Croatia Airlines plans Tirana service


Croatia Airlines intends on launching flights between Zagreb and Tirana this summer season, complementing its plans to commence operations to Podgorica and Sofia. The carrier’s CEO, Jasmin Bajić, and the Director of its Commercial Division, Slaven Žabo, met with Albania’s Ambassador to Croatia, Riza Poda, to discuss the future service. “Both parties agreed for talks between Croatia Airlines and relevant authorities in Albania to commence immediately in order for this important project to be realised as soon as possible”, the Albanian Embassy in Zagreb said in a statement. Earlier this week, Croatia Airlines confirmed it plans to expand its network and fleet in 2020, as well as increase capacity on some existing routes.

Croatia Airlines used to maintain flights between Zagreb and Tirana decades ago, however, there have been no services between the two capital cities in years. In 2016, Croatia Airlines outlined plans to establish a base in Tirana, along with several other cities in the region, but the strategy never materialised. In 2017 the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said the country’s newly established national airline, Air Albania, would launch operations to Croatia, although it is yet to do so three years on. Over the past few years, an average of 24.000 Albanian passport holders have visited Croatia on an annual basis. The Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, will visit Tirana in May and will be accompanied by a large delegation of Croatian investors.

Croatia Airlines is looking to establish a greater presence in the region following the collapse of Adria Airways, which had a developed regional network, including nonstop flights from Tirana to Germany. Its bankruptcy has opened up opportunities in several markets previously served by the Slovenian carrier. In September of last year, Croatia Airlines said it would be “good to expand” as a result of Adria’s demise but noted it was too early to react at that point in time. Croatia Airlines, as well as its hub in Zagreb, have benefited from a greater number of Slovenian travellers using its services since Adria’s collapse. On January 13, Nomogo, Slovenia’s largest travel and mobility provider, commenced a double daily shuttle between Ljubljana and Zagreb Airport.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    I'm happy they're expanding but haven't they left it a bit too late only to now be making plans for S2020?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      +1

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    2. Anonymous09:06

      Maybe they realized they will have excess money from the government support and decided to expand.

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    3. Like everything else in Croatia, there is no long term plan and vision, everything is done in last moment (stihijski)...

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    4. Anonymous09:17

      Well they just said that they will look into launching flights after meeting with the ambassador. It could happen next year. I think they lack planes and any extra capacity will be deployed for lucrative charter business.

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    5. Anonymous09:19

      It will be introduced this summer.

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    6. Anonymous09:23

      BTW, was there some kind of EU rule, if airline is receiving money for restructuring of business they cant use it for fleet&network expansion...?

      Delete
    7. TIA is certainly an ad-hoc move. OU had plans with TIA frequencies from couple of years ago, but in 2018.decided last minute to only go with Dublin and Mostar. OU had several other destinations in their plans other than TGD, SOF and TIA. We will see...

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    8. Anonymous10:03

      Do you know which other destinations they had planned?

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    9. Anonymous10:06

      Do they have enough aircrafts in summer for an expansion?

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    10. Anonymous10:34

      Good luck competing with JU double daily.

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    11. Anonymous10:40

      What kind of airline chooses Mostar over Tirana? o,O

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    12. Anonymous10:42

      An airline that chooses to fly a route that is fully subsidized. No brainer.

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    13. Anonymous11:00

      They get paid to fly to Mostar.

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    14. Anonymous11:01

      Not only with JU double daily to TIA but also with JU network from BEG

      Delete
    15. I meant to say that TIA was NOT an ad-hoc move, as it was eyed for some time by OU. The unfortunate set of circumstances (Adria's demise) might have propelled OU to make a move. In case they do open TIA, I would not worry about JU's double daily service, as there is enough market for OU to participate. Afterall, the length of connections (trip duration at least) is shorter when flying through Zagreb.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous11:03

      2 more flights to brac
      on friday and sonday..

