Dubrovnik's Pragusa.One reveals fleet, network and launch plans


Croatian start-up carrier Pragusa.One, which aims to operate premium economy long haul flights from Dubrovnik and Prague to North America, Africa and Asia, has unveiled its plans for the future. According to the carrier’s CEO, Krešimir Budinski, the company will start off as a tour operator, by selling seven and fourteen day tour packages to Dubrovnik and Prague, while offering point-to-point flights through a wet-lease arrangement with a partner. “We are going to start as a travel agency but in the next three years we will make the transition towards becoming an airline, since AOC [Air Operator’s Certificate] certification will take some time. In Croatia, we are going to apply for an AOC which will take ten to twelve months. Until then, we will operate with our partner on a full charter basis. We expect to sign an agreement with them in the next couple of days. We will convert the wet-lease into a dry-lease by 2024. We expect to launch our booking and reservation system by the end of April, but the start of operations will depend on travel restrictions”. Mr Budinski said.

The new start-up will be headed by an experienced CEO from the aviation sector. “We have hired a former CEO from one big airline. We will be releasing more information on that soon. We will initially start operations with wet-leased A330s and A350s. We are in advanced talks with Airbus to get brand new A350s in a single class all premium economy configuration by 2024. The A330s will be used for medium haul destinations and the A350s will be utilised for long haul flights. We decided to launch an all premium economy airline because there is a team of aviation and travel professionals behind Pragusa.One who have studied how airlines used this configuration in the past. We saw an opportunity, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, to offer point to point flights for premium passengers, which is why the A350s will have an all economy layout”, Mr Budinski said.

Due to ongoing travel restrictions, flights from New York and Los Angeles to Dubrovnik are expected to launch first. “New York and LA to Croatia may be launched first. There is big demand from South Africa and China too. We also have partners in China supporting this project, among which are tour operators and the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority. At this point, fifteen people, mostly aviation and travel professionals, have been working on this project since last summer. It is backed by private investors from the aviation industry. Our investors have over twenty years of experience in aviation investments. We also conducted market research and saw a small niche of travellers who are keen to pay more to get premium service, which is what we are aiming to offer. We will provide seven and fourteen day trips to Prague and Dubrovnik, which will be our main source of revenue, but we will also sell long haul flights which will be available in major GDS systems”, Mr Budinski concluded.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    I wonder who the experienced CEO will be

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Maybe it is Kresimit Kucko

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    2. Anonymous09:05

      *Kresimir, sorry

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    3. Anonymous09:07

      James Hogan lol

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    4. Anonymous09:47

      I think it's a smart idea that they will get someone from the aviation industry for this job. Don't see an issue in it.

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    5. Anonymous11:51

      Yes, it will be Kucko ...

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    6. Anonymous12:08

      Hah that's interesting. Let's see what he can do

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    7. Anonymous13:18

      Buy some slots from OU ??

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    8. It could end up being Krešimir Kučko.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous00:33

      From Gulf Air to Pragusa. One?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Interesting. I don't know what to think of it but I hope it works, for Dubrovnik's sake.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      It will not work, just look at their plan... all premium A350 flying between Dubrovnik and US, Asia and South Africa.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      In the year 2024. Why do you think it won't work? And it's important to take note that it is premium economy. Not premium business or first.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      Exactly. Its premium economy. Usually the least filled class on board which usually has up to 30 seats on board. So there is no economy class which is the most popular and no business on which airlines make a lot of money. When you are leasing A350, its because you need more capacity, and as A350 is larger aircraft larger are costs. And you need to cover these costs by having 320 seats on board with business, not only 250 in premium eco.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:14

      Actually an all premium economy airline could precisely work. Like the guy says there is niche market out there.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    The worst livery i have ever seen

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      People focus too much on the livery. By the time they put it on the plane it will probably be revised.

