Shame especially since it's an LCC :(

When an airline can't survive on a monopoly route to a city like Berlin, you know you have serious problems. I guess flights from LJU also contributed to this outcome.

Maybe they start LJU?

So three routes suspended from next summer. Great work ADP-TAV!

What is the point of the Hamburg flights? I always found these type of Eurowings routes with 8 flights in total per season complete nonsense.

What's the third one? Swiss?

Yes

This is just bad, really bad. ZAG is distorting the market by protecting OU which is a dead man walking.

DUS was also monopoly. I''m more surprised that didn't work then Berlin.

Zagreb is losing the only direct service to Berlin? So how will the people now travel? Drive to RJK, ZAD, SPU... vs BUD/VIE? Belgrade for example, which is non EU and does not have a huge diaspora (at least not traditionally) in Berlin have 8 or 9 flights in the lowest season, going up to 13 or so in summer. And flights are usually full (Turks contribute to it but just partly).

Well EW has to survive somehow. With a loss of 250million year by years end it will be hard.

The LCC offer from ZAG is getting smaller and smaller.

Yet they are opening routes on other markets but closing them down to Zagreb.

LCC flying on a Dash8 and charging an average price of 119€ networkwide?

They will use one of 10 daily flights to either FRA or MUC and change there. Or use Easyjet which might step in.

I am sure ZAG has the by far most incompetent or most lazy management of any airport in Europe.

They were not flying these routes with Dashes.

Easyjet is nowhere near on the horizon. They already left ZAG because of high prices.

Really? They are using try and error. What routes are they starting out of DUS or TXL?
EW has just decided to put 30 Aircraft out of service end all wetleases and return the whole DH8 fleet

Serves them right with their enormous fees.

Of course. Whenever some route from Zagreb is suspended it is the airline's fault.

No it is of course ZAG´s fault they make a loss of 250 million euros and closing down TXL ops. Out of the 250million loss 249million was generated by ZAG flighs.

Maybe.

I've also read here how it was Emirates' and Korean's fault they went season, Swiss' fault they are suspending Zagreb. Everyone is at fault but the fantastic Turkish management.

I agree with you. It is ZAG´s management fault the airlines dont make money and EW loses millions. It is also their fault that BERLIN airports lost 8% passengers in October.

@9.18 They are closing down TXl ops? News to me. The only route they are closing from TXL is Zagreb.

DUS regularly sees the Q400. No wonder they are cutting it. Also they were probably charging €119 because of high airport charges.

So now it's Berlin Airport's fault this route didn't work because they have a passenger decline in October. Keep going. It must be Dusseldorf's fault the Zagreb route is closing too.

HAM is as well and they seem to be struggling there as well.

Clueless airline is clueless.

Correct. Everyone is clueless except Zagreb Airport management.

Wasn't the EU presidency supposed to bring in new airlines?

My guess is that they will fly on easyJet to Berlin from Ljubljana. Actually what might have happened here is that EW was mostly filled with Slovenes. Now that they can fly from LJU, ZAG lost its customers. Same happened with AMS. The moment HV launched LJU, KL downgraded ZAG.

@ Anon 9.22. They cancelled LHR and the remainder of the routes is flown with AC from other bases. No aircraft based at Berlin from SS2020.

If ZAG was lucrative enough for them then they wouldn't have cut it. Let's face it, they were losing money in continental Croatia.

Eurowings / LH have a long history of being clueless about the Balkan market.

It would've been funny if Germany wasn't the overwhelmingly most populated market with exYu diaspora. Like this, it's just sad.

Exactly, Belgrade has 9 flights per week to Berlin (6 AS & 3 EasyJet) and from February or March EasyJet will return one additional flight. Flights are almost always full or 90+%. Reasons for this are really cheap tickets. If you book on time you can buy return tickets for 60eur. Last week I bought one way ticket for 100eur only 2 days in advance which is also reasonable price and the flight was almost full. The other reason is that serbian diaspora in Berlin is getting bigger each year.

Berlin is quite popular (and cheap in comparison to other cities) destination for a short visit so I'm really surprised that Zagreb will no longer be connected to Berlin.

