Zagreb Airport anticipates registering a 5% increase in passenger numbers this year, while aircraft movements are estimated to grow 3%. "We are in talks with a number of airlines over the introduction of new routes, however, as the negotiations are ongoing and confidential, we are unable to provide further information at this time. Over the past five years, a total of fifteen new carrier have launched operations to Zagreb", the airport's spokeswoman, Lidija Capković Martinek, told the "Avioradar" portal. Zagreb Airport handled 3.336.310 passengers in 2018, up almost 8% on the year before, while this January it welcomed 191.197 travellers through its doors, representing a decrease of 0.04% on the same month last year or just 79 fewer passengers.
This summer season, several carriers, including Iberia, Vueling, LOT Polish Airlines and Eurowings, will boost capacity on their flights to Zagreb, while a number of other airlines will increase their frequencies. Croatia Airlines has brought forward the resumption of its seasonal flights from the Croatian capital and will turn its Dublin service into a year-round route. Furthermore, Air Transat, Air Serbia and Aegean Airlines will add an extra weekly rotation on their services from Toronto, Belgrade and Athens. This year will also mark the first full summer season that Korean Air will be maintaining scheduled flights between Seoul and Zagreb, three times per week with its Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
As previously reported, Zagreb Airport has begun work on upgrading its facilities in order to enable the passenger terminal to reach its full capacity. Although the 300 million euro building has the capacity to handle five million travellers on an annual basis, the existing equipment is only suited for some 3.5 million passengers per year. As a result, the airport will open a fourth baggage carousel next month. It is also in the process of building airside parking for airport equipment and plans to set up a further fifteen check-in desks for a total of 45. The value of the ongoing upgrades inside the terminal are estimated to be worth fifteen million euros. "These developments will help us reach full capacity of serving five million travellers per year, in line with our concession agreement", concessionaire Zagreb Airport International Company said.
So we can expect around 3.5 passengers this year?
ReplyDeleteI would really like to see what a half passenger looks like! ;)
DeleteHaha I obviously meant 3.5 million passengers
DeleteSounds right. Last summer they said they would handle 3.5 million in 2019 and everyone here was writing how they are being conservative and that numbers would be much larger. Seems they knew there would be a slowdown in new routes/airlines.
DeleteAccording to the airport 5 million will be achieved in 2025.
DeleteEven without an LCC based in ZAG I don't think it will take them 8 years to add 1.6 million passengers.
DeleteThe time of achieving this goal depends squarely on Croatia Airlines and its development.
DeleteEuropean economy is slowing down, Ryanair is recording falling profits and Wizz Air is engaged in an expensive battle in Vienna. Even if one of the two launches ZAG I doubt they would dump prices as ZAG could never match what LJU, ZAD or BNX are offering. Even if they launch flights they would be maybe 10% cheaper than OU and others.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteGood work ZAG.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to ANA and their interest to fly to ZAG? Also what happened with Beijing flights?
ReplyDeleteANA doesn't fly to much, much larger airports in Europe, why would they launch flights to ZAG?
DeleteSame can be said for Korean.
DeleteAnd the main question. What about flights to New York which have been announced for years?
DeleteMontreal-Zagreb is also not being launched unlike what Ferron announced last year.
DeleteI think the only realistic new long haul route we can expect this year is from China.
DeleteIt looks like ZAG management hasn't had much success bringing new carriers lately.
Delete- no single new carrier in ZAG in 2019
- despite so many times annnounced that it will be soon introduced direct flight to USA is still missing
- China flights - flight is just round the corner - but still nothing
- ANA flights - after showing interest nothing happened
- Montreal flight - many claimed it is almost confirmed. Nothing
- no easyJet, Ryanair or Wizz in Zagreb
Airport said government needs to decrease concession fee so they could decrease handling fees so LCCs could come.
DeleteIt can be added to above list that Norwegian is canceling Stockholm
DeleteANA only flies to 5 countries in Europe.
DeleteSo I really doubt ZAG was ever in their radar ahead of Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Russia, Greece, Scandinavia, etc etc.
KE is flying only to 7 European countries, but it did not stop them introducing ZAG as 8th.
