Ryanair plans use of Zagreb-based jets four days a week


Ryanair plans to operate a significant number of flights out of Zagreb this coming winter season with 25 operational routes, one more than during the 2021/22 season. However, the Ryanair Group will have its three aircraft stationed in the city only four days of the week. According to "Simple Flying", the three Airbus A320 jets operated by its Lauda Europe subsidiary will be based in the city only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, during which the majority of its Zagreb network will be performed. Services during the rest of the week will be maintained by jets from other cities and bases, which will also see W patterns (such as London Stansted - Zagreb - Podgorica - Zagreb - London Stansted).

This development will not have an impact on overall frequencies and capacity, but it will result in a considerable change to scheduling on many routes and is a first in the region in which several cities serve as bases for low cost carriers. The strategy will also see Ryanair deploy its Boeing 737-800 aircraft to the Croatian capital on days the A320s are not stationed in the city. The budget carrier has previously said it could eventually base up to ten jets in Zagreb, maintain between thirty to forty routes and handle some two to three million passengers per year. “We will grow exponentially in the years to come. The key for Zagreb is going to be the number of airports we have on offer in Europe. We made a bold decision to launch a base straight away. This shows our confidence in Zagreb”, the airline’s CEO, David O’Brien, previously said.

Ryanair has not commented on why it has opted to have aircraft stationed in one of their bases only on select days of the week. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the jets will be parked in Zagreb for the remaining days of the week when they are not utilised or whether they will be deployed elsewhere. The airline has faced staffing and capacity shortages this summer, which saw it temporarily suspend routes and reduce frequencies in Zagreb for over two months. The airline said, “As Europe’s number one airline, Ryanair is delighted to announce our winter ‘22/23 schedule for Zagreb with 25 routes to popular destinations across Europe, such as London, Brussels, and Dublin. Although this schedule offers plenty of choice, demand is growing swiftly, so customers should book their Winter ‘22/23 getaways early to ensure the lowest possible fares”. The 2022/23 winter season begins on October 30.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    This is so odd. What could be the reason?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      I wouldn't be surprised if this has something to do with fees and payments.

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    2. Anonymous09:42

      That would sound like FR.

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    3. It's not so odd. They did it in BTS before as well. My guess why is either cabin crew shortage because of bad contacts, or better utilization of aircraft somewhere else, or the two combined. But with FR you never know, maybe they surprise us again....

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    4. Anonymous11:26

      Nece nikoga iznenaditi kada odu iz Zag. Samo neupucene

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    5. Ma vec su otisli. Samo jos nisu objavili. PR.

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    6. Anonymous14:51

      I do hope that their crews have better accommodation than in CROATIA AIRLINES, where again there is the old problem with bedbugs in SPU base

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:01

    Maybe on the other days they fly from LJU :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      We can only dream

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    2. Anonymous09:05

      Or maybe they will introduce new routes on the remaining days with the Zagreb based planes :D

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    3. Anonymous09:28

      Doubt Fraport will allow Ryanair at LJU.

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    4. Anonymous09:39

      Maribor at least.

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    5. Anonymous09:52

      I wouldn't get my hopes up. They have negotiated with Slovenian government or Slovenian airports many times with no positive outcome. Having a base in ZAG makes everything more difficult in my view.

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    6. Anonymous14:17

      Only if the pax structure on ZAG FR flights is radically in favor of slovenians, otherwise it does not make any sense

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    But why? Is it a labour issue?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      already in the summer schedule, ryanair sold more to zagreb than from zagreb. There is no habit of the resident population to travel. Airports in Croatia are deserts in winter. Unfortunately.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:49

      @ 9:20

      I agree. I think that's a chronic problem for airlines flying to/from CRO.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:26

      How come they don't have staffing issues at their other bases in Europe? Sorry I'm not buying it.

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    4. For heaven's sake people, 1 million potential passengers live in Zagreb area, 500 million all over Europe where FR flies. Of course they sold more to ZAG then from ZAG. Do you think Air Serbia sells more in BEG than in all other destinations? Do you think KLM sells more in Holland than elsewhere around the World? And please stop with mantra that local population has no habit to travel. Just they travel more with the car or bus or train to Europe because it is closer then travelling by road from Split or Sarajevo or Beograd. 200.000-300.000 go by car to winter skiing holidays only. In Austria they even haveso called " Croatian week " in January. Till FR arrival those flying were using other airports in vicinity. Do you really think FR would have come, came, and staying, with the same network and frequencies as the past winter if there were no local people flying? Yes, Kradeze made people poorer and it's more difficult to travel, but not a single generalization could ever be good, the same with " no habit of the resident population to travel "

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    5. Anonymous11:19

      I knew pozdrav would react. I agree with @ 9:20 100% though.

