Ryanair to reinstate entire Zagreb network, plans further growth


Low cost carrier Ryanair will restore all destinations within its Zagreb network after a dozen routes were suspended in January and February due to plummeting demand as a result of surging coronavirus rates and travel restrictions across the continent. The CEO of Ryanair subsidiaries Malta Air and Lauda Europe, David O’Brien, spoke to the media in Zagreb last week, noting the carrier would maintain 27 routes out of the Croatian capital this coming summer season, 24 of which were launched last year, and a further three which will commence in the coming months, including Bratislava, Lviv and Corfu. "We are pleased to announce our largest summer flight schedule ever in Zagreb, where Ryanair will operate more than seventy weekly flights to 27 destinations, giving incoming tourism a much-needed boost, and Croatian consumers the widest choice of great destinations, both for leisure and for business travel. Ryanair is investing in Croatia to help the tourism industry recover from the coronavirus pandemic and strengthen ties with the rest of Europe, while Ryanair itself continues to grow and air traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels”, Mr O’Brien said.

Noting that the overwhelming majority of its Zagreb passengers are inbound rather than outbound travellers, Mr O’Brien said the carrier would work to even out the trend. "Zagreb is a metropolis of one million inhabitants within its surroundings, and so many more people gravitate to it. Based on our experience, I can say with certainty that the 3.5 million passengers per year we plan to handle from the city is a conservative estimate. It will probably grow even more in the coming period”, He added, “We've opened more than eighty Croatian routes and created 180 direct jobs over the past few years. This is a total Ryanair investment of 600 million US dollars into Croatia, and all this without a single euro of any state subsidies from the government, unlike the twelve million euros that Croatia Airlines receives annually”.

The Ryanair executive pointed out the airline had been studying operations out of Zagreb for some time. "We've long viewed Zagreb as Lufthansa's backyard because the fact is that, although there are other carriers, you actually have to use Lufthansa and its partners to get to anywhere in Europe. Ryanair wants to change that and be a competitive alternative that will give Croatia's residents and passengers coming to Zagreb a much better and more affordable service”, Mr O’Brien said. He added, “Governments across the world are subsidising their national carriers and I must admit we don’t like the way the Croatian government is literally handing over money to Croatia Airlines, without any knowledge of what it will bring to Croatia and its citizens. However, we are not here to attack Croatia Airlines, even though we serve as a good excuse for them as to why they are losing money”.

In addition to adding three new routes to its Zagreb network and operating its first full summer out of the Croatian capital, the airline will also increase frequencies on existing destinations including Charleroi, Bergamo. Gothenburg, Hahn, Basel, Malta, Memmingen, Paphos and Weeze. Mr O’Brian previously noted that as many as ten Ryanair aircraft could be based in Zagreb. Currently, three Airbus A320s are stationed in the city.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    I was hoping they would announce a 4th plane in ZAG for this summer and more new routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Well they will have 27 routes in less than a year. I think that is more than respectable for now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      What other routes are left for them to open that don't clash with OU or any other competing airline?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:07

      Lviv was completely out of the blue.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:21

      Billund would be good.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:25

      Athens and Riga would be nice.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:28

      I think there will be some more new routes announced. ZAG didn't launch a new incentive policy for nothing. I'm guessing in summer they announce 4th plane for winter season.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:43

      I'm most interested to see if they will add another regional route and which one could it be.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:51

      If they do, I think it will be Bucharest.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:52

      Or maybe Budapest. It hasn't been served since QR started flying nonstop from Doha.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:40

      Just take a train or bus to Budapest. There is really no need to fly on this route.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous11:07

      Berlin Zagreb is missing. I think only Moldova and Slovakia are not directly connected to Berlin.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:08

      Berlin hasn't worked out from ZAG in the past. Don't know why.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous12:07

      For me it would be a no brainer for Ryanair to introduce flights to the Baltics and more flights in northern Europe.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:08

      Maybe some more routes to Spain too. Madrid, Barcelona?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous12:11

      @11.08 Berlin-Ljubljana also didn't work.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous12:16

      I think we could see them start Athens, Berlin, Riga, Porto, Nice.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous12:27

      Anon 12:11 LJU-BER worked perfectly fine, but unfortunately because of Fraport they had to cut it to make space for LH cartel to take all the passengers.

      Delete
    18. anona@12:11 please stop with this non-sense. I regularly flu on this route and the plane was always more than 80% full.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous13:23

      Why has it been discontinued then?

