Ryanair handled its fourth-millionth passenger on flights to and from Croatia earlier this month since starting operations to the country in 2006, with plans to further grow on the market. The airline now serves five airports in Croatia, including Zadar, Rijeka, Pula, Dubrovnik and Split, but has expressed interest in launching services to Zagreb as well. "Ryanair has held positive discussions with the Croatian Minister for Tourism regarding longer term traffic growth and route development at its existing Croatian airports as well as potential new airports like Zagreb", the company said recently. For its part, Zagreb Airport noted it was seeking models which would allow low cost carriers to increase their presence in the Croatian capital.
Ryanair has significantly grown its operations to Croatia this year. It has introduced eleven new routes this summer season, eight of which are to Zadar - Cologne, Eindhoven, Krakow, Hamburg, Bergamo, Nuremberg, Poznan and Prague - as well as one service each from Dublin to Dubrovnik and Split, and one from Berlin to Pula. Overall, the budget airline now maintains 32 routes to Croatia. The new services to Zadar have been introduced in cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board. It has resulted in overall growth in the airline's operations to Zadar by 50% with over forty weekly flights maintained to the city.
The low cost airline anticipates handling some 550.000 passengers on its flights to and from Croatia this year. Despite its growing route network from the country, all of its flights to Croatia are operated seasonally. However, its newly launched services to Dubrovnik and Split will be extended into the first week of winter. The low cost airline has the fifth largest market share in the country this summer, standing at 4.4%. It is behind Croatia Airlines on 31%, easyJet on 9.9%, Eurowings on 8.6% and Lufthansa with a 4.8% market share. Ryanair's Austrian subsidiary, Laudamotion, has also introduced new services to Croatia this year with flights from Stuttgart to Zadar, Split and Pula.
The first and logic route to ZAG should be DUB now that it became more popular amongst Croats.
ReplyDeleteThe most likely FR ZAG routes are:
CRL, DUB, EIN, STN or SEN, SXF
DUB would really affect Croatia Airlines' DUB flight.
DeleteIsn't ZAG reserved only for "prestige" airlines?
DeleteSaid who? Other than some anonymous poster here?
DeleteZAG is and will remain a prestigious airport in the region. Its level will not drop and serve cheap airlines like Ryanair. ZAG needs serious airlines like Korean Air, Emirates and can negotiate with Singapore Airlines, JAL and even Qantas.
DeleteParallel universe.
DeleteZAG needs a FR routes badly. First routes mostly needed:
DeleteZAG-STN
ZAG-BVA
ZAG-DUB
ZAG-BCN
ZAG-LIS
ZAG-FMM
ZAG-HHN
ZAG-FKB
ZAG-SXF
ZAG-HAM
ZAG-NYO
ZAG-CRL
ZAG-EIN
ZAG-DTM
ZAG-MAD
Rome should be there too.
Delete@10.49
DeleteYears 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.
@10.55
Delete+ Malta, Burgas, Palma, Tenerife, Porto, Manchester, Gothenburg, Dortmund, Krakow, Gdansk, Ciampino, Basel, Kiev, Lyon, Prague, Dubrovnik, Split, Valencia, Edinburgh or Glasgow......
We can all add random cities in Europe...
DeleteThese cities are not added randomly. I didn't put Geneva, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Catania, Casablanca, Amman, Bergamo, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, and much others, with a reason. And there is a reason behind every city I listed why I think it could work. But in order to understand that one must know about the market situation and about the way LCC s operate, and you are obviously not very much familiar with it
DeleteThe situation will remain as it was
Delete- FR will not fly to ZAG if the prices remain so high
- prices will remain high so that Government can keep protecting OU
- protected OU will continue losing its market share in Croatia even without FR
If it will be loosing its market share, then other airlines will be introducing new routes and/or boosting the existing routes. I don't see a problem.
DeleteBoosting will happen in SPU or DBV and not in ZAG.
DeleteIt is the main problem
Your crystal ball is wrong. You really think that if OU starts shrinking, that other airlines would just stay sitting on their hands and do nothing or that the airport management will let numbers start to contract?
DeleteOk, genius which airline did introduce new flight to ZAG next winter?
DeleteLet me help you. Not a single one. So much about airport management. They do not have interest to increase numbers rapidly as it would mean they sooner need to build new terminal.
OU introduced new flights this winter? Of course not.
Market situation bad? Surely not!
Just because there no announcements for the next winter, doesn't mean that no airlines would EVER come.