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    6. Anonymous15:35

      Of course, this is only about air travel, bus and car travel are not relevant for this forum. And compare cities in Europe with 1 million inhabitants, you will see big differences. There is a reason why Ryanair in Zagreb is not growing as announced. Remember, the base was supposed to grow to 10 aircraft. Habits change slowly. And only recently in the Croatian media was a statistic how many Croatians could not afford a holiday trip at all. Sad.

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    7. Anonymous15:41

      Amsterdam is a very bad example. in percentage terms, many more locals fly and also fly more often from Amsterdam than from zagreb. There are statistics on how often a Dutchman flies a year on average, how much and how often a Croatian flies. Or do you want to claim that there are no significant differences

      Delete
    8. Resident population in Zagreb has the same habit to travel as it does elsewhere in ex yu, especially with having a low price option finally.
      I can't believe I still come across these PhDs in anthropology having figured out the specifics of a Zagreb native travelling habits, haha!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous21:34

      This is about the comparison to the rest of Europe, especially western, southern and northern Europe. ZAG is not even in the top 100 European airports, even Belgrade is only around 90th place. Not to mention Sarajevo or Ljubljana.

      Delete
    10. I am not gonna discuss further with people who don't understand or misinterprete what I am saying. I never said Croatians travel as much as Dutch. Dutch have at least three time bigger standard and travel at least three times more. I was saying that majority of KLM passengers are not from Holland. And majority of Aegean passengers are not from Greece. And majority of Croatia Airlines passengers are not from Croatia. And majority of Wizz Budapest passengers are not from Hungary. And majority of Ryanair Zagreb and Zadar passengers are not from Croatia. Because all these countries are relatively small countries and operators sell tickets worldwide, on much bigger Global market. Is it so difficult to understand it?

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    11. Anonymous22:00

      I get your point and you're right. Only shortsighted are calculating is it inbound or outbound that prevails. Who cares, sold ticket is sold ticket. I mean inbound is even better, more money for the country so I don't know why outbound should be dominant...

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    12. Anonymous08:31

      PiR: "I am not gonna discuss further" - great, thank you! That's what my point was, ZAG doesn't have enough local passengers to grow as Ryanair planned. There isn't even a direct connection to Berlin! There are only two or three capitals in Europe that don't have that either. Why is that?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous09:55

      Just look at numbers of outbound charter flight operated from ZAG to LJU and BEG. I am not even comparing to other major capitals in Europe, but within ex-Yu.

      Delete
    14. I am not gonna discuss my twisted words and something I never said. Full stop. Your point was wrong. If FR had not enough passengers in ZAG, they would have left already. Planes are full. Lot of passengers are local. It was pLandemic and everything was disrupted. They have just started operations. Not one single service has been terminated. They are planning full last year winter network with same frequencies this year again. Plus leaving space for new openings 3 days of the week. Of course LJU and BEG have more charters in summer, they don't have more than thousands kilometers of the most beautiful coast on the World. The argument for you and the alike for no LCC'S in ZAG was no demand. You were also saying ZAG being the only in Europe not to have flights to more than one London airport. Now when FR is there, and operating STN daily, now Berlin is crucial evidence people from Zagreb and Croatia don't travel. Well, for your info, you can fly to Berlin from Rijeka, one hour and a half from Zagreb, by both Easyjet and Eurowings. And it's not for tourists only. Are you aware how mean and malicious you and your posts are? I just wonder why

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    15. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    I think it is just the first sign that Ryanair will heavily cut winter schedule from ZAG.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      How did you conclude that if they will be flying the remaining routes with aircraft from other cities.

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    2. Anonymous09:08

      +1

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    3. Anonymous09:30

      @anon 9.08 I'm not saying the original poster is correct but it leaves them room to cancel flights on the remaining days (TUE, WED, THUR) if they need to. It makes things for them much more easier unlike what they had to do this summer when they removed one plane from the base.

      Delete
    4. Or to introduce new flights on week days ☺

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    5. Anonymous12:20

      Samo ce placati svoje posade u ZG 4 dana u tome je cela usteda. To ne kapira ni tzv Purger.

