British Airways and low cost carrier easyJet will temporarily suspended 22 routes to Croatia, primarily from the United Kingdom, after the air travel corridor between the two countries was closed last week. However, flights from other European markets will be affected as well. The cancellations come after it emerged that a passenger on last Friday's easyJet flight from Split to London Gatwick, who was exhibiting symptoms on board, was diagnosed with the coronavirus Covid-19 upon arrival.
British Airways will suspend all but one of its routes to the Croatian market. Those impacted include services from London to Zagreb, Pula and Split, while Heathrow - Dubrovnik will remain in operations. The last service to Pula is planned for September 5, to the Croatian capital on September 6 and to Split on September 27. Although its operations to Pula and Split are both seasonal, they will end notably earlier than last year. The carrier has tentatively scheduled the resumption of its Zagreb flights for October 1, although changes remain likely. A total of 141.296 passengers flew between Zagreb and Heathrow last year. The route is maintained by both British Airways and Croatia Airlines, with the latter to continue operations between the two cities.
easyJet will suspend nineteen routes to the Croatian coast during September, affecting Split, Dubrovnik, Pula and Zadar. As previously reported, the carrier is closing its bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle in the UK next month, which will affect services to Dubrovnik, Pula and Split. Other routes which will be shelved until 2021 include flights from Lyon, Milan, Naples, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly to Split, from Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Naples and Paris Orly to Dubrovnik, from Amsterdam, Basel, Berlin and Liverpool to Pula, as well as from Amsterdam, Basel and Berlin to Zadar. In the pre-pandemic era, easyJet was Croatia’s largest during the peak summer months, eclipsing Croatia Airlines. Overall, in 2019, it was the second largest airline in the country in terms of offered seat capacity, behind only the national carrier.
Looks as if we are going backwards now.
ReplyDeleteYep. Capacity is down in Europe for third week in a row.
DeleteAs long as countries restrict movement that will be the case.
DeleteCapacity may be down but travel is still up. Compared to early August, inter-EU travel is up 3%, Europe to Asia up 6%, Europe to mid Atlantic up 2%, Europe to Middle East up 6%, Europe to North Africa up 17%, Europe to rest of Europe up 14% and Europe to South Atlantic up 8%. Only travel that is down compared to the start of the month is from Europe to North Atlantic by 3% and Europe to Southern Africa by 3%.
DeleteThanks for the stats but I doubt the growth will last for long.
DeleteFriday 21 August was peak traffic day since 18 March in Europe. The steady traffic increase has now clearly stopped since the 7th of August. Compared to the 7th of Aug, traffic in Croatia is now down 10%.
DeleteThe quarantine measures are having an impact. BA operating its last flight to ZAG with A319 :/
ReplyDeleteWell it makes sense.
DeleteThere is still OU which will keep flying to London.
DeleteWe don't know that. OU still has to finalize its September schedule.
DeleteSeptember starts in 3 days. I think they have their schedule planned.
DeleteWell this is terrible
ReplyDeleteInteresting that only DBV survives for BA.
ReplyDeleteAny particular reason for that?
DeleteYes that is quite interesting. Curious to see what their logic is. Must be a reason.
DeleteMaybe transfers? Although I don't see from where.
DeleteScotland?
DeleteIAG and Oneworld is concentrating in Dubrovnik. Iberia, British, Aer Lingus, Vueling, American. There is much more routes and flights from them to Dubrovnik than from any other airport in region, Zagreb and Belgrade including. Second on IAG list is Zagreb, than Split, and than Belgrade.
DeleteAmerican has permanently discontinued DBV.
DeletePermanently? Really?
DeleteYes. Really. It's not a suspension just for this year.
DeleteWe will see what impact Netherlands putting Croatia on orange list will have. Now everyone from Croatia needs a PCR test when they come back.
ReplyDeleteHas KLM returned to ZAG?
DeleteSerbia which has a liberal entry policy introduced PCR (48 hours) for all arriving from Croatia and yesterday the government said they are considering a two week quarantine. Explosion of new cases in Croatia is really not helping.
DeleteOther than Serbian tourists, I don't see that policy affecting too many other people.
DeleteWell there is a considerable amount of ethnic traffic especially Serbs who live along the Adriatic coast. Also Serbia is just one of dozen of other countries that are restricting travel to Croatia.
DeleteYes like I said I don't think it's of main concern at the moment. Will create more problems for JU's flights.
DeleteGiven the exodus of airlines from Croatian airports, I doubt this will affect JU more as they can just reallocate capacity elsewhere like those booming charter traffic.
DeleteWhat @9.13 said is not true and I'm from Serbia. In fact yesterday they said that quarantine for people returning is off the table because there is no consensus about it from the people making the decisions.
DeleteThe "booming charters" guy. I can't...
DeleteConcensus will be reached once the holiday season is over and when the first infected arrives from Croatia. After all the Serbian government can't risk importing more cases from Croatia. If western Europe is shutting its doors to Croatia then we need to follow them as well. It's the responsible thing to do especially now when new cases have dropped to around 100 a day.
