Croatia - Greece market set for strong growth


Flights between Croatia and Greece will see significant growth over the coming summer season with more destinations, greater capacity and three airlines maintaining services between the two countries. It comes after Greece’s Aegean Airlines submitted a nonbinding bid for the acquisition of Croatia Airlines. This summer, Aegean will increase capacity on all of its routes to Croatia. The airline will maintain three weekly services between the capital cities of both countries, with the Airbus A319 to be deployed twice per week and the A320 once per week. Last year, the carrier operated four weekly rotations on the route, however, all were run with the 78-seat Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop.

Furthermore, Aegean will exclusively utilise the A320 on its five weekly flights to Dubrovnik, instead of the Dash, while services to Split will be maintained four times per week with the A319 instead of five weekly with the turboprop aircraft. In addition, Aegean has expanded its codeshare partnership with Air Serbia to include all of latter’s destinations to Croatia - Dubrovnik, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar and Zagreb. Next summer, Croatia Airlines will continue to run six weekly services from Zagreb to Athens via Dubrovnik. Flights will operate with a mix of Dash 8s and wet-leased Bombardier CRJ1000 jets from Air Nostrum. Currently, the Croatian carrier has no codeshare agreement in place with its Star Alliance partner Aegean.

Low cost airline Volotea will resume three weekly flights between Athens and Dubrovnik this summer. It will be complemented with the introduction of a new two weekly service between Athens and Split starting April 19, as well as a new route from the island of Mykonos to Dubrovnik, commencing May 30. It marks the first time Croatia will be linked with a scheduled air service to any city in Greece other than Athens. “These are very attractive additions for a very dynamic market in which we believe there is still good room for growth”, Carlos Munoz, the CEO and Founder of Volotea said. A total of 33 288 Greek tourists visited Croatia in 2018.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Do OU and A3 codeshare? I find it odd that they do with JU when they have a Star Alliance member with a much superior Croatian network in ZAG.

    Croatia has a long way to go before they catch up with Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Serbia and Italy and connectivity to Greece. Maybe it's time for OU to consider SKG. After all JU seems to be doing well there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      You would find the answer to your question if you read the article.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Wasn't it just easier to answer the guy Anon 09.07 than to play smart?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:11

      Or it might have been easier to read the article before commenting on it.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:14

      Maybe he read but skipped that part? And anyway you are not contributing in any way to the quality of the discussion, please go vent your frustration elsewhere.

      Anon 09.04, no they do not code-share at the moment.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:18

      Can someone please explain what’s the reason for two star alliance members NOT codesharing flights? I thought that’s one of the main reasons of being an alliance member. Thanks!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:26

      LH doesnt codeshare with OU as well on some routes (like SKP) which os odd now that one of their codesharing partner JP to the region is gone. but OU codeshares with BA lol

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:46

      JP and LH used to code-share to SKP?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:40

      yep (and not only to SKP). OU codeshares with SAS on this route at the moment (with LOT only on a sunday when theres no LOT flight to SKP, and BA is an interline from what i can see on ba.com). I would have expected a LH/OU codeshare on ZAG-SKP but what do we know about LH...

      Delete
    9. OU and LH don't have codeshares on RJK - MUC which they both fly. Direct flights between Croatia and Germany. So no SKP comes as no surprise to me. Actually nothing can surprise me when OU in question :(

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    So in the end they won't be offerignt that many extra seats since they are reducing frequencies on some routes? I would rather have daily Q400 than three weekly A320. Connectivity is king.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      They reduce by one weekly frequency but more than double capacity on all flights. So it is significantly more.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      It's an extra 150 one way seats per week.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      Despite your attempt to belittle, Aegean will actually have 1,896 one way seats per week to Croatia, which is an increase of 787 seats per week.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:15

      150 additional seats refers to ZAG, not all of Croatia since that's what Anon 09.05 was talking about, about ZAG not all of HR.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:15

      Three A320 series a week is much better than 4 Q400s.
      Only a hater would be unable to see that.
      Plus the added convenience to passengers a faster journey time.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:31

      According to the article, Aegean will deploy the A319 twice a week and the A320 once a week. So it's not all A320. I think frequencies are what's making an airport competitive because it allows more connections at the other end. My guess is that Aegean mostly saw local traffic so they are sacrificing frequency in favor of capacity.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:31

      In ZAG alone A3 would be offering 60% more seats!
      What are you talking about Anon 09:05???

