Turkish Airlines has recorded its busiest first quarter on flights from Istanbul to both Zagreb and Ljubljana. On services to and from the Croatian capital, the carrier welcomed 41.733 passengers, representing an increase of 33.4% on the same period during the pre-pandemic 2019. The airline has been present on the Croatian market since 1998 when it launched a two weekly service from Istanbul to Zagreb, which has since increased to double daily. Turkish is also one of the busiest transfer airlines operating out of the Croatian capital, with domestic destinations in Turkey, as well as Tel Aviv and the Far East being among the most popular transfer markets.
Turkish Airlines' Zagreb route performance, Q1
Turkish Airlines’ General Manager for Croatia, Gurhan Sozen, met with Croatia’s Consul General for Turkey this week, where the two discussed cooperation. “During the meeting, we had fruitful discussions on exploring opportunities for collaboration which can have a positive impact on business and tourism traffic between Turkey and Croatia. As the only airline connecting these two countries, Turkish Airlines plays a crucial role and we recognise our responsibility to deliver exceptional service”, Mr Sozen said. Turkish Airlines faces no competition on its Zagreb route, with Croatia Airlines discontinuing operations to Turkey’s largest city in 2013.
Turkish Airlines handled 37.585 passengers on its Ljubljana flights during the first quarter, representing an increase of 16.7% on 2019. Last year, Istanbul was the busiest individual route from the Slovenian capital, ahead of Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Gatwick. Similar to its operations in Zagreb, the airline sees a notable number of transfer traffic on its Ljubljana service. Top feeder routes include Turkish domestic destinations, as well as the likes of Bucharest, the Caucuses and Dubai. Turkish Airlines entered the Slovenian market in 2006 with three weekly services and now maintains double daily flights.
Turkish Airlines' Ljubljana route performance, Q1
Commenting on its Ljubljana operations, Turkish Airlines recently said, “Our services are particularly attractive to business travellers and tourists travelling to Asia, since Turkish Airlines has good connections with the Middle East and Far East and with the USA. The number of these passengers is growing from year to year. We also place considerable emphasis on promoting Slovenia in foreign markets and on persuading tourists who wish to visit Slovenia to choose our flights. Since we entered the Slovenian market, flights from Ljubljana have led to closer connections between Slovenia and Turkey in the fields of tourism, culture and the economy. This is an achievement of which we are rightly proud of”.
Good results. Interesting to see both routes with relatively even passenger numbers.
ReplyDeleteWell deserved. It is one of the best airlines out there.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+ 1
DeleteI agree as well about TK. I like them and fly them often. What I didn't like was the old airport which was too congested and poorly staffed. Today even that part is much much better than before and one more reason to continue flying TK
DeleteAny chance they could increase frequencies in near future?
ReplyDeleteYes, they already increased Zagreb to 14pw next winter
DeleteFinally. This is a reintroduction of precovid winter frequencies.
DeleteInteresting numbers.
ReplyDeleteWhich aircraft type is TK mostly using to ZAG and LJU?
ReplyDeleteA321
DeleteThat's good. Thanks
DeleteAny chance we could see them send widebodies to ZAG?
DeleteNo, other than some one off.
DeleteTurkish is impressive as usual
ReplyDeleteWhat was the load factor?
ReplyDeleteLoads are quite good all around
DeleteWe would need to know how much capacity they had in Q1 to calculate that.
DeleteI don't get that Croatia Airlines doesn't fly to Istanbul. As a Star Alliance carrier they could have a lot of transfer traffic through 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't compete against Turkish.
DeleteCroatia Airlines can codeshare with TK, and access their incredible network.
DeleteDon't they already codeshare with them?
DeleteYes, they do
DeleteAt lest something
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.
DeleteBecause they don't want to upset mutti.
Delete:D
DeleteOU can offer transfers on domestic flights.
DeleteCeka se da Jasmin ispije kahvu
DeleteOnce again : BORING !
DeleteJasmineeeeeee!!! Pa jes'ti to meni? E, masala, bas ti hvala sto si se javio
DeleteGood work by Turkish. It has hoovered up the market share that was abandoned by Qatar Airways, Korean and Emirates when they left Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteQR still flies to ZAG.
DeleteQR never stopped flying to Zagreb. I wish people would think before they type.
DeleteThey did stop for a short period during the height of Covid but they did come back relaticely quickly in 2020.
DeleteTK is definitely benefiting from fewer Gulf flights.
DeleteMaybe we can look at the situation the other way round, or at least from the different angle : with such a big increase on TK and further opening and revival of Far East and Australia markets, it's an indication that both Korean and Emirates might come back to ZAG soon. Worth mentioning Flydubai is increasing ZAG to 5 weekly this winter, 6 weekly over Christmas/New Year, and Qatar increasing frequencies despite TK, so....
