ZAG needs to do more to attract LCCs

"We cooperate with the world's leading consultancy firms. Their experts and studies show that Zagreb Airport can expect to handle five million passengers per year in 2026", Mr Bedir noted.'

Excuse me but if they are cooperating with consultancy companies then there really was no need for the airport conecssion. The government could have done the same... for less money probably. Also I don't like the fact the airport is run by Turks now and no longer the French.

Hahahaha they are living in the dream land. This also reminds me of when they announced (several times?) that they were negotiating with Ryanair.

LCCs in ZAG would kill OU. That's why the airport isn't doing more to attract them.

Hope that now that EK is back they do better in April, I think EK does well they even sent their B772 this morning! I think MZLZ should do what LJU did, have W6 launch one or two destinations and that's about it.

It would be fantastic for Ryan to base a plane in ZAG.

Yes but OU isn't doing enough/anything... so what's the point of protecting them?

The airport thinks so too but they are not being realistic. They want their volume with the charges fancy airlines pay.

LCC ili Kroacija,pitanje je sad?

I always thought Eurowings would be the one to do that in ZAG

@9.05
That's their problem. They had years to become competitive and offer decent prices. For the service they offer their fares are high.

90% legacy??? Mon Dieu !
That's huge!
ex-Yu is a mix..compare ZAG to SKP...two parallel worlds...

LCC! LCC! LCC!

Why can't MZLZ look at Tirana or Skopje or Sofia for inspiration!

+1000

Traffic would boom if they got an LCC to base a plane. Passenger numbers would grow by at least 300.000 within a uear just from that.

EW is fantastic and the best fit for a niche market like ZAG. They could easily base 3 A319.

LCCs coexist with national airlines at other airports in ex-yu too - Ljubljana, Belgrade, Podgorica. OU would adapt.

Wouldn't it hurt its image of "prestigious" airport seeing some big LCC's flying there?

ZAG has considerably small LCC presence comparing the other European capitals. Hope this gets sorted out

Exactly and it might even push them to reform themselvs like JU had to do. It might be a blessing in disguise.

Only European capital, so not EU but European without an LCC link to London!!!

Ryanair is more than willing to pay the same prices as "fancy airlines" for flying to airports that there is demand from their customers.
CIA, AMS, MAD, BCN, FRA, ATH, SKG, VIE, TLV etc.
They tried to blackmail the airport operators to give them large discounts compared to the "fancy airlines" but the airports did not.
Yet they based aircraft and launched flights anyway.
But I am afraid ZAG is not that type of market.
FR's European network can function without offering ZAG as a destination so only with large subsidies/discounts they will came here.

Because Tirana or Skopje or Sofia do not have a national carrier that needs protection from LCC competition.

Yes, ZAG is a very prestigious airport! ;)

Eurowings prices are nowhere near LCC levels.

Petar at 09:20
+1

If they come to Zagreb it will really impact Ljubljana negatively.

Didn't ZAIC know from the whole beginning what is the annual fee for Croatian Government?

Of course they knew and they agreed to it, but now it seems they are making additional pressure to the Governnment in order to blackmail it LCC's to arrive to ZAG.

It looks like that leading of ZAG does not go as planned. No new airlines in summer 2019, just a few new frequencies, downgrading of EK being replaced by FZ during the winter, increasing gap between BEG and ZAG in passenger numbers, SPU overtaking ZAG, Norwegian cancelling winter flights to ZAG from ARN and CPH, begging for lower annual fee in order to bring LCC's etc...

Unless the city tourist board gives some incentives like they gave to Eurowings for Berlin flight, I don't think we will be seeing Ryan.

SJJ?

MZLZ should offer them to fly from the old terminal for less money and the purposely create delays until they move to the new facilities and pay what others pay.

Bulgaria does but the airport is not interested in protecting a dying business.

I think the right term around here is fancy. :D

Purposely creating delays for just one airline will lead to FR suing the airport in the European courts and getting massive compensation.
We are not living in the Balkans of the 70s and 80s any more dude.

Years ago Croatia Airlines used to push the argument that low cost airlines should not fly to Zagreb because it would not make it a world class airport and would reduce its value LOL. Reminds me a bit of the original comments here.

I'm all for LCCs coming to Zagreb BUT government should first offload Croatia Airlines.

And here I was told that ZAG does not need ultra LCCs and that the general travel public will never fly these airlines from Zagreb

Agree. ASAP.

This is true. We have heard many times that national airlines in ex-Yu would collapse because of LCCs but in reality they all survived. LCC generate additional demand and bring in completely new passengers.