      Delete
    17. Anonymous11:51

      Trip duration makes no difference here because OU will have very little frequencies to TIA so connections won't be able every day. For example to Paris OU will only once or twice per week while JU will offer two daily departures to chose from.

      Let's not forget that JU sends the A319 on certain flights which is far more comfy than the Q400.

      Delete
    18. off course that trip duration matters - no only is TIA-ZAG shorter of a leg than TIA-BEG, but also ZAG-E.U. destination (especially further you go to the west, i.e. Dublin or Spain) is shorter than going eastward to BEG and then taking the BEG-E.U. leg.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous13:06

      Flight time doesn't really matter, the overall trip time A to B is what counts.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous13:28

      You really think passengers will care for a 5 minute difference? Looks like you are grasping at straws here. Also what Spanish destinations? OU flies seasonally to BCN while JU has year-round flights to both MAD and BCN and are now launching VLC.

      OU's network is extremely modest and they will offer really bad connectivity not only when compared to JU but to AZ and OS as well.

      When looking at the situation, there is very little or even nothing that makes ZAG more competitive as a transfer point compared to BEG. Starting with the number of weekly flights offered.

      Delete
    21. @Vlad- did I mention anything about the flight time ? Point A to B duration to Ireland, Spain and Portugal for instance will be significantly lower.

      @anonymous 13:28 - no one is saying that OU will be superior compared to JU or BEG's network. This does not mean that OU is irrelevant. It's working on a smaller scale, but for the number of feeding connections that arrive to ZAG, it does have decent number of european and other flights. For instance, Dublin, Toronto, Seoul is what differentiates ZAG, and it does not eliminate it's potential to offer other connections to E.U. destinations. The third factor is the overall trip duration, like I have explained to @Vlad - backtracking to the north east to go west will matter in some instances.

      Delete
    22. Anonymous18:50

      TIA will most likely go at night meaning Toronto will requite at least 12 hours in Zagreb. Many connections won't be possible because OU doesn't fly twice a day to key European cities. This will be OU's biggest disadvantage compared to its competitors. At least JU got around this by offering two flights a day to Tirana. OU won't have this luxury, many cities simply won't have a good connection.

      AMS is another example, only morning flight so how will connections to Tirana work? At the end of the day they will offer connections only to Munich, Vienna, Frankfurt and the coast.

      Delete
    23. @An.18.50
      OU has NA codeshares leaving ZAG 08-09 am. AC arrives ZAG 08 and departs 10. 12 hours which you quote are actually 2 hours. Based on most likely. And if most likely turns to be wrong, Transat and Korean are in the afternoon. But generally I agree these couple of frequencies weekly are a joke, and as long as they don't entirely change timetable and scheduling, and double the fleet and destinations, they will remain on brink of collapse. No TIA or SOF 3 weekly can help

      Delete
    24. @anonymous 18:50 - OU has been and will be serving not only transfer pax. Mind that out of ZAG, OU almost entirely serves the capital cities, and the segments covered include business commuters on both ends of the connected markets, diaspora, croatian holidaymakers (individual or organized by an agency), and foreign holidaymakers who visit Croatia, out of which many start or end their trips by exploring Zagreb.

      FYI - Despite being poorly connected, Zagreb is the most visited city in Ex Yu, 1.46 mil arrivals in 2019., closely followed by Dubrovnik. The lenghts of stays in Zagreb are a bit less impressive, but still decent with the overall count of 2.65 mil overnights in 2019., 5th in Croatia for 2019., after Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Poreč and Split where holiday makers spend an average of 4 to 5 days.

      So, my point is that not ALL airlines live off the feeds and transfers, just saying.

      Delete
    25. Anonymous23:31

      Ok, Rouge arrives in the morning but if Tirana leaves at night wouldn't that mean transfer time would be quite long? Unless they plan on adding a noon departure once or twice a week which still wouldn't be competitive compared to Vienna, Frankfurt or Rome.