Delete5 weekly you say? Groundbreaking
DeleteYes, 5-6 weekly in winter, compared to 3-4 now. And it was 7 weekly in winter once Emirates flew in summer. You can make fun of it with groundbreaking or whatsoever, and your post is funny, because you gave no explanation or opinion why it shouldn't be the way I elaborated. So, nice try. Or : try harder
DeleteI just meant that those are pretty mediocre frequencies, especially for crazy demand market such as Hrvatska.
DeleteCrazy demand market? I guess dome ppl up here are on heavy drugs
DeleteNo surprise
ReplyDeleteGood. Some much needed balance to the Lufthansa dominance at both airports.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI like that TK still has country managers for each market. Maybe their good results are an indication that scrapping these positions at almost all other European airlines just to cut costs was not such a smart idea.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines also has several managers for several markets. And their results are much more impressive than TK ones. In sucking public money and doing nothing in return
DeleteWell done TK!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I wonder if the US transfers have shifted from Lufthansa.
ReplyDeleteYes they did. Especially after the pandemic (at least in ZAG).
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.
DeleteComfort? TK is one of the best airlines in the world and certainly more comfortable than Lufthansa, while the transfer experience in Istanbul is much nicer than Frankfurt which is one of the worst major airports in Europe in my opinion.
DeleteA portion probably has. Turkish Airlines keeps expending its US network while Lufthansa has severely decreased the quality of service on board.
DeleteTK is one of the fewest or maybe the only one to offer full catering on their flights, they serve u food from ZAG to IST, while on Lufthansa u will only get snacks and water.
DeleteNot snacks, but a piece of chocolate.
DeleteI've never flown TK to USA, but LH and OS have atrocious seat pitch in Y and AF and UA put me in a 10-abreast on 777. On UA I could at least pay more for Economy Plus so it had a reasonable seat pitch, although being next to an obese dude in 10 across 777 was still not fun. Bottom line, comfort is a long gone category in Y
DeleteWould be nice to see Pgeasus in ZAG.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of passengers flying between Istanbul and Zagreb are foreigners, with the rate of Turkish passengers being relatively low, so there is little room for success for Pegasus for now.
DeleteDisagree. Pegasus has an extensive network beyond Turkey, it offers transfer flights, has lower prices than TK, and last but by no means least, Croatians do travel abroad, by plane, and their numbers to Turkey are all but insignificant. So, I expect Pegasus in ZAG soon
Delete@pozdrav. Really think Pegasus can also fly yo zag?
DeleteYh it's cheaper but Turkish use the A321 to Zag someone said. Is there really enough demand to fill another plane?
When Ryanair /Lauda was to come finally to ZAG, people were saying : who would fly from ZAG to Paphos, Malta, Podgorica..... And planes are full. And it's P2P. And it's miniature destinations. Now compare it with over 20 million Istanbul, also famous tourist destination, and transfer options. I think I said everything. ZAG problem is not lack of demand, ZAG problem is lack of capable and effective flag carrier. And others will continue to fill the gaps, Pegasus included
DeleteWell done! I hope we eventually see a third daily flight on some days to both cities.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised at how close the passenger numbers are.
ReplyDeleteExcept in Ljubljana there is much less competition from other airlines.
DeleteKeep in mind that Ljubljana/Slovenia is also a much smaller market.
DeleteBut it has much fewer airlines and options too.
DeleteKeep in mind ZAG is closer than LJU to most slovenes, while LJU is not closer than ZAG to any croat. It would be interesting to see numbers if slovenes didnt use TK flights from ZAG.
DeleteWhat are you talking about? My apartment is 20 min drive from Slovenia, an hour 45 min to Brnik and I use LJU even today and used it much more before while offer and connectivity were better
DeleteMaribor is closer to ZAG than to LJU for example
DeleteRijeka to Pleso, 170 km. Rijeka to Brnik, 140 km
DeleteI live in Celje and I like to combine both of them as they are pretty much same distance from Celje. Lju usually for chartet flights in the summer or easy jet flights and Zag for Ryanair and Klm flights.
DeleteCharter flights*
DeleteRijeka to brnik - not highway 100%
DeleteRijeka to pleso - highway 100%
Rijeka to Brnik is not highway for 30 km, Jelsane to Postojna, and if you take short cut Bistrica-Knezak, it takes 10-15 min more than if it were highway. But highway or not highway 100 %, it does not change the fact that people from Croatia use LJU for their flights. Last time I went to FRA with LH was from LJU because timing was more convenient from LJU than from ZAG.