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    6. Posade mogu imati sto sati naleta u 28 dana, od paljenja do gasenja motora, regulirano zakonom. Posade se ne placaju po danu nego po mjesecu i po naletu, u svim kompanijama ili ogromnoj vecini kompanija. Uz to, one posade koje lete Zagreb iz drugih baza ce valjda po Vasoj logici letjeti/raditi besplatno?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22:03

      Naprotiv, skuplji je kabinac iz Milana ili tek Dablina. Tako da ni o kakvoj uštedi na osoblju nema reči.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Would be odd if they just parked the planes for the rest of the week. I assume they will allocate them to other bases for the remaining days of the week.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    Honestly I was expecting a bit more from Ryanair. They talked such a big game in ZAG last year with up to 10 planes, 40+ destinations... This year wasn't great for them with so many routes suspended in peak season during May/June and part of July.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Maybe it's not them, it is the market?

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    2. Anonymous09:28

      Usually you do research of the market before committing to opening a base

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    3. Anonymous10:25

      Don't forget that they suspended many routes and flights in January, February and March as well. In total this year they had 5 months during which they had suspended flights.

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    4. @10.25
      Jan/Feb/Mar, good to know they were the only ones and it was only in ZAG. You heard about something called covid/corona/pLandemic ?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:08

      Don't worry, OU will keep their high quality flights operating every day!

      Delete
    6. @14.08
      Hope sandwich is good today

      @09.10
      How about trying to give them a bit more than one year in pLandemic?

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    This seems like a nightmare for operations planning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      Actually makes things much more easier for them.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:11

    Don't the B737-800s have a bit more capacity than the A320s? So they will have a few seats more on some routes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:17

    I've never heard of another airline do something like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No other airline is the biggest in Europe. No other airline make such profits. No other airline thinks more out of the box

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:28

      I usput su najveci smrad

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    3. Sa strane zaposlenika, slazem se, cisti smrad. Sa strane putnika koji znaju putovati i ne zele ostati bez koze na ledjima i bez svega sto imaju u novcaniku, najmirisniji ruzicnjak. Rijetko kada je bilo sto samo crno ili samo bijelo, samo sto mnogi ovdje to ne "kapiraju" 😃

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:08

      E sad, tu se ne slažemo. Odnosno pitanje je oportunitetnog troška. Jer ako će na kraju budžet da spašava aerodrom koji ima slabe naknade od Rajana (a puno je takvih primera) onda me taj Rajan skuplje izađe od legasija. Osvešćen čovek bi tebalo da vodi računa o tome.

      Delete
    5. Za diskusiju na ti temu trebaju nam brojevi koje nemamo. Tako da...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:18

    Ryanair usually operates majority of its better performing routes in Friday-Monday period (considering up to 3pw destinations) and launches majority of the new routes in Tuesday-Thursday period. It could be the preparation for another expansion cycle with additional based unit and new routes.

    Meanwhile, we are aware that staff shortage at ZAG was a big problem this summer. This could lead the carrier to reduce its operations at ZAG during winter period but it doesn't look so. And keep in mind that the carrier has staff based and working at ZAD currently, which will not be operational during the winter season. It is more logical that the carrier moves some of its staff and unit(s) to ZAG during winter season. I guess we'll see what's going on in 4-6 weeks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      I'm hoping for new routes, although it would mean a lot of new routes which I don't think they will do in the dead of winter.

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    2. Anonymous10:27

      Anon 09:21 Don't forget: Ryanair did it twice last year, in September and December, while the situation was worse pandemic-wise.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:19

    I'm surprised they are not launching any new routes this winter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:11

      Only Ryan is launching new routes this winter in the region (not from ZAG though). Or others are still not scheduled, which is weird. There's the list of new routes at the homepage, just a few, mainly from Tuzla.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:15

      Because it is only August and winter season does not start until November. Most people are now booking flights less than a month before departure and there is an impending economic catastrophy looming in Europe this wibter

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:12

      It starts in October, just 2.5 months from this day and the number of companies that still haven't schedule winter is low.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:20

    What is the extra route they have this winter that they didn't have last winter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      Bratislava. It was launched this summer.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      Ah true. Thanks

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    3. Anonymous09:43

      Good to see Bratislava survived into the winter.