      Also what I still don't see what you are trying to say, will OU go for locals or transfers? If locals then it might depart in the morning ignoring all connections. If it goes after transfers then it will have to operate at night making connections difficult to places that don't have morning and afternoon departures from Belgrade.

      Well of course there are airlines that live without transfers but unfrotunately I fear ZAG demand is not big enough to make OU profitable. That is why they need transfers to cover what they lack in local demand, almost all airlines out there do it.

      Delete
    26. Anonymous23:32

      - and afternoon departures from Belgrade. -

      I meant from Zagreb, sorry.

      Delete
    27. Anonymous23:35

      Now that I am thinking of it, maybe a first step would be to reduce CDG to Q400 and to operate it twice a day, in the morning and the evening. Like that they could allow Paris connections to the night flights. Seems like they are being killed by not having a regional jet aircraft.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Having a feeling it will be low frequency 2-3 times per week.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Of course. Like Podgorica and Sofia.

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    2. Anonymous09:11

      They surely can't compete here with JU that will be double daily to TIA for transfer passengers.

      All they can do is to count on some P2P passengers but it does not look so good...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:18

      Their stepsister OS also has double daily flights.

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    4. Anonymous09:20

      SOF already registered 7,1 million in 2019 and OU clearly has potential to compete with the bigger players but might have trouble with LO who this summer will operate up to 4 daily flights to both its WAW and BUD hubs. They are very agressive in pricing.

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    5. Anonymous09:24

      What exactly will OU offer in SOF? Flights to Paris or Munich or maybe Rome via the coast? Unless OU launches daily flights they will be massacred in Sofia.

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    6. Anonymous09:34

      flights to the coast in teh first flace. "massacred" uff uff

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    7. Anonymous09:36

      The same was said for JP and it turned out that the transfers were quite significant. That said, the Croatian coast will definitely be a new product in SOF.
      SJJ, Scandinavia and maybe DUB.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:40

      Well let's see, I am not holding my breath.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:55

      SOF is super weak in terms of Scandinavia, now that FR closed the NYO base, no direct flights to Sweden anymore. Only to CPH.

      I am sure OU will be successful, also the amazing HR coast will be more accessible for the bugarians.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:29

      Dalmatia is too expensive for Bulgarians.
      Most will go to Varna a.k.a. the Black Sea Riviera! :D

      Delete
    11. Anonymous18:47

      The Croatian coast is extensive and has a lot to offer from poor to richer Yankee tourists.
      That said, Bulgarians will now not only have Catania or Malága cheaper options.
      Chalkidiki remains to the poorest.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous23:19

      And also Palma de Mallorca where poor Bulgarians go for leisure :)
      Croatia have plenty to offer to Bulgarian tourists. And why not also transfers to West-Balkan countries and Scandinavia? And why not Croatians to use cheap flights from SOF to some exotic destinations such as Aqaba oe Eilat where tickets for 10 EUR can be often found, or even Saint Petersburg with Wizz.
      As for DUB, FR already flies it from SOF.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    My guess is they planned to start TGD and SOF but have since made an agreement with YM and will substitute TGD with TIA, while YM will fly TGD-ZAG.

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  4. Anonymous09:07

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:16

      Bravo Shqipëri!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    I think they could be competitive. There are no major Star Alliance airlines flying to Tirana (except Aegean).

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      LOT will start seasonal flights to Tirana, but you are right.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Ernest airlines just stopped operating and Air Albania cannot fly to the EU (because the owners are Turks) so there is an opportunity for OU to catch some traffic.

