Croatia Airlines registered a loss of 18.2 million euros in 2022, an improvement on its 38-million-euro loss the year before, while its passenger numbers grew from 787.860 in 2021 to 1.453.224 travellers last year. The figures represent the Croatian carrier’s fifth consecutive loss-making year. During the pre-pandemic 2019, the airline generated a 10.7-million-euro net loss, while its last profitable year was 2017 when it made 3.6 million euros on the back of selling its lucrative London Heathrow slots. “The results in 2022 were primarily impacted by the rise in fuel prices and the overall negative effects the increase had on other financial parameters”, Croatia Airlines said.
Croatia Airlines’ revenue grew 87% on 2021 but are still down 17% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Costs increased by 53%. The airline spent most on flight operations, as a result of increased fuel prices, followed by flight services such as airport and air traffic control fees, while maintenance was the third largest expense. During the year, the carrier was recapitalised by the state to the tune of 33.7 million euros while it was also granted a shareholders loan by the government amounting to 12.5 million euros. Overall, the total value of loans issued by the state and owed by the airline amounts to 78.8 million euros, while the company also has a three million euros loan from two Zagreb-based banks. The airline says it is meeting all its loan repayment obligations on time.
During 2022, Croatia Airlines’ passenger numbers increased 84% on 2021, but are still down 33% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Its average cabin load factor for the year stood at 62%, up 12.1 points on the year before but down 11.6 points on 2019. Croatia Airlines operated a total of 23.348 flights, an improvement of 41% on the year before, but down 17.8% on the pre-pandemic era. The airline’s cargo operations recorded an increase of 14.7%, with 1.514 tonnes of mail and freight uplifted in 2022, compared to 1.320 tonnes the year before and 2.135 tonnes in 2019.
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They need to re-think their approach to aviation business. Something has to change.
ReplyDeleteAs long as government subventions continue nothing really NEEDS to change.
DeleteAnd state enterprise employees hate nothing more than changes.
They need nothing, and nothing is a must. They brought in 10 times more to the economy. What you are really asking is a win-win.
DeleteHow did they bring 10x more to the economy, by being a bloated Lufthansa feeder? At least for JU and BEG you can say that they vastly expanded the range of destinations, whereas OU is operating 13 international routes out of ZAG this winter and has a 15% market share on the coast in the summer. If they went bankrupt tomorrow the economy wouldn't even feel it.
DeleteI don't expect that someone coming from a country with almost no tourist industry understand what I'm talking about.
DeleteEnlighten us, then, what are you talking about?
DeleteHe is talking about tasty sandwiches. Precisely croatian tourist industry is advantage which should have positioned OU as the leading one at least within ex-yu, minimum triple bigger, and profitable. But instead, we have airline "from the country with almost no tourist industry" to be all three of the above stated. You must be either blind or stupid not to see it, or only concerned about your sandwich.
DeleteDid they give any forecast for this year?
ReplyDeleteI don't see any possibility that the financial results will be much better in 2023.
DeleteAnonymous 09:06
DeleteWhy not?
Loadfactors and number of pax would increase. Plus oil is cheaper this year and the Euro has increased against the US dollar.
Because I look at years before the pandemic and the results were not much better.
DeleteAnon 09:15
DeleteThat was the case with all airlines on our region.
What was the case? I see other airlines with better results or almost equal results from before the pandemic. I don't understand these constant excuses being made for OU. Instead of being angry with its incompetent management for wasting such huge potential of the country's tourism industry some of you high five a load factor of 60% and losses of almost 20 million euros after almost 100 million in aid in a single year.
DeleteAs a taxpayer I find this frustrating. I love having an airline but not one that keeps losing money.
DeleteIt was exceptional circumstances caused by COVID!
DeleteAnd the A220 (which they first said they are ordering from Airbus and then it turned out they are leasing it from a third party) will magically save them.
ReplyDeleteThe A220 size and economics are ideal for OU.
DeleteIt will certainly decrease fuel and maintenance costs plus improve passenger experience.
We should be wanting all airlines in the region to modernize their fleets, not the opposite.
The issue is leasing out your entire fleet and getting rid of planes you own when you post terrible results year after year and have terrible operating results too. Not to mention that the A220 has engine issues, a number of airlines that have the plane have many of them grounded and on a 60% LF you are about to increase your capacity. I'm all for fleet modernization. I just think they made a big mistake choosing this plane over other options, especially in their financial state.
DeleteWhat are you on about?
DeleteThe A220 AND its engines have performed great and its users are increasing their orders.
Are you mixing it up with the Sukhoi superjet?
Leasing is the way airlines run their business today. Very few are left with a wholly owned fleet.
Demand for travel to Croatia is great and the post pandemic rebound for travel continues all over Europe. The 60% loadfactor can increase by a lot.