DeleteIt can't be the criteria
There is a possibility of JAL coming
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/09/jal-eyes-east-europe-flights.html
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/10/jal-to-begin-zagreb-codeshare-flights.html
Growth towards the end of the year and in 2020 will probably be quite large because of EU presidency.
ReplyDeleteDoes EU presidency really impact traffic that much other than on Brussels line?
DeleteAnd on that note could we see Brussels Airlines resume year round flights to ZAG?
DeleteI'm still waiting for SAS, Finnair, Aer Lingus, easyjet...
ReplyDeleteAlitalia not flying to ZAG is surprising to me.
DeleteI think FCO just wouldn't work nonstop and that there is a reason Croatia Airlines operates this route via Dubrovnik and Split. Alitalia announced a few years ago that they would start Zagreb and they never went through with it. Etihad Regional started selling tickets for Rome-Zagreb on Saab and then they cancelled it.
DeletePegasus or Atlasglobal would also be a nice addition to end Turkish's monopoly.
DeleteDoubt KK would come, they haven't had much success in the region besides BEG.
DeleteZagreb is a bit disappointing this year in terms of new airlines/routes.
ReplyDeleteIf ZAG attracted an LCC to open a base numbers would boom straight away. But with handling prices staying as they are, I don't know how realistic that is.
ReplyDeleteYes but airports around ZAG like BNX, TZL, LJU, ZAD... already did it so boom would not be as large as five, six years ago. If ZAG brought FR then there would be no chance of BNX getting them. You snooze you lose.
Delete..because foreign tourists wanting to vistit ZAG would then fly to BNX for a wekend trip from say London or Berlin?
DeleteIf there were really that many British tourists then a LCC would have launched flights regardless of airport charges. Also why didn't anyone step in after ZB went bust?
DeleteBoth BA and OU fly between UK and Croatia.
Delete...because people from ZAG surronding do not have anymore to drive to ZAG in order to fly to Europe. They can do it now from their airports or from the closer airports than ZAG for less money.
DeleteJust have a look ZAG percentage increase since FR started flying to BNX
It's not just BNX, there is also TZL and OSI that take passengers away. If someone lives in eastern Slavonija and needs to go to Switzerland, it's probably cheaper to fly OSI-BSL than ZAG-ZRH.
DeleteOU and BA might be flying between the two countries but since Monarch died OU reduced flights while BA stayed the same, actually they even reduced flights in January and February.
@Last Anon. Basel is not just a P2P destination, it is also a low cost transfer hub where people self-transfer to other destinations on two tickets, or tickets sold by sites such as Kiwi.
DeleteAgree, but those living in eastern Slavonia would probably go to BEG due to the amazing choice of flights to Switzerland (JU, W6, U2, LX).
DeleteInteresting about UK. It looks like the current demand is not that strong between ZAG nad UK
Maybe those from Osijek or from Vukovar would go to Belgrade but what about those living between Zagreb and Osijek? For them BEG is far away.
DeleteAlso I don't think many self connect in BSL from OSI as the flight arrives quite late at night. Regardless the route seems to be doing well as it's staying for a while.
For those living in Sl.Brod for example it is the same if the drive to BEG or ZAG, but those living close Novska could easily catch a flight from BNX if there is there a destination they require. And number of destinations from BNX is expected to raise especially by introducing flights to Switzerland
DeleteInteresting. Thanks.
DeleteLooking like TIA will catch up to ZAG this year
ReplyDeleteThat is funny
DeleteTIA will soon be the second busiest airport in western Balkans. Unbelievable!
DeleteIt's already ahead:
DeleteJanuary 2019:
TIA: 222.113 (+3.7%)
ZAG: 191.197 (-0.04%)
On top of that TIA has many new increases this year, even Albawings is adding flights.
Yes, even FRA is ahead.
DeleteAnd all of it is happening in Albania without having their national air carrier unlike Croatia
DeleteThe only difference is that ZAG and FRA are not in the same category, TIA and ZAG are.
DeleteTIA remains very expensive for airlines to introduce new flight from/to Tirana. Zagreb has Big airlines which operate wide-body planes: air transat, air canada rouge, emirates, korean....
