Korean Air will not operate planned charter flights between Seoul and Zagreb this October after the tour operator behind the service saw lower than expected demand. However, according to the “Croatia Aviation” portal, the carrier will run a series of charter flights to Dubrovnik on behalf of a Korean company that will be sending its employees on holiday to the Croatian seaside. The airline will operate a total of four flights to Dubrovnik with its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which can seat between 277 and 291 passengers, depending on the configuration. The flights will run on November 4, November 9, November 14 and November 20.
Korean Air was initially to operate four charters from Seoul to Zagreb on behalf of Hanjin Travel, on September 30, October 7, October 14 and October 21. Services were to be maintained with the 218-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, however, the flights will not go ahead. The airline has not made a decision on whether it will resume scheduled operations to the Croatian capital next year. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Korean Air maintained seasonal flights between the two cities. The airline recently resumed operations on a number of its European destinations and announced the launch of a new service to nearby Budapest, lowering the chances of its return to Zagreb.
Korean Air launched year-round nonstop operations between Seoul and Zagreb in September 2018. Services were maintained with a triangle routing - Seoul - Zagreb - Zurich - Seoul - during the winter of 2018/19, while the flights were downgraded to seasonal in 2019. Summer capacity was to be increased in 2020 from the Airbus A330 to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, the flights never materialised due to the outbreak of Covid-19. During 2019, Korean Air handled 43.123 passengers between the two cities. Korean low cost carrier T’Way Air has previously said its plans to launch services to Zagreb. This year it took delivery of three wide-body A330-200 jets, although services to the Croatian capital are yet to be scheduled.
.gif)
I think the chances of them resuming ZAG are becoming slimmer but let's see.
ReplyDeleteTrue but T'Way may replace them next summer.
DeleteDoubtful. KE did not come back because there was limited demand so TWay would be in the same situation. Seems like Hungary did a better job at promoting itself in South Korea.
DeleteThat will be some nice spotting in DBV, especially for November.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they will stay the entire time in Dubrovnik or Croatia for that matter.
DeleteBUD will kill off chances of Korean resuming ZAG.
ReplyDeleteIf there is a demand, they will fly both. Before the covid they planned to both cities (3 weekly 787 to ZAG, 3 weekly A330 to BUD)
DeleteIf Croatia Airlines was smart it could have been serving Korea itself.
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha
DeleteIt's true. They could have been serving important long haul markets without depending on foreign airlines.
DeleteAnonymous 09:17
DeleteYes, OU could have been enjoying the profits JU is making from serving JFK and the profits it will make flying to Tianjin and Havana!
No?
Yes it could have as JFK is profitable.
DeleteAs a Star Alliance member it could also have positioned itself as a regional leader for long haul flights and connections. Instead it has positioned itself as a loss making Lufthansa feeder contributing very little to the country's connectivity. With a decent network to connect onto perhaps it would not need 50 million to fly Dubrovnik-Zagreb and Split-Zagreb.
DeleteIndeed, JFK has been profitable for well over a year now. It goes to show that ex-YU carriers can run a profitable long-haul operation if they want to invest themselves in it.
DeleteI also think OU has all the predispositions to be successful on long haul. If only it had the guts.
DeleteIt's not about guts. It's about people who deliberately made OU feeder and limited its growth because or their personal interest. It's about crime and corruption. Same as in INA. And many others. Kradeze with left hand on the hearth while anthem plays, and with right hand in our pockets. Time to say enough.
DeletePa kako niste sami sebi dosadni više ako ste odavno dosadili i Bogu i narodu. . .
DeleteAko Vam je dosadno a Vi ne citajte, samo prevrtite. Ima jako puno ljudi kojima nije dosadno i koji se slazu sa mnom, a za javno objavljene informacije koje daju sumnju na kriminal i korupciju trebao bi se povesti kazneni progon po sluzbenoj duznosti te cu stoga nastaviti svakodnevno na to ukazivati, dok pravna drzava u Hrvatskoj ne profunkcionira i dok kazneni progon ne prestane biti selektivan nego jednak za sve. S postovanjem!
DeleteWinter is coming!
ReplyDeleteIn GOT, when winter finally came, the good triumphed over the evil.
DeleteThat is going to be quite a big bird for DBV :)
ReplyDeleteWonder which company is sending their employees to Croatia.
ReplyDeleteDubrovnik is nice in any season but I don't know what they're going to do there in November.
DeleteI was there in October and it was very lively, November is a different story though. The locals say everything shuts then. Are there any from Dubrovnik here who can tell for sure?
