Croatian start-up ETF Airways plans to commence operations this year by maintaining charter flights from the Adriatic coast to European destinations. The airline was registered in November of last year and plans to utilise a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The company is currently in the process of hiring cabin crew which will be based both at home and abroad. “ETF Airways is a new Croatian charter carrier that wants to improve the connectivity of Adriatic coastal cities with European and other destinations. At this point, we are looking for new members of our flying family”, the company said. The Croatian coast is one of the most competitive markets in the region during the summer months, with numerous airlines maintaining seasonal and charter flights from Europe and the Middle East.
ETF Airways also plans to offer wet-leasing services. The only successful Croatian airline operating under a similar model is Trade Air, which runs charter flights across the world, as well as domestic Public Service Obligation (PSO) services. The government is expected to commence tender procedures this year to award new four-year PSO contracts, which are currently held by Croatia Airlines and Trade Air. The existing PSO contracts expired on March 28, 2020, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Croatian government did not start tender procedures to award new ones and has simply extended the existing deal currently in place.
Croatia has had a number of charter and scheduled airlines in the past, each with varying degrees of success. Among them are Dubrovnik Airline, Anic Airways, Air Adriatic, Air Croatia, Sea Air, Limitless Airways, AWEX Croatia, Libertas Air and European Coastal Airlines, while others such as Dalmatian and Smile Air never took off. Based on current data, Croatia Airlines will have the largest share of available seat capacity to and from the country this year, standing at 30.2% with some 1.495.300 seats on offer. It is followed by easyJet, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Ryanair and British Airways.
I'm surprised Croatia doesn't have a second scheduled airline (not including Trade Air PSO flights here). The market seems to exist especially during summer.
ReplyDeleteYou've answered your own question. Market exists... in the summer.
DeleteAirline need to make money year-round to survive, unless, you know, you get millions every year from the government.
If you look at Volotea and Aegean, you will see these airlines have still quite seasonal market while carying more passangers with higher profit then Austrian, Air Baltic or UIA which have year round market. Problem of Croatia airlines is that they are not flying so much from the coast during the summer where they can make high profits which would cover their losses during the winter. Same are doing Volotea and Aegean.
DeleteErm... Aegean has Athens to fill its planes in winter.
DeleteSame as OU has ZAG but still seasonality is high. Aegean has more sesonal routes per year round ones then OU.
DeleteZagreb and Athens cannot be compared - at all!
DeleteI feel it will end up in the bag with the other unsuccessful airlines.
ReplyDeleteSeems like they are getting the B737 from Oman.
ReplyDeleteWhat does ETF stand for?
ReplyDeleteEasy to fly
DeleteOhhh. Why not just call it that?!? Sounds better than ETF.
DeleteElektrotehnički fakultet :D
DeleteSomeone mistakenly wrote E in stead of W in their official name.
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, this is great. Finally a local airline fully dedicated to the coast. I also like their neutral branding, no need for nationalistic branding to bring tourists to the coast.
+1
DeleteBad news for OU.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteThis will never get off the ground.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteTo many variables to mention.
DeleteActually I think this type of airline, that will focus on ACMI in winter and charters in summer has the greatest chance of success.
DeleteBecause it is an expensive business.
DeleteThe question is why has Croatia Airlines never started operating charter flights on a wider scale from the coast?
ReplyDeleteOr from anywhere for that matter.
DeleteBecause they were unable to compete. For that you need a competent workforce.
DeleteThey should work more with foreign tour operators. Although it makes sense that foreigners will work with their local airlines and not OU.
DeleteThat is a long list of failed airlines.
ReplyDeleteAir Croatia actually had a great network. OU later introduced most of their routes.
DeleteI remember Sea Air. It was based in Osijek.
DeleteThe only serious one out of all of them was Dubrovnik Airline.
DeleteI'm really hoping that some day someone serious like Eurowings bases a plane in a secondary Croatian city and develops a network on a yearlong basis.
Delete@9.22 Quite a few tour operators actually booked with Air Croatia. But all of them got burned in the end.
DeleteAny idea where they will be based?
