Croatia Airlines further reduces operations amid coronacrisis


Croatia Airlines has been forced to significantly reduce frequencies across its network with many European countries renewing entry restrictions, crushing travel demand. During the first half of the month, the carrier will be operating the majority of its international network with frequencies ranging from one to three flights per week, with a few exceptions. Services planned to operate just once per week include those from Zagreb to Rome (via Dubrovnik), Paris, Sarajevo and Skopje. Flights from the Croatian capital to London Heathrow and Munich will be maintained twice per week, Brussels three weekly, Zurich four times per week and Frankfurt 22 times per week. As previously reported, operations between Zagreb and Dublin have been cancelled, while the planned resumption of its Barcelona route has been pushed back until next summer season. Furthermore, the airline has suspended its flights from Zagreb to Vienna until October 22.

The airline will continue to maintain nonstop flights from Split to several international destinations including Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Rome and Vienna, with frequencies ranging between one and three weekly services. Frankfurt and Munich are the exception as they will run four and seven times per week respectively. The carrier will also maintain operations from Dubrovnik to Frankfurt and Rome once per week, as well as a one weekly flight from Rijeka to the Bavarian capital. Croatia Airlines will continue to run an extensive domestic network throughout the month with high-frequency routes including Zagreb - Split, Zagreb - Dubrovnik and Zagreb - Zadar.

Percentage of cancelled Croatia Airlines flights on weekly basis

Commenting on its operations, Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said, “We’ve had an unusual summer, and, by all accounts, autumn too will be challenging. Our company has suffered the fate of the aviation industry as a whole, but also shares the common hope we’ll soon return to regular, everyday flights, the way they were before the coronavirus outbreak”. However, the carrier is certain it will weather the ongoing crisis. The company noted, “Croatia Airlines is a carrier in its prime. Having recently had its 31st birthday, we’re experienced enough for what lies ahead, aware enough of the demands that the present moment places before us, mindful enough of our responsibility towards passengers and the more than 1.000 employees and members of their families”.

Photo by Alan Grubelić

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Is there much point operating some routes just once per week?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      That way they keep some basic connectivity.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Plus they can rebook all passengers on to that one weekly flight.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      it's more for the purpose of pilots and aircraft having rotations. pilots fly at least some hours so that they stay current and the aircraft don't need special treatment for storage.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    These entry restrictions are really having a terrible impact on airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Whole EU entry ban system is awful.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    How many flights does AF have to Zagreb if OU plans just one weekly?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    One weekly flight to Paris is shameful. How many flights does AF operate?

    22 weekly to FRA clearly indicates who is the boss at OU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      I'm shocked as well. They will really have just one flight to Paris - on Mondays. And the week after next they plan no flights to Paris whatsoever!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      On Tuesdays, not Mondays, my bad. But after next Monday they don't have a flight till 16th of October.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:15

      AF will have 4 flights next week.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:16

      It's crazy how demand from ZAG has almost completely collapsed. I wonder what the loads ar elike to FRA with all that capacity.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:43

      Well there's obviously a reason for it. They are not flying that many flights for the fun of it. If they were they would have more frequencies elsewhere

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:04

      Point is not about them flying or not but rather how demand has evaporated overnight.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:52

      @9.15 same with Sarajevo. After Monday's flight, there are none until the 16th.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    I have a great suggestion for OU. Please stop flying to all destinations and instead fly 100 times per week to Frankfurt. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      I have even beter idea.... base all Airbus fleet in FRA and start flying 200 weakly flights to ZAG, LJU, BEG, SKP, PRN for LH.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:45

      Adria 2.0
      Remember their bases in random Polish villages and tertiary cities in Germany? I even remember them trying to survive on VIE-FRA when they launched triple daily flights.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:07

    Very interesting graph. Crazy what has happened to the aviation industry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:51

      Well summer is over. Now Croatia has to rely on its own local demand which I don't think is that high. Hence, so many flights are cancelled.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:08