The financial state of the airline could onle get worse with an old and inefficient fleet.
With no significant movement on the A220 engine supply issues on the horizon in time for this summer, airBaltic faces another disrupted season
Deletehttps://simpleflying.com/airbaltic-wet-lease-summer-23-airbus-a220-mro-delays/
Problems with the Airbus A220 could lead Air Senegal to exchange for Embraer E2 jets. There is only one active Airbus A220 by Air Senegal, the African company faced problems with delays in delivery and also with the Pratt & Whitney engines that equip the jet.
https://www.aeroflap.com.br/en/problems-with-the-airbus-a220-could-lead-to-air-senegal-swapping-for-embraer-e2-jets/
A220 engine issues are being blown out of proportion, plus they have addressed the cause of the issues and all future aircraft rolling out from the factory including OU's won't have the same issue
DeleteThe engine issues have been resolved.
DeleteI see, air Baltic announced on Monday that their summer will be disrupted and Air Senegal announced also on Monday they want to get rid of A220. I guess they didn't get the memo Anonymous got.
DeleteSome sheep will continue meeeee Bravo Hrvatska and vote Kradeze no matter what. Or maybe it's not sheep. Maybe bot or Uhljeb. Probably, more likely
DeleteThose results are not looking too good.
ReplyDeleteThis result has a lot to do with pure (mis)management.
DeleteTime and time again OU management and proven to be useless, lazy, incompetent and just plane hopeless
DeleteInteresting to compare for 2022
ReplyDeleteJU vs OU
Passengers: 2.76 million (98% of pre-Covid) / 1.45 million (67% of pre-Covid)
LF: 72% / 62%
Total number of flights: 31,420 / 23,348
Total cargo: 5,000 t / 1,514 t
Net result: +21 million EUR / -18.2 million EUR
JU results include government subsidies.
DeleteOU as well.
DeleteSo do OU results. Like the ridiculous PSO routes in summer, record label deals, tourist board investments, udruzeno oglasavanje, on-board catering sponsorships etc. etc.
DeleteCroatian state needs to increase subsidies to OU so as to become "profitable" too!
DeleteNo number of subsidies seem to be enough to turn around Croatia Airlines' poor operational results.
DeleteThe more money you throw at it the better it will become.
DeleteDoesn't seem so. Look at how much money has been thrown at Croatia Airlines and there are no results.
DeleteYou can have all the money in the world. If you have poor and out of touch management you will keep getting these results year after year.
DeleteJU is no longer receiving any subsidies as of this year. OU on the other hand is getting record sums thrown into its ever begging hands.These two airlines are not comparable
Deletesince they are in very different leagues.
Which is JU's league with its 2.76 million passengers?
DeleteA league above OU.
DeleteAnonymous at 09.21 you are deluded if you think JU doesn't receive state Aid. It is all hidden in their Accounts.Thetevis no way they mad a profit last year or able to rapidly expand in the way they arr without government support.
DeleteThey obviously are doing something right. JU announced a load factor of 70% in February, the slowest month of the year, OU received 100 million in aid last year (the non hidden one) and operational results are disastrous.
DeleteGood luck in 2023 OU.
ReplyDeleteBravo OU!
ReplyDeleteAre you for real or just making a good joke?
DeleteSame old same old with OU. Not even the move to Split and the pent-up travel demand after the pandemic could help them.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines should improve connectivity in ZAG, provide reasonable prices. They should also have two different strategies for summer and winter due to high seasonality of their market and they must take good care of the costs.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteHow many employees does Croatia Airlines have?
ReplyDeleteToo many to justify these results.
Delete920 employees
DeleteWhere is Kresimir Kucko when you need him
ReplyDeleteRunning Air Mauritius.
DeleteThe business still isn't managed well and the restructuring from mid 2010s was a complete failure.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason they did the restructuring in 2012 was so that they could get the 100 million plus aid just before Croatia entered the EU. It was a condition by the EU that they must be restructured. There was no will or plan by OU or the Croatian government for it. Hence the result.
DeleteLosses every year but government extends CEOs term. No logic.
ReplyDeleteFor all Adria fanboys... Now, imagine JP, without domestic flights, without super full summer season,...
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that this airline is in the situation it is in
ReplyDeleteCroatian tourism industry is constantly growing and has a lot of potential but OU's results are nowhere near following it.
ReplyDeleteBecause they are poorly managed and unable to compete against others.
DeleteI give them 5 more years until they collapse
ReplyDeleteThey will not collapse as long as Kradeze is in power, stealing money from poor people and dustributing it to its criminal branches and Godfathers
Deletedistributing
DeleteHmm what do you think would happen if Croatia Airlines doesn't make it? Would we would see a new airline re-established?
