Zagreb Airport has introduced a new incentive scheme with the aim of attracting carriers and securing new routes. A similar stimulus program introduced last year resulted in Ryanair opening a base in the Croatian capital and introducing 24 new routes within six months. According to the “Croatian Aviation” portal, the new scheme went into effect on January 1. It covers eight different models including year-round scheduled new destination incentives, year-round frequency increase on existing destination incentives, seasonal scheduled new destination incentives, new charter destination incentives, upgrading seasonal to year-round operations incentives, supplementary long haul incentives, supplementary based aircraft incentive and parking fee discount for stationed aircraft. Ryanair is set to significantly benefit from the new scheme and is likely to further expand its operations as a result.
Most of the incentives include a reduction in fees for landing and the passenger service charge, some of which will be discounted for up to three years. Airlines wishing to launch new routes will be eligible for fee cuts only if the destination in question had not been served nonstop on a scheduled basis during the past twelve months. The proposed route must be operated nonstop at least 36 times in any given six-month period without interruptions on a scheduled basis. Croatia Airlines had previously objected to such incentives, arguing they were not made available to them prior to the coronavirus pandemic and were aimed at low cost carriers. The full list of incentives and their terms and conditions can be found here.
Commenting on the discounts, Zagreb Airport said, “This incentive program aims to establish rules and conditions for traffic growth at Zagreb. The incentive program is aimed at all commercial airlines that operate or intend to operate at Zagreb Airport and which fulfil all the requirements and criteria set forth in this program”. The Croatian Competition Agency recently concluded an investigation into the airport’s incentive program, concluding it does not distort the market or put Ryanair in a privileged position compared to other carriers. For its part, Zagreb Airport said, “Zagreb Airport is subject to strict regulations defined by the European Commission and the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency. All incentive programs implemented by the incentive model are transparent and non-discriminatory and can be used by all airlines under equal conditions”.
Seems like Wizz Air is coming next
ReplyDeleteI think this is primarily tailored for Ryanair to maintain existing routes and launch new ones.
DeleteI also have a feeling we might see W6 come. They were interested last year too.
DeleteThen we would have an LCC war on our hands :)
DeleteThere is no doubt it is created for Ryanair. W6 would have come up to now if they had wanted to come.
DeleteLet's not forget that validity of incentives last year was closed in June, but despite it Ryanair got the same conditions in September and December. Funny, isn't it?
So now, Zagreb airport just wants to cover it legally, but if some more airline comes with new incentives program they surely would not reject them.
And passenger numbers would skyrocket...
DeleteI think wizz could open a base on the end. They are in "war" with ryr in viena already and could just continue....
DeleteBut I highly doubt about that.
Ah yes, because size and market potential at ZAG is the same as in VIE or SOF.
DeleteZAG is not even at 50% the size of SOF this year.
Wizz would have limited opportunities because FR has already covered so many routes.
DeleteExactly, ZAG is similar to BTS or TIA. One LCC can thrive but there isn't much room for another one. At least not until the market exceeds 5-6 million passengers which I doubt we'll see in ZAG before 2030.
DeleteBulgaria is bigger than Croatia. Nevertheless, I think it can reach Sofia by passenger traffic!
DeleteThe market is very similar. Wizz will also be lucky in my opinion!
Zagreb is Sofia in 2016.In 2016 FR opened base in SOF.
If someone had said in 2010 that Sofia would serve 6 million passengers (before Kovid) and that Wizz and Ryanair would have 35 destinations, would you believe it?
Deletethe same is with Zagreb!
There is room for both Wizz and Ryanair.
First thing first, Bulgaria has twice the population of Croatia. It also has a much larger diaspora which travels back home by plane.
DeleteAnd Croatia has five time more tourists than Bulgaria and citizens of Zagreb have way better living standard and possibility to travel than those of Sofia. In the last "pandemic" histery round, FR cut gasto routes but not Paphos, Malta, Malaga...
