Croatia Airlines has said it plans to maintain flights from Zagreb to fourteen international destinations this summer. In comparison, the carrier’s new main rival at the airport, Ryanair, will offer fifteen routes. The Croatian airline will run international services from Zagreb to Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Munich, Paris, Rome, Sarajevo, Skopje, Vienna and Zurich. Compared to the prepandemic 2019, the carrier will not restore operations to Barcelona, Bucharest, Helsinki, Lisbon, Milan, Mostar, Oslo, Prague, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Tel Aviv this summer. Based on its existing schedule, it will run the most flights to Frankfurt and Zurich as part of its international network, while overall, the most frequencies will be offered to Split and Dubrovnik.
Commenting on the company’s network, the head of Croatia Airlines’ Commercial Division, Slaven Žabo, said the carrier plans to offer 80.000 seats between Croatia and Europe each month, with a total of eighteen international routes from the country. “Frequencies will be adjusted based on market demand”, Mr Žabo noted. He added the airline is in negotiations with Zagreb Airport for the latter to improve business conditions. It comes following the airline’s claims that Ryanair has been given discounts and incentives to commence operations from the Croatian capital and is being favouritised as a result. This summer, Croatia Airlines will also operate some 200 charter flights, primarily from Austria, Italy, Ireland, Israel and Scandinavian countries to the Croatian coast.
Croatia Airlines recently selected the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to support its post-Covid-19 strategy. BCG will develop plans for how the carrier can tap into unfolding summer opportunities, albeit in an agile manner in light of the continued uncertainty. The strategy also focuses on preparing Croatia Airlines for the “new normal”. “BCG will help us redefine new market opportunities for connecting European destinations with the region of Southeast Europe, maximise future revenue potential and increase aircraft productivity. It will help us define opportunities for further rationalisation and improvement of business processes”, Croatia Airlines said.
So FR with two planned aircraft will have a bigger network than Croatia Airlines from Zagreb? Crazy
ReplyDeleteYes but OU operates much more frequencies.
DeleteIt is not only about the number of destinations, but also about frequencies on each etc. So not one dimenisonal comparison.
DeleteNot only will they have more destinations but seats overall.
DeleteMore seats with planes? Are you sure?
Delete*with two planes
DeleteYes two planes that have a high density. One B738 is almost like three Q400.
DeleteThey should have brought back more routes.
ReplyDeleteWoeful
ReplyDeleteGood luck
ReplyDeleteCan someone please tell me if Athens and Rome routes are gonna be direct from Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteNo. ATH is via Dubrovnik and Rome is via Split and Dubrovnik depending on the day.
DeleteThis market seems to have evaporated completely. Even Aegean terminated this route. Such a shame they couldn't keep it at least one weekly on the Q400.
DeleteAt least they finally realised about the importance of charter flights.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteHow many aircraft are currently active in the fleet?
ReplyDelete9 out of 13.
DeleteJad i bijeda. Sramota.
ReplyDeleteThat's a long list of suspended routes
ReplyDeleteAs a long-time traveller to/from ZAG I am amazed by the total collapse of ZAG-VIE/MUC. Vienna is 9 weekly while Munich is just 4. Crazy how frequencies have collapsed.
ReplyDeleteQuite disappointing really.
ReplyDelete100 seater jets that they have been talking about acquiring for 10 years now would have come in handy in this situation.
ReplyDeleteFlying to places like TIA, PRN, TGD, OTP, SOF would have come in handy now to get them some transfers, filling up western routes.
ReplyDeleteToo little too late.
DeleteWhat happens with TGD and SOF which were supposed to start last year? Why didn't they start them this year?
ReplyDeleteBecause they were sitting on their hands the entire time now Ryanair is launch TGD and SOF.
DeleteThey have removed more than 10 former routes and you expect them to start those they haven't even launched?
DeleteAre they planning SPU to Beg flights this summer?
ReplyDeleteThey totally lost on BEG-Croatia flights against JU.
DeleteThat's the least of their worries at the moment.
DeleteI don't think they can afford to lose any market given their current status.
DeleteIt was hardly a priority for them with 1 weekly flight in 2019 for 2 months in total.
DeleteIt wasn't their priority because they could not compete with JU which started boosting frequencies and seats on the market. They were pushed out of this market like others have pushed them out elsewhere. Their presence on the coast was going down.
DeleteThe moment JU introduced ZAD they were done.
Yup. ZAD was the breaking point for CA. :)
DeleteI honestly don'think that reduction of total frequemcies to MUC/VIE is that bad. Those two are not in tje same category with LHR, VDG, FRA and even MAD/LIS as the last two offer more connections to Latin America.
ReplyDeleteSlower return to the prepandemic frequencies/stagnation of MUV/VIE will facilitate more direct connections from ZAG to the Central, Eastern and North Europe, which is what we want and what ZAG has needed for a long time.
*CDG, not VDG
DeleteOU needs to launch new routes if it wants to compete against Ryanair, especially in the region.
ReplyDeleteI thought there was such great demand to/from Sofia, and now nothing from OU.
ReplyDeleteThere is but as you can see OU isn't proactive in seizing any market opporttunity. So Ryanair is starting the route instead.
DeleteThere were many opportunities but one by one other airlines are taking over. A major missed opportunity for them was Kiev.
Delete"BCG will develop plans for how the carrier can tap into unfolding summer opportunities"
ReplyDeleteUnfolding summer opportunities?? Hello it's the middle of JUNE already. Shame on you Croatia Airlines.
+1
DeleteI wonder how much this contract is worth.
DeleteThey can start charters from BEG? To Greece and Italy?
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth would they do that? You expect them to operate charters between two foreign countries when they are unable to capitalize on the huge charter potential in their own country.
DeleteWith exception of Dublin, every single route they introduced in the last 5 years has been cancelled.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I think it is too late for them to start anything with it generating any significant results.
DeleteOU continues deep hibernation.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately.
DeleteSomething OU should have tried to do 10 years ago or more was to try and position itself as a transfer airline from the region as they say they want to do now. But it's too late now.
ReplyDeleteThey should explore new market opportunities i.e new routes.
ReplyDeleteBad luck for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteBad luck is an oxymoron. It's just bad.
DeleteI saw that they're introducing the evening flight to Sarajevo (morning departure the next day) as well during August and September at least
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines needs to be privatised ASAP
ReplyDelete