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    3. Anonymous09:11

      The last time I checked both TK, LH and OS were major Star Alliance players and they all fly to TIA.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:12

      WAW is not very convenient for transfers to the rest of Europe with the exception of Scandinavia.
      But it is great for US.
      That could be bad news for JU and the Albanians it carries to JFK.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:12

      Nonsense. OS alone is double daily to TIA on A320/321.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:12

      Hhahaha +1

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:20

      Did you even bother to check the LO schedule to TIA before attacking JU? LO will have a one weekly flight at odd hours basically it's there for Polish tourists, I think it operates on Saturday.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:34

      Incorrect Anon 9.10, Air Albania already flies to Italy.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:09

    TIA is currently booming like crazy and well ahead the majority of ex-Yu cities.
    OU will no doubt be very successful with this route and take its chunk from the market.
    That said, W6 have decided to agressively expand in March following the possible demise of Ernest.
    With those levels, it is expected to handle 4 million passengers by 2021!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      no. they will try to compensate Ernest which carried some 400k

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    2. Anonymous09:28

      and Ernest is gone, not only "possible"

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:09

    Looooong overdue.

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  8. Anonymous09:13

    Seems like Adria wasn't such an insignificant airline after all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      for the region especially

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:13

    Will be interesting to see what happens but at this point I lost all hope. These are all cosmetic changes that will happen in summer like OTP, PRG, MXP... do as well. At the end of the day until they have serious departure waves they will not improve the situation at the airline. My guess is that this will be mostly for the local traffic and businesses. Don't see how they can compete with JU or OS (2 daily each) and Alitalia (four daily) for any transfers unless they go for the price which is something that will only increase their losses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:30

      "proper waves" exactly what is missing in OU route network

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    I like the sentence "Croatia Airlines INTENDS on launching flights between Zagreb and Tirana this summer season..."

    This is nothing but intention, the same like with TGD and SOF.

    Once these flights appear in their booking system we can speak about them. Not before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      they are negotiating with TIA and OHD for 2 years now

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    They should bring back SVO in summer now that SU downgraded ZAG.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23

      Did Croatia Airlines ever fly to Moscow?

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    2. Yes. 1991-1997. Airport was SVO. It was operated by B737-200.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:33

      Thank you. Do you know why they dropped it and how often they flew there?

      Delete
    4. Twice weekly. Primarily for INA which had "Bijele noci" oil fields in Russia. Also some tourists groups both directions. And actually the yields were very good thanks to INA business travel, and LF was decent (must admit not in the very beginning, but after couple of years), not to mention it were still the times when you could get two tons fuels extra for six pack beer :).
      And why they dropped it? Well I guess it was another brilliant move of the independent and competent management which had nothing to do with the politics LOL. Btw, if you don't know, INA is Hungarian now, and totally on the knees. I believe it has something to do with the topic. Cheers!

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:28

    Good news for Zagreb this year after all.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:57

      What good news? Nothing is scheduled yet.

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    2. Anonymous13:00

      It will be. Give it a rest.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:30

    All of these routes they are thinking of now should have been introduced years ago.

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  14. Anonymous09:32

    Should have started planning all these routes in September when Adria went bust and launched them ASAP. They could have launched them during the winter.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:32

    This means another plane is definitely coming this summer.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      They already confirmed they will lease extra capacity.

      According to some rumors it will be
      1 Q400, 1 A319 and 1 CRJ1000.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      That would be significant.

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    3. Anonymous10:41

      Seasonal leases or year-round?

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    4. Anonymous10:43

      Probably seasonal. Here's hoping that their winter 2020/21 fleet plans and network will be devised by a foreign partner.

      Delete
    5. Ma information is Q400 and A319 long lease, CRJ1000 seasonal lease.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:41

    This is great news. Looking forward to their expansion this year :)

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  17. Anonymous09:43

    I hope at least one of these will be year round.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:45

    Interesting they used to fly to TIA. Anyone remember what were the frequencies back then?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:50

    It is great that all ex-Yu national carriers are expanding this year: OU, JU and YM :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:57

    Should have done it years ago! Now it will be much more difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:57

    Step in the right direction.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:01

    Tirana seemed to have worked really well for Adria and seems to be doing good for Air Serbia too. Hope Croatia Airlines has good results.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:01

    Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:07

    I presume it's mainly for connecting passengers?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      Yes

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    2. Anonymous10:16

      Primarily

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    3. Anonymous10:21

      But what connecting destinations does OU offer that its competition doesn't?