DeleteI'm glad you know what the government will do, what decisions will be made, when they will be made and so on. Just pointing out your original comment is false.
DeleteDenmark, Slovakia and Poland also introduced quarantine for those coming from Croatia.
Delete@9.11 Yes it has resumed flights.
DeleteKLM has 6 flights per week to Zagreb and 13 flights per week to Split.
DeleteDoubt those frequencies will last with the new quarantine measures for people returning from Croatia.
DeleteSwitzerland will introduce quarantine for Croatia next week too.
DeleteWeren't there like 350 new cases in Croatia yesterday? That's crazy though.
DeleteI had booked DBV for May 2022 with BA. Flights were cancelled yesterday. I was expecting this as they are moving LGW to LHR... but from 2 LGWDBV daily flights operating now they are only operating just 1 A WEEK LHRDBV next year. This can not be right?
DeleteAnd someone yesterday proudly proclaimed how everyone is affected except Croatia...
ReplyDeleteNumber of new cancellation in Croatia is still very low concerning nonEU countries in region.
DeleteSure...
DeleteSome good news for OU's LHR flights!
ReplyDeleteThe quarantine measures will have an impact on their loads too.
DeleteI wonder if OU will keep Split-London.
DeleteHow many routes in Croatia will eaayjet keep?
ReplyDeleteAfter this suspensions - 20
Delete*these
DeleteThank you
DeleteSo around half of their network continues to operate and the other half has been suspended.
Delete21 easyJet routes in Croatia is still operational.
DeleteThat's good but 50% of the network is suspended.
DeleteThis is why it's so important for aea country to have a state owned Airline as when there is a crisis you can't depend on other carriers to fly.
ReplyDeleteOU must be saved!
+1
DeleteBA and easyJet mostly carry tourists to Croatia. They've cancelled flights because of the quarantine, which reduced demand to almost zero.
DeleteOU could have 100 flights a day, but they would still be more or less empty as long as we have quarantine.
@ original poster
DeleteNot quite, as it won't help much unless there's market.
We need to get our epidemiological situation straight and that's when we'll have market as well.
State owned airline can't get people to fly if they don't want to fly :)
It's probably the combination of both, quarantine and low demand. Schools in the UK starts next week so for the most families the summer holidays are over. I have returned from ST on the 25th August and the easyjet flight was like 95% full.
DeleteThe real issue in terms of connectivity will be winter because many airlines have suspended flights to ZAG. I don't see BA coming back until the start of November.
ReplyDeleteWho has suspended flights to ZAG that normally flies there during winter?
DeleteIberia from Madrid, Aeroflot from Moscow and Lufthansa from Frankfurt.
Delete3 routes is not that much considering the circumstances.
DeleteAnd at the same time there will be a new route since Windrose starts flying.
DeleteWill Eurowings still be flying all of its routes?
DeleteDidn't Aegean suspend flights to Zagreb too?
DeleteThey fly seasonally.
DeleteNot really. ZAG did not have Aegean flights only in February.
DeleteSo we have now
DeleteIberia
Aeroflot
Lufthansa (FRA)
Aegean
also cancelled earlier
Czech Airlines
Swiss
Anon 09.55
DeleteEurowings is left with only one destination out of ZAG, all other ones have been terminated long before corona. Eurowings complained of high expenses at the airport.
Ok I didn't realize that regarding EW.
DeleteI think Launda and Eurowings even wanted to open a base at ZAG but costs were too high. Damn imagine if we had Lauda, that would be so cool, basically like having FR but not as trashy.
DeleteThe thing with the UK quarantine is that it is barely enforced. No one does a check up. In fact in many cases people aren't even submitting the form of their whereabouts when they land at UK airports.
ReplyDeleteTrue. They rely on your "personal responsibility" but there are people bragging on social media how they've gone back to work.
DeleteIt is obvious that we can't talk about a recovery anywhere until the virus is under control.
ReplyDeleteTell that to China. The rate of travel on their domestic flights is now at 98% of last year and next week it is expected to reach 100%.
Delete^ That's amazing actually.
DeleteBut the virus is under control in China unlike Europe.
DeleteIt gives hope of a V shaped recovery for the rest of the world.
DeleteYes but China has been closed for international arrivals since February. So of course they can go back to normal when there is little to no international travel.
DeleteBy rate of travel u mean 98% capacity on flights? Because they simply can't have such high number cuz 1) some routes have been canceled, 2) each week there is a new city/region under some kind of lockdown and 3) I know teachers are not advised to travel outside their province before the new academic year. 4) some people are scared
DeleteYes it's capacity. But original anonymous made a mistake. It's not 98% it is 88% and is expected to reach pre-covid level next week.
DeleteI am sorry about some people that will lose their jobs but mass tourism in Europe has resulted in major destruction of nature. Pristine beaches and virgin forests have been cleared to make room for concrete temples of touristic mass consumption. Corona has reminded us what a fake society we built and how we are all standing on glass legs. Hopefully many learn a useful lesson from this experience.