Also it's funny that from Berlin you can fly to Belgrade (AirSerbia, EasyJet), Skopje & Tuzla (Wizz), Nis, Zadar, & Banja Luka (Ryan), Ljubljana (EasyJet), Sarajevo & Pristina (Eurowings). I haven't searched for flights to other coastal cities in Croatia and Montenegro but I assume that at least Split has connection with Berlin. So basically almost every airport from region is linked with Berlin but Zagreb isn't anymore. While I was writing this comment I was wandering if RyanAir flights from BNX had something to do with this.

Unfortunate. ZAG management really needs to work on diversifying LCC offer.

It brought prosperity in the form of an additional flight to BRU.

Auch, this hurts.

So many cancellations, reductions, decreasing...And we are talking about the period of time when Croatia will have EU presidency. Obviously other airlines do not think it wll be a big thing and they are right.

Very soon we can expect ZAG numbers to be in red.

DUS is a shocker. The most populous state in Germany, one of the wealthiest and has a lot of Yugoslavs there. I guess they are keeping it in winter because of tourists that are coming for Advent in Zagreb.

@ Anoon 9.26. Exactly- so with Adria´s demise ZAG will have a bright future since all flight that are lost by Adria are now full at OU :) Is that your logic?

+100

Don't even dare to mention that FR from BNX has any influence on ZAG. Of course it doesn't have, except the fact ZAG numbers started going down since FR opened new routes from BXN.

Guys, this is bad. No way to spin it otherwise. Catastrophic even. We are not talking about the termination of a small, secondary market, we are talking about Dusseldorf and Berlin, two major cities in Germany which is the main trading and cultural partner of Croatia.

They were supposed to be in the red in October but Adria's suicide helped them.

Standing ovation for ZAG.

I still think a lot has been done in ZAG over the last three-four years, especially in bringing in new airlines but this last year has been far from great. Is it just me or does the management now seem disinterested?

They are probably focusing more on their finances now. My guess.

It is very easy, the loss of ZAG numbers is exactly the amount of passengers BNX gains.

Well CGN is 60km away in the same MOST POPULOUS STATE.

Anon 09.33

Only to a certain extent, OU is not very competitive. Ageing fleet, modest network, mounting losses, uncompetitive pricing ... are all factors that making ZAG-OU uncompetitive in long term.

Don't forget that JU also carries a lot of transfers to Berlin which helps fill seats. Something OU never managed to achieve.

So no more trade?

Well here is a chance for OU to start these routes.

The were supposed :D so great. What are other airports in the region supposed to be?

Nema problema, neka OU salje DH4 ako je veliki avion neisplativ. Do tamo je 1.40 tj. 800km. Pa i ovi su slali isti avion i to na Mostar 2.30! Steta je ukidati takvu liniju i takav grad ali eto prilike za OU da vrati TXL. Pomozi Boze !!!

With which imaginary planes, exactly?

prosperity?

With what planes? OU fleet is stretched thin as it is. The only way they could do it is by cutting seasonal flights to ATH via DBV or PRG/OTP.

So next summer we have the following:

DUS -3
TXL -3
ZRH -3

That's nine weekly flights, quite a loss. Have any airlines announced increases for next year? KE maybe? They are packed in summer.

and no more culture lol

Probably just for Croatians visiting in summer their families in Germany or Croatia for holidays.

There is of course but ZAG is making their expansion more difficult by having very high charges.

Shame. To me it looked as if they were the one LCC that would expand in ZAG.

Could we see Wizz Air launch LTN flights?

Good news for Croatia Airlines, bad for consumers.

Wizz has said numerous times that Zagreb is too expensive.

In what sense? They are very conservative and doing nothing at ZAG.

And how far is it from northern cities of that most populous state buddy?

Isn't OS reducing ZAG flights during the slow winter season? I see 16 flights, weren't there 19 last year?

Good news for them because they will get more passengers to FRA and MUC.

I'm surprised these didn't work out for them.

