Croatia Airlines reaches 29% of pre-pandemic traffic


Croatia Airlines handled almost 66.000 travellers in June, reaching approximately 29% of its passenger levels registered during the same month in 2019.The carrier operated 1.421 scheduled flights (return service included) and offered 134.428 seats on the market. The figures represent an improvement on May, when it handled some 44.000 passengers, while offering 94.602 seats. During July, the Croatian flag carrier is increasing its scheduled flight operations by 44%, while capacity will grow to 220.172. The Dash 8 turboprop remains the main workhorse of the fleet, being deployed on 58.6% of all flights. It is followed by the Airbus A319 on 32.1% of all services and the A320 on 9.3% of all scheduled operations.

This month, Croatia Airlines is offering the most capacity on its domestic routes, from Zagreb to Split and Dubrovnik, with 29.392 and 28.346 seats on sale respectively. They are followed by Zagreb - Frankfurt, Split - Frankfurt, Zagreb - Amsterdam and Dubrovnik - Frankfurt. Although the airline has seen a marginal increase in demand for its flights in the past month, it does not plan to restore operations from Zagreb to Barcelona, Bucharest, Helsinki, Lisbon, Milan, Mostar, Oslo, Prague, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Tel Aviv this summer, all of which were suspended at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year. Since then, TAP Air Portugal has commenced seasonal operations from Lisbon, while Ryanair will establish flights from Sandefjord in lieu of Oslo and Eurowings will inaugurate services from Prague in late October.

Commenting on the company’s network, the head of Croatia Airlines’ Commercial Division, Slaven Žabo, recently said the carrier was offering 80.000 seats between Croatia and Europe each month, with a total of eighteen international destinations 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 is also operating some 200 charter flights, primarily from Austria, Italy, Ireland, Israel and Scandinavian countries to the Croatian coast.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    They are doomed aren't they. That's about 50% load factor

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      Not really as most flights were operated by the Dash instead of Airbus, so the LF was much higher, but capacity less.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    If I understood it right, in May their LF was around 40%? That's bad since they mostly flew with Q400s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:02

      This is pretty much in line with EU average.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:04

      That's tragic.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:24

      @Anon 9:02

      The flag carrier of a tourist country that remained open to pretty much anyone should be doing much better than the EU average.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:25

      It remained open but most Europeans were not allowed to travel or had to quarantine on return.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Since then, TAP Air Portugal has commenced seasonal operations from Lisbon, while Ryanair will establish flights from Sandefjord in lieu of Oslo and Eurowings will inaugurate services from Prague in late October.

    Meanwhile Lufthansa has reduced FRA from 14 to 11 and OS VIE from 7 to 5 weekly. OU has since increased capacity to FRA to show how loyal it is to Mutti.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    It will only get more difficult with Ryanair breathing down their neck now.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    Would love to know what advance bookings look like especially to places where they will compete with FR.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    This is really sluggish performance, even in pandemic era.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    I don't see how they will cover past losses from profits like they announced yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:11

    Many missed opportunities. Even in 2020 and 2021.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      hibernation

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:06

      Unfortunately

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:49

      Yes, this is unfortunate. I am sure some opportunities presented themselves as a result of Covid. Some unserved route became more popular. But OU is in deep sleep.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:49

      A route they could and should have introduced was Podgorica. There was quite a bit demand for this route last year. They also could have capitalized on Air Serbia being absent from the market for a while. They were supposed to launch Podgorica last year but cancelled it. Missed opportunity.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:11

    Croatia Airlines had almost a decade to pull itself together and consolidate its operations at its headquarters, Zagreb. But it "favouritised" coastal airports during summer seasons, what it seemed easy money for them, and refused to stop international flights from coast. Well, Zagreb Airport is a private company, not a state enterprise to assist them anymore. Obviously they had to find a way to maintain growth and profitability, rather than waiting for the country's spoiled child to realize the world it lives in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Why would they stop international flights from the coast in the summer when they are profitable and it serves the interest of Croatian tourism?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      If OU favourized coast it would be a profitabile company.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      Nothing guarantees profitability more than increasing the seasonality of your business...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:12

      You obviosly do not understand at all Croatian market and its principles.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:32

      That is why seasonal international flights from coast looks like easy money, but in reality it is the single thing that limits the growth of the airline, reduces fleet efficiency, increases seasonality hence reducing the company's value. Make money for 3 months and don't work for the rest 9 months! I'm sorry to say that but Croatia will not go anywhere with this lazy Balkan approach but bankrupt only.