DeleteIf there is one market in ex-yu which might actually benefit from its flag carrier, due to its geographical position, booming tourism, huge diaspora very much tied with homeland, several EU open skies agreements and many more, it's Croatia. Would the better option be to have new flag carrier, let's say Air Croatia, or drastically change modus operandi of the existing one, I don't care. But having what we have now is pure disaster. And that's not gonna change as long as ruling model in Croatia the one interested in grabbing money only and without strategy for branches which could significantly increase countries finances, as civil aviation is
DeleteIt will be interesting to see Q1 results for this year and which direction the company is going in this year.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is some magic solution. It all starts with the management.
DeleteI'm lost with OU.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in 2023 OU. You will need it.
ReplyDeleteSell the airline ASAP!
ReplyDeleteNo one is interested.
DeleteTime to get the government out of Croatia Airlines, if it fails then some private company will take its place. People flying to the Croatian coast will take other airlines willing to take them there. It doesn't matter to the airport and tourism business who brings them customers as long as they get there.
DeleteOU and Croatia seem to be more on the passive side: incoming tourism. But as a matter of fact, OU needs to work with local tour operators on winter warm charters or exotic ones to Zanzibar (via Egypt for refuel), Maldives, Seychelles, Cabo Verde, Canary Islands, etc. Many other EU countries if not almost all do it.
ReplyDeleteThey need to also lower their dépendance on LH and focus on busier routes to compete with Ryanair. They still rely on the small transfer market they have where they can consider more P2P destinations. The Croatian coast is getting more and more direct routes, which makes transfer traffic not so viable. Why not look into the UK market.
Again, charters are also important.
Also, if there is an abundance of staff members, then restructuring might need to be made to reduce the costs. They also might need an agressive expansion to begin with...
Agree! Never understood why Croatia Airlines hasn't put more of a focus on charter flights and operations.
DeleteWhen you give your competitors free run over your airports, the results are no surprise.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a major mistake by them. They should have thought on ZAG market against Ryanair. They gave up without a fight and I think in the next year or two we will see the effects of that decision.
DeleteCroatia Airlines, as I've been saying for years on here - has out of control costs and that's why it is losing so much money, no other reason.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean out of control costs? Where are they spending the most money?
DeleteThey have perfect control of money flow. And they don't give a s.it about costs. They use various channels to grab as much money possible from our pockets, public, taxpayers pockets, and to funnel as much as possible to private pockets of selected individuals. I wrote it several times here, and will repeat once again : their purposes of existence are : to feed Lufthansa, no matter on what cost, to offer sanctuary to Party and rodijak uhljebs, and to make even richer few already rich persons tied to highest politics. Costs mean nothing for them, as they are just an entity of criminal organization which does not care about Croatia or its people
DeleteCroatia is in EU so in the end everything is not paid by taxpayers but by ECB .
DeleteEU has the money printer and thats where Croatia gets its money which is limitless - same with Greece and Ukraine .
Good to know EU is so sensitive, altruistic and humanitarian to print money for Croatia and its humiliated loss making feeder. Also good to know Ukraine is in EU, and Greece didn't have to pay back billions. No further comment needed for another pathetic attempt of Kradeze advocating
DeleteThat generated minus is probably even higher but partially covered by PSO, co marketing activities, tourist incentives and similar...
ReplyDeleteLet's see what happens this year. I think they will have a loss of around 10 million in 2023.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a fantastic result considering their track record.
DeleteHaha
ReplyDelete?
DeleteWe will see what direction this year will take when they publish their Q1 results.
ReplyDeleteSo we are now waiting for Air Montenegro to publish their results out of the ex-Yu carriers right?
ReplyDeleteI think they had like 5 million loss in October or something. So it could only have been worse by the end of December.
Delete^ Wrong. They had a 1.6 million loss January - September 2022. Not 5 million.
DeleteProbably realistic that they had around 2,5 million loss.
DeleteHonestly hope things improve. Not from Croatia but I think we really need national airlines in ex-Yu, if the example of Adria has taught us anything. Also interestingly, the remaining 3 ex-Yu flag carriers compete very little against each other.
ReplyDeleteHas OU ever made a profit of over 10 million EUR in a single year? Just interested since the data in the table goes back to 2014.
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteVise putnika veci gubitak. Kakvo vodjenje firme. Ceo menadzment je zreo za robiju
ReplyDeleteHope things can turn around with the A220s.
ReplyDeleteI hope to win Eurojackpot. About the same chances with A220 in OU.
Delete😂
DeletePeople thinking that 2023 will be any different are wrong. Croatia Airlines is preparing to ask for huge government aid. Since it is 10 years since they were last 'restructured' and given huge amounts of money they are allowed to ask for it again. They will float new A220s, green agenda etc as their restructuring..
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to know what are their highest yielding routes or markets.
ReplyDeletePlenki got mad, yelled at them and told them to double everything. Doubling the loss was one of the easiest party tasks in recent history
Delete