DeleteAlso, OU can't introduce anymore new flights with the current capacity. They've done that for 3 years in a row. Did you forget that?
Calm your tits.
Wow, ever! That's funny. In aviation using word "ever" is the sign of deep amateurishness.
DeleteLast winter was not also too successful for ZAG. Except KE no big deal.This winter not even that.
OU has no money to do anything new about its fleet.
Those are the facts. You really need chill pill.
The one that needs the chill pill, is you, honey.
DeleteGo bother someone else.
Pathetic as usual
DeleteAwww.
DeleteSnowflake.
Bravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteThere is a rumour that Laudamotion will start flying to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteThat would be fantastic. Especially if they start Vienna :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteApparently they are in “advanced” talks along with Eurowings to set up a base in Zagreb using the old terminal.
DeleteTime gor FR to extend some of their flights to year round.
ReplyDelete** for
DeleteI think Eurowings is the only LCC with year-round flights to Croatia.
DeleteNope, Vueling also flied year-round to Dubrovnik.
DeleteAh yes forgot about them. Odd that they don't keep their Barcelona-Zagreb route year round as well.
DeleteHope so too. To me it's crazy that Ryanair doesn't have a single non-seasonal route to Croatia.
DeleteDoubt they will be extending anything in Croatia. If easyjet with much more routes and passengers to Croatia hasn't, neither will Ryanair.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI am pretty sure British Airways fly all year round to Zg. I routinely use it five or six times a year.
DeleteAlso pretty certain Eurowings and other budget airlines already fly into Zg.
DeleteBA is not a budget airline. Only low cost airline flying to Zagreb in winter is Eurowings.
DeleteNorwegian?
DeleteNorwegian turned Zagreb seasonal last year.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/09/norwegian-to-end-zagreb-winter-flights.html
Thank you
DeleteTheir growth in Zadar is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they closed the base in ZAD when they launched so many new routes.
DeleteIt was probably cheaper for them to operate the ZAD flights from other established bases then keep a seasonal base for 5 months a year.
Delete
DeleteThey closed it because they couldnt find antmyone to come work to Zadar. I know this because I hanged out with many of FR employees in Zadar and they all felt not wellcomed and bored in Zadar. Also Zadar is very homophobic and most of FR cabim cree are gay. So after many years of trying to sustain that base they finally gave up and closed it.
Yes, that's why they closed it. Because Zadar is "homphobic" and because the crew was bored there.
DeleteJesus, things we won't read on here...
If FR starts Zagreb it would kill OU.
ReplyDeleteThat's their problem. They had years to become competitive and offer decent prices. For the basic service they offer their fares are way too high.
DeleteOU flights are much cheaper then Ryanair, once you add all the extras.
DeleteFor P2P passengers on flights under 2 hours, which is the majority of flights within Europe, I really don't think passengers require too many extras.
DeleteAnonymus 10:30...are you serious? Have you ever bought a ticket with Ryan? Ne pisi floskule. I kad dodas extras cijena je manja. Naravno sve ovisi kupujes li kartu mjesec dana prije puta, ili dan prije.
DeleteBtw, OU is exactly the main problem. They are protecting OU, and that is why people from ZAG don't have cheap options to Europe and they travel to Budapest, Lubiana, Trieste, Venezia, Zadar, Pula...
Dear Anonymous 10.30
DeleteI flew Ryanair from BUD to Eilat Ovda two years ago. I had one cabin bag 10 kg, enough for one week in nice weather, I ate sandwich at BUD Airport before the flight, I needed no priority boarding or seat selection, and I never buy insurance. I flew 7 hours for 54 euro return. The cheapest OU ticket was 380 euro for the same period. When I add to the cost bus trip to BUD and overnight stay in 3 star hotel there, I still saved 250 euros. I may understand that because of your own reasons you don't like and don't use LCC 's. I can even agree that in some rare occasions FR or any other LCC can be even more expensive than OU or any other legacy carrier, but only in cases when you have to buy your tickets last minute before the flight in peak season. It has very little to do with extras. If I added extras to my basic price of 54, I would pay 80 or 100 still much much cheaper than OU. So saying that generally OU is cheaper if you add extras to your low cost price is nonsense and you should refrain from such comments.
What drugs have you been taking today. As OU don't fly to Budapest or Eilat what is your point? Typical Balkanism comparing apples with pears.
