Expected unfortunately.

Nice to see that they managed to get out of the contract with MNE. I guess MNE knew OU had a good legal standing given the extraordinary circumstances. I doubt they'll be back though. Economic situation in Croatia is very difficult and OU struggled even when times were good.

I still think there might have been P2P demand between Podgorica and Zagreb no?

TGD never made sense so this is expected.

Hope they will consider it for next year.

:(

Completely understandable and very smart move.

Do you maybe know what were the details of the contract?

+1

+100 Agree. New routes need some time to mature and under these circumstances better to save the expenditure.

Someone reported they got money for marketing activities which is an aviation standard.

Unfortunate but considering the circumstances understandable. In the grand scheme of things its just 6 weekly flights. They can start them next year when things calm down.

OU needs to abandon this game of going after transfer passengers. They are not winning and they are only successful in a few destinations as well as those where they get money (OMO). Time to focus on point to point passengers and to fight for the coastal traffic. Transfer game requires deep pockets and massive investment like the Serbs did for JU. OU got so much money but used them on random, stupid things. Where did the €100 million go from a few years ago? Management only started thinking of solutions when they ran out of taxpayer money.

I'm assuming they won't be getting that extra Q400 they planned to lease from Austrian?

But who did they expect to carry in TGD? Almost no locals and very bad connectivity.

Sad. It will be good if some regular routes aren't cancelled too (not just OU but all other airlines too).

Of course.

OU caries a whole lot of transfer passengers during the summer. Their domestic flights in summer are 90% transfers from the rest of Europe.

There was obviously sufficient demand for three weekly flights on a 80 seat plane.

Why obviously? OU is not really a shining example of professionalism.

Aha and what happens when winter comes or if there is no summer Eason like this year?

Realistically speaking, can OU survive corona? I mean they'll get the money but with demand not picking up how long before they need a new capital injection?

Well this is the first time "there is no summer season". You wrote as if it happens every few years and it is a normal occurrence. Other airlines will also be hit by there being "no summer season" regardless if they are transfer or P2P airlines.

Of course in winter there is less transfer demand. That's why there are fewer frequencies on domestic flights in winter. And you think if they focused purely on coastal traffic like you suggest there would be demand for flights from Dubrovnik or Split to 10 or more European cities in winter? Unfortunately not.

The government will give them the support they need. Once the tourism industry recovers, OU will be needed (and even more so before with fewer foreign airlines flying).

Well last Anon your comment would make sense if OU was not being pushed out of the coast year by year. Look at how much easyJet took away their market and now even Volotea is. OU couldn't even get the contract for winter charters. First Aegean got it and now that Turkish airline. This is the new normal in Croatia where many local companies are being replaced by foreign ones. Winter is not the problem here, it's the politicians who are not allowing competent people in OU to do their job! #uhljebi

I'm not saying that the management did a good job, far from it. I'm just not convinced the airline should abandon flights from Zagreb and fly from the coast instead. It is very difficult to compete against easyjet with 50 euro fares to the coast.

if there ever was one

didnt OS shelved all of its Q400 because of the situation?

who is/was flying from LJU then?

* They announced the phase out of all Q400s last year, before the coronavirus.

Don't know but there must be a reason why YM boosted LJU while they don't fly to ZAG.

You misunderstood what I wrote, I did not imply they should leave ZAG just that they should focus on O&D market.

CROATIA AIRLINES na aparatima! Kad turistička godina bila odlična kao 2019 , i tada oni su bili u teškim gubicima.

Tvrtku na daljinsko upravljanje vodi izvesni Jasmin Bajić kojem je referenca da je sa Ivanom Mišetić napisao knjigu , da je kćer Ivana Mišetića Tena, čak šefica kabineta premijera Plenkovića, te da je počeo ručati u bistro Deno na Ljubljanica gdje jedu svi Bandić ljudi te je tako otkrio da ga Milan Bandić drži!!
Za vršioca dužnosti predsjednika uprave Croatia Airlines biran je četiri puta zaredom po šest mjeseci šta rekord nad rekordima!! Sa Croatia Airlines je nulti interes pi u prošloj uspešnoj gornji nitko nije ponudio niti kunu za nju.

