why not try to make some destinations work year-round? Why not try to keep OTP the whole time? They can offer some connections. Why aren't they launching non-stop flights to Athens and offer connections as well? There is so much room for expansion but they are ignoring it all.
I believe that if the Greeks get the A321LR it will be to fly to Indian and African destinations. In Africa the prime markets from ATH that are currently unserved are Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria. South Africa is too far for the A321LR.
Just my2cents
Absolutely not. What OU needs is something similar to what happened with Jat Airways/Air Serbia, just with different kind of investor, more transparency, and less political influence. What OU needs is fresh capital, and the owner(s) of the capital to make company be led by PROFESSIONAL INDEPENDENT MANAGEMENT, which OU didn't have all these years of its existence. It had politically appointed "managements" instead, which didn't care at all about the company, it's development and market, but only how to employ loyal party people, relatives and friends, and put as much money as possible in their own pockets and those of their sponsors. It's nonsense to shut down company which operates in country with biggest potential. Instead of having 20% of Croatian market share,the goal of new, revived OU should be to bring this percentage to 30,40 or 50 percent, which action brings along new jobs, more tourism, more taxes for the state, more possibilities for the passengers and profits for owners. If that cannot be achieved, I agree then it should be shut down. But not before giving a try to OU becoming normal business and normal airline.
It would certainly not be easy but it was and still is a right thing to do. It does require a lot of work but would significantly boost revenue and profits. People working in these two basis could basically even live in these two cities and use 5 winter months for holidays and required training in Zagreb and elsewhere.
As you pointed - exclusively ACMI.
beggars can't be choosers
Now from the UK, most of France, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Spain and of course Portugal it certainly is.
Distance km Zagreb-Toronto 7.092 km
Distance km Zagreb-NewYork 6.924 km
I strongly oppose the idea of OU going for A321, I would much rather see A330 or B767 0r B787, if it ever happens, but no matter of my preference A321 CAN MAKE it.