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    2. Anonymous10:16

      Reminds of the British Airways ethnic livery
      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/G-DOCU_B737-436_British_Aws%28Ndebele_Martha%29_MAN_01MAY02_%288183450594%29_%28cropped%29.jpg

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      Not quite!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    This doesn't sound bad actually. Some ideas are pretty good.

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  5. Anonymous09:14

    Makes sense to start US-Dubrovnik. The market on this route is open.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      It's the only two destination pairs which are not limited by restrictions actually from their planned list of destinations.

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    2. Anonymous09:48

      All other destinations - China, Japan and South Africa are closed.

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    3. Anonymous09:49

      I believe South Africa is open but don't know if Croatia is open to South Africa considering the situation there.

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    4. Anonymous09:50

      I'm surprised South Korea is not on the list considering the number of South Korean tourists visiting Dubrovnik (in normal circumstances).

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  6. Anonymous09:15

    Premium economy with livery like this? It looks more like a kindergarten LCC.

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  7. Anonymous09:15

    Looking forward to this becoming a reality.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:18

    Let's see if it takes off. It is very ambitious.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Wouldn't rush to book with them that's for sure.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:19

    Very disturbing livery choice luckily most of it won't be seen from the inside. I like the original choice of name as it reflects greatczechian aspirations towards bringing US tourists to adriatic coast that dates back to ancient Greek times.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:20

    Most of the destinations are strong one stop destinations currently served by TK, FlyDuba etc. befor the pandemic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      They could work nonstop

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:24

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:25

    To me it looks like they are serious and this is no joke

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      Really? You beelive in guy who is famous for its scams and failed projects?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:28

    Could be a big development for Dubrovnik if this gets off the ground.

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  14. Anonymous09:29

    Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:32

    So this is the second start up after ETF that plans to have a base in Dubrovnik this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Two very different concepts.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:34

    Too good to be true.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:34

    This would be fantastic. But somehow I doubt it will materialize in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:35

    This won't work

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am the first one who thinks Croatia has potential to have company which operates long-haul. But let's not forget it's 1st April today. But then, most successful and the biggest ever ex-yu airline, JAT, was founded on 1st April. So, nothing is impossible, let's hope it materialises here in this start-up, because i t would obviously never gonna happen in OU

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      You know this plan is terrible and this guy is known for scams right?

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:37

    The concept itself isn't bad. I thought this was some sort of joke when I read the first article about it but now that they have explained a bit about their concept it does not seem so bad actually. Let's see what happens. I would certainly be cautious but I will give it the benefit of doubt.

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  21. Anonymous09:38

    Are there A350s up for wet lease?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Of course there are. Plenty. Airlines are looking to offload excess planes. Just a simple google search I found numerous air leasing companies offering A350 wet and dry leases. Also found Vietnam Airlines has put their A350s up for lease too.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:41

    Unrealistic

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  23. Anonymous09:41

    So in the future they will have a Croatian AOC. So 9A reg on planes :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:42

      That's looking too much into the future ;)

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    2. Anonymous10:56

      There is no requirement to have 9A-reg aircraft on Croatian AOC.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous09:44

    Waste of money. Not gonna work

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous09:47

    Everyone is so negative around here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      Its called realistic.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous09:50

    They should also try South America

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:09

      Antarctica. Maybe also Saint Helena. Gosh.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous09:56

    So if my understanding is correct, they won't actually have tickets on sale? The planes will be filled through tour packages?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:57

      No,

      "We will provide seven and fourteen day trips to Prague and Dubrovnik, which will be our main source of revenue, but we will also sell long haul flights which will be available in major GDS systems”

      Delete
  28. Anonymous09:59

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous10:02

    Is this the first long haul start up we've had in ex-yu?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Didn't that airline Dalmatian plan to start flights to the US?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:06

      The only airline that should have started long haul flights is Croatia Airlines.

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    3. Anonymous10:07

      No, we had VLM Slovenia. They were planning on flying to 20 cities in China to Maribor :D

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:12

      Oh that's right, forgot about them :D

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:14

      Dalmatian didn't have plans to fly long haul. Their plan was to fly from Zagreb to Hamburg, Rome, Milan, Prague, Warsaw, Sofia, Geneva, Dusseldorf, Zurich and Larnaca.