KE change aircraft, if you want to book a ticket on their website, there is B787 for whole summer season, this year was with A332 until end of September. They flew with B787 just for a month this year to Zagreb. That's a bit more of capacity, but definitively 3 pw is not enough. At least 4.

Zagreb definitely needs more low cost airlines.

Flights that operate once weekly are hardly profitable, unless charters.

And also I hope that one day we will have a European low cost airline flying domestic flights from Zagreb.

@ Anon.09.42. Adria was very competitive. OU is not. I used to fly on the CR9 for only 400€return from LJU whereas OU charges me 120€ return. On top they operate the A319 or A320 from Zag which is a very bad aircraft if you can fly the CR9.

Must be a reason Adria is gone.

well obviously the distance from DUS + the 60 km from DUS to CGN :D No so hard.

OS had 28 flights las year. Must be all going down the drain for ZAG

Good for LJU-SXF route, I think Easyjet could add another rotation if more Croats will use the flights from LJU

Upravo tako. DH4 je svakako mnogo brži od bilo koje zemaljske konekcije (flixbus ili voz, ako uopšte postoje direktni polasci), samo što OU može da bude pametniji i izabere SXF!

There is no money to be made on domestic flights. You can't ask Croatia Airlines about that.

How many frequencies did they operate on these two routes?

during the summer I mean.

3 weekly

maybe not.

Anonymous: 09:42: Of course OU didn´t manage to fill flights with transfers to Berlin. Guess why?

Let's wait and see.

Anon 10.28

Maybe it's because of those prices OU needed a capital injection by the government? ;)

Yes but 28 with OU, no? They had 19 on their own metal though?

Isn't it the very reason for trimming some routes that they have to get rid of those costly but low yielding dashs?

there are not living that much croatians in berlin in the first place (compared to any other city in south/west germany), and then there is no way to connect from from berlin

to make berlin work you have to shuttle lots of tourists either in or out and it appears as if people from zagreb and berlin have both much better options available ....

Yes, OU is too cheap anon 11.15, ZAG is too expensive and so on...

It´s fine, Croatians can always fly from Bosnia - Banja Luka, Tuzla and Sarajevo offer direct flights to Berlin :)

@Anon 9:32

Do you really think that someone from GERMANY would come for Advent in Zagreb? Germans literally invented Christmas markets and no other country comes close even today.

According to some other sources, this is just the beginning, with more carriers to axe their routes to and from ZAG. Shame on ZAG management!

They should shut OU down! This doesn't make sense!

Did they operate once weekly this year too?

Used this route to Berlin! Had good loads this summer :( this is sad

OS is starting to retire the Q400s so they need to rationalize their operations. Plus they have OU.

For sure not, unless EZ cuts his Berlin route.

Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on with ZAG airport?
Croatia is a prosperous nation, rich in culture and heritage. Has a beautiful coastline, exquisite cuisine and prestigious travellers.
The difference with the capital and the coast is simply insane!
How can an EU capital not perform so well ?

Sarcasm, my friend.

Because demand is just not there. Airlines would stick around if there were enough passengers booking flights. Many airlines rushed to open flights some time ago and it created too much offer and not enough demand. ZAG will obviously stabilize at around 3.3 million passengers in the future.

The coast has drunk tourists coming to have fun during the few summer months. They are no different than Burgas or Varna in Bulgaria. Same kind of clientele. It's just how it is.

ZAG really did try their best to stimulate demand. They brought some airlines but it's a fact most of them suffer in winter time.

...and of course there are utter disasters like OSI which in my opinion should be shut down. The agony has lasted for too long.

DUS must be really bad, today Q400 again. Ouch.

...or is it everything above? :)

Has anyone seen that "Bravo Hrvatska" guy?

He's been kinda quiet lately.

95% of air traffic in Croatia are tourists. Huge majority of tourists coming to Croatia don't go to Zagreb. They can fly directly to the coast from all around the Europe and with one stop from any part of the world.

Look at SU, they go double daily A320 to LJU but can barely fill an SSJ to ZAG. I think there is just no, or not enough, demand for ZAG. We can give all the examples we want but this is the reality.

So who is next? Maybe KLM?

And people still think SPU won't overtake them next year.

