Turkish Airlines has seen its passenger numbers fully recover on its flights between Istanbul and Zagreb during the first half of the year despite a notable change in the structure of its passengers on the route. The Turkish carrier welcomed 78.589 travellers on board its Zagreb flights during the first half of the year, representing an increase of 5.9% on the pre-pandemic 2019, or an additional 4.368 passengers. During the six-month period, Turkish Airlines held a 6% share of all customers using Zagreb Airport. The airline operates double daily flights between the two cities and faces no direct competition on the route.
Turkish Airlines Zagreb performance, H1 2022
Turkish Airlines’ General Manager for Croatia, Ugur Cantimur, has said the majority of travellers flying between Istanbul and Zagreb are foreigners, with the rate of Turkish passengers being relatively low. Up until the pandemic, 60% of customers on the route were transfers from the Far East. However, with many markets in Asia still closed and demand for travel in the early stages of recovery, most passengers on the route are now transfers from the United States. Passengers from Miami, New York and Los Angeles are increasingly using Turkish Airlines to reach the Croatian capital. Despite the lower feed from the East, Turkish Airlines has benefited from less competition from Gulf carriers, with Qatar Airways more than halving its operations to Zagreb and Emirates relegating its service onto Flydubai.
Turkish Airlines operates flights to Dubrovnik in addition to Zagreb and has previously considered introducing flights to Split, although those are now off the table until demand for travel fully recovers. The carrier commenced operations to the Croatian capital back in 1998 with two weekly services. This August, Turkish Airlines became the largest network carrier in the world in terms of available seats on international routes. “Competition in the global aviation industry is intensifying again as the effects of the pandemic wane. Our target was to surpass our performance in 2019, and we have succeeded”, the Chairman of Turkish Airlines’ Board and Executive Committee, Ahemt Bolat, said. Turkish Airlines increased its number of destinations from 315 in August 2019 to 335 as of last month, with its fleet expanding from 343 to 387 aircraft.
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Well done TK!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I wonder if the US transfers have shifted from Lufthansa.
ReplyDeleteA portion probably has. Turkish Airlines keeps expending its US network while Lufthansa has severely decreased the quality of service on board.
DeleteYou have to wonder why Croatia Airlines never introduced flights to IST
ReplyDeleteIf the majority of passengers on the route are transfers, what is left for Croatia Airlines? They don't have any sort of developed network in the region to offer anything to passengers.
DeleteThey can offer transfers on domestic flights.
DeleteCroatia Airlines can codeshare with TK, and access their incredible network.
DeleteAs far as I remember, Croatia Airlines flew to Istanbul until around 2013.
DeleteCorrect. They launched it in 2011 but it lasted just two years.
DeleteThey can't compete against Turkish.
Delete^ They said the same about JU but then they made a deal with Turkish and now they both fly the route. Croatia Airlines could do something similar, especially since both airlines are part of Star Alliance.
DeleteI agree. They could do in some sort of cooperation with TK. For example this winter, Turkish has 12 flights per week between Istanbul and Zagreb. Croatia Airlines could have taken on the two weekly flights to test the market.
DeleteCould Croatia Airlines' Dash make it from Zagreb to Istanbul?
DeleteThey cannot compete against Turkish, they cannot compete against Ryanair, they don't even want to compete against Lufthansa... I think they should stick to the PSO as there is noone to compete against there.
DeleteUnfortunately that's true. They give up before even trying. Actually trying doesen't even cross their mind.
DeleteI (like many others on this forum) am deeply disappointed at the state of OU, its leadership and direction. Dropping IST was short-sighted, but serious questions must be asked as to what is healthy for the airline both short- and medium-term: everyone seems to have a vested interest, and nobody can look at the big picture. Very sad indeed.
DeleteIt's not just IST. Take the list of Top20 European airports and check on how many OU flies. Doing legacy business without flying to major European hubs is nonsense.
Delete"the majority of travellers flying between Istanbul and Zagreb are foreigners, with the rate of Turkish passengers being relatively low."
ReplyDeleteFinally explains why Pegasus hasn't launched flights to ZAG.
Don't forget that Turkish citizens need a visa to enter Croatia.
DeleteWhat type of equipment is TK currently using to Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteMostly A321s on both flights.
DeleteMostly A321
DeleteI flew with 737 yesterday evening.
DeleteWhat was the load like?
DeleteAnon 09:26 Economy had 5-6 empty seats, business class was also almost full
DeleteGood recovery.
ReplyDeleteWell done! I hope we eventually see a third daily flight on some days.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice that they reintroduce 14pw in winter again. Its not time for third daily.
DeleteIf I remember correctly the rumor was that they would get Croatia Airlines to resume IST and fly the third daily flight.
DeleteDon't bet on it. The most we will see from OU and new routes is a LH hub for a three month period. Like Pula-Zurich.
DeleteDoes OU codeshare on Turkish's flights to Istnabul?
ReplyDeleteYes, it does
DeleteAt least something.
DeleteHow are their Dubrovnik flights performing? Will they operate for the entire years or will there be a break?
ReplyDeleteNo flights to DBV from the start of winter until 1st March.
DeleteThanks
DeleteWere they ever year round or always partially seasonal?
DeleteI think they attempted year round in the first year of operations.
DeleteYes that's right. In the first year they flew year round.
DeleteThat's a healthy number of passengers to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteI flew TK recently short haul for the first time. I don't get why people are so fascinated by this airline. Except for offering cold salad with some chicken on board and free drinks I don't understand what exactly sets them apart from other airlines? The crew is the same as in any other airline and the seats are quite crammed. Maybe I was just expecting something out of the ordinary since I have been listening to people talk about them so much for years and everyone was so amazed for some reason. I still find MEB3 airlines better.