DeleteAnd despite all these wide-body routes ZAG is still behind TIA.
DeleteInteresting
Also LH are increasing frequency from daily to doubly daily from Frankfurt
DeleteAnyone know what the result will be like in February?
ReplyDeleteIt was mentioned on the other forum around 180k.
DeleteThanks so that would be around +5% which is not bad at all.
DeleteWhy are there no flights from ZAG to MLA?
ReplyDeleteWhy would there be?
DeleteThey have flights to almost every EU state. I would think there would be demand.
DeleteAir Malta used to have seasonal charters to ZAG some time ago but I don't think they fly anymore.
DeleteThere are a lot of EU states that don't have flights to ZAG.
Delete^I was referring to Malta having flights to almost all EU states.
DeleteSo in total 6 extra frequencies this summer compared to last? JU, A6, TS and KE.
ReplyDeleteKilavo.
DeleteIn a country with such a booming tourism and with enormous air traffic growth expected in some neighbouring countries these 6 extra frequencies look very poor
DeleteIt's booming on the Croatian coast. Just look how many new routes are being launched this year.
DeleteWe heard from Purger that Zagreb is touristic destination nr. 1 in Croatia.
DeleteIt is but most tourists visit it by road.
DeleteThere is only 1,5 hours of driving between ZAG and RJK and 2,5h between ZAG and ZAD.
DeleteWhy would tourist arrive to ZAG by car and to coast by plane?
Because if it works in Serbia for example, why would it not work in Croatia. If I want to visit Novi Sad in Serbia, I fly to BEG. So if I want to visit RJK or PUY, why not fly to ZAG?
DeleteBecause in that case you have few options, few airports to choose from.
DeleteSeems that ZAG is on the right track but it should work on reducing seasonality and getting more airlines to fly year round.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Korean will stay on next winter and not go seasonal. Airlines get airport incentives to fly year round for first year.
Delete@9.22 +100
DeleteČSA, Brussels, Swiss and Air Canada Rouge should be year round. Not to mention a handful of OU routes which should operate 12 months a year.
But flying many routes over winter would increase Croatia Airlines costs, because they would also have to lease aircraft over winter.
DeleteNot if they reduce frequencies. Doesn't OU have an Airbus freed up over the winter?
DeleteOne A320 is on ground all winter and others work with just 70% of potentials. So, there is free capacity.
DeleteWhat happened to the new rent a car building they announced they would build?
ReplyDeleteMy biggest wonder is what will happen if BNX drastically grows and becomes like TZL. After all its very close to ZAG. I'm not sure if the French are taking this under consideration.
ReplyDelete*Turks
DeleteI think the effects of BNX on ZAG are being grossly overestimated by some here.
DeleteAverage ZAG growth in first 10 months of 2018 before FR started flying to BNX was 9.04%
DeleteAverage ZAG growth in last 3 months since FR started flying to BNX (Nov 18, Dec 18 and Jan 19) was 3.18%
That is very modest, I actually think Split might catch Zagreb this year.
ReplyDeleteVery possible.
DeleteZagreb needs to embrace more lcc like every other major city. Lcc good enough for Paris/Prague/Madrid/Rome/Berlin/Amsterdam/Warsaw/Brussels etc etc etc as well as most of USA and middle eastern & Asian capitals.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAgree. It is super nice to have flight to Seoul but what people really need is cheap tickets to European cities.
DeleteZAG management won't make any moves that could hurt OU.
DeleteLocal media beef about emigration and brain drain on daily basis and the airport of the capital city aims at only 5% growth? Or pleople move to Ireland by bus and never return...!?
ReplyDeleteWhat happened in January? Why was the growth so low?
ReplyDeleteThere was a sporting event in ZAG last January which generated out of the ordinary demand.
DeleteRight
DeleteShame Korean won't keep B789 on the Zagreb route in summer too. Would be nicer than A332 :)
ReplyDeleteStill can't get over how nice this terminal building looks from the outside, although it would look even more prettier with glass air bridges to match the facade :)
ReplyDeleteZAG is on the right track. All it needs is a low cost airline to open a base.