DeleteYet all the things you listed are not enough to put Croatia ahead of Bulgaria. Simply put there is no chance of ZAG ever reaching SOF numbers. Just look at the millions of Bulgarians that live abroad that travel all the time back home. Croatia simply doesn't have that market dynamic.
DeleteNo 1 Airport in Croatia 2021 is Split. The majority of tourists fly to the coast, not to zagreb.
DeleteSofia also has a growing expat community especially from Italy and Spain. Add to this the newly added winter charters to Maldives and Punta Cana. Zagreb should think of this as well during winter.
DeleteSofia is a fantastically run airport, I mean guys, they have three airlines based there all fighting for this growing and highly lucrative market. I think in a few years Sofia will without a problem pass the 10 million mark.
Delete@An.12.22
DeleteNo 1 airport in 2022 in HR is SPU because it is not a normal year and there is covid scam all around. Majority of tourists are going to the coast, I agree, but if HR had competently managed and politically not limited flag carrier, without crime and corruption, focused on business and development, significant part of the tourists coming to the coast would be using ZAG as a transfer point, similar to Aegean, for example
@An.11.55
DeleteI am by no means "my is bigger" guy. Bulgaria is bigger than Croatia and Sofia is big and vibrant city and Bulgaria has big recent diaspora. My intention was not to say that ZAG is going to be bigger than SOF, the same as it would probably never be bigger than BEG. However, ZAG does have big yet UNUSED potential, in some segments bigger than SOF or BEG (long haul for example, or transfer traffic, but LCC as well)
+111
DeleteMakes sense since it gave them a good result last time around.
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteI'm really hoping that Croatia Airlines will finally use this opportunity and expand its network from Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteDoubtful. They will probably just complain some more.
DeleteResult of lack of leadership of political interference.
Delete@9.02
DeleteLufthansa lobby wouldn't like to see OU expand except add another 20 daily departures to Frankfurt and Munich.
It is easier to complain, than to actually do something.
DeleteWe have to wait some more to see their financial results, I think that will give us an indication of how much they were impacted by FR.
DeleteI like that there are incentives for long haul flights. Hopefully we see will see some other than Air Transat this year.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit late for an airline to schedule long haul flights to Zagreb for this year.
DeleteIf the service is to commence in June or July, I wouldn't say it's too late, but it probably won't happen this year because of "pandemic" histeria, but I do like long-haul incentives as well I believe ZAG has a lot of space to grow in that part once covid scam is over
DeleteHow much does this cost ZAG? What are their financial results like?
ReplyDeleteResults are still not out. We will see. They took out a loan last year.
Deletethey cant do this forever.
DeleteThey can compensate the loss from charges if passenger numbers explode and they get extra income from additional shops, passenger tax and so on. We have to wait for their financial result.
DeleteGood news, Hope it produces same result like last time.
ReplyDeleteSmart that they are trying to tackle seasonality through the incentives for upgrading seasonal flights.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteDo other airports have similar policies?
ReplyDeleteYes, everyone has some incentive policies in place although usually they are not as extensive as this.
DeleteYou can usually find it on their website. Published in the business section.
DeleteI believe that major airports like ZAG should primarily support their national airlines and give them more favorable terms and conditions than to foreign/low cost carriers.
ReplyDeleteThat's not how the world works, that is Communism, which is apparently dead in Croatia.
DeleteRyan Air is good for both Zagreb Airport and Croatia Airlines. They are famous for 'developing' routes and instead of taking pax away from OU they will create their own market and in effect grow OU's as well as low cost carriers have done in so many parts of the world.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteIn my opinion they should get even better conditions as they have more aircrafts based at ZAG, they will transfer more passengers in/out of ZAG. Or on other hand provide same conditions to FR as OU has and let's see how many aircraft they would have at ZAG.
DeleteHow many aircraft would OU have based at ZAG without all the millions from the government?
DeleteWithout millions they get, the only based planes they would have in ZAG are those that would be stored after their bankruptcy.
DeleteAs far as I can see, ZAG has published its incentive program on its web page and Croatia Airlines is free to apply for it too. We will see if they do.