DeleteDBV local here, November is really not a good month to be in DBV, but I guess it's much better than January-March. WIth the global warming (or whatever it is) in the last years our swimming season sometimes extended all the way until the begining of November, but usually it is very rainy, most places closed (but not nearly as much as in Jan-Mar period), streets empty. Before corona we started to get much more tourist even in November, but corona set as back for many years, so now again it's a pretty depressed period of the year. Turn on Dubrovnik TV in late evening to get get a full picture how it really looks (they stream a camera from the main street in ther Old Town).
DeleteOnly from November and beyond, DBV has enough hotel capacities to accommodate a plane full of Koreans. It's impossible to secure 300+ pax hotels during the seasons.
DeleteSeptember is one of the main months for congress tourism in Dubrovnik, if what you are saying was true then this wouldn't be the case (congress groups usually have a few hundred pax). But for groups this big hotels need to be booked at least 1 year in advance, maybe that's where the problem is.
DeleteWhy is such a problem for OU to order some A330 or maybe boeing 767? I know it all costs but it makes profit after some times right? ZAG - JFK would be great route and can be done with 767, am I right? Where is exactly the problem?
ReplyDeleteAre you going to be paying for this lavish expansion?
DeleteFeeding cartel is profitable?
DeleteThen what are you going to do? Are you going to replace them all and put yourself as board president. No. You dont think JU is not cartel and yet there is A330 flying to JFK with expansion to Asia and Havana.
DeleteI don't care that much if they are cartel or whatever, I would just want OU to expand more and more and at the end I don't care if the cartel rich or not.
Issue with OU is their rather bad financial state. They would need a large cash injection similar to what JU got back in 2013. After that they would need smaller and smaller ones until their business stabilizes. However, they wasted years on merely existing, wasting one opportunity after the other and today they are at a point when they are fighting for mere survival.
DeleteGermany is their main market and with the looming energy crisis God knows what will happen there. OU should have done what Aegean did over the years. Use their Star Alliance membership to consolidate their position on the Greek market. Once they have done that they started expanding left and right.
Croatia Airlines on the other hand has completely given up on anything else other than fully feeding Star Alliance hubs.
I fear it's too late for them now.
^ true although they got a financial injection of 100 million EUR just before Croatia entered the EU and they did nothing with it.
Delete140 mil EUR
DeleteAnd that was 10 years ago when the value of that much money was much greater.
DeleteEagerly waiting for ‘Rijeka’ comments to start pouring in...
DeleteAfter all these people saying what I am normally saying I don't need to say anything else.
DeleteNothing 2 blame this time. Simply no demand.
ReplyDeleteThat is the main problem in ZAG.
DeleteFR does not cancel the flights and reduce the frequencies in Zagreb just for fun.
@Anon 10:12
Delete+1000
I suppose the coast is where the money can truly be made in HR?
DeleteI'm surprised about the reduced demand. I'm also surprised KE didn't fly to Budapest before Covid. Didn't Koreans go crazy over Budapest because of some TV show years ago?
ReplyDeleteCroatian tourism board should be more active in securing a return of former markets after Covid.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Especially from far-off markets!
DeleteIt makes much more sense for Korean to fly seasonally to Dubrovnik than Zagreb to be honest.
ReplyDeleteFully agree.
DeleteUnfortunately, this seems to be the case. Zagreb might lose even more flights in the future, that will eventually go to the coast.
DeleteRemeber reading some analysis couple of years back on how Far East tourists are more interested in continental attractions offered by Zagreb rather than mostly sea&sun appeal of coastal airports. Looks like analyst was wrong once again.
DeleteActually, in November it really doesn't. Dubrovnik is dead in November and Zagreb is always lively. In Apr-Oct period - yes, Dubrovnik makes more sense, but Nov-Mar Zagreb is a much better choice.
DeleteCould those reductions in Croatia lately be related to population decrease maybe? Croatia is quite a visited country but unsure about Zagreb levels compared to its coast....
ReplyDeleteWhat would population decrease have to do with Korean tourists?
Delete40,000+ pax for seasonal flights isn't bad at all
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to see the load factor
DeleteOuch
ReplyDeleteThis Korean company sending people on holiday reminds me of Yugoslav times when workers would be awarded with holiday on the Croatian coast :)
ReplyDeleteThese Koreans are Yugoslavians by heart !
DeleteWorkers awarded with holiday on the Croatian coast belongs to the same propaganda as one type of yoghurt in the stores in Yugoslavia, and there were 54 types on the market, different producers, full fat, partial fat, skimmed, light, more sour, less sour, liquide, firm, plain flavour, fruit flavour, and so on and so on. New World Order spokespersons not giving up with placing Yugoslavia behind iron curtain, where it has never been, more precisely where it has been 1945-1948.
Delete