United to keep Dubrovnik flights after “incredible” performance


United Airlines has scheduled seasonal flights between New York’s Newark Airport and Dubrovnik for the 2022 summer season after the route performed “incredibly well” for the carrier this year. United completed its first year of seasonal summer flights between the two cities yesterday and plans to resume operations on May 27, 2022 with four weekly rotations, departing Newark each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Furthermore, the US carrier has extended its flight program to Dubrovnik with services to be run until the end of the 2022 summer season, on October 26 of next year. All flights will be maintained by the Boeing 767-300 aircraft.

United’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Nocella, has said the Dubrovnik service was launched in response to Croatia maintaining open borders for American citizens and residents throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and has performed strongly as a result. “We feel really bullish about Europe for next summer. We had a look of that this summer. We started in a few new markets. In fact, we loaded those for sale very late. And those new markets are actually, some of our top performing city fares, because Croatia and Greece in particular, made it clear to the world that they were open for business. And in fact, our customers responded to it immediately, and our new flights degrees did incredibly well”, Mr Nocella said.

United competed against its US counterpart Delta Air Lines, which also launched flights to Dubrovnik for the first time this year. Unlike United, Delta operated from New York’s JFK Airport. However, at this point, it seems unlikely Delta will restore its flights to the Croatian coast next summer with the airline already scheduling all of its new European routes introduced this year, with exception to Dubrovnik. The General Manager of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, recently said, “Flights from the US performed well above our expectations. These incoming tourists stay in Dubrovnik, which serves as a base for them to explore other places - nearby islands and Dalmatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, these flights are important as they have enabled cargo transport to the United States. As a result, each aircraft departs with around ten tons of exportable goods to the States”.


Comments

  1. Nemjee09:04

    Delta seems to be putting a greater focus on Greece next summer. ATL-ATH will be kept next year and they just announced BOS-ATH for next summer, three weekly on the A333. It will be ATH's seventh US destination next year. Pretty impressive.

    I guess DBV-US is not big enough for more than one carrier.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      I know your comment was made in an attempt to belittle DBV but Athens is a capital city while Greece has a huge diaspora in the US. So trying to compare the two is stupid.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:12

      Why are you so triggered by my comment? What kind of nerve did I hit for all this frustration to surface?
      What is so stupid about my comment? Those are facts. Delta is probably suspending Dubrovnik to focus on larger markets such as Athens where they already have a considerable presence. Since they did well in terms of loads, then it is logical to think yields were the problems. They didn't make enough money so they are focusing their resources elsewhere.

      Everyone knew that two US carriers from the greater New York area to DBV was too much. However whoever dares say such a thing is immediately attacked on here.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:17

      Actually you said no such thing. You tried comparing Athens market to Dubrovnik market but oh well. In the news where UA says their Dubrovnik flights did extremely well, you were triggered to comment about Delta. Each to their own.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:20

      It is possible we will see Delta in Zagreb instead.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee09:23

      Could you please be so kind so as to point out where in my original comment I compared DBV to ATH. I don't think I am that disillusioned so as to make such a mistake. One is a global airport with 20+ million passengers while the other is a seasonal airport catering for arriving tourists from abroad which handled 2.8 million passengers in 2019.

      What I did say is that DL is putting a greater focus on Greece for next summer which is a fact and is directly related to today's text.

      Delete
    6. Nemjee09:24

      Anon 09.20
      Personally I doubt it. If anyone comes to ZAG it will be UA due to its codeshare agreement with OU.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:46

      "I guess DBV-US is not big enough for more than one carrier." Don't think so. Let's wait and See. Dubrovnik is a big market for US tourist, if Delta doesn't fligh, american come back

      REPLY

      Anonymous09:07

      Delete
    8. Nemjee09:52

      One thing that might happen is AA moving its PHL-DBV flights to JFK because of their recent partnership with B6. In such a way they could operate out of a much larger O&D market and could get feed from an airline that is extremely strong in NYC.
      In addition to that, they wouldn't hand over New York to United.

      That is if AA decides to stick around DBV and fight UA for it.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:57

      Dubrovnik is not small for 2 US carriers. Both had great performace this year in these routes.

      You forgot that both Delta and United didnt schedule flights to DBV for 2022. when they started operations. What means Delta didnt cancel flights for 2022. but just didnt put them into the system yet.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:16

      Nemjee are you "Blerg" in airliners.net forum?