Bulgaria Air is not a national airline but a 100% private operation.
Their national airline was Balkan and it went bankrupt many years ago.

As you can see FB is still alive and full service in spite of being cannibalised by W6, FR and the LH Group. They focus on other destinations making money.
OU can survive too even if FR arrives.

Indeed ZAG is all about prestige and image. Quite unique...

With Croatia taking over the EU presidency next year maybe there will be greater interest from LCCs.

SJJ is not an EU capital.

Isn't the current gradual LCC growth of BNX already affecting ZAG?
I mean important destinations are already connected: SXF, CRL..
There will be a route overlap such as INI and SKP.

He said not just EU but European.

+1
The Turkish management with the approval of course of the French are just sitting on their behinds collecting large fees from the present carriers.

Yes, all EU officials prefer to fly with Ryanair...

It's interesting that no one stepped in on this route after Monarch collapsed. Monarch was doing really well om ZAG flights.

There is some affect, but not yet serious.

Anyhow if FR continues to grow in BNX there is no doubt ZAG will feel it.

What I find unfortunate is that both easy jet and Wizz Air used to fly to Zagreb but not anymore. Hope they come back.

I wonder if they were really doing so well.

Exactly 10 years ago

"Zagreb Airport’s new CEO Tonči Peović has announced that he will cut the cost of airport handling services in a bid to attract more low cost airlines to Croatia’s largest airport. New handling prices, which are a great deterrent for low cost airlines, will be revised within the next 10 days. Peović said that he is negotiating directly with easyJet and Ryanair for them to commence flights to Zagreb and offer a total of 10 new services from Zagreb to their European bases. Yesterday, Peović said that "Clearly, we should be careful not to lower our income through new, lower prices, but we should also encourage discount airlines by sharing with them the risk of new flights. However, at the same time, we should be careful not to harm airlines with which we have been cooperating for years". Peović added that the national carrier Croatia Airlines will not be receiving any pricing privileges from the airport authority."

2026??? Loooool seriously? Loooool. No comment.

What was the reason they left?

I mean it was obvious they accepted the fees as soon as they started flying to ZAG but why they left? Poor loads?

And how will they prove there is obvious sabotage? The airport can put in the contract that delays might occur due to the usage of the old terminal which is cheaper. So in a way FR would be going at its own risk.

I forgot about SJJ but Fly Bosnia plans London flights so...

+1

It looks like they did not care about prestige at that time

Zagreb-Dubrovnik with LCC would be great thank you :D

a joj

If current trend continues they will be forced to do something with LCCs. They have no choice as growth so far is pathetic for an airport the size of ZAG. Like you wrote, the airport has experienced a series of setbacks and something needs to be done.

I didn't know EW got incentives for Berlin flights, really?

Of course, they are poor so they have to fly from CRL as well :D :D

What "series of set backs"? Growth is normal so far. 4 new airlines started flights last year including one long haul.

FB is more of a walking dead than actually being alive. They are not profitable despite owing a lot of money to SOF for various services.

Isn't Wizz Air increasing CRL-LJU flights? Maybe it's because of the Croatian EU presidency?

interesting, could you share what routes were operated, especially surpising is the suspension of wizzair?

"However, as an airport that handles over two million passengers per year, we have certain obligations which are regulated by the European Union. The two main rules we have to abide by are transparency and a non-discriminatory policy for all airlines".
So only ZAG in the whole EU has to apply those rules. Other EU airports seem to function well with LCC and legacy and those rules. So where's the problem?

Martina Bienenfeld mentioned it at a conferemce once. I think it is in terms of marketing promotion and I also think that's why Zagreb Airport CEO says LCCs can find others to support their flights to ZAG.

No such contract can be legally binding and FR or any other airline would not be agreeing to it.

It is really pathetic.
8 years for traffic to be increased by 1, 63 million pax.
That is an increase of just over 200.000 per year.
SMFH

What is a "national carrier"??
I read FB is a fully private company and there is no data regarding the financials. Surely they are strugling although I see they increased the absolute number of passangers transported to/from SOF in 2018 vs 2017 despite W6 and FR expanding like crazy.

ZAG clearly needs more LCC for the sake of its citizens, the diaspora and the tourist industry in the city.

Who is actually paying that money?

ZAIC or Croatian Government?

It is soon expected FR to open new route from BNX

Easy flew Dortmund, Paris and Gatwick. And Wizz also flew Dortmund.