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    4. Anonymous10:21

      It is not whether they offer the same destinations, it's about price, frequency and convenience.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:32

      They won't have that many connections to offer, they won't be competitive.

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    6. Anonymous10:32

      @10.21 my guess is competing airlines will actually be cheaper than OU, especially for transfer passengers.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:02

      Frequency you said?

      OU (probably) 3 pw
      JU 14 pw
      OS 14 pw

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:52

      JU is really stepping up its game in TIA. Good for them.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:11

    Any stat on how many Croatians visited Albania?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:20

      I doubt it's many.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:17

    hah interesting we were just commenting the other day how they should launch Tirana. Definitely a step in the right direction in terms of their regional network. They will have pretty good coverage if they launch TIA, TGD and SOF.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      Perhaps they could also consider Thessaloniki. Seeing also as they might get bought by Aegean.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:56

      Pristina still missing.

      Delete
    3. Petar13:57

      If OU ends up being bought by A3 I can definitely see the two airlines cooperating with flights not only to SKG but also seasonal to places like HER and LCA.
      And also OU could launch TLV which is a probably A3's busiest international destination after LCA.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:51

      Well we still have to see who gets it in the end. It will boil down to a fierce fight between Aegean, Garuda and Air Nostrum.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:19

    Well I guess this is more than what we could have hoped for.

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  28. Anonymous10:20

    Too bad OU's Italian network is really poor. This is the main market (and transfer market) from Tirana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      True. I doubt many will opt for TIA-ZAG-SPU-FCO flights, all on Q400s.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:27

      The Rome flights going via Split or Dubrovnik over summer is still the biggest mystery to me. Can't it work nonstop?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:57

      Obviously not. Even during Yugoslav period JAT used to operate Rome from Zagreb via Dubrovnik and/or Split. Croatia Airlines just continued doing the same.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:59

      Didn't know that. Interesting.

      Delete
    5. JAT NEVER operated ZAG FCO via DBV or SPU. JAT operated FCO from BEG via DBV or SPU. ZAG passengers to FCO had to fly domestic ZAG-SPU/DBV and than change, sometimes with long connecting time.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous10:27

    Hope it works.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:30

      Launching all these regional routes only makes sense if you have a strong hub.. which in my opinion they don't.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:22

      They could have a strong hub, had they flown all their flights to/from Zagreb. But they are far from being clever (or let's say business oriented, less insulting), that's why they use 50% of their summer capacity to fly directly from coastal airports to other European hubs, instead of its own.

      And then they complain about seasonality and losing money... What a bunch of losers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:32

      Greetings from Poland. Croatia is a really great place to vacation!

      I kindly disagree with the last anon. I think that flying via the hub to coastal airports means for an airline losing money. People going on vacations will be attracted only by direct flights. This is the main reason, why OU is losing market share to lcc's in Croatia. If people are supposed to go indirectly, they will decide to fly elsewhere, where they can go directly (less hassle and lower cost) and there are always so many options to choose from. That may be different in Greece, but they have so many small islands with airports that some hubbing may be required, but still major tourist spots are covered also directly.

      Example: LOT offers to DBV six weekly from WAW on E195 and one weekly from KRK to DBV on dash and one weekly from BUD on E195. Dash doesn't necessarily mean that there would be no bigger interest in KRK for DBV, just for a dash, but KRK is not their base, so they don't have many equipement there to choose from and I suppose they just fly from KRK to DBV with what they have in KRK at that time.

      But there are other airports in Poland that have no direct connection to DBV, in particular KTV, GDN, WRO, POZ. One or two weekly would really make people fly. No bigger frequency is needed as this is people going on vacations mostly for a week or two weeks. They don't need a daily flight. Going one day and being able to come back after a week or two is totally sufficient. But people will not be attracted, if a route to ZAG is opened and they are told to transfer to the coast there. Too much hassle and too big a cost. Indirectly you can go everywhere.