Read all the comments here. Ok, Airport is to expensive, we all know that, but also Airlines charge too much for ZAG during the winter. I will never understand how on the earth is ok to fly to some destination with high price tickets and half or less full aircraft?! At least offer some less expensive ticket classes?! Which family of 4 can book weekend during the winter in, for example, AMS, LON or PAR? Just few of them. I understand we do not have LCC, but priče should be reasonable and more affordable during the winter months. It is not just Airlines fault, it is big peace of cake of ZAG Apo charges, but I'm quite sure that Airlines can do something as well. C'msn, weekend in Moscow for more than 2000 kunas? Really? Ok, you can have your russian plane half empty, as I passenger I really don't care...

People are trying to explain this in a million different ways, but there's simply not enough demand for the route, especially at those prices. This is really not quantum mechanics.
I'm kind of wondering why are there flights from Stuttgart for example. Cologne is probably due to diaspora in that wider region.
Likewise, introducing routes for the sake of routes almost never works in the long run, but so many folks want that just so they could brag about the numbers. This balkan state of mind is hilarious and a little bit sad.
The best arguments I hear, have to do with the criticism of state protectionism over OU. Slovenian national airline went bust and the Slovenes (always the smartest in former Yugoslavia imo), couldn't care less.

OS-OU has 32 weekly flights on ZAG-VIE route.18 is OS, 14 OU.

+1.000.000 my friend I am from Greece and I booked with KLM combined with Croatia airlines arrival on 26th of February and depart on 1st of March for 218 euro return. Coming from a country with LCC alternatives, I find it a little bit expensive for winter time.

Actually if you open the booking system for dates 02-07.12 OS has 17 weekly flights.

On Saturdays they have just one flight, two on Sundays. This is a clear reduction of flights which was never reported on here. Strange. I wonder why that is?

€218 to ZAG via AMS is dirt cheap, open a map and look where AMS is and then look where ATH and ZAG are.

Don't forget it's not just the passenger tax that's high, other charges are high as well. If airlines lower the fares then flying will become a loss making business for them and that's something they want to avoid. That is why airlines have been running away from ZAG like crazy.

Slovenes don't care because there was nothing to care about. JP's network was tiny, service pathetic and they served several destinations in Europe. That is why so many of them went to other cities to fly. Look at the Austrians and how protective they are of their Austrian Airlines. Remember some years ago when LH wanted to replace them with EW there was a massive uproar in Austria. Are they less smart than Slovenes? Or Belgians who recently did not allow for EW to replace SN? Are they also less smart than the Slovenes?

National airlines when properly run can be a charm for the country. Transfer passengers allow for more flights to be opened which means more planes needs to be leased which also means more people need to be hired. What are the benefits of successful national airlines in places like Greece, Latvia or Turkey?

Let's not forget something, Adria was an absolute failure. It was an airline that lost its compass, that didn't know what it was in the end while debt and losses kept on growing. Croatia Airlines on the other hand had everything it needed to create a massive hub in ZAG which it didn't. It even got over €132 million in the last couple of years and what did they do with that money? Where did they spend it?

Are you telling me places like Ljubljana, Banja Luka, Belgrade, Tuzla, Skopje... have demand to Berlin but Zagreb doesn't? Somehow I have a hard time believing that. What I think happened is that most just took either FR from BNX or U2 from LJU where prices are much lower than EW from ZAG.

We have no one to blame but ourselves for this one.

Dude you are surely right and ZAG probably has more demand than TZL for flights to Berlin, but do not put BEG in that basket.

By passengers numbers and demand BEG can't be compared to any ex-Yu airport and especially not to LJU, BNX, TZL, SKP etc

@anon 20:57

You are fully right when it comes to winter prices.

Air Serbia have finally understood it. Many years they were keeping high prices during the winter and flying with half empty planes. Now they have quite often promotions on their web site with the possibility of flying for example BEG-FRA-BEG for 92 eur during winter months (of course not at then end of December and beginning of January).

I know I was just listing ex-YU airports with flights to Berlin. However, BNX and LJU are enough to prove my point, especially BNX which has modest numbers.