CROATIA AIRLINES na proslavu svojih 30 godina nije pozvala svog prvog direktora stjepko sarjanović a koji kunu nije uzeo, ali je pozvala tog Ivana Mišetića koji ju je tužio na sudu i traži da mu isplati pet i po miliona KN , a teško ju je oštetio sklapajući loše ugovore za prodaju karata Hrvatima u Americi!! Zbog čega je direktor kučko bio prisiljen prodati slotove na londonskom aerodromu Heatrow!!!!

https://zpadjen.wordpress.com/.../cpt-kresimir-petrin.../

https://objektivno.hr/igra-prijestolja-na-hrvatski-nacin...

if OU (and same is aplicable for JU) is to focus only on O&D they will need to shrink at least by one third and get rid of all their Airbuses/Boeings

These were going to be seasonal routes right?

Yes

"Croatia Airlines has suspended plans to launch seasonal flights from Zagreb to Sofia and Podgorica this year."

=.=

lol oops. Thanks :)

It will certainly be a summer like no other.

Actually sad for OU and SOF. This route could have matured similar to BEG and also the success of JP when it was launched. Hopefully, OU reconsiders the flights in 2021.
LCC are now aggressively launching their 2021 timetables and OU must do the same...

I agree that airlines should hurry up and launch their 2021 summer timetable. It would allow people to book in advance (while people still have some money saved up) and provide much needed liquidity for airlines.

Was there or wasn't there a contract?

I was saying this months ago

And how easyJet can survive without support?

Bravo Hrvatska?

Of course there was. Almost all airports support new or returning airlines.

They are getting support actually. And they have a completely different business model.

All ex-Yu airlines will survive corona. You all forget that this is an election year in Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. No one is going to let these airline collapse before people go to vote.

source and links pls. thanks

I work for MZLZ. Are you that stupid to think these contracts are published online?

But how long can they last on this state aid? YM and JU are safe but OU has the EU legislation.

In same time Croatia will not fly this year to Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Milano and St.Petersburg this summer. For sure some other seasonal routes will also be canceled in few days, especially from Adriatic airports.

and sure every paper is going through your hands ...

So basically the only way to fly out from CRO will be through Frankfurt for at least another 2 months? Dalmatia will be a cutoff wolfhole once again, like in the years before the arrival of Ryanair and other LCCs :(

Plenty in the 90s which were probably worse

Good decision. Croatia is anyway too expensive for Bulgarians.

Introducing flights ZAG-SOF was a good idea
Cancelling flights ZAG-SOF is a good idea.
LOOL

No but people talk and a few weeks ago I mentioned on here that SOF was not happening. TGD is news though. So please, stop with your usual hatred BS just because you disagree with someone or something.

I don't know about this. Maybe they should have delayed it until August. The EU now seems to be willing to "save summer" so to speak. They could have left the Sofia flights.

^ I remember what you wrote a few days ago so thank you for that :) Do you by any chance know how advanced bookings went for these two routes, or which one was more popular SOF or TGD?

I am not working now because of corona virus so I don't really know. A friend from OU told me that loads this summer are horrible as there were almost no bookings the past two months. We never had something like this.

Chalkidiki is the haven of the poorer tourists. It is very close from the border.

But then hopefully with a better schedule and transfer options in both directions!!

I'm sure OS will not cancel the contract to having sold that Dash to OU so OU will have a tough time getting out of it.

Last anon +1

Thanks man and please ignore the haters.

Yes but they were supposed to phase them out until 2023, now they are being retired immediately.

What worries me is summer will be weak but winter which is always weak will be even weaker. So OU needs a lot of money to survive the next 12, not 2-3, months.

Wow there will be a lot of grounded planes these summer. Will be quite a sad sight especially now when they actually decided to expand their fleet.

Spoken like someone who has never been there. People go there not because it's cheap but rather because it's close and because nature is stunning (like anywhere in Greece really). Also Thessaloniki is right there so you can go and enjoy some shopping, food, history... For example you can't compare Split to Thessaloniki. The latter is a real city that's alive the whole year. Split is cute but rather small.

In both directions in Zagreb I meant meaning for the outbound leg from ZAG and the again for inbound pax arriving in ZAG.

OS? No they are not retiring them immediately. In contrast, I read few days ago that they will after ops restart use smaller planes more often even on citypairs that usually see only Airbus aircrafts.
In my opinion it makes sense to rather fly with a half empty Dash or Embraer compred to a 20% filled A320 in order to save costs.
What they announced is to also phase out all A319 and the 3 oldest 763s in addition to the Dashs, but only gradually.

SKG has much bigger air traffic during winter time than tiny SPU