      Delete
    6. Wrong @An.10.14. Destinations you listed are the ones which were put on sale and planned just for the start, for phase one. Dalmatian had serious plans to fly long-haul low cost, similar to Norwegian model. That's why they were forced to stop their activities by various criminal acts, including life threat

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:22

      They were so serious airline that they had for their livery plan white A380 with blue letters "dalmatian.hr". So serious.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:19

      ''Similar to Norwegian model'' That worked out great, didn't it

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:33

      Well the founders of Norwegian are starting a new airline. Norwegian 2.0.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:33

      https://www.newsinenglish.no/2021/03/19/norwegian-airs-founder-flies-again/#:~:text=Kjos%20has%20been%20making%20headlines,airline%20called%20Norse%20Atlantic%20Airways.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous18:31

      What's that thing called again, doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results?

      Delete
  30. Anonymous10:38

    Fantastic news

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:42

      Don't get too excited

      Delete
  31. Anonymous10:39

    Is this an April's fools joke?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous11:20

    Tour operating is completely different business to airline business. There are airlines owned by the tour operators, but they are usually, outbound, feeding the pax to the destinations from their home base. It's more difficult to make it work for the destination based airline / tour operator targeting inbound market. If Croatia tourism returns to pre Covid level, it's also impossible for them to secure enough hotel rooms for A350loads of PAX on daily basis.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous12:30

    I don't get it. So they are not actually starting an airline now, but they are opening a travel agency which they hope will fund the actual airline some time down the road?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:32

      To an extent. They are starting an airline through wetleasing where someone else will operate the plane and crew for them. But they plan to have their own AOC, crew etc in 2024.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous12:52

    Well it is April 1st today after all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:38

      It figures. Expecting update exactly one year from now :D

      Delete
  35. Anonymous13:55

    Dubrovnic - Johannesburg/Singapore/KualaLumpur? Would this work?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:58

      It could work in pre pandemic era. Not so sure nowadays.

      Delete
  36. Anonymous14:42

    Aprililililllll....

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous19:39

    When 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 A330/A350 tales it just hilarious to listen to them, at least from my point of view...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous19:39

    Only way I see this happening is if Dubrovnik as a city and airport enter in this partnership and start up a new airline, but in this conditions and market I just don't see this happening.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous19:40

    What about Dubrovnik trying to lure easyJet or Ryanair to open a base at the airport, even if it's for the summer season? What about Wizz Air? They seem to be rather willing to expand anywhere possible.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous19:41

    Very funny. Kolko ce to trajati?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:57

      Livery says it all!

      Delete
  41. just look at the background of this company. i will say just that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:32

      What is the background?

      Delete
  42. Anonymous00:32

    So much negativity

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:35

      True. More airlines, more opportunity, more choice, more freedom to travelling. Life is all about that... Who doesn't like that, bad luck.

      Delete
  43. Anonymous00:51

    Hope they will succeed. We need more new airlines like this one. Good luck, guys!

    ReplyDelete
  44. But the livery...Jesus Christ...

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous02:04

    II don't understand what is so bizarre about it. There are airlines like this operating around the world.

    ReplyDelete
  46. "We also conducted market research and saw a small niche of travellers who are keen to pay more to get premium service, "
    Small niche isn't a big demand, or?
    Starting as a tour operator chartering planes doesn't come close to an airline either.

    ReplyDelete
  47. It might work in summer season, but it will be a total failure during winter time.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I would express my strong concerns.
    Will be a certain failure. Most of the plan will be fictitious or even a lie.
    If you research the founder and CEO you will quickly see that failure will be certain.
    I can only recommend to watch the below if you would like to get an idea about Krsimir Budinski and his business ethics.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSHC4TTttgM

    ReplyDelete

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