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:35

      Exactly, what is he talking about? ZAG is finally starting to shine, Aegean is booming there, Paris will be three daily in summer and a link to China or New York will most likely happen this year too. 2020 is ZAG's year, 3.7 by the end for sure!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:38

      This massive boost in ZAG will start from the first day of the summer season and will last until October. Then it goes down to just two weekly Q400. Crazy seasonality I guess.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:43

      Has A3 published their winter 2020/21 schedule yet?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:49

      No but 01.10 to 30.10 is still summer timetable.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous13:20

      China and New York from ZAG...

      LOOL

      Delete
    13. Anonymous15:41

      Whats so funny About that? You do realize that ZAG has Air Canada, Air Transat, Emirates and Korean. So seasonal flights to China and NYC makes sense considering the arrivals from those countries and those will be realised.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous16:08

      Give me more Europe flights and LCCs. I don't give a ... of those you mentioned.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous16:42

      It is funny that you have been speaking about it for years, maybe decade for JFK. And still nothing.

      Who would be flying to ZAG from US? Which airline? Who would be flying to ZAG from China?

      Mind you there are already the rumours KE will totally leave ZAG...Swiss and CSA won't be flying at all to ZAG anymore. And you dream of JFK and China...

      Delete
    16. Anonymous17:03

      OU is in Star Alliance and has a great regional network, you do the math ;)

      Delete
    17. @The first An. 09.31, in response to An. 09.15
      If commenting on this blog, please be so kind and learn the difference between "A320" and "A320 series", which is what 09.15 wrote. Thank you.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous17:37

      Re anon 16.42.

      Do you know that number of O&D from NYC / ORD to ZAG is the highest among ex Yu destinations. Pls check PDEW before you comment. It is not sufficient to support a profitable flying, but it is the highest, so stop laughing.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous06:51

      Why is constructive criticism immediately deleted? What rules did I break by saying that if there was demand there would be flights? It's true. He also doesn't present any facts to back his claim to ZAG is number one, supposedly even more than BEG which has non-stop flights.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    Bravo Htvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:15

    They could try out Pula next. I know Zadar didn't work out but perhaps Pula could.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:17

    Smells like take over

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Smells like good news for Croatian tax payers and travelers.
      Bad news for OU managers though. ;)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      Hope Aegean will buy OU!

      Delete
    3. Petar09:33

      It would be fantastic news for OU if they are bought by Aegean!
      They are ideal for their market and business model .

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:33

      Aegean has been expanding in the Adriatic for a while now. They fly to Montenegro, have close to 12 daily to Italy in summer to various destinations and now they are looking at Croatia. On the other hand, Aegean has not seen total success in places like Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest or Sofia where they face competition either from local airlines or LCCs. They know they can take OU in their home market so they are going for a kill.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:36

      @Anonymous 09:33
      What kill are you talking about?
      They want to buy OU, not kill it!
      Plus in Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia have the largest market share by far. Including LCCs.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:41

      Anon at 09:36 is right.
      They are also the biggest airline in Vienna, Prague and Warsaw to Athens markets. They are very strong in central and eastern Europe.
      Belgrade is probably the only market that they are in second place.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:43

      They don't have in VIE, BEG or BUD.

      Budapest: A3 x4, W6 x5
      VIE: OSx 13, W6 x7, A3x7
      BEG: JU x14, A3 x4

      They also have far less flights out of IST. They do dominate in SOF and in OTP.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:46

      Just to add a few more, Aegean was crushed in Cluj by Wizz Air.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:48

      Anon 09.41 how about you do some research before trashing BEG? It's obvious that in many markets out of Athens Aegean does not dominate. Wizz Air is becoming a force to be reckoned with in Athens and they are making Aegean's life quite difficult.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:54

      Interesting that LO has not returned to Athens or that JU will have more flights than OS in summer. Time for OU to expand in Greece in stead of just copy pasting their timetable. Even YM is more proactive than they are.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:10

      Anon at 09:48
      W6 closed its base in ATH.
      That is not dominating and they haven't added any new destinations.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:13

      W6 flies to Cluj from ATH only seasonaly.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous10:40