ReplyDeleteLCCs are a fact of life now in every part of the world, and their contribution cannot be underestimated. Time for OU to get used to that.
DeleteZAG management is not stupid.. They see the way OU is 'developing' and probably see through the fleet renewal bull OU is serving up (as they have many times in the past). They want to avoid becoming Ljubljana Airport no. 2.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. It seems that ZAG is not going to make the same mistake LJU did. Besides, it already has a large portfolio of legacy carriers operating on most of the Croatia Airlines' routes, so a potential bankruptcy of based carrier will not damage the airport too much.
DeleteActually ZAG already issued them a warning some 4 years ago which OU ignored. They can't be surprised right now. They knew this was coming. The writing was on the wall.
DeleteNo more easy money for Croatia Airlines, ZAG's protection seems to be over.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't been protected since the concession began. ZAIC brought in many new airlines, especially legacies.
DeleteBut few were direct competition with OU.
DeleteBut it limited their expansion potential.
DeleteAs if they would have used the opportunity to expand anyway... The pinnacle of their expansion between 2010-2020 were 5 seasonal routes, usually operated by wet leased equipment.
DeleteAll of which have been since suspended too
DeleteI'm interested to see how the government will respond. It has always come to Croatia Airlines' rescue and I'm sure it will be the case again.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what more they can do. They gave OU a lot of aid in the past and I don't think the EU would let it happen again. Also Ryanair would be quick to launch court proceedings and would complain to the EU.
DeleteI don't think the government will do much, it will be really bad PR for them. Croats love the cheap tickets they got from FR. Imagine taking that away from them only to force them to fly on OU to MUC for €300.
DeleteGood move Zagreb Airport!
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to the 'prestigious' airport attracting only 'prestigious' airlines.
ReplyDeleteReality hit and they realized they won't be able to survive with such a business model.
DeleteFrankly speaking, it was not their business model. Being government owned and managed, they were forced to do nothing, especially not to let LCC'S in, in order to protect OU. But such situation was used by some fools and Party bots to present it here as "prestigious". So what few of them wrote here cannot be really called ZAG business model
DeleteGood luck to OU. Use this opportunity to grow.
ReplyDeleteAny pressure on OU to force 'proper' aviation business practice can only be a good thing..
ReplyDeleteLogical move (and expected).
ReplyDeleteAnother 3-4 Ryanair planes incoming.
ReplyDeleteWould be fantastic!
DeleteI'm wondering what other routes could Ryanair launch from Zagreb. They already have 24 and are starting another 2 this summer. What else is there left to launch?
ReplyDeleteMaybe:
DeleteChania/Krete ,Bar I,Catania,Treviso,Palma de Mallorca,Canaries,Valencia,UK destinations,Madrid,Marseille, Lisbon,Porto,Riga,Krakow,Warsaw,Kyiv,Bucharest,Rhodes,Tel Aviv, Amman!
If FR uses these new incentives as well, Zagreb Airport could soon be reaching pre Covid traffic levels.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not many Croats travel abroad and relying on inbound passengers is tricky. How many tourists will make a return trip for a holiday?
ReplyDeleteWell this is changing. Thanks to Ryanair more and moe Zagreb residents are flying for weekend trips and holidays abroad.
DeleteThis is also shown by the success of routes like Paphos and Malaga which have not been temporarily suspended.
DeleteWe also have to see if FR keeps all routes launched last summer.
DeleteThey will. All are on sale.
DeleteAll were on sale for January too but we saw what happened.
DeleteYes that's the biggest challenge of ZAG market. Simply Croats don't travel abroad as much as the other Europeans. It's not an easy task for airlines to change the cultural and social habits of the residents here. I personally don't know anyone who have flown on FR.