    Is this for real?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:09

    The only commendable thing are the international Split flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      There have always been

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:11

    Well you can be shocked and angry but OU isn't cancelling flights for the fun of it. There simply is no demand. No tourism anymore, locals are staying home. What do you expect?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      But what I don't get is how come JU has booming demand to certain places (ZRH, IST, LCA, TIV...) but OU can only make FRA work. How come people from ZAG aren't travelling at least somewhere now? I am confused.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      Bigger diaspora and more transfer passengers which have made some routes (like ATH) survive despite travel ban.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      OU also operates many flights to destinations which are not FRA but still they think how flying that amount of flights to FRA is usefull. I belive actually they make profit at FRA but still they are some more profitabile options then that.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:28

      "booming"? no airline is booming to any destination in this year

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:33

      There were few exceptions this year like increased number of flights between SPU and AMS, KIV, Poland, TIV and Belarus, BEG and Turkey....

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:45

      Anon 09.28

      Actually that's not true. Air Serbia has increased BEG-ZRH to 19 weekly (four flights on the weekend), LCA is boosted to 4 weekly, IST is daily (more than ever before) and JFK is increased from 2 to 5 weekly in October. All this was reported on ex-YU, you probably missed the news.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:47

      And how big are the decreases on other routes? How many routes have been cancelledm That's not a "boom". Please.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:05

      That's not what you said here:

      Anonymous09:28
      "booming"? no airline is booming to any destination in this year

      You spoke of ANY destination which clearly is not the case with JU. Please be more specific the next time when formulating your comments. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:49

      Also, OU had record number of flights between ZAG and FRA this summer...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:11

    Thankfully the slot rules at Heathrow have been suspended.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      I think the EU suspended them too.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:11

    Very bleak winter for everyone in terms of flights and passenger numbers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      Considering the circumstances it's understandable

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:12

    Just wait till November. It's gonna get worse

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:16

    That's a lot of flights cancelled. This will have a huge impact on their bottom line.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:16

    Such a shame

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:20

    So more flights between SPU and MUC then SPU- FRA and ZAG-MUC? Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:40

    Expected unfortunately

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:41

    Better to cancel the flights than fly empty.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:43

    What about flights from ZAG to VIE? Do they still operate them? I see OS has decreased ZAG from 6 to 4 weekly in October. Seems OS is suffering big time, they even sent one B777 to long-term parking in Arizona.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:03

      "Furthermore, the airline has suspended its flights from Zagreb to Vienna until October 22."

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:43

    The losses must be huge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      yes for all airlines at the moment...

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:48

    It's really sad it has come to this

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:50

    Hopefully they will manage to resume frequencies on most of their flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      Actually I hope it stays at this number during the winter season because I fear it's going to be worse.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:53

    Sad :(

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous09:58

    I understand 1 weekly to SKP and SJJ but CDG?!?! Seriously?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:23

      That is the demand at the moment.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:02

    Disaster

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:03

    People here just don't seem to get how bad the situation is in the aviation industry.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:43

    I would be interested to see the loads for these one weekly flights

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:43

    Do the SJJ and SKP one weekly flights still operate with Dashes or have they at least increased them to A319/A320s?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:48

      It's the Dash 8.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:49

      for both

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:53

      Actually, OU offers 2 weakly flights between ZAG and SKP this October. On Fridays with Q400 while on mondays with A319.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:55

      There is no flight to Skopje on Monday. I just went to their site to book on the 5th of October.

      05
      LIST
      05 LISTOPAD 2020NIJE DOSTUPNO

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:00

      It is possible that there are two weekly later on. Read the text carefully.