      Delete
    11. How come there is always a fight here by various anonymouses? I respect Nemjee for signing his comments both here and at Airliners.net

      On the topic here. We have a very balkancentric way of looking at things. This has more to do with Delta's expansion from Boston (flight to ATH and TLV) and United's desire to keep EWR as their stronghold than anything in the Balkans.

      Therefore, both companies are offering flight to locations where US citizens want to travel and more importantly can travel.

      Dubrovnik is one of them and DBV people are doing a good job securing the continuity of flights. They just needs to have a proper plan in placefor situation when covid is over and to keep all the US ailines around. Having 1000 visitors weekly who are actually staying locally and spending locally is far better than having all those cruiser visitors who just walk around in their thousands.

      Delete
    12. Keep Calm and visit Dalmatia11:50

      We cant really compare fairly the US to Croatia with the US to Greece markets.
      ATH will have nine direct routes to seven US airports next year. They have the islands, Athens being a 4 million metropolis, very large diaspora and a big cruising industry operating from Athens.
      They are a different league than Croatia and not a direct comparison.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:54

      @Eight +1000

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:38

      Its too early for any conclusions about DL flights to DBV when they didnt make any statements about DBV service. They also never scheduled flights to DBV for 2022. so we cannot know their plans for DBV. United also didnt had scheduled flights to DBV for 2022. but they placed them into the system this week. Now we need to wait Deltas statement and then make conclusions.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous18:46

      Sorry Nemjee, DBV has much more potential than you think. And sorry for shattering your dreams. United will fly from USA to Dubrovnik next year. No need to belittle DBV. This is the one of the most important airports in the Balkans.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous19:46

      Beautiful tourist destinations fo sure.
      But one of the most important airports in the Balkans???

      Delete
    17. Anonymous22:03

      Greece alone has 6 airports that are busier than DBV.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Wow well done Dubrovnik

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Not so much Dubrovnik as well done UA for chasing away DL and AA from Dubrovnik.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      American was not chased away. They stopped flying because of Covid. In fact they planned to add more flights in 2020. They haven't finalized their summer schedule so we will probably see them come back too.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      @9.08 actually it is wow Dubrovnik. I will say wow to any ex-Yu airport when they are in a position to have US carriers and the largest carriers in the world "chase" each other out.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:16

      If the market was big enough they wouldn't have to chase each other out.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:18

      ^ well Nemjee, at last there is a market for US airlines.

      Delete
    6. Nemjee09:26

      That wasn't my comment btw but nice try. No one said there isn't a market for US airlines so I don't know what you are going on about.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:01

      "Not so much Dubrovnik as well done UA for chasing away DL and AA from Dubrovnik."

      UA didnt chased AA and DL out. DL never put into the system flights for 2022. Delta also had amazing loads. AA wasnt even operating flights when UA or DL started.

      Stop spreading negative comments and false info.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:08

    I hope United will introduce a second Croatian destination this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      They said a few months ago they were considering it. I'm hopeful it will be ZAG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      They loaded Dubrovnik but not Zagreb for next year.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      They are still loading new routes...

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:14

    Big 3 US carriers flew only to Dubrovnik both before (AA) and during pandemic (DL, UA) and no other destination in Croatia. Two large Canadian airlines, Air Canada and Air Transat flew only to Zagreb and no other destination in Croatia both before pandemic and will both operate again starting in 2022.

    What is it about DBV that works only for US airlines and what is it about ZAG that works only for Canada carriers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      Easy, one is a gasto route and the other one a tourist one. Gastos are most passengers from Canada but tourists fly from US to the coast.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      There are way more ethnic passengers from US to ZAG than from Canada to ZAG yet two Canada carriers compete against each other on Toronto-Zagreb and no US carriers fly to Zagreb. There are many tourists from Canada visiting Dubrovnik but no interest from Air Canada nor Transat to start DBV.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:40

      I am confident we will be seeing more long haul routes from DBV in the next few years, YYZ being one of them.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:45

      Doubtful.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:19

      There is no sensible discourse here. If someone repeats the same question in six months responses will be all about hope for YYZ-DBV and NYC-ZAG in 2023.

      Delete
    6. Most gasto traffic from Canada comes from Toronto (and area). In the USA it is from many cities. That is why Canada(YYZ)-ZAG works well in the summer.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:55

      Charilie, in 2019 return flights YYZ-ZAG had only 264 indirect passengers more than Toronto-Split. Really.