Zagreb tourist board which is city operated, meaning the city of Zagreb.

Btw she did say this 2 years ago. I don't know if it is relevant anymore.

and why did they leave?

Anonymous 8 April 2019 at 09:57
What are you on about?
How the usage of an old terminal which is mostly empty would mean delays? The airline and its handling company would have no reason to delay. Only the airport operator through the control tower or the Croatian/European ATC can delay them from landing or taking off but that would be clearly illegal. Anon 09:37 is right that O'Leary would sue the shιt of the airport and probably the ministry too and get massive compensations from the EU court.

I wouldn't mind seeing Transavia and Volotea. Perhaps their demands on the airport would not be as big as say Ryan, Wizz or Easy jet.

I believe that too much is expected from that presidency (air travel-wise). Brussels and Strasbourg will not be moved to Zagreb. Only some "svečana akademija" will be held, everything else is overestimated.

Wizzair to Luton, Easyjet to Gatwick, Paris and Dortmund, if I remember well

Transavia had talks with ZAG few years ago, the plan was to open ZAG same time BEG and LJU were opened. ZAG was simply to expensive, and I doubt they would come back, especially now when they increased RJK (Zagreb West in Ryanair terms) for 200%compared to last year. For Volotea, it's more likely, first because they have smaller capacity planes which would fit more to ZAG winter demand, and second as the third most important person in Volotea management is lady from Croatia

Poor loads was not the reason. Flight were all packed. It must have been some disagreement with the oprerator.

Well they should not have lost them.

Maybe it was disagreement with one of them, but with both...

"'Oće centrala da pogriješi jednom ali ne sto puta" :-)

It was also expected ZAG significantly to grow after Croatia joined EU and NATO.

We can see the results

Is that why KL returned to ZAG? Because Transavia was turned down or did they plan to operate at the same time?

Greater LCC presence would allow them to reach those 5 million much sooner than 2026.

I can't get over the fact that we can attract Korean Air and Emirates but not Wizz or Easy.

Sorry but General Manager comments don't look very reassuring to me. Basically he says if LCCs want to fly, they will have to find someone to subsidize the flights, but it won't be us.

It should be like that. Equal conditions for all.

If this happens, no chance to see FR in ZAG soon..

I wonder how W6 and U2 can fly to BEG and not to ZAG.

Is the price difference really so big?

On which routes did they increased RJK 200%. Nothing!

Good result in March considering most of the Easter traffic rush last year was in March.

KLM started ZAG before Transavia started BEG and LJU. But the market between Croatia and Holland is big and AMS is one of the best performing OU routes. KL is doing fine OK. The markets for legacy and LCC are different and one usually don't influent the other or influent very little. ZAG LCC passengers to Holland still exist and still travel to and from Holland, just not from ZAG, but from LJU and RJK which Transavia both significantly increased. But obviously ZAG management gladly lets its own potential passengers paying to the others. The same goes for OU, not for Holland but generally

Price difference is one reason, BEG gasto market, main LCC customers in Balkans, is bigger than Croatian, being the second reason, third is BEG being geographically more distant to main EU markets than ZAG, the fourth reason is possibility of LCC travel from RJK, PUY ZAD, LJU, much closer and easier to rich from ZAG then BUD, TSR, SOF, SKP from BEG, and the fifth is BEG being double size of ZAG. However despite all these I believe ZAG has decent potential to have at least two serious LCC's, maybe even with a base, and at least 10 new unserved LCC destinations, maybe even up to 20.

@An.12.33
Route is Eindhoven. Last year operated for 2 months only with 2 frequencies per week, this summer entire summer season with 2 per week plus up to 4 weekly in peak season.

They are probably trying to do something since they realized the growth is slowing down and they are slowly lagging behind the competition, not to mention that BL is rising like a Phoenix from ashes :D

And the other way round.

Wizz or Easy would be a problem for OU. They are protecting them like hell.

Only in ZAG though. A prestige airport. A joooooj

Keep the good work. Mrvice pa smo svi sretni.

Well, I am truly sorry but this what you wrote here is far from being the truth:

- what is the price difference, do you know? Is it so big or couple of euro only?

- Main LCC customers in Balkans is BEG? Have you checked SOF maybe? Huge difference.

- Croatian diaspora is not smaller than Serbian especially after Croatia joined EU. Therefore calling BEG gasto market and ZAG not is, at least, not responsible.

