Winter 2022/23 - Croatia Airlines


Croatia Airlines has finalised its network for the 2022/2023 winter season which begins on October 30 and runs until March 25 of next year. The carrier plans to operate over 8.500 scheduled flights, representing an increase of 29% on last year. It will maintain thirteen international destinations out of its Zagreb hub. The airline will restore limited services from the Croatian capital to Dublin, which have been suspended for most of the summer season. Furthermore, it will increase frequencies on services to Brussels, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Munich, Vienna, Sarajevo and Skopje when compared to the majority of the current summer season. In addition, it will maintain domestic services to Dubrovnik, Pula, Split and Zadar. The carrier will operate the same number of destinations as the previous winter season. Compared to the pre-pandemic 2018/2019 and the start of the 2019/2020 winter, it will not serve Barcelona, Lisbon and Mostar from its main hub.

Departing Zagreb



The carrier will introduce two new routes, with limited operations from both Split and Pula to Zurich. Both have so far been maintained on a seasonal summer basis. During the upcoming winter, they will run twice per week, each Wednesday and Saturday, with the Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. At this point, the two services have been scheduled to run until mid-January of next year. As a result, this winter, for the first time in years, Croatia Airlines will run international flights out of Pula, complementing its domestic operations to Zagreb and Zadar. Croatia Airlines will operate flights from Split to Frankfurt, Munich, Rome and Zagreb, in addition to its new Zurich service.

Departing Split



Operations to Dubrovnik have been reduced to a single domestic route, in contrast to prior to the pandemic when there were also flights to Frankfurt. From Osijek, the carrier will continue to maintain services to Munich, which were launched earlier this year. Similarly, from Rijeka, the airline will boast flights to the Bavarian capital, while services from Zadar will be maintained to Pula and Zagreb. Utilisation of the carrier’s Dash 8 Q400 turboprops will be increased, with the 78-seat aircraft deployed on almost all routes. Destinations which will be exclusively served by jet-engine aircraft include those from Zagreb to London Heathrow, Paris and Frankfurt, as well as from Split to Frankfurt.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:00

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Really pathetic

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:39

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:02

      Considering the whole potential of the Croatian market this is a more than a disappointing network.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:11

      What exactly potential?
      There is no outgoing demand.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    It's a small, but sufficient network for the country.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      Agree. In winter it serves the needs of local travellers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:28

      They are very conservative with their winter ops.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:30

      If locals do not travel this small network is optimal.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    13 international destinations from ZAG only!

    This must be a comedy!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      I agree. ZAG deserves much better.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    Such a shame ATH is not year-round. Thankfully Aegean upgraded ZAG-ATH until January.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    It is not that bad actually. Secondary airports are getting a chance and it is a chance for them to make some profit and try something different. Their network out of ZAG is horrible tho. If not for Ryan, ZAG would be in huge problems this winter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      But how are secondary airports getting a chance when they no longer have any international flights from Dubrovnik?

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:10

    Bravo OU! It's sensible to slowly grow the network sustainably, rather then the chaos Wizz Air have made to themselves by adding flights that can't be filled. Especially with a global recession!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      Shame that their losses are growing faster than their revenue.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:12

      Wizz Air doesn't fly from Zagreb. What about Ryanair?

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:12

    They really can't make Dublin work in February and March?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      Seems like February is more dead for PU than November.

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    2. Anonymous09:26

      *OU

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:10

      At least they extended it a bit. In 2019/20 they operated the route until 12th January.

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    4. Anonymous10:11

      How many weekly flights will Ryanair have on this route in winter?

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    5. Anonymous10:19

      3 weekly throughout entire winter.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:26

      How come other airlines across the world can fly routes in January and February?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:14

      Many make looses during Jan/Feb but profit from other months cover it. They fly because they care about image and want to stay top of mind.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:53

      Croatian diaspora in Ireland do not travel in February and March.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous16:54

      Great so friends and family can visit them. StPatrick celebrations are amazing overthere.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:21

    "Utilisation of the carrier’s Dash 8 Q400 turboprops will be increased, with the 78-seat aircraft deployed on almost all routes."