      Dubrovnik had less passengers than SPU but would probably produce better yield than SPU. Both DBV and SPU are unserved from YYZ, but ZAG had competition on an already lower yield mainly ethnic/gasto/diaspora/VFR traffic. Go figure. Makes you wonder what US3 carriers know about DBV demand that Canadian airlines don't.

      It probably comes down to AC/TS going after volume (revenue) but US carriers going after yield (profit).

      Delete
    8. Good points.

      My point is that most traffic to Croatia from Canada is from YYZ. in the USA you have cities like Chicago, NY, maybe Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, DC area and a few other where gasto traffic comes from. So those pax would have to consolidate in JFK and/or OHR. In Canada it's just YYZ, maybe some seasonal traffic from Montreal.

      Delete
    9. Toronto isn't a gasto route. Those Croats and Serbs in Toronto metro area are mostly diaspora, not gastarbeiters and they, along with other Canadians also travel to Croatia as tourists for the most part.
      As for American carriers flying to Dubrovnik, it probably has to do with Americans mostly being familiar only with Dubrovnik in Croatia.
      Still, given how unserved NYC is from Zagreb - there was a text about it on here, Zagreb being the capital and now finally the visa regime for Croatian citizens being terminated, I think it's only a matter of when, not if, one of the US carriers starts ZAG flights.
      Of course, all of this will also depend on faster vaccination rates in Croatia. The latest advice for Americans is again not to travel to Croatia.
      We are barely at 49 - 50% vaccination rate and mostly stagnating there, whereas Greece and Turkey are at over 62% and increasingly improving, catching up to western Europe.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous10:17

    Really happy to see the new flights worked out for United. Although I do hope they change the plane type to the Dreamliners.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:39

    This is also good news for OU. It will help fill some domestic routes from Dubrovnik.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous10:40

    Congratulation to Dubrovnik on this major win of confidence

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:10

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:19

    Sarajevo will most likely establish flights to America next year, most likely Saint Louis, Chigao or Boston. Could UNITED fly on these routes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:23

      No.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:44

      Saint Louis?
      LOL dude! It has zero flights to Europe and the first one would be SJJ? The stuff you can read here...

      Delete
  10. Love to see Delta again, a class above United by all means in US airlines ratings

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous18:09

    Nemjee I agree with your comment and I believe anonymous 9:07 overreacted.
    I believe we will see three US carriers operating bro DBV once cruise traffic resumes and US pax can board ships in DBV for a one- or two-week cruise (and fly out of DBV once again).
    Re STL-SJJ, that could possibly work as very limited charter flights (the largest Bosnian community in the US is in STL). Remember when JAT used to fly to Cleveland with DC10s and no one else flew there?? (You - anonymous 12:44 - probably weren't born yet). JAT even flew charters to Pittsburgh!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:24

      Yeah there is just a slight difference though, we are in 2021 not 1980.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:52

      Were there flights between Sarajevo and Cleveland or Dubrovnik and Cleveland? What is the ex-yu population in Cleveland?

      Delete
  12. JU520 BEGLAX18:48

    AA is highly likely not to return in 2022 to DBV. This first hand info fm AA

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous18:50

    Jesus Christ, so many triggered fanboys this weekend. Guys, Dubrovnik is a worldwide known destination enjoying the success of Italian or Spanish cities. Prestige takes a lot of time to be built and this is what happened with the Croatian Riviera for the dislikes of many.
    Braavo Hrvatska and here to a successful 2022!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:56

      Prestige guy and his rose colored glasses, so funny!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:17

      Everyone wants to visit beautiful Hrvatska!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:24

      You mean Osijek ?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:25

      I mean't to say, you mean like Osijek ?

      Delete
  14. What is a typical price for round trip usa-dbv? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  15. No surprise. Dubrovnik is a small coastal city with only a gigantic summer revenue and population.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Flew on KLM last month from Houston to Dubrovnik via Amsterdam. I notice that KLM hasn't yet posted their 2022 schedule from Amsterdam to Dubrovnik, so perhaps Skyteam is discussing how best to serve this market...and whether Delta will return.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous12:18

    Delta has announced a major expansion in Europe for Summer 2022, but there are several cities other than Dubrovnik that are not being loffered, at least for now: Shannon, Glasgow, Berlin, Malaga and one or two more. They are returning to Prague and Copenhagen.

    ReplyDelete

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