- BEG is further than ZAG to western countries, but it can't be the argument. If someone wants to fly to London or Stockholm from BEG/ZAG it plays absolutely no role.
Led by this logic BUD should not have any LCC as it is located from the western countries same as ZAG. Last time I check BUD had many LCC's being at the same time central airport for Wizzair.

- Do not forget that LCC's mostly fly from RJK, PUY, ZAD only during the summer season. During the winter all these airports are almost dead while INI and TSR can offer year-round flights with W6 and FR as an alternative to BEG. Driving time from BEG to INI and TSR is 2,5 hours and from ZAG to ZAD or PUY 3 hours. Pointless argument.

- The size of the airport or the city does not play any role here as well. You can take for example TIA that is smaller than ZAG and has less passengers than ZAG but this summer they will have 4 Wizzair routes, 2 Ryanair Sun routes , 1 Pegasus route, 2 Norwegian route, 1 Transavia route and 3 Eurowings routes.

It looks like the reasons need to be looked for somewhere else.

OU is a political project and the state will not allow it to go bust. So no worries about OU's future.

The population of Croatia is decreasing so the pax increase of 200.000 per year is in fact an excellent result.

The population of Bulgaria decreased two million, not 200 thousand, and their SOF, and others, skyrocketing as those people visit back home regularly. So your argument is actually counterargument, "ne drzi vodu"

Made mistake saying Balkan instead ex-yu. For those of Croatian diaspora gravitating to ZAG, most of them are in A, CH, D, and reaching ZAG in 5,6,8 hours by car or bus. Seasonality is not an issue as people mostly travel in summer, not winter. INI which is the only closer to BEG has incomparably less traffic and destinations compared to all of those around ZAG together. TIA cannot be compared at all, being the only airport in Albania, unlike ZAG which faces fierce competition. Lack of space till 2 years ago on old terminal was also problematic. Yes, obviously ZAG new airport management is not doing good job but the same think you don't agree with me I don't agree with you. Cheers!

Those who left Croatia are not returning. They went to Ireland and use media to tell us that they finally live and do not want to return to Croatia ... ever! So my argument is correct, sorry.

No brainer. Past ZAG CEO, Feron said at a conference in Split a few months ago that the reason airlines are avoiding Zagreb is fees.

It's not only EW, she also said they are cooperating with TK on the so called "joint marketing" on the far east. That's why TK is successful while EK and KE struggle.

There are many people from diaspora who simply do not wish to drive 6 or more hours especially if they have small children. Not to mention huge Croatian diaspora in Ireland that can either swim or fly to reach Croatia.

People travel more in summer but not mostly. More than 50% of August ZAG traffic is covered in January. These passengers should not be ignored as they also pay full price of using ZAG airport.

INI has double more traffic than RJK and all RJK, PUY and ZAD have in total the same number of passengers like TSR (almost all of them year-round). And beside all these facts BEG managed to keep decent number of LCC's.

Prestige or gasto, it doesn't matter if TAV is the operator. The North Macedonian government is giving incentives to Wizzair in SKP and OHD, not the airport operator.

ZAG and SKP, two parallel worlds... Or is it just an illusion - the both are managed by the same company, TAV.

Hold on tight, ZAG! U2 will announce their winter timetable this Thursday! We may see a potential Zaggy-Gatwick route ;) ;)

Coming up on Thursday 11th April 2019
Travel between 27th October ’19 – 28th March ‘20
- Winter school holidays
- Christmas and New Year 2019/20
- Valentine's Day
- February half term

Fingers crossed!

Banja Lukas problem is that Ryanair doesnt fly to Switzerland. It would be the Jackpot Destination.

They fly
BSL - STN
BSL - PMI
BSL - DUB

Those who are in Ireland are in the best case 20-30 thousand. Even if they are not returning, which is simply not true , no big deal with these numbers. Those who are in Germany are 300 thousand or more and are returning, some of them on monthly basis. Case closed.

Croats in Ireland are 20-30 000, It is very far from being "huge diaspora". Much more Croats come home to Croatia from diaspora by car, especially if they are more and with children, because it's cheaper and time frame is same or almost same, 2-3 hours difference. You are confirming what I said with INI and TSR ; numbers you gave are precisely why I listed TSR and not listed INI and I never spoke about RJK only but all surrounding airports combined. Actually both you and me are listing things which prevent ZAG to have more LCC'S and as it seems the only problem of yours is that I said BEG has more gasto traffic than ZAG. Well bro, so sorry, but it's the fact. Case closed, at least for me.

OK, let's put it this way:

Your post at 15:03
" ... INI which is the ONLY closer to BEG..."