    It will be interesting to see how they will make this work in the future with A220s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      And their load factor is barely 60% as it is.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      Hopefully by the time the planes arrive things will be much better at OU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      How exactly? I do hope so though.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:46

      They will probably reduce frequencies on some routes and have more aircraft to launch new destinations.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:10

      That's not what they should be striving for.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:29

      Actually A220s are exactly what they need in winter. They are operating most routes with Q400 because the A319/320 are way too big. Too large for 98% of the routes. This is where the A220 will prove really useful.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:16

      But those Q400 are far from being full. With this network they don't need A220.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    So Ryanair with 3 planes 22 routes.
    OU wirh 13 planes 17 routes

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Croatia Airlines has a lot more frequencies.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      And FR will do it by flying from Zagreb just 4 days a week this winter. Their aircraft utilisation can't be compared to OU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:26

      How many planes does Croatia Airlines use during the winter? They definitely don't utilize the entire fleet.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:30

    Why are they ignoring Dubrovnik :((

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      They do it in summer too (relative to DBV's huge demand in summer time)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      I don't understand how they can have international flights from Pula, Rijeka and Osijek but can't sustain a single international route from Dubrovnik during the winter

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:58

      They used to at least have Frankfurt during winter.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:56

      They are ignoring DUB because in Jan-Ape it is a miseryof bad weather and everything closed. No demand.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:32

      But they are flying to DUB for part of the winter? And everything is open in DUB, not like DBV that closes down as locals like a nice long break.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:34

    LH hubs dominating the schedule.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      OU is an LH feeder, so it makes sense.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:58

    Interesting that they can sustain Rome daily from Split.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:15

      They inherited this from JAT thirty years back... Why change if it is so good...

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:59

    How does this stack up to pre-Covid frequnecies?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02

      From Zagreb frequencies are the same on all international routes except Brussels which was 12 weekly in 2019/20 (although historically it has always been 11). Domestic routes have a flight less here and there.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:02

      Of course I'm not counting the three routes they discontinued.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:05

      Not bad

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:08

      Actually Sarajevo is up by one flights compared to 2019/20. It used to be 13 weekly :)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:18

      Nice

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:25

      Just shuffling frequencies around. They increase one route and decrease the other.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:02

    Disappointing, especially since they have an extra plane sitting in ZAG collecting dust.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Many planes go on maintenance during winter so they will use the extra A320 to cover them during that period.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:17

      I forgot about that

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:03

    It seems they are definitely not focusing on ZAG or competing with FR.

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  17. Anonymous10:05

    I think it is not that bad overall. Connected to LH hubs from which you can get to anywhere. This is OU. You can't expect any miracles.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:06

    Where is IST? Have they thought about serving the busiest airport in Europe? They could have codeshare with TK, work with TK to make the route a success.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous10:07

    Copy/paste every year from Croatia Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:33

      Unfortunately absolutely true

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:08

    A missed opportunity to react to Wizz Air leaving Sarajevo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      They did respond. They increased frequency by one weekly flight in winter to double daily. More than enough to serve Sarajevo's needs.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:17

      One extra flight. Ground breaking. They could completely rule SJJ market. Could have based a plane there.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:11

    Interesting that Skopje is their southernmost destination

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:12

    They should really take some more risk and extend some of their seasonal flights from Zagreb to year round.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:13

    I’m no OU fanboy and have no intention of defending them but people should realise the company is constantly producing losses. It was already bailed out once this year (with 40 million EUR). All things considered this winter timetable is good.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:25

    Shame on OU, look at DBV! Luckily, there are foreign carriers!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:27

    Looking at the upside at least they are not shrinking this winter.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:27

    Croatia Airlines is limited in what it can do. The winter schedule would benefit from OU being more of a transfer airline, so they could fly to certain destinations purely to transfer people to third destinations. But in summer they have sufficient demand for point to point flights and do not have the capacity to do large scale international transfers.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:28

    What I don't understand is why in gods name don't they station one dash8 in ljubljana over the winter, prague, london, vienna, skopje, gosh even sarajevo would all work

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:30

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:38

      Zurich would also work judging by the prices, also rotterdam (as ams is currently in a meltdown), berlin as well...