      What Croatia Airlines have to do is to stop feeding major hub carriers from coast, leave the respective hub operators feed their own hub from coast and concentrate all its capacity to Zagreb because it is the only city in the country which can operate 12 months a year. This way it can add additional 10-20 destinations to its network at Zagreb, increase its no. of transfer passengers between east and west of Europe and with increased network offer, increase the total no. of passengers handled, increase fleet efficiency etc.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:45

      Oh yeah lets do the same model as JU or OS where more then 90% of traffic is located at one airport and ignore model which is Aegean Airlines using. Just look at Aegean Airlines and the come back with your proposals what is the best on the market like Croatia.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:37

      Anon 10:45 Don't you think Croatia Airlines is already trying to do the same for years but haven't succeeded at all and continues to lose money each and every year? So why to insist on something which the airline has been doing for decades and keeps on failing but not to try a more common and accepted business model?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:56

      It didnt do what Aegean is doing at all.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:11

    The airline needs a radical change in management. If something isn't working - fix it

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:12

    At least it's good to see they operating more and more charters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      They finally realized about the importance of charter flights.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:19

    When you compare to JU which had 170,413 passengers last month this really isn't a good result.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      And most of OU passengers are PSO passengers.

      Makes whole picture even worse.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      Why does that matter?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:20

      Just comes to show how important the domestic traffic is in Croatia.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:19

    FR with two aircraft will have a bigger network than Croatia Airlines from Zagreb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      Yes but much fewer flights.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:19

    They should have brought back more routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      I don't think most of the routes they suspended will come back especially as they are being taken over by other airlines.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:31

      These routes are basically their expansion since 2016.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:50

      They are pretty much drafting their schedule on a month by month basis so I'm sure some of those will be back.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:55

      It's the middle of July. When do you expect them to resume these seasonal summer flights? They won't come back this year.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:36

      They suspended routes from other places other than Zagreb. From Split to Belgrade and Athens and from Dubrovnik to Venice and Tel Aviv.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:37

      That's a very long list of cancelled routes.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:20

    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:31

    How many aircraft are currently active in the fleet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      Entire fleet is now active.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:39

      good. thank you

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:09

      A bit of an odd question but do you know if the entire fleet ha now received the updated livery?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:31

      Some still have the blue belly.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:31

    Quite disappointing really.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:37

    Good to see the A320s are being used on a regular basis again.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:38

    OU needs to launch new routes if it wants to compete against Ryanair, especially in the region.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Agree. They should explore new market opportunities.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:43

      too late

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:48

    Only 18 international routes in comparison to 71 route that JU has currently (comparing to 72 before Covid) is tragic!
    I really do not understand Croatia Airlines, really...they were flying last year when noone was even thinking of flying, but then when markets "opened" they just lost it. So so sad.
    And then when you look that most seast are sold on PSO routes and that most of their capacity in on domestic PSO routes just shows that they lost their direction of development.
    ZAG could make such a great hub! Closer to EU destination for one hour compared to BEG, part of EU, but NO, lets cry a bit more to get more money and lets wait until 2024 to shut down and leave goverment with all debts while Ryanair is on the ROAR!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      What difference does it make if it is PSO or not.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:27

      It doesn't operate more than 18 international routes. Although I don't know where anon 9.48 found 71 routes by JU because it isn't true. They operate 39 detonations.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:34

      ZAG-ATH, FCO, ZRH, CDG, AMS, CPH, FRA, VIE, SKP, SJJ, LHR, MUC, DUB, BRU (14)
      SPU -FRA, CDG, LHR, MUC, VIE, ZRH, CPH, BER, LYO, PRG, FCO, DUS (12)
      DBV-FRA, MUC, ATH, ZRH, CDG, FCO (6)
      RJK-MUC(1)
      =33 international routes
      + domestic ZAG-DBV,SPU, PUY,ZAD,BWK, OSI-DBV,SPU

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:36

      The article is correct 18 international destinations.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:40

      I think people are getting confused by the meaning of the word "route" and "destination".