      Delete
    20. Anonymous13:28

      Please read earlier post and you'll know.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous13:31

      So they stopped flights to do a favor for Fraport and Lufthansa. Ok.

      Delete
    22. Anonymous13:37

      Fraport stopped them.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous15:15

      To make space for LH cartel? EW is part of LH Group already!

      Delete
    24. Anonymous23:15

      Anon 15:15 i see you are a little bit confused.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Good that all routes are returning

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    Worst affected will be OU and the LH .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Well their service is about the same you get on Ryanair nowadays.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      But they charge you ten times more.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    This is good news. It means their loads and bookings are performing well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:18

    "We've long viewed Zagreb as Lufthansa's backyard because the fact is that, although there are other carriers, you actually have to use Lufthansa and its partners to get to anywhere in Europe."
    I think they are terribly right. Enough of this German dominance. They will clearly be behind LH as their competitor. The big question here is that, will we see W6 anytime soon in ZAG? They have recently seriously expanded their Gatwick base. It would be nice to see LGW-ZAG. Although, it would be also nice to see more UK routes to EDI or BHX. The UK market is a very important one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:20

    Great news for ZAG

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:20

    Now might be the time for Croatia Airlines to activate BCG's grand revival plan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      I've been waiting for their reaction too and I'm surprised they haven't done anything.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      Why are you surprised?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:43

      Unfortunately, in the middle of the pandemic, I'm not sure OU has the strength to compete against Ryanair in any way.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:45

      They have no one else to blame but themselves.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:29

      All the time when CA just doesn't react at all, no visible actions or what so ever, I just keep thinking... what are their 1000 employees doing every day?! I hope that in the BCG report there is at least one parapraph about their huge number of employees, not being competitive at all or comparable to similar well working companies with only 13 (of which 11 are active currently) planes.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:21

    What year do they expect to achieve 3.5 million passengers per year?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:22

    How many passengers could Zagreb have this year with Ryanair and these increases?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      It is hard to say. Before covid ZAG reached 3.5mil, so if pandemic will finish we can expect 5-6mil pax with FR and OU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:30

      ^ 5-6 million passengers this year? That is way too optimistic.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    Don't expect that all passengers flying with FR will be new passengers. There will be a lot of them which will just change airline and move from LH/AF/OU...to FR.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:23

    Exciting times definitely coming for ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:23

    I hope Ryanair starts getting those passenger numbers up and ZAG returning to top 3 busiest in ex-Yu soon.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:24

    This is all a good sign. It means they are performing well and are satisfied with ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:24

    Up to 10 aircraft in ZAG? Wow! They seem to be really committed. But I think this would mark an end to OU.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:27

    "However, we are not here to attack Croatia Airlines"

    Sure. If that is the case why did they file a complaint about their state aid?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      I don't think they need to kill OU. It doesn't represent a big issue for them.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      LCCs are ruthless. Don't underestimate them.

      Delete
    3. They are not killing OU. Croatian Partytocracy is killing OU. And the entire country as well

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:33

      If everything is so bad,then leave or do something instead of just complaining on a website.....bas ste dosadni.

      Delete
    5. Vlad16:13

      Always the same story from blind nationalists. When you complain about the state of the country (or in this case an airline that's a micro-image of the country on the whole), they tell you to leave if you don't like it. When you do leave for a better life elsewhere, they tell you you're a coward who didn't want to stay and change things for the better. Can't win either way.

      Delete
    6. @An.14.33
      One of the Partitocracy features is that one can do absolutely nothing unless higher ranked member of the Party. But I don't expect criminal organization voters to understand that, and I definitely can't go that low, to join, and to support all harm they did to the society. And, I didn't leave, but I write on behalf of those 400.000 who left during last few years, despite they lived in Paradise you are convinced Croatia is.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:29

    Good luck to ZAG and FR!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:29

    I can assure you that things aren't that rosy at Ryanair at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      Well they did just report a 96 million quarterly loss.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:59

      LCC have in particular been hit bad by omicron.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:09

      96m quarterly loss for an airline with nearly 500 aircraft in Covid times isn't really horrible. Extrapolated over the course of a year, it's about 1m loss per aircraft. Don't forget that Ryanair was making loads of money every year, to the tune of around 2m net profit per aircraft. Year after year after year.

      OU H1 2021 loss was around 20m, which amounts to nearly 2m loss per aircraft per year. And given the results track record, when are they planning to recoup their loss?