ReplyDeleteThey are miles ahead of any European airline in terms of service. Not to mention that most of their narrow bodies also have PTVs.
DeleteThe ground experience in IST leaves a lot to be desired.
DeleteYou didn't try MEB3 on short haul, didn't you? This would give you something to compare.. To have a hot meal with free drinks on 2 hours flight isn't something usual in aviaton these days.
DeleteTry Lufthansa on short Europe route..
DeleteGreat news for Croatian tourism.
ReplyDeleteNot the best news for Croatia Airlines-Lufthansa which carry a lot of US transfers.
DeleteIt is interesting that more people are transferring through IST to get to the US. Shows how much people from the Balkans value price over comfort by adding several hours to their journey and going eastwards.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise.
DeleteLet me fix that for you
Delete"Shows how much people from across the world value price over comfort"
I'm pretty sure they have the most transfers to the US from all ex-Yu markets.
DeleteI think that title easily goes to LH group
DeleteSeveral hours? Check connections before you start talking.. It's not even 2 hours more than connections on LH or BA.
DeleteKako moze da bude manje od 2 sata kad IST-ZAG-IST traje 3 sata? Ne racunaj vreme na aerodromu.
DeleteLet ZAG-IST traje oko 1h40 min, u nekim slucajevima cak i krace.
DeletePity they are not interested in OU.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite interesting that they have a lot of passengers from Croatia to the US. One would think most would use Lufthansa or Austrian and not backtrack to IST.
ReplyDeleteLike someone said above, it is all about price my friend.
DeleteIntersting how many people use AF/MK to get to MRU from Croatia/Slovenia and nobody speaks about reverse flights.
DeleteNot just price. The mess with FRA, AMS, LHR made people think of safer alternatives.
DeleteAny airline growing in the region is good news. Hope they keep increasing frequencies
ReplyDeleteThey should really start Split, at least seasonally. Considering they launched Tivat this year.
ReplyDeleteSplit won't start until transfers from the east come back. To Tivat they have completely different passengers and it's mostly Turkish nationals going on holiday.
DeleteMakes sense
DeleteIt amazes me how this airline is profitable at all. They seem to fly to every place in the world.
DeleteMassive diaspora and they have made IST into a huge transfer point. They were also smart to expand in Africa before the competition.
DeleteThe state helped them with billions of dollars.
DeleteJust at the US has helped their carriers with billions
DeleteThe difference is that the U. S. carriers returned the money to the Govt.
DeleteIt is good to hear their numbers are growing in Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know or care to guess how many passengers they carry on an annual basis from/to ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteProbably around a million pax. Maybe even more.
DeleteWonder which route they have the most passengers to?
DeleteBEG. That's where they have the most flight by far.
DeleteI think they also perform better to Ljubljana than Zagreb. From February they will fly double daily to LJU, while to ZAG they keep 12 weekly.
DeleteLJU will be 12 weekly in February.
DeleteI really hope they will consider transatlantic flights from an ex-Yu country soon. Istanbul-Zagreb-New York would be fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWhy would they be considering this? There is no such precedent in TK's network.
DeleteAlso I highly doubt they would be given permits to fly fifth freedom between EU country and US.
DeleteNo chance of this happening.
DeleteMore likely EK to start DXB-ZAG-EWR after concluding codeshare agreement and with possible joint venture with United, which btw I think will not happen, than TK to do IST-ZAG-JFK
DeleteWell done! Fantastic news!
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Any data on which other airlines from Zagreb have seen full passenger recovery? Thanks and much appreciated.
ReplyDeletePretty sure KLM has surpassed its pre Covid figures in ZAG.
DeleteAir France probably too.
DeleteCroatia Airlines? Hahahahahahahaha!!!
Delete6% share is not small for one airline with just 2 daily flights.
ReplyDeleteNot bad
DeleteNo Bravo Hrvatska guy? I'm worried.
ReplyDeleteAny chance we could see them send widebodies to ZAG?
ReplyDeleteNo, other than some one off. They have a wide body shortage, a pilot shortage and they also don't fly to ZAG double daily on a year round basis.
DeleteHope the premium loads are good too.
ReplyDeleteConsidering they mostly send their A321s to ZAG, I assume so.
DeleteCrazy thing about Turkish Airlines is that they not only fly capitals but also to many secondary destinations and not to forget their impressive African coverage. It will be very interesting to see their flights to Sydney. According to Sam Chui, they need the A350 ULR to be able to fly from Istanbul. This is where the MEB3 have a better geographical location in that sense.
ReplyDeleteSydney would definitely be a golden gem for them as there is a huge Balkan diaspora over there especially Greek.
But to be honest, I prefer a smaller airport such as DOH or MUC where transfers are faster.
They seem to fly to every single village in Europe
DeleteWhat is their average load factor to/from Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteWe would need to know how much capacity they had in the first half of the year to calculate that.
DeleteTK and OU need to cooperate more. I don't see why they don't. Why doesn't OU have a codeshare on TK's routes from Istanbul? Especially to more distant markets.
ReplyDeleteTK is simply the best airline in the world currently. Hot food service on short hall flight's....unheard of. Seat back entertainment and WiFi. Lounge access for 100 kuna while traveling in economy!!!. ( ARE YOU LISTENING AVIATION WORLD 🌍)
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteGood result overall
ReplyDeleteDoes TK cargo have flights to ZAG?
ReplyDelete