ReplyDeleteIs there a link for the cabin crew job?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.posao.hr/oglasi/kabinsko-osoblje-b737-m-z/715989/
DeleteThank you!!
DeleteThanks for sharing
DeleteGreat, another overly ambitious project that is bound to fail.
ReplyDeleteThey could have went with a better name, something more local, or even regional.
ReplyDeleteThere is no need for projects like this. This will never take off. The only way forward is for the state to announce a tender for PSO which would be awarded to some EU-based company. This PSO would be for year-round operations between ZAG and other airports within Croatia. Everything else should be left to the market to regulate.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's the issue with PSO being awarded to Croatian carriers?
DeleteAnon 09:16
DeleteWell, Croatia is an EU country so PSO can only be rewarded to EU companies. And it is, to OU and C3, these are EU airlines.
Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI think potential customers are becoming very wary of new airlines. There failure rate is astronomical. I would never book with an airline younger than 3 years.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Especially when you see respectable carriers with decades of history shutting down overnight.
DeleteI hope that these ideas will become a reality.
ReplyDeleteNot likely
DeleteGood! Croatia needs an airline with aircraft based on the coast.
ReplyDeletePreferably a scheduled one.
DeleteNo, not a scheduled one because it would struggle big time in winter.
DeleteWhat did Dubrovnik Airlines do with its fleet and staff over the winter season?
DeleteStaff received basic salary and fleet was parked at Dubrovnik airport. It was possible because of high revenue figures during the summer season.
DeleteThey did fly a fair bit during the off season on Hajj charter flights from Africa and the Middle East as well as football charters flying supporters around Europe for various competitions.
DeleteWhere do they come up with these names?
ReplyDeleteTheir proposed livery is better than Flybosnia lol.
DeleteTrue, plane looks good.
DeleteLogo: https://www.posao.hr/pd/html/715989/ETF-Airways-logo.png
DeleteThe names of these Croatian start ups are going from bad to worse.
DeleteIt really is such a stupid name, what a crappy choice. I hope they give it a second thought.
DeleteThey can certainly get some cheap lease deals now,betting that covid will somehow disappear before the summer. But, what do you do for 8 months of the year
ReplyDeleteWell if you notice, they plan to offer ACMI. So fly from other parts of the world on behalf of other airlines.
DeleteACMI at the moment and for next couple of years is such a great business opportunity, as all airlines are utilising 100% of their fleets, and they really need to wet-lease aircraft from other operators.
DeleteTime for a reality check.
Reality check :Avion Express, Lithuanian ACMI operator, operates succesfully throughout covid crisis, leasing out its fleet at this moment in Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Kosovo, with ongoing negotiations for further leases
Delete1st December 2020: "Avion Express to request protection from creditors"
DeleteYes, they are doing extremely well.
The same thing American big 3 did. Protection in case of. Thinking ahead. Shows how good managing looks like. The main issue is that they DO OPERATE, even during covid, and receive no stare aid. Enough for me.
Deletestate aid, not stare aid
DeleteSo "operating successfully" means not being able to pay off debt. Interesting definition of success.
DeleteThere are so many ACMi airlines around the world that will be doing this and there will be much less need for ACMI leases in the years to come as so many aircraft are grounded.
Delete"Operating succesfully" during covid crisis means reducing fleet from 22 to 15, changing contracts for operational personnel, reducing costs in way acceptable for both parties, managing to change lease contracts for part of the fleet for only hours flown are paid, terminating contracts for part of the office personnel which was modest even before, operating own charters in addition to ACMI operations, flying cargo with passenger configured planes, and above all, finding new clients and LEASING OUT half of its existing fleet during pandemic when aviation generally is collapsing. Plus administrative protection mentioned before. But I believe you belong to the group which believes that succesfully operating means having 50%more employees than needed working on invented positions non existent in real aviation, and getting generous subsidies, covid or not
DeleteFar from it, I keep it simple and just think all debt, loans etc. should be paid on time, if an entity (person or a company) is to be deemed successful.
DeleteIt is very simple and they are not succesfull but VERY succesfull and excellently managed company. Not only that they pay all their debts and loans on time, but make PROFIT after everything is paid. And the best proof they are succesfull is they manage to survive during covid/corona being ACMI operator. If you don't want or cannot understand that we live the crisis never seen in aviation before, I am sorry.
