Finnair will end its new seasonal operations between Helsinki and Zagreb two months ahead of schedule but plans to return to the Croatian capital next year. The Finnish carrier will perform its last flight to Zagreb in 2022 on July 31, which will be operated by Nordic Regional Airlines on behalf of Finnair with its 100-seat Embraer E190 aircraft. Finnair initially launched seasonal three weekly operations to Zagreb with its Airbus A319 aircraft on May 1. The service was scheduled to run until September 29. No reason has been given for the airline’s decision to cut short the route.
At this point, Finnair plans to return to the Croatian capital on April 30, 2023, with a three weekly service, however, this is subject to change. Earlier this year, Finnair suspended operations to Ljubljana. The route, which was maintained on a seasonal basis up until the coronavirus pandemic, was due to be restored this summer season. However, the airline cancelled those plans. It now intends to return to the Slovenian capital from May 2, 2023. It intends on maintaining four weekly flights between the two cities. "Slovenia and Croatia are very popular leisure destinations from Finland. A lot of the travel is point to point but we do see an increase in transfer traffic as well, those destinations are becoming increasingly popular among our Asian customers, particularly from Japan", the airline previously said.
Finnair faces no competition on its Zagreb service. Croatia Airlines launched seasonal summer flights between the two cities in 2017, however, it was suspended at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and has not been restored since. There is no indication the airline plans to resume the flights next year either. Despite cutting short its Zagreb operations, Finnair will continue to serve Croatia through Dubrovnik and Split. Services to both cities will be maintained until the end of the 2022 summer season on October 29.
Why?
ReplyDeleteBecause there is virtually no O&D demand between Helsinki and Zagreb and Asian tourists have not made a come back to Croatia this year. There was no one for Finnair to fly between the two airports.
DeleteTrue I believe this was the main reason. In the article they mention Japanese transfers. Japanese people are still not travelling anywhere.
DeleteSceptical of their return next year.
ReplyDeleteShanme :(
ReplyDelete* shame
DeleteWhy aren't the flights full of Croatian holidaymakers? Do they not travel?
DeleteCroatian holidaymakers in the most expensive city in Europe?? Helsinki is yet to catch tourists even from the richer European nations.
DeleteYet to catch? Out of almost 7 million tourists who visited Finland before pandemic not even one came to Helsinki?
DeleteNot enough Asians travelling yet?
ReplyDeleteMost likely
DeleteNot enough local traffic either by the looks of things.
DeleteI remember when this route was launched, there was so much fanfare, there was a whole ceremony and celebration. They should have first asked AY what their advance bookings looked like before investing so much into PR.
ReplyDeleteHaving a welcome ceremony is part of PR, promoting the route and making it more visible to potential customers.
DeleteYes we can see how effective it was. lol
DeleteIt really became visible to the masses, that is why it is being terminated.
The route is being suspended, not terminated. I didn't say it was effective, I just said what the rationale was.
DeleteIt's completely normal to have a welcome ceremony for a new airline/route. All airports do it.
DeleteNot surprising.
ReplyDeleteExpected
ReplyDeleteWith a possible China/West conflict in the future, airtraffic to Asia would be challenged anyway, so AYs outlook for ZAG and LJU is not really looking promising.
ReplyDeleteThere is not going to be a conflict between Asia and the West because the West is economically drained from the Ukraine situation, just look at inflation numbers.
DeleteIt also depends on what Asian economies will look in a post covid world. Many people have less disposable income so they travel less.
Debts and FIAT money will do it. If u look how debts have risen the past 20 years (2000 US debt was little over 5 trillion, now it is over 30 trillions) and if u read pentagon think tanks like Rand corporation with their strategy paper for Russia and that similar exists for China the chances are good for a future China conflict. The conflict with Ukraine Russia is as per plan, to weaken Russia by war involvement, this was published in 2019 and here we go. Primitive politicians and elites but wars are business and they will keep doing them.
DeleteEvery airline that operates both from LJU and ZAG has had more succes in LJU.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is why they suspended Ljubljana.
DeleteTerminated. My bad.
DeleteFlight on sale in 2023 4 weekly. Weird "termination" :)
DeleteLike it says in the article, LJU is scheduled and on sale for next year.
DeleteBoth LJU and ZAG are on sale but we will see what actually happens.
DeleteAY selling hopes
DeleteThat didn't last long...
ReplyDeleteHope they actually come back next year.
ReplyDeleteWell they are selling tickets for next year, so that's a good sign.
DeleteBut it is not a good sign if they are cutting the flights in the peak summer month.
DeletePity, this was a nice addition for ZAG.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I don't get Finnair. Ok I understand that they are struggling with the lack of Asian transfers at the moment but for example they have flown to Ljubljana for over 10 years before the pandemic and in those 10 years they were unable to make the route work on a year round basis.
ReplyDeleteThat is because they relied on Asian tourists. No demand between Lj and Helsinki in winter months.
DeleteWhy Innsbruck and Salzburg yes, but Ljubljana not in winter season. Someone not doing his job enough.
DeleteWhat was the point of starting this route when it was obvious majority of Asians would not be travelling this summer?
ReplyDeleteThey thought different
DeleteI'm surprised there isn't any P2P demand between Helsinki and Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteWhy would there be? Not many Croats living in Finland, not a lot of business ties either.
DeleteOnce upon a time airlines used to invest in routes and let them mature. Now they cut them straight away
ReplyDeleteIf you are in a financial situation like Finnair you can't afford to wait for a route to mature. You need immediate results.
DeleteIt's another plane BA can use on top of the 4 AY planes already in use. Better financial gain for AY
Delete^+1
DeleteAgreed. Finnair needs instant results, which is why it is surprising that they went ahead and gambled on this daring niche route working without Asian transfers.
DeleteWhy am I not surprised.
ReplyDelete"According to reports, there were some fifty passengers on board the inaugural service from the Finnish capital."
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/05/finnair-touches-down-in-zagreb.html
I guess it makes sense now why Croatia Airlines didn't resume its flights.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I doubt OU was transporting Asian tourists from Helsinki.
DeleteWhere is "Bravo Hrvatska!" now, admin??
ReplyDeleteWhy should admin know? haha
DeleteI am here. No one is pretending that every news coming out of Hrvatska is positive. Bit of a pointless comment.
DeleteAnonymous @11:15
Deletehaha honestly it's always the first comment
I wouldn't count on those resumption dates. They had LJU's resumption date for a year for 2022 and then they cancelled it.
ReplyDeleteWe will see. Too early to tell at the moment.
DeleteMost of the flights were half full, but they mostly sent A319, A320 and sometimes even A321. They should have put Embraer only
ReplyDelete