NEWS FLASH
airBaltic is considering introducing flights to Zagreb to complement its existing seasonal network in Croatia to Dubrovnik, Split and Rijeka. The carrier’s CEO, Martin Gauss, who was in the Croatian capital yesterday promoting the Airbus A220 aircraft, said, “We already connect Riga and Vilnius with Dubrovnik, Split and Rijeka. We may fly to Zagreb too”. Two years ago, Mr Gauss noted that the Croatian capital was not on the airline’s radar due to its good connectivity to Lufthansa hubs. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed consumer behaviour and made non-stop flights even more desirable. EX-YU Aviation News recently reported about the existing demand between Zagreb and the Baltic states, as well as the potential such routes hold for airBaltic.
This would be very bad news for LO!
ReplyDeletePre pandemic there was around 6000 pax on indirect flights on every three Baltic cities. If airBaltic starts a flights they will need at least 80 to 110 new pax on every flight. So LOT is a safe and sound, since the gap is too big. Post pandemic we will have a surge in the demand, but it really depends on the pandemic ending.
DeleteI was hoping for LJU but Zagreb is also OK.
ReplyDeleteThis is just that Croatia can take a better look at A220
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteIt’s not going to happen. It’ll be Ryanair’s turf from the next week.
ReplyDeleteSaid a guy who ordered way too many aircraft to fly profitably and just came to ZAG to hopefully sell one or two of his production slots to OU.
ReplyDeleteStop writing nonsense. As the largest A220 operator, Air Baltic has been promoting the plane for years and has been on many world tours including Australia and Pacific Islands in 2019. And believe it or not, they have not sold a single of their production slots to anyone.
DeleteBecause of no demand? Their aircraft utilisation is much less than 50% and they are after the second round of state aid, having already received one of the highest, if not the highest, state aid compared to revenue pre-covid.
DeleteDon't forget that precisely Latvia and Lithuania have the highest population decreases in the world. One really wonders how they can continuously fill out those planes. I mean, the 3 Baltic countries are roughly the size of Croatia in population.
DeleteThey cannot fill those planes. As long as they had only a couple of A220, things seemed well, as they benefited from a low price on those planes assured by the big size of the total order. Now more planes came and there is nowhere to fly profitably with all those planes covid or not.
DeleteAnother thing: what is the advantage for Lituanians or Estonians to transfer in Riga? They may as well transfer in WAW, MSQ or FRA. So you should not sum up populations of all those countries as a domestic market of BT.
3 Baltic countries, roughly the size of Croatia in population, with no tourism and with much less favourable geographical position have Air Baltic, Smartlynx, Avion Express, Get Jet, Klas jet, Heston and few more smaller airlines with roughly 100 planes in their fleets and/or on order, A330 included. That"s precisely what I am talking about every time I speak about being missed opportunities World Champion. But for some people, such shameful situation deserves Bravo Hrvatska comment day by day
DeleteBaltic A330? Have I missed something?
DeleteYes, you missed something. Get Jet has single A330-300, passenger version, and Smartlynx has 4 330 freighters just about to be delivered. Avion Express also had plans for 4 330-200 but then covid came
DeleteCome to Lju, it's also needed, as we don't have any baltic/scandinavia flights and there are lots of pax on the routes.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, especially if they have idle metal in storage. LJU would definitely make use of an airline that would set up a base. I'd love to see 2-3 of those 220-100s stationed here. They would be perfect.
DeleteOh and btw, there is something east of Zagreb maybe you have ever heard of it Mr Gauss.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could consider it too..?
That's a polite thing for him to say when in ZAG, but the flights between ZAG and RIX that he actually hopes for are OU maintenance positioning flights once OU is an A220 operator and has contracted BT to do heavy maintenance.
ReplyDelete