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:30

    I still don't know, why W6 has not opened any new routes to/from ZAG. I understand that a fight is not benefitial for any of them, but they did fight in VIE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      With all due respect I don't think we can compare ZAG and VIE.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      I prefer Ryan over Wizz because if it were Wizz in Zagreb they would just be serving 2 weekly flights to every destination and almost exclusively gasto routes. Maybe after 5 years they would consider adding some leisure or holiday destinations.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:36

    Soon they are going to have more flights than OU.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:41

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:42

    Well it seems they have pushed the pause button. Last September O'Leary said they would base another 2 planes (5 in total) in Zagreb during summer 2022. Now it seems that won't be happening.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous09:44

    Poor OU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:51

      I don't see OU surviving until summer 2023.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      It will survive thanks to the government.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:23

      If OU gets the A220s, they really need to focus on new routes and reducing costs.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:45

    I remember when some here were saying that ZAG does not need ultra LCCs and that the general travel public will never fly these airlines from Zagreb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      Well it does seem to be the case

      "Noting that the overwhelming majority of its Zagreb passengers are inbound rather than outbound travellers"

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:47

      What I find unfortunate is that several major LCCs used to fly to Zagreb but not anymore. Hope they come back.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:50

      I don't think they'll be needed with Ryanair around.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:27

      A different plane type won't change the chronic problems at OU, starting with their management.

      Delete
    5. There is no management in OU. It is the comitee of aparatchiks obediently executing Party directives in order to feed LH at expense of tax payers, and create financial and other benefits for selected individuals and the Cartel.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:40

      Ok we undersrand. You dont need to repeat 100 times who did this to OU. We all know that.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:20

    I hope ZAG will reopen the old terminal as the LCC terminal in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:52

      I don't think it is necessary at the moment. I would rather they expand existing terminal when the time comes.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:22

    Is LJU still unfazed by Ryanair's expansion in ZAG? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:44

      LJU management is really delusional if they believe they will not get effected by FR expansion in ZAG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:46

      i bet they are:) but most likely it is/will be just pax that used to fly from Treviso, so now they have another option (specially for people from south and east part of Slovenia)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:17

      Huge mistake for selling LJU to Fraport.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:24

      Is it true that DHL stopped operating their cargo flights to Bergamo from LJU?

      Delete
    5. It's not only LJU. DHL is leaving Bergamo. Are they going to continue flights to LJU (and elsewhere) from a new hub, and which one that would be, I don't know

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:57

      Thanks, Pozdrav. Sadly, this is another blow for LJU and the other destinations affected.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:04

      DHL is moving from BGY to MXP.

      Delete
    8. LJU is between TRS and ZAG, so there’s no need for RYR to have based A/C there. Plus, Fraport is a demented company divorced from reality. E.g. in the middle of the plandemic they increased handling fees in FRA, to which RYR responded with closing the base and cessation of all flight in and out of the airport.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:42

    Ryanair need to start year-round operations to Athens since Aegean and Croatian don't have plans for that.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous12:01

    Game Over OU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:03

      I think we are at the point of no return for OU

      Delete
  28. Anonymous12:15

    Zagreb has finally got some much needed routes ignored by Croatia Airlines for years. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous13:23

    Who is going to fly on all these routes from Zagreb? I don't see much need for these destinations as croatians travel lightly in general, especially to off brand destinations...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:11

      They didn't travel before, but cheap LCC tickets might stimulate demand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      I work abroad and are now flying home more regularly on one of Ryanair routes. My friends and family also come to visit more regularly because of convenience and good prices. Just from my example, we fly about 3x more than before, and plane is always full of people going back home... so for all the routes that are destinations of people working abroad this is a no brainer...

      Delete
  30. Anonymous13:24

    It would be interesting to know LF on their flights from ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous15:09

    Zagreb - Lisbon anytime soon? Ryanair is in a possession of Terminal 2 in Lisbon Airport, building base in Zagreb, andthere is not direct flights between these 2 destinations all year, should be logical to connect these 2 capitals?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:48

      I doubt it. FR is only flying to airports which would qualify them for incentives (with exception to Dublin - their home). Since TAP flies to Lisbon, I don't think they will go after it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:26

      Porto more likely, it's also one of the top unserved destinations from Zagreb.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:50

      Agree, Porto would make more sense.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous23:51

    I wonder which of their current Zagreb routes is performing best. Anyone know or any guesses?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous23:51

    This will be an exciting time for Zagreb and I hope Ryanair starts getting those passenger numbers up.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous23:58

    Abosulutely love that Ryanair is going big in Zagreb but who in gods name is flying to Paphos or Tesaloniki ?

    ReplyDelete

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