ReplyDeleteyou overestimate the inteligence of the human beings. the mass consumption is going to be even larger once this pandemic ends
DeleteSorry to have to tell you this, but there are no "virgin forests" and "pristine beaches" in Europe.
DeleteYour comment may still apply for some other parts of the planet though.
I've bought tickets from LHR to ZAG month and a half ago for Sept 6-8 from BA, but bought them separately, since they were significantly cheaper than buying them as a round trip. Couple of weeks later, my return flight was cancelled, but was rescheduled automatically for the earlier flight same day. Another couple of weeks later, that flight was cancelled as well and I had to choose whether I want a refund or to reschedule myself to some other flight. The only choices were Sept 7 (Mon) or Sept 10 (Thu), so I went with Sept 7, just to get an email several days later that flight was also cancelled since the last flight out of ZAG will be on Sept 6, the day my outbound flight from LHR. Luckily, I managed to change both flights to Sept 4 to Sept 6 for only additional £11.
ReplyDeleteI just gotta hope there won't be no more cancelations.
It would be great if you could do a trip report :) would be interesting to see what the service and loads are like.
DeleteHopefully no more cancellations
If I manage to fly out and fly back, there will most certainly be a report. ;)
DeleteIf BA were too cancel the flight for whatever reason, would they be obligated to transfer you onto OU or offer you another way to get to London?
DeleteNo. BA and OU are not even in the same alliance. They offer, just like most of other airlines, free change of the flight(s) or a refund in a form of a voucher or if you want to get the money back, you'd probably wait a bit.
DeleteThanks. Interesting. I was always under the impression that an airline had to provide an alternative transport if they cancel a flight. Obviously I've never had a flight cancelled so I don't really know. I'm sure BA will operate the flight. And I join the other anonymous in a call for a trip report :D
DeleteThe situation will not improve in the next few weeks, as we see today with the Polish flight ban.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Aer Lingus is suspending Split flights too.
DeleteLike I thought no country has been spared by their aviation sector being thrown into chaos by the virus and quarantines. It just happened and different times for different countries.
ReplyDeleteSome better, some worse...
DeleteYou know it's a disaster when EU countries are banning fights from another EU country.
DeleteCCC, shame on you, EU!
DeleteI'm surprised that BA sees fit to keep LHR-DBV but not LHR-ZAG??? What's the logic?
ReplyDeleteIt's possible that BA has a lot of tranfer passengers to the US from Zagreb which are no longer there so Croatia Airlines is enough to cover this route. I don't know just guessing.
DeleteReason is number of Britons owning holiday homes and properties in Dubrovnik area.
DeleteAlso, Dubrovnik became all year round tourist destination like Venice.
Thanks, didn't know about the property part. Makes sense now. Good for Dubrovnik
DeleteAre you seriously comparing Dubrovnik and Venice? lol
DeleteDubrovnik has like 10.000 passengers in winter per month, Venice has at least ten times that. Please be realistic. There is almost no winter tourism in Dubrovnik, if there were, there would be more flights.
I disagree with your comment about Venice respectfully. Venice is no longer the destination it used to be and Dubrovnik is a winter destination. Is Venice more popular? Yes. But not the same.
DeletePeople must remember, that tourism, airlines etc will always return in some form. I think that ,people have forgot who this really affects. It affects the employees who work for these companies. Many of them losing their jobs. Many don't know when they will be back or even if they will be back. What compensation are these airlines giving to their employees. It is not just this blog, but many other blogs too, who never talk about the people, who are the backbone of the company....the employees who are directly out there with the passengers on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteBA will always fly to Hong Kong, there are certain destinations that are in a special position for BA in former YU Dubrovnik is one of them. It was the last company leaving Dubrovnik before the lockdown. The number of Britons is overwhelmingly bigger than in any other croatian city or destination, and they are number 1 by statistics in the city for yrs.....other point is that Dubrovnik currently has a very small number of covid 19 cases compared to other parts of the country. I have some British citizens at my property despite the fact of quarantine upon return, some of them will keep coming.
ReplyDeleteLooks like BA has cancelled several flights from LHR to ZAG. Had a trip planned from DFW to Zagreb - BA had me connecting in LHR for a few hours then non stop to ZAG. Both flights to and from Zagreb are cancelled - but DFW to LHR is not. Pointless because my objective was to fly to ZAG not London. BA has sent no emails nor alerts about the cancellation, I just no longer see it in my ITIN BA & AA Portal. Only shows DFW to LHR. Odd. It's almost as if they abruptly cancelled some flights to Zagreb. Hopefully they open up again. Very odd.
DeleteUkraine and Hungary are introducing a ban on foreigners entering the country and a mandatory quarantine for their citizens. I fear the situation will get much worse before it gets better. Wizz Air on suicide alert.
ReplyDelete