      I am sure that there are many many other airports in Europe that don;t have a proper coverage to the Croatian seaside on lcc!

      In my opinion if OU would use their planes that serve their business/governmental clients in ZAG during weekdays to fly tourists on weekends, they could earn money on that. This is what LOT does. They have many routes where they fly multiple daily during weekdays so that it fits their business/governmental clients that need frequences, but have like single flights on these routes on Sat/Sun. Next they use these free planes to fly tourists from WAW on weekends to places like TIA, VAR, RMI, RJK etc., where they do just one weekly.

      Have a good day.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:39

      One more explanation: I gave an example about DBV, but its the same with Split, Zadar, Rijeka or Pula. Have been everywhere and very much enjoyed!. And I am neither in favour nor against hubbing by OU during weekdays (various pros and cons, but it is a separate topic). But even if on weekdays you mostly hub, you can do direct flights to the coast on weekends. A totally different clientele!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:27

      Dear Anon 12:32

      Thank you very much for your valuable opinion and contribution. Although your opinion definitely makes sense from a customer's point of view, things become a bit different when it comes to running commercial aviation business. LCCs do exactly what you say, they operate almost exclusively point to point in lower frequencies. On the other hand, legacy (or hub) carriers tend to have a hub airport, where all flights depart and return to the same point (such as Air Serbia, or LOT before the Warsaw Airport's capacity problems arise). This way the fleet utilization as well as market coverage is maximized, by capturing passengers who won't need to normally visit the hub city (i.e. passengers flying from Sofia to Ljubljana to connect at BEG).

      The important thing is, both business models have their pros and cons, but one thing remains certain: One has to choose the model to run the business and follow its rules completely. Do you see Ryanair with its enormous fleet providing any connections in any of its hub/focus airports? Or do you see Lufthansa or KLM or any other big hub carrier flying between unknown airports without a stop in their hubs?

      This is the problem with Croatia Airlines, they are trying to implement the both models at the same time but of it doesn't work. It seems to me that there are two main reasons for this issue: 1- Political: Government forces the carrier to operate flights form coastal cities to major EU hubs to provide connectivity for its citizens, 2- Lack of business understanding: Croatia Airlines management insists on that operations from coastal cities are lucrative. This is a very good example of being short sighted, they are not aware that their profit margin as well as growth potential by feeding other carriers' hubs are completely limited and makes the carrier subject to strong seasonality.

      One more thing, please note that we are not talking about having one weekly charter flight from X city to Split or Dubrovnik to carry passengers directly, we're talking about daily CDG, FRA, AMS, MUC operations from coast. The number of connecting passengers on those flights are significantly more than the p2p passengers.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:18

      Thank you very much for your kind response.

      I understand your point is that OU should not fly pax from the Croatian regional airports to hubs of other airlines like MUC or FRA, but rather hub them in ZAG.

      I did not and cannot comment on this as this a question about whether OU would be able to establish a successful hub in ZAG. By successful I mean:

      a) covering at least 75% of Croatian O&D (sufficient size), and at the same time

      b) financially viable (profitable).

      If ZAG as a hub could cover at least 75% of Croatian O&D, the needs of Croatians living outside Zagreb (including business prospering there) would be fulfilled even without the possibility to fly from these regional airports directly to any other European hub (the latter could be guaranteed principally only by OU). If not, it would be much less convenient and much less economical to have to fly for example DBV-ZAG-MUC-ultimate destination rather than DBV-MUC-ultimate destination. If, after establishing a hub in ZAG, the former would become a norm, whether because of lack of destinations or lack of frequences in this hub, then I fear the hub in ZAG would have little point for Croatia. It is however OU/Croatian government that needs to make this feasibilty calculation. They should also be those in the know.