Your post at 19:52
"...why I listed TSR and not listed INI..."

You did not mention TSR at all before I mentioned it. For you INI was the only alternative to BEG.

It is well known it is easier to drive from Hamburg to Zagreb than to fly. Maybe in your surrounding.


And I wonder why Serbs living in Austria fly to Belgrade making it "gasto airport" and Croats do not fly from Germany to ZAG just in order to avoid making ZAG gasto airport.The distance is more-less the same. Pointless.

All these arguments are saying that BEG is in worse position regarding to the surrounding airports and their LCC's, but still managed to have decent number on LCC' on its own apron while ZAG does not have such LCC competion (actually not having it at all during the winter) but still can't attract FR, W6 or U2.

You should really rest your case. Good decision.

Anon 13:23 + 1000

The size of the airport or city indeed does not really mean anything.

ZAG being an EU capital for more than 6 years now has the lowest number of LCC connections in the entire 27+1 EU capitals.
LJU which is much smaller has W6, HV, U2 and even linked to 3 London airports. The number is highly likely to increase in the near future.

Many EU capitals much smaller than ZAG have been flying LCC for more than a decade:

TLL, RIX, VNO, BTS, LUX.

Other examples of non-EU: KIV, TGD, TIA.

Clearly, there is something fishy about it.

If there’s a market and money to be made someone will come but I see another missed opportunity for OU. If they updated their fleet to a more suitable type the could have set up a small low cost subsidery with their older A319s. Now again they’ll eventually lose more of what should have been there’s to a competitor. Such a hopeless airline when it comes to vision, realising their potential and taking full advantage of their home market.

Quite the contrary, it's an airline with a vision but only for private and the ruling party's interests. The former CEO, who delivered OU in *Alliance's (LH) hands, is one of the repentant witnesses in the Fimi media affair, (basically sucking money from state companies into illegal party funds) and his daughter is now the PM's right hand, his Deputy Chief of Staff. The same CEO man was also the representative of the Republic of Croatia in Croatian telecommunications (HT) while Croatia still had shares in it, just to suddenly become the representative of the Germans, when they took over. The current OU CEO is one of that clan too. Croatia, as a country, is very much run like South Korea with their chaebols, albeit unsuccessfully.

Is everyone that lives in EU has to travel through ZAG or it is ok to go through other airports with lot of LCC?

Many other airlines were also political projects. Tell me, where is Malev today or where is Olympic Airways? Both are gone, each in its own manner.

Pozdrav iz Rijeke, so the case is closed just because you said so? No data, no nothing?

Anon 15.07 is right, if those from Ireland were returning then OSI-DUB would not have been such a massive disaster.

Growth is 3% so far with 0% in January. I wouldn't call that normal. And setbacks were mostly in winter when almost all airlines reduced flights.

I think in summer demand is enough but in winter OU kills KLM with overcapacity since they fly A319/320 which is too big of an aircraft. KL reduced ZAG to six weekly this winter (and next one too) and flights are mostly operated by E90.

TSR is closer to BEG than INI, 151 km vs 250. Heck even Tuzla is closer to BEG than INI, 204 vs 250.

No one mentioned that KE has upgraded ZAG and it is now operated by the A332! Things are finally picking up.

Why would anyone mention it since the same aircraft type operated this route last summer season. Where is the upgrade?

Same plane flew this route last summer. You compare summer to summer and winter to winter. Not summer to winter.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/09/korean-air-takes-off-for-zagreb.html

The arrogance of ZAG management in asking the government to lower the concession fee so they could lower the airport taxes, is unbelievable. Especially given that they're charging 17€. This is the first time I hear about it and...smh.
If they were a bit cheaper, the LCCs would flock to Zagreb, no doubt about it. This way...yeah, it really is going to be 2025. - 2026. when ZAG finally reaches 5 mill pax. It simply means continuing the current growth rate, or slightly higher. Over the past 5 years since ZAIC took over, they added 1 million passengers and given all the legacies which make up 90% of the traffic, that's actually very good. Thing is, all along the strategy was supposed to be: bring in the legacies, bolster OU and then build on that foundation. They are increasing frequencies, but now's the time to bring the LCCs as well. And not by begging the state to lower your fee. OU isn't worth a mention, it's a communist atavism of corruption and nepotism.
P.S. It's possible that China flights will be announced on Thursday or Friday, during the Chinese prime minister visit to Zagreb and the 16+1 summit in Dubrovnik.

Things are finally picking up in what sense? Mrvice.