      In SOF they operate 8 weekly with A320 but facing harsh competition with FR offering daily flights with prices as small as 9,99€!
      Interestingly they have a code share with FB on the SOF-VAR and SOF-LCA routes.
      Their late evening flights are apparently popular.
      In ZAG, it´s good to see a nice capacity increase meaning there is clearly demand. Plus, I think they will add more frequencies once they receive all their A32N, which will be inititally be deployed on busier routes such as BRU, AMS, LHR, etc.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous10:47

      Wizz Air never had a base in ATH so they couldn't have closed it. As for CLJ, Aegean used to fly in summer as well but they failed miserably.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous10:53

      Yes, epic failure for A3 in a gastarbeiter route like CLJ. Disaster!
      Meanwhile they fly triple daily to IST just like TK.
      I don't know how come you came to the conclusion that "they also have far less flights out of IST" but I guess their decision to go for OU's privatization might have upset some concerned neighbors.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous10:58

      Wrong... again.
      TK operates four daily flights to Athens in summer where two are on a mix of A333/B777. Aegean has three daily.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous11:21

      So TK operates three daily in ATH during most of the year, same as A3 but they "have far less flights out of IST".
      LOL!

      Delete
    18. Anonymous11:40

      For both anonymous 10:10 and 10:47. Wizz air has base in Athens and flies to Budapest, Kutaisi, Kiev–Zhuliany, London–Luton, Vienna and seasonal: Chișinău, Cluj-Napoca, Katowice, Vilnius

      Delete
    19. Anonymous12:20

      Wrong again Anon 11.21. Wow you just can't catch a break.
      If you check Aegean's website you will see that in winter they operate 18 weekly to IST with the middle flight usually seeing Q400.
      TK on the other hand has 26 weekly departures.

      No, Aegean doesn't have a base in Athens. That's Ryanair you are confusing them with. That said, Wizz Air has a big presence there.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous12:35

      Anonymous at 12:20
      Your epic failure continues!
      Aegean's own site shows three daily flights to IST from ATH!
      Same as TK's!
      Boy you are desperate! And so upset that you wrote "Aegean doesn't have a base in Athens".
      You really just can't catch a break, do you?

      Delete
    21. Anonymous12:38

      * And all A3's flights are on A320 series. Boy get serious!

      Delete
    22. Anonymous13:27

      Open Aegean's website, go to timetable and you will see that they have 18 weekly to IST.

      Also do you lack so much creativity that you have to repeat what I wrote in my posts? I guess your creativity as good as your knowledge of aviation.

      Oh and I just noticed that the evening (21.40) departure to IST on TK is even now in winter on a widebody. Yesterday A333, tonight B789. So not only do they have more frequencies but also more seats.

      Better luck next time. ;)

      Delete
    23. Anonymous13:41

      21.01.2020 Aegean has two flights that day, both on A319.
      TK on the same day has three flights: A321, A321, B738, A333.

      Delete
    24. Anonymous13:41

      *four flights

      Delete
  6. Keep Calm and visit Dalmatia!09:17

    Aegean increased seat capacity to ZAG from ATH by 60% this coming season!
    Plus all the increased capacity to the coast.
    That is impressive growth. Croatian tourism will be on fire this year too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:35

      Bad news for OU though.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:37

      Anon at 09:35
      LOL!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:18

    I'm still intrigued by the Mykonos-Dubrovnik flight. Who are they are targeting with this route?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      Wealthy tourists!
      Especially from US, Canada, Australia ans far east Asia.
      They are visiting the Greek islands and then they want to visit Dubrovnik too.
      Even Qatar airways and Gulf Air launched direct flights from Doha to Mykonos and Santorini islands.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      * Doha for Qatar Airways and Bahrain for Gulf Air.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:32

      cruise ship related maybe

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:46

      It's quite normal that Asian, American or Latino tourists combine Croatia with Greece , so this price is no surprise. JMK and DBV are extremely popular destinations.
      V7 is currently offering a quite nice timetable between both cities:

      DBV-JMK

      Wed 0850 1120
      Sat 1110 1340

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:55

      +1
      Mykonos, Santorini and Dubrovnik are all high class premium destinations.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:44

      90% of them are Americans. For many years the combo was Italy/Greece but lately more and more tourists visit Greece and Croatia. I think is a smart move to have a flight between Mykonos and Dubrovnik. I am pretty sure in the future we might have flight also from Santorini to Croatia

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:21

      Any source to back that 90% claim?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:21

      ok it might be not 90% but most are Americans. We dont care where they come from but that there is an interest from tourists to visit both countries.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:51

    Ok this is a seasonal increase in ZAG during the height of summer. Other flights are basically charters for Greek tourists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      What on earth are you talking about? Seasonal charters??

