Zagreb Airport is engaged in talks over securing additional low cost flights in order to stimulate growth as the pandemic continues to impact the industry. The airport, considered expensive by budget carriers, has launched a new subsidy scheme to stimulate the arrival of new airlines and the launch of new routes. In order to qualify for the discounts, which includes an 80% reduction in the passenger service charge that amounts to 17.5 euros, an airline must launch services from the Croatian capital to destinations that were not previously served in either the pre-pandemic 2019 or in 2020. The carrier must also maintain operations throughout the year.
The new policy is said to have generated interest among the major European no frills airlines. Zagreb Airport is dominated by full service carriers with Eurowings being the only low cost airline serving the city. Based on the existing summer season schedule, just 3.6% of all flights from Zagreb will be operated by no frills airlines, all of them by Eurowings. However, it too noted that its airport charges are "significantly higher than most major European airports, making it less appealing for low cost carriers". Croatia's busiest airport hiked its passenger service charge following the opening of its new passenger terminal in 2017 by two euros per each international passenger. Similarly, it increased its fees by half a euro per every domestic passenger to seven and a half euros.
Europe's busiest airline, Ryanair, held talks with the Croatian Ministry for Tourism in 2018 over the potential introduction of flights to Zagreb. Commenting on its absence in the Croatian capital, Wizz Air's CEO, Jozsef Varadi, previously said, "It is a high-priced airport environment with fluctuating demand. Should the costs come down, I think they would attract us". Zagreb Airport was previously served by the likes of Wizz Air, easyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle, however, all terminated their operations from the Croatian capital, but continue to maintain a notable presence on the coast where fees are lower.
Comments
The biggest advantage for the Zagreb citizens and the tourists or business travellers will be the low fares.
ZAG remains an expensive destination from many parts of Europe so having LCCs will be just perfect!
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/03/croatia-airlines-privatisation-unlikely.html
I think I 'm still sleeping and dreaming. Is something finally changing? Old terminal, perfect for LCC. Potential for at least 3 planes to be based and operate even domestic flights. But for the beginning it would be good to see at least some new destinations and routes.
I mean it was obvious they accepted the fees as soon as they started flying to ZAG but why they left?
"Zagreb Airport’s new CEO Tonči Peović has announced that he will cut the cost of airport handling services in a bid to attract more low cost airlines to Croatia’s largest airport. New handling prices, which are a great deterrent for low cost airlines, will be revised within the next 10 days. Peović said that he is negotiating directly with easyJet and Ryanair for them to commence flights to Zagreb and offer a total of 10 new services from Zagreb to their European bases. Yesterday, Peović said that "Clearly, we should be careful not to lower our income through new, lower prices, but we should also encourage discount airlines by sharing with them the risk of new flights. However, at the same time, we should be careful not to harm airlines with which we have been cooperating for years". Peović added that the national carrier Croatia Airlines will not be receiving any pricing privileges from the airport authority."
The government offers benefits and subsidies to Korean and Emirates but not to Ryanair.
It's quite simple.
I hope not.
KIV can't be compared as it is out of EU and Tarom even before pandemic was in quite bad situation as it had loss each year starting from 2009 and in 2019 it was -35.8 mil EUR.
In a sea coast country with population of 20 mil people and EU member they had almost the same number of passengers like Air Serbia with country population of 7 mil people.
So, no good news for national air carriers in these countries.
RO had a more turbulent past with some layoffs etc but still managed to renew their fleet and sustain their large domestic network.
KIV cannot be compared to EU but it is still has its national carrier and several others operating and Air Moldova´s network is pretty okay.
I believe just offices. They used the terminal 2 yrs ago for a concert.
More yield to be made on other routes, where you don't have to compete with state-backed airlines.
"both Eurowings and Laudamotion have expressed interest in stationing aircraft in the Croatian capital. The airport's higher fees would have been avoided with the reopening of its old terminal building, which would have been used exclusively by budget carriers. However, as EX-YU Aviation News learns, both Eurowings and Laudamotion have given up on their plans for the time being following strong objections from the Croatian carrier, expressed to both the state and the airport. The company is in the midst of a privatisation process."
Very much needed !
Zagreb should not become a second Skopje .
Croatians deserve better then begging on their knees for Wizz or Ryanfall Air and their disgusting level of service .
I remember our plane being parked in front of it on multiple occasions pre-crises, because all slots at the new terminal had been filled.
Fingers crossed this goes through!