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    4. Anonymous09:50

      Why wouldn't it. I'm assuming they took away a lot of P2P pax from Austrian and OU from/to Vienna.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:55

      VIE-ZAG isn't such a huge market. There isn't such a big Croatian diaspora there like from other ex-Yu countries. But kudos for them on succeeding from Bratislava.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:37

      The ZAG-BTS route got cancelled today…

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:24

    I believe they did this in Vienna last year. And the planes actually just sat unused at the airport for the remaining three days of the week. But it was the pandemic so I didn't see it as being that odd. But now is a different story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      What a waste but there were very few flights last winter. I can't imagine them doing the same this year.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:25

    Is the majority of Ryanair crew in ZAG from Croatia or they bring people from other bases?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      The majority of pilots flying for Ryanair from Zagreb are ex-Adria pilots. As for the crew it's a mix. Lots of Croatian crew but also Spanish.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:09

      Many pilots on the 737 who’ve been in Ryanair for more than 7-8 years, and who’ve been waiting their turn for ZAG patiently, cannot be based in ZAG because the group CEO decided that it would be better to put Lauda, the lowest of all low costs, and give shelter to former Adria and Wizzair crews. The exact ones that never wanted to have anything to do with Ryanair. Never trust anything that comes from the mouths of RYR management, they’re pathological liars and die-hard opportunists of sociopathic caliber.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:11

      @19:09
      You are actually right. And the funny thing is some of the ex-Adria guys are still complaining about T&C in Lauda even though they have the base that is closest to LJU.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:26

    Hours and cycles saving on A320 fleet, they are oldest in FR fleet and extended lease till 2028, so it’s time to start taking care of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      Do you know by any chance how many rotations per day the Airbuses will have on the days they are flying from ZAG?

      Delete
    2. Good point @09.26. Didn't know those 320's were the oldest. @09.32 - 2 units with 4 rotations, 1 unit with 3 rotations

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:13

      Most of Ryanair's B737 fleet is fully owned, so they probably don't have any cycle/hour limits or extra fees, which is common with leases.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:11

      The exact opposite is true actually. While it was the case in the past, for the last 10 years the majority of airplanes are leased.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:28

    I would be cautious booking with them this in advance for the winter. Wait until October at least.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      After the mess they created with flights in ZAG this summer, I think it is a good idea.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:29

      Get into bed with FR and expect uncertainty.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:36

    Poor ZAG...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      Why poor ZAG? What exactly changes for ZAG? It will have Ryanair flights each day.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:38

    Thursday-Monday are going to be busy at Zagreb this winter :D

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:40

    Perhaps Croatia Airlines should take the opportunity and attack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      Attack with what? Ryanair is still going to be flying every day to Zagreb. Whether it's on a plane based in Zagreb or not is really irrelevant.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      Even if they had an opportunity, Croatia Airlines would never use it. Like they haven't used any of the hundreds of opportunities that presented themselves.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:24

      True

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:26

      OU doesn't need to do anything. They get paid either way. Why bother..?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:57

      Annon 10:26. I think that is the real problem in OU. Play safe, why risk the company/their jobs by trying to grow the airline. Yeah making losses but at a level where obviously the majority of tax payers are still happy to pay for it.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:05

      Playing safe by feeding cartel's hubs? Losing 21 million € a year and taxpayers are happy about this? I don't think even Fraport fanboys are as delusional as you.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:51

    What game are they playing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      Ryanair being Ryanair lol

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:26

    But why?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:26

    I really don't understand this.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:27

    I would love to see Ryanair's results in ZAG. What is their average load factor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      I think there are generally a lot of passengers on FR from ZAG. All the flights I took with them were full.

      Delete
    2. The answer to your question is they are staying in ZAG, with the same network and frequencies as the past winter

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:54

    In my opinion OU has the right network for ZAG and a much better one than FR, it is just the company is poorly run.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. " Just " the company is poorly run? " Just ? " Are you kidding me ? With Olympic, Malev, Balkan, and Jat Airways collapsing, Tarom straggling, Aegean commencing, with tourism booming, 4 million Croatian diaspora and the entire Balkans " behind " they should have grown to minimum of Austrian or Finnair size, especially taking into consideration money wasted on them. But, yes, it's "just" poorly run

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:59

      The biggest benefit of Ryanair's base and what I'm definitely seeing more and more is people going on short weekend breaks and travelling a lot more.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:56

    Will FR launch any new routes from Zagreb this winter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:57

      Seems highly unlikely.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:01

      25 routes is not bad at all. Although they were announcing 4th and 5th plane last year.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:45

    I wonder what OU will do in response to this FR thing? Will they remain passive and focus on SPU instead or will they be courageous and start competing seriously with FR?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:00

      OU will probably do nothing as usual.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous12:00

    Good to see that there will be no more cancellations. It doesn't matter what day the flights are operated or by which planes.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous14:15

    Having this volume in winter from Zagreb is good news. I don't get the comments, so many talk about cuts and they're not cutting anything. Actually adding one destination compared to last winter (Bratislava in winter, frankly - bravo). Or I'm missing something?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Did they cancel the flights to Malmo? :(

    ReplyDelete

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