      My comment related to a slightly different point: weekends. 1) There is little to no interest by business/government in flights over weekend days, so hubbing for them on these days makes to me less sense. 2) Direct flights boost pax numbers, but in my view mainly those of tourist pax, not of business/government fliers. If there is a need to fly, business or government in need will always fly indirect, via this or that hub. They will find the proper routing and will not give up on a flight only because they have to transfer and have no direct flight. So direct flights do not stimulate interest in flying by business/government (they may just shift numbers between different routings) that much as in the case of flights by tourists, where direct flights give a huge boost (people start to fly that would otherwise not fly at all). At the same time I think for Croatia it may be important to boost the number of tourists arriving by air even more. So this is why I thought OU could make a different use of their planes on weekend days (whether they hub on weekdays or not).

      Kind rergards.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous10:29

    In Tirana, Italy is by far the busiest market but the airport is also underserved. Lacks connections to almost all European airports outside Italy and Germany. That's why airlines like Air Serbia do well there, because they have a huge chunk of transfer passengers. The mistake is that Croatia Airlines is not already flying ZAG-TIA-ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:59

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:45

      British Airways serves Tirana - London
      Lufthansa serves Tirana - Frankfurt
      Austrian Airlines serves Tirana - Vienna
      Scandinavian Airlines serves Tirana - Stockholm, Helsinki etc. and etc.
      It is not true that Tirana "lacks connections to almost all European airports outside Italy and Germany".
      Btw, Tirana e Zagreb had almost same number of passengers in 2019. Tirana had approximately 3.335.000 passengers in 2019..

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:55

      Major cities that fly to TIA: Milan, Rome, Athens, London, Vienna, Istanbul, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen and other main cities that are served by charters.

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  31. Anonymous12:21

    This can work-out with a decent number of frequencies. Potentially with direct connections that TIA is lacking Zagreb can provide:
    Amsterdam (no direct connection from March 2020),
    Barcelona,
    Copenhagen (this is seasonal and once weekly in TIA),
    Dubrovnik,
    Munich,
    Paris (currently Orly is only twice weekly with TIA),
    Zurich (seasonal and twice weekly),
    Bucharest,
    Dublin,
    Helsinki(once weekly from TIA),
    Lisbon,
    Stockholm (no direct flight, only charter with TIA at the moment)

    So, there is definitely potential there. The only 'direct' regional competitor is AS.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous13:15

    Impressive that OU has only 12 aircraft yet an extensive network. The A32N will most likely be deployed to Western Europe and the Croatian coast.
    SOF, TGD and TIA will either be operated by the DHC-8 or possible A319 upgrades in the peak summer season.
    What is also impressive about OU is that it has only 962 employees in total placing it into a very good regional ranking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahaha ONLY 962 employees. It's 1.3 passenger seats per employee. Starting 3 passenger seats per employee and up, gives a chance to be profitable. For the "regional ranking", I 'll refrain from commenting

      Delete
  33. Anonymous23:47

    Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Croatia Airlines planning to serve Podgorica, Sofia and Tirana starts to imitate Air Serbia regional hub model.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I could have told them this years ago..
    Useless Zagreb airport finally realises it should be flying g to places where people want to visit....Tirana is a great place to visit too.... ow what about direct to Rome and London at a reasonable price....

    Price to London is more expensive than London to New York.

    London Malaga is usually about 45 euros.

    Zagreb London one way is usually Euros.... No wonder Zagreb struggles to get visitors with these prices.

    Still a lot cheaper to fly from Slovenia....vote wo th your feet and don't use Zagreb until it listens to the public.

    Loads of flights to Brussels for the politicians to get their corruption payments ...who wants to go to Brussels it's a toilet.....

    Start shouting Croats for a better service to interest places ...
    .Slovenia and, Serbia are laughing at you and where you fly to ......

    Demand better from this scumbag government ...

    ReplyDelete

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