      "During the first half of the month, the carrier will be operating the majority of its international network with frequencies ranging from one to three flights per week, with a few exceptions. "

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:05

      On 23rd and 26th of October there are flights to SKP. Same as on 16th and 19th.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:07

      Like it says in the article, the frequencies listed are for the first half of the month i.e 15th of October. Although I'm certain the same schedule will be extended. There is more demand in the first half of October than the second one.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous19:40

      I also think these will be extended not only into the rest of October but for the rest of the winter season s well.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:40

      And what about Paris. Is it Q400?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous08:06

      Yup

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:53

    Half of the destinations you go onto their site to book it comes up with an error message

    Ispričavamo se zbog neugodnosti, naišli smo na pogrešku tijekom obrade vašeg zahtjeva.
    Ne možemo pronaći preporuke za vaše pretraživanje. Promijenite kriterije pretraživanja i ponovo pošaljite upit za pretraživanje. (66002 [931])

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:56

      Because there are no flights in the week you selected for that destination.

      Delete
  29. As I heard, OU will operate most of the flights throughout the winter schedule (except CDG, LHR and some SPU and DBV flights) with Q400...

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous11:04

    Paris once per week, Vienna cancelled. This is seriously bad. These should be the busiest routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:07

      WOW so Vienna was officially cancelled by OU?!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:10

      There are no flights in the system until 22.10. They still codeshare with Austrian from Zagreb and they do still fly Split-Vienna, once per week.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:20

      Maybe they made a deal with LH group. They take over ZAG-FRA and OS gets ZAG-VIE.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:14

      its comfirmed that OU is taking the VIE route from OS

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:22

      How is it when it has suspended it for the next 20 days?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:39

      Maybe for winter?

      Delete
  31. Anonymous11:14

    Really surprised by the volume of suspensions.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous11:18

    The peak summer season for them was quite promising as there were tourists coming to Croatia more than most other European countries but then the corona situation evolved and now OU is really feeling the affects. I fear winter will be really really difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous11:19

    Never in my wildest dreams did I think OU would not be flying to VIE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:19

      They will resume it in 20 days.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous11:19

    So many flights to Frankfurt, so few to other places.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:37

      It's the number 1 transfer destination to/from Croatia.

      Delete
  35. I would have thought that hub model combined with turboprop fleet would be an advantage at this time when many routes are thin and not suitable for bigger planes. Instead OU became a super feeder to LH. Opportunity missed.

    my2cents

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:27

      +1 unfortunately.

      Delete
  36. There were 16 pax on RJK toMUC yesterday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:26

      Q400?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:21

      Well in all honesty I don't think that is so bad. I know it's not a lot of passengers but it is Rijeka we are talking about, it's October and we are in a middle of a pandemic.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:25

      Are there currently entry restrictions to Germany for Croatians? I also don't think it's that bad. Q400 has low operating costs.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:48

      Not so bad?

      Can you make profit with 16 pax on Q400?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:22

      Well, you need around 30-40 pax to break even on the Q.. But your losses will definitely be smaller then if you ran the A320! Lol

      Delete
  37. Anonymous19:21

    Carnage all around.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous19:24

    I remember OU earlier said it has three different scenarios and what the losses may be in all three. As I remember the third one was the worst one and unfortunately I think we are heading towards it.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous19:24

    This could impact Zagreb Airport quite a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous19:28

    There is not much else they can do. If the demand is not there... Understandable move.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous02:02

    I am surprised by some of the comments on here. We are in pandemic and simply there's no demand at the moment for travelling. Some routes might be better then the others but that can all change in a day, two or a week if a flight ban or the border crossing is enforced. Look at the drop in Gatwick passenger numbers, from 22 million to only 7.5 million. That is a 17.4 million drop in passengers and £343m pre tax loss.

    https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/parking-review/news/66609/gatwick-hit-by-343m-loss-as-passenger-numbers-fall/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:07

      And what routes out of ZAG are doing better than others? To me it seems like everything besides FRA is seeing collapsing demand, that's not normal I have to say.

      Delete
  42. Anonymous09:35

    This are unprecedented times and we are all learning and adjusting to it. I cannot imagine what the airports are going through, it's mind boggling. Sorry, I was talking about the avaition in general and not ZG routes.

    ReplyDelete

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