DeleteSo why the need to apply for bankruptcy protection, if all their debts and loans are paid on time?
DeleteYou don't see the 3 big LCCs (EZY, W6 and FR) applying for bankruptcy protection.
I have nothing more to say to person who does not make distinction between heavily subsidised LCC's and ACMI operators
Delete"Heavily subisidised LCCs"
DeleteWho is subsidising FR to fly STN-BER? Or Wizz to fly WAW-BCN? Or easyJet to fly MXP-AMS?
Živi bili pa vidjeli
ReplyDeleteI hope this succeeds and support any kind of enthusiastic idea, especially in aviation industry.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteDue to low plane leasing rates, it is quite easy to set up an airline now a days.
ReplyDeleteBut it is not so easy for it to succeed.
DeleteAnic Airways, what was that?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.planespotters.net/airline/Anic-Airways
DeleteVideo from the inaugural flight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ETmd3Jo7c
DeleteThere is demand for the coast but only on a seasonal basis.
ReplyDeleteThey plan to start an airline in the age of corona?
ReplyDeleteThis is when charter airlines could have the most chance of success. Why do you think Wizz Air and Etihad are all of a sudden launching charter divisions.
DeleteBecause they are trying to increase fleet utilisations, as they know they will have under-utilised fleet for couple of years.
DeleteEASY TO FLY
ReplyDeleteETF AIRWAYS Ltd. – Professional charter and ACMI/wet lease services. https://www.etfairways.com/
Maybe they just set it up so they can apply for PSO
ReplyDeleteThere are certain terms and conditions for applying to that and being a new airline disqualifies them. So it has nothing to do with that.
DeleteInstead of a Let410 a B738?
DeleteA big opportunity for them would be to start flights from Tivat.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteWhat or from where is the livery inspired by or comes from?
ReplyDeleteAt least someone is hiring in the aviation sector which is great news.
ReplyDeleteGood, finally a replacement for Dubrovnik Airline.
ReplyDeleteLets hope this airline actually works out unlike Dubrovnik Airline.
DeleteActually, I think the CEO previously worked for Dubrovnik Airline (as a pilot).
DeleteWhen they start to talk about new airline that will start with aircraft like Dash 8 or ATR 72 I will believe this story... But with this A320/737 tales it just hilarious to listen to them, at least from my point of view...
ReplyDeleteDubrovnik Airline had Fokker 100 aircrafts, and they are cheap to maintain but have high consumption.
Anon 10:11... If you do charters and ACMI, you can't use Dash or ATR. Dubrovnik Airline never had F100s, they had MDs and one 320.
DeleteI find it very interesting that Bulgaria has two relatively respectable charter airlines (BH and Bulgarian Air Charter) which have existed for years. But on the other hand, in addition to the sea, Bulgaria has developed ski tourism unlike Croatia so their planes have some demand to fly during the winter period as well.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat, Bulgarian Air Charter and Balkan Holidays have quite an experience but they also do charters to Egypt and Turkey. Elektra and ALK are not doing bad but still quite younger.
DeleteBulgaria has 4 charter airlines? wow
DeleteWhat will they do during the winter? Even Croatia Airlines has problems with fleet utilization during the slow season, let alone this airline
ReplyDeleteACMI wetlease.
DeleteDalmatian, Libertas, Blue Line, Limitless, Air Croatia, ETF... I can't keep up
ReplyDeleteSee comments below for full list!
DeleteThis is getting embarrassing. Please stop.
ReplyDeleteThe failed airlines list
ReplyDeleteAdriatic Skyways
Adria Wings
Air Adriatic
Anic Airways
Air Croatia'
Dalmatian Airlines
Dubrovnik Airline
European Coastal Airlines
Istria Airlines
Ivan-Air
Laus Air
Limitless Airways
North Adria Aviation
Zadal Airline
It's the same case in most countries. There is an endless list of failed airlines. The aviation industry is very expensive.
DeleteWishing them the best of luck!
ReplyDeleteCrazy in this economic climate
ReplyDelete