      Delete
    6. Anonymous23:43

      Should be noted that they have a huge number of frequencies on some routes, especially Frankfurt.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:08

    Good luck in the post covid world OU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      They will need it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:00

      Croatia Airlines will get all the money it needs.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:42

      Let's first wait and see what the EU rules on Ryanair's case.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:11

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:30

    Understandable, there is just very little demand across Europe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      Demand is down but it is not "very little" as you put it.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:49

    Hope things improve.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:50

    I was hoping this situation would wake up the management and that they would seize some opportunities as they have left many slip but nothing came of it of course.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous11:00

    So they just gave up on Lisbon? Yet TAP has reintroduced the route. Great...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:29

      Same situation with Prague.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:40

      But Croatia Airlines launched seasonal Split-Prague, with one weekly Dash, don't forget that! Fantastic vision.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:41

      :D

      Delete
  27. Anonymous11:28

    Those Dashes have proven really valuable during this crisis. I hope they consider expanding the turboprop fleet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:13

      +1 at the same time the A320s were least needed.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:40

      It was good that they decided to cancel the neo order.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:29

    this is depressing

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous11:34

    OU has a very good network and good fleet. Things will improve once pandemic subsides.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:37

      Pandemic subsided in April, May, June and July.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:12

      Looks like it will be short term with the delta variant.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous11:37

    For years now OU's strategy was to rely on LH Group hubs and to feed their growing networks. Does not seem this will change.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:54

      Well that's where they have most demand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:16

      That strategy has not worked for them financially. Why not try something else.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:12

      So what is your suggestion?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:23

      Seppuku or Harakiri .
      Or both ...

      Delete
  31. Anonymous15:40

    LJU is a missed opportunity for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:14

      Too close to ZAG. Would be cutting into their own turf.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:37

      Not really, if they launched selected routes. It's not like they saw some massive traffic increase when Adria went bust, so obviously wasn't cutting to much into their passenger numbers.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous15:41

    Expected unfortunately

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous21:14

    They are not competitive to capture the post covid market, which is now obvious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:19

      They should have gone harder and earlier - like so many other airlines did.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous21:16

    Let's see how things turn out. I wish them good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous21:21

    Covid19 is the best thing that has ever happened to Croatia Airlines. They can keep losing money, doing nothing and getting state support.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:24

      I don't agree. I'm now really worried about Croatia Airlines. No privatisation, Ryanair opening base in ZAG, loan from government has to be repaid, no vision... I think they will struggle for survival.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:26

      The government will save them.

      Delete
  36. Anonymous21:23

    Everyone is experiencing a slowdown.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:25

      Yes but most are also starting to see demand return.

      Delete
  37. Anonymous21:28

    Waiting from Kresimir Kucko.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katicic, the first CEO, even better. His idea of good management was to take out from the meals small bags of salt and pepper, which would be served on passenger's demand only. It was his idea how to make company profitable. At the same time, he refused the offer from companie's representative in Zurich to lower the prices of tickets by 10 %and make them equal with Swissair's, at that time the World 's best airline, and have guaranteed LF on both ZRH and SKP on 90 %, cooperating and transferring Albanian diaspora, when ZRH had LF of around 30 %, and SKP around 50 %. And those coming after him just continued his brilliant management style. However, the one who knocked final nail in coffin was Misetic, who still controls the company and sucks money out of it. Kucko is more or less irrelevant figure, same as Jasmin, both placed there to execute real boss's orders. And the daughter is of some help as well, of course.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:26

      wow

      Delete

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