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:28

    Groundbreaking

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous10:32

    It’s like in winter they draw a line at Skopje and don’t fly anything remotely east of it :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38

      or south of it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:40

      Not a lot different in summer either.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:51

      For them the Danube marks the end of the known world and "civilisation".

      Delete
  30. Anonymous10:41

    Flights from ZAG to Rome still going via Split!! Will this ever change?!?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:45

      If they haven't changed this now that Ryanair offers nonstop flight to Rome, they never will.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:51

      Maybe they could have gone with 5 weekly via Split a 2 weekly direct. At least give it a try.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:54

      Until a few years ago, flights used to operate twice per week via Dubrovnik and 5 via Split. Then they cancelled the Dubrovnik-Rome sector alltogeather.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:17

      I wonder how many people actually board in Split to Rome.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous10:54

    What about Madrid, Barcelona?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:15

      Barcelona is seasonal. Madrid they have never served.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous10:56

    Same old same old from Croatia Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:02

      And with that they still produce losses. So I don’t get why they don’t change things up.

      Delete
  33. Anonymous11:06

    Never anything new or out of the box for OU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:14

      And competent management.

      Delete
    2. The worst thing is tons of money and millions and millions were wasted on OU over 30 years, to have schedule like this as a result

      Delete
  34. Anonymous11:11

    International flights (east of Zagreb): Skopje, Sarajevo and that's all. Why nothing more to the eastern parts of Europe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:13

      In one word: Yields!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:18

      So TK is flying with low yields? I don't think so.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:54

      Preconceived prejudices, primarily.

      Delete
  35. Anonymous11:15

    Ok let's see how they do this winter. I think it is crazy that a national airline has just 13 international destinations with 13 aircraft. But I do hope they decrease losses this winter and then they can go forward from there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:21

      It serves multiple airports to those 13, Zagreb with 13, although Rome goes through Split and some through Pula and Zadar, they also fly 5 routes from from Split, and other routes are mostly domestic; the thing about Croatia Airlines is that they have not many routes, but their frequencies are very high, they have a lot of routes that go 21-23 pw, a lot of them 7pw and only Zurich is 2pw, basically all of their routes go at least 4pw. Unlike Ryanair, which has 22(25) routes depending on schedule but serves destinations a few times per week, I think only 2,3 routes goes more than 7pw, but no route goes more than 14pw

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:59

      Yet Ryanair is more successful so their model with more destinations but less frequencies sounds better.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:13

      Well the jury is still out how successful they are in Zagreb. They have fewer routes this winter than last year (when Covid was still in full force) and I'm not sure they would be in ZAG in the first place if the incentive model was not tailored to their needs.

      Delete
  36. Anonymous19:16

    Not a single route in Southern Europe other than Copenhagen.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous08:05

    Its not great but its a step in the right direction.

    It is finaly scheduling routes based on demand except of flawed strategy to make Zagreb a hub and on political wishes of people in power.

    Outside of maybe OSI - MUN flight and RJK - MUN route the rest will probably be profitable (with small dash aircraft)

    Hopefully its not too little too late.

    If they continue this effort they may grow organically.


    Problem with this is that they opted for a220 (150) seats opposed to cheaper and more economical e190 with close to 100 seats.

    Lets see what happens

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:16

      As long as you refer to Munich with MUN on an aviation forum, your opinion does not count.

      Delete

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