ReplyDeleteI agree but the problem is LCCs are actually leaving. Norwegian no longer flying Stockholm.
DeleteNo. All it needs are actually 5 things : 1.LCC to open base, as you said. But it's also needed :
Delete2.OU to be privatized in fair manner and grow its hub system in ZAG. 3 Other LCC's to start flying from their/other bases. 4. More carriers and flights from distant, overseas long-haul markets. 5. Another Croatian carrier to start operations based in ZAG. Only combination of all these can make ZAG "real" airport, or "the hub to Southeast Europe" what was announced by French couple of years ago.
I gave up on OU being privatized, they have been trying for so long now and nothing happened in the end.
DeleteAny surprises/new airlines we might see this year?
ReplyDeleteI think China could be announced this year - Beijing and Shanghai. Remember PEK-BEG flights were put on sale in July and started in September.
DeleteIf they wan't it to be successful unlike the PEK-BEG route they should schedule it earlier.
DeleteI notice that flydubai/EK is reducing a lot of cities in April/May because of runway work in Dubai. Is EK staying the same (daily) during this period?
ReplyDeleteNo, it will operate 4 weekly - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
DeleteI was secretly hoping that W6 will include ZAG in their winter timetable but alas. No LTN-ZAG or TLV-ZAG.
ReplyDeleteThey are currently opening winter flights starting with their bigger bases as of Ocober 2019.
Lets see.
Reading this interview from 2 months ago, it doesn't sound like it to me.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/12/wizz-air-zagreb-airport-and-coast-too.html
Croatia Airlines needs to grow in the Balkans. Year round flights to Athens, Pristina, flights to Tirana, Sofia, Podgorica, Tivat....
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think in general Zagreb needs more routes in Eastern Europe like MSQ, KIV, CLJ...
DeleteWho is going to fly between Zagreb and Minsk? Are there any business ties between Croatia and Belarus that could sustain this route?
DeleteI had no idea that many Croatian citizens fly to those countries. It would be a waste of the available capacity.
DeleteYou will be surprised that ZAG-MSQ is a really underrated route. There are Belarussians fleeing to Croatia for work.
DeleteAnd what happens when OU launches all those Balkan destinations? Where will they offer connections to when they fly to Star Alliance hubs.
DeleteGreat years ahead of Zagreb, would be interesting to know which airlines they are negotiating with.
ReplyDeleteZAG has so much potential. OU should really try and promote ZAG as a transfer point and use its position to shuttle passengers from the region to western Europe.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this can be a successful strategy. People from the region already have nonstop flights to western Europe. You can get transfers from the region if you fly to somewhere where others don't.
Delete
DeleteAnd let's not forget JU is introducing new 9 routes where most of them will be flown for transfer passengers.
That train is gone and the competition is quite big these days
Every year they announce how the new flights to US are coming and then nothing. Hope it happens in 2020 but I have no expectations.
ReplyDeleteSplit has always said they are aiming for 5% growth but get 20%...... so you never know 😅
ReplyDeleteI would really love to hear what Purger has to say since most grandiose things he predicted did not happen.
ReplyDeleteAnd those are...
DeleteI can not find any such predictions in his texts. So which are those and where can I find that.
DeleteLook at his predictions from 2007 onwards. He predicted ZAG booming and becoming a major player in the region, first it was EU membership then NATO then Advent and so on...
DeleteAnother change is that KL flew 6 weekly to ZAG in stead of daily in winter. Daily was supposed to start in early March now it's 31.03.
ReplyDeleteForgot to add, it goes back to 6 weekly at the end of summer season 31.10.
DeleteAfter all these planned 5% increase sound very, very optimistic
DeletePlanned 5% increase at 3.34 million passengers in 2018 means additional 167 thousand passengers expected in 2019. It's way to early to make predictions where top airports in the region will end this year, but is seems certain BEG new route announcements so far indicate at least additional 350 thousand passengers in 2019. Could Split add more than 350k passengers in 2019?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, SPU is pretty tight on space so let's hope airlines keep on sending bigger planes. As for BEG, it's good for them that JU is expanding its network so they will bring more transfer passengers.
Delete