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:04

      They are scheduled destinations, not charters. And I would bet that most of the travelers are not even Greeks but other Europeans, Americans, Asians and Australians who are visiting both Greek islands and Dalmatia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:10

      Of course ;)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:50

      These flights will operate for a total of 4 months.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:52

      And that somehow makes it a charter? Maybe you should google what charter flights are.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:57

      Whether they are scheduled or charters this flights they sure make some people angry...

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:59

      No. I think it makes some people angry when they find out that these flights are mostly for Greek holidaymakers. Don't know why they get triggered by that.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:52

    Nice. Didn't know Volotea was also launching Athens - Split.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:36

      OU has been operating SPU-ATH for a Long time already. Next year also Saturdays on the A319. So both DBV and SPU have 3 carriers on the ATH route.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10:10

    So, they want to buy Croatia, yet they codeshare with Air Serbia on alsmot all routes to Croatia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      If they buy OU that would probably the end of those codeshares with JU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:48

      Key word: if.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:40

    Great news.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous10:51

    A320 might be an overkill. Good luck to both A3 and ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous11:26

    Last summer I flew the route on the dash. The flight was totally full and I was moving from Athens to Zagreb and had a lot of stuff with me. Unfortunately space on the dash is very very limited and I barely got my trolley in the overhead compartment. Besides that I had a big bag under the chair in front of me which ended up in me having no space for my legs/feet at all. Since it was just a 2 hour flight I was a bit uncomfortable but fine but very much wished for a A319/A320. So definitely 3x per week A320 above 4x pw dash, also this is just the start I am sure that from next year we will already see 4x or 5x pw A320.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:32

      If A3 ends up buying OU I think in 2021 there would be two daily flights between ZAG and ATH with each airline feeding each other's network.

      Delete
    2. It would be great if OU and A3 Codeshare and coordinate their flights from Athens to Croatia for the tourists from the American continent since most of them arrive in summer season at about 11 or 12 o'clock in the morning in ATH (DELTA, UNITED, AMERICAN, AIR CANADA ROUGE), and some of them later in the afternoon (EMIRATES. AIR TRANSAT, NORWEGIAN). They could share the traffic to Croatia very nicely.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:37

      They could, couldn't they?

      Delete
  14. Anonymous11:37

    2 world tourism superpowers united. Well done Gre-atia !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like this one Gre-atia! Definitely two nicest coasts, not only in Europe!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:39

      The matter of taste

      Delete
    3. You are absolutely right. Some people like skembici and crevca, I prefer scampi cardinale and lobster

      Delete
    4. Anonymous08:36

      And I prefer Mallorca and Turkey.

      Rocky Dalmatia - thanks but no thanks

      Delete
    5. Neither I tried to convince you to come neither will try to make you change your mind. Bon voyage to Mallorca and Turkey, there are enough visitors to Croatia who appreciate and respect its offer and its "rocky" beauties :)

      Delete
  15. Anonymous12:19

    Can someone share what are the ZAG developments during the upcoming summer so far?

    Additional A3 capacity
    Additional AF frequency
    KE 789 arrival
    New routes to SOF & TGD

    Anything else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:23

      SOF and TGD are not confirmed yet, OU merely expressed their interest.

      On another forum Purger wrote that he has information KE is planning on suspending ZAG due to high costs. If that's true only time will tell.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:28

      Additional BA freauency

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/01/british-airways-gears-up-for-ex-yu.html

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:32

      Aeroflot is downgrading ZAG to daily SSJ in summer. I guess LJU increases have affected them.

      Flights are already bookable on their website.

      Quite a drop.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:26

      I also realised that TK seem to sending A321 and B739!.
      LO will send E195
      AF and BA will send A320 all the time.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:35

      TK B739 is not that dense, I think they have close to the same amount of seats as the A320. They have an extra fuel tank for African flights.

      Looking at flights to Paris, OU will be at a disadvantage to Paris especially on days when they depart ZAG at 09.00. The 06.50 on AF is much, much better especially for business travellers.

      Delete