DeleteGive me a break man. I flew FR at least 30 times. I was meeting croatian people coming by bus or car from ZAG, not to mention Istria and Rijeka, to Treviso or Bergamo, to fly FR while it was not in ZAG. I was meeting croatian people on the street in Thailand, Cambodia, Carribean, Brasil... Please stop "Croats don't travel abroad" mantra because it is BS
Deleteof course you will meet Croatians everywhere on your travels, but that's not an argument. you have to compare the numbers, how many tourists does croatia have compared to the population in percent? and that is little compared to europe. which is also logical when you have such a beautiful long coast. the majority of slovenians also travel to the adriatic sea. When the ZAG base opened, Ryanair said that 90% of the first bookings were made by foreigners. Of course, that has slowly changed over time
Deletethe croatian on the coast also travel very weakly. most people have to work a lot in the summer (in the touring industry), but they use little winter for travel.
Deletetherefore all the airports on the coast have almost no air traffic in winter, which is simply not worth it.
Do you think Ryanair may have more than 50 destinations next summer?
ReplyDeleteI believe so. They will definitely use these incentives and announce new major expansion for June or July.
DeleteNadam se da će YU iskoristiti priliku i uvesti noćne letove ili u popodnevnim talasu.
ReplyDeleteThey alreasy have flights departing Zagreb middle of the night.
Delete*already
DeleteImaju 1 koji se ukida sa letnjim redom letenja. Ako žele da budu konkurentniji na letovima za zapadnu Evropu treba im više noćnih ili popodnevnih letova. Noćni letovi će im pogotovu biti potrebni ako pokrenu Toronto.
DeleteЧим немају додатне ноћне летове то онда једноставно значи да се ови нису баш супер продавали. За ЈУ, Загреб никада није била тако успешна дестинација као што су то Љубљана, Тирана или Сплит лети.
DeleteMožda postane uspešnija kad ponude JFK,YYZ,ORD,PEK...
DeleteRight call
ReplyDeleteVery happy for ZAG really. What I am concerned about is LJU. It will become more and more difficult to attract new carriers as people will use ZAG. The more destinations are introduced, the lower fares will go down. I mean, you can fly from Brussels, Dublin or London just below 30€.
ReplyDeleteWell bravo Fraport!
Deleteu say this like Slovenians didn't have this same option before FR in Zagreb. they have even better option than Zagreb - Venice is near, no boarder control, cheaper plane tickets and more frequency and waaaay more destinations. Customers using LJ airport will stay there because they are simply not FR customers. Some of them will shift from Trieste/Venice/Milano to Zagreb but not from Ljubljana to Zagreb. Brussels and London you can fly cheap from Ljubljana, Dublin is not cheap from Zagreb - 110€ return from Zagreb with FR and 140€ from Ljubljana.
DeleteToday it was announced that FR will be closing its base in FRA. Hopefully ZAG management takes note of this and provides a new round of incentives to OU for them to expand.
ReplyDeleteFRA can afford to lose FR since they have LH. Can ZAG afford to lose FR now if OU dies?
BRAVO! We need more frequencies on Domestic routes. Especially Trade Air needs to increase Zagreb-Osijek to at least four rotations a day for perfect Hub Wave connectivity.
ReplyDeletePreferably on Saab340.
Zagreb is not hub. OU does not have 3 waves of departures /arrival for which four rotations from anywhere, especially Osijek, are needed. Turbolet with average of 6 passengers or less per flight is way too big already to be exchanged with bigger plane. Tickets OU sell are so expensive that even with connecting PSO are not affordable for poor people of Slavonija, or anybody who does not want to be made fool and ripped off by OU. PSO paid by EU taxpayers allow precise number of flights, and these are definitely not four rotations per day. For everything else I have no comment
Delete"Airlines wishing to launch new routes will be eligible for fee cuts only if the destination in question had not been served nonstop on a scheduled basis during the past twelve months." Thanks to covid, this could mean that legacies without service in tha last 12 months could get fee reduction. I don't know the list of such airlines/routes but I can imagine, there are some including Croatian Airlines.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Wizz would open a base in ZAG, but some routes are not in focus for FR so W6 could launch, such as Abudhabi.
ReplyDeleteThe argument had always been "why would Croatia go anywhere else when they have such beautiful coast in their own country?"
ReplyDeleteTrue, but if you can fly for peanuts on Ryanair, then you will go somewhere else.