DeleteMy point is that I wanted to travel from Croatia to Israel and I did it. But instead using OU from ZAG to TLV and than ground transportation to Eilat for 380 euro, I used ground transportation to BUD and then flew Ryanair for 54 euro. And the only "Balkanism" here comes from the people who don't accept that we are all different and that some of us like to save on their air tickets in order to be able to spend more on the destination. Btw. I never used drugs, not my kind of stuff but if you like it, hey, if you like to waste 300 euro more on your air fare, maybe you like to waste it on "White" as well, or whatever your preferred type is
DeleteLijepa vijest nedjeljom za sve LCC fanatike
ReplyDeleteZasto fanatici? To su ljudi koji bi jednostavno zeljeli putovati po Evropi jeftinije. Ka svaki stanovnik nekog glavnog Europskog grada.
DeleteA ne znam kume. Svatko neka radi štogod ga volja, ali kad ja čitam ove recenzije o LCC na internetu (prije svega Wizz i Ryan), kad pokušavam bookirati kartu itd. itd. radije platim 100 € više, pa da mi nitko ne kontrolira koliko imam u lap top torbi, gleda na stopericu kad sam na gateu itd.
DeleteJa i kod LCC nisam uspio naći kartu ispod 150 €, a za malo više unutar Europe mogu letit i LH, TK ili LX. Moglo se ranije i SU ali sad su započeli naplačivati prtljagu, pa im je svaki let automatski 80 € skluplji, a ja više nego na jedan dan samo sa ručnom ne mogu.
Great news
ReplyDeleteSummer season: from the current base in Zadar to Odessa, Lviv and Turkey?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Ryanair is negotiating directly with the government about potential subsidies for ZAG.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the government's strategy. I'm all for LCCs coming to Zagreb BUT they should first offload Croatia Airlines. It looks to me they are doing everything to make the sale of Croatia Airlines more difficult and difficult so they can sell it for a couple of thousand euros to someone like 4k invest.
DeleteIt would be fantastic for Ryan to base a plane in ZAG.
ReplyDeleteIf talks are successful, what could be their potential destinations from ZAG?
ReplyDeleteLondon, Frankfurt, Paris.
DeleteZagreb definitely needs more low cost airlines.
ReplyDeleteIf they come to Zagreb it will really impact Ljubljana negatively.
ReplyDeleteI took bus from city center to ZAG airport earlier this week to fly OU to OSL. And the bus, on its way to the new terminal passed by the old one. Ghost terminal, deserted, closed, dark, looking awful. Same situation when taxiing to take-off, from the other side. Big apron, ground floor gates ideal for LCC, used till recently, empty, abandoned, wasted area and wasted potential income. Only one DHL B757 there, on the platform where you can have 10 planes at the time. Bottom line : ZAG has LCC terminal, need no or minimal investment in it, it has market, it has LCC airlines interested to operate (Transavia Easyjet Ryanair Volotea) but it losses money, doesn't improve its figures, leaves passengers with fewer options to be blackmailed by OU and all that for what and why, that part I really don't understand
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteThat is apparently the plan - to run two airports - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/travel/36570-zagreb-airport-old-terminal
DeleteTrue. The last time I was in Zagreb the cab used the western entrance to the city, instead of going over the Homeland Bridge because we were going to New Zagreb first, and we passed the old terminal. A sad, sad picture.
DeleteAlso, there's probably some truth to this rumor from TCN...it's not the first time I hear it, but hopefully they won't be operating ZAG as 2 airports. That would be ridiculous.
Now imagine they launch Zagreb - Split. That would be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteBus services in Croatia are excellent. You can travel anywhere withing the country in less than 4 hours. The only route where LCC would actually be very beneficial is ZAG-DBV.
DeleteUa to DBV takes 11 hours. To Pula it takes 8. To Split (if not direct bus - 6/7 hourd).
DeleteNot true. There is 31 lines that travel 4:45 to 5:20 hours to Split. There are some take even 9 hours, but why would some use those if can take one od 4:45 hours 31 times per day?
DeletePula id 3:25 to 5:20 hours. For example Brioni at 12:25 comet to Pula at 15:50. Also there is 25 times per day like this.
Most of lines to Dubrovnik takes 8:30 hours. Also there are longer lines but most of them are 8:30-9:00 hours. For sure that is motivate enough for LCC to open routes.
Inconspicuous weekend news is really a jibe-ho (or is it gybe-ho on that side of the pond?) from Ryanair to Croatia Airlines. They will likely pay no heed to it, so OU will get smacked in the forehead and eventually thrown overboard in Zagreb.
ReplyDelete