DeleteAny airline growing in the region is good news. Hope they keep increasing frequencies
ReplyDeleteNo it's not good news for any airline to grow.
DeleteGood news is for our flag carriers to grow. For Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines, Air Montenegro to grow.
For those 3 to cooperate more.
Because the only people benefiting are the Turkish, the Germans and the Irish. They benefiting from our money.
We need to sort out our own maintenance centres and grow our fleets and routes to be self sufficient.
You can't have a successful and independent country while relying on others. They just keep taking from us and taking control so we don't develop ourselves
They should really start Split, at least seasonally
ReplyDeleteThey said several yeas ago that they would start Split but then covid happened.
DeleteAnyone know or care to guess how many passengers they carry on an annual basis from/to ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteProbably around a million +. BEG should be their biggest market in ex-Yu with 3 daily flights. Difficult to find seats on them out of BEG.
DeleteExcellent. Any data on which other airlines from Zagreb/Ljubljana have seen full passenger recovery? Thanks and much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa still hasn't recovered pre-Covid numbers in ZAG.
DeleteGood airline but their prices are on the climb recently. They are not the cheapest and often not even competitive anymore on certain routes.
ReplyDeleteThis is the case with most airlines lately.
DeleteThe era of cheap Air fares are over!
DeleteAlso, you're potentially competing with the Russians on TK flights
DeleteHope the premium loads are good too.
ReplyDeleteConsidering they are most often using A321s on both routes, they probably have.
DeleteGood results overall
ReplyDeleteCould Croatia Airlines' Dash make it from Zagreb to Istanbul?
ReplyDeleteWhy would any passenger choose to fly a Croatia Dash to Istanbul over TK's A321?
DeleteThat would be a nightmare. Plus OU does not have sufficient number of aircraft to send a Dash on such a long rotation.
DeleteThey can't compete against Turkish, whatever aircraft they use.
DeleteOU used to have nearly full flights to Istanbul on their Airbus's. This route isn't strategically important for them though. People need to remember OU wasn't set up to become profitable.It was set up to promote Croatia in terms of Tourism and business. Profitability was never it's main objective.
DeleteDoesn't Croatia get a lot of tourists from Turkey?
Delete@11.45
Delete"This route isn't strategically important for them". Of course, their strategy is feeding LH in MUC and FRA for peanuts, on expense of poor tax payers. OU and promotion of Croatia in terms of tourism and business? No matter if you are Uhljeb, Party bot, or just blinded nationalist, I thank you for giving me me a good laugh on this! 😃
Especially with "OU wasn't set to become profitable". It proves your role here 😃
DeleteNo Bravo Hrvatska guy? I'm worried.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska 😊
DeleteSorry, I had too much work today. Looks like someone else already did the honours 😊
DeleteWould be nice to see TK send Anadolujet from some secondary Turkish city to either LJU or ZAG.
ReplyDeleteI think there are charters ZAG to Antalya, Tailwind I think
DeleteAlso Freebird sends a plane from Antalya to each Zag and Lju once a week.
DeleteEverything is much easier when you have unlimited access to money from your country.
ReplyDeleteOther airlines have also gotten a lot of money from their government but chose to shrink and retreat.
DeleteTurkish Airlines is public company. Also they didnt get any money from government at pandemic process. They planned really smart way for end of pandemy. I'm watching really much flag carrier balcan airline company. They are creating airline for scamming.
DeleteAny news from Montenegro? Turkish Airlines started to boosting Montenegro tourism and country economy. With new frequancy
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteVery, very much deserved for TK. Incredible how much they grew and the quality level of on-board service they reached in the last 15 years.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Sarajevo?
ReplyDeleteI don't get it. If Vienna/budapest/Rome and frankfurt are so close to Zagreb and all in the EU.
ReplyDeleteWhy are they using istanbul for anything?
It seems that people from Slovenia are adding more time to their travels to be using istanbul
Well, not if they fly east?
DeleteThe article said they used istanbul and Turkish Airlines even when they fly west to North America.
DeleteBut Rome and Vienna are so close that it isn't that much difference. Plus they're in shengen so moving should be easier in those airports
EU or non-EU makes no difference whatsoever if you're flying to North America. In fact, it's probably better to clear passport control in ZAG than at any of the major EU hubs. And if you're flying to the West Coast, the difference in flight duration is less than 10% between TK and LH for instance. If the price is the same, I would fly TK to the US rather than LH any day of the week, especially in J.
Delete@Vlad
DeleteDoesn't lufthansa use the A380 to North America. That's a much nicer plane than what Turkish have. So it's surprising what would be better
and well saves at least 1-2 hours of travel since Germany is in the correct direction.
Now i a have not anymore any doubt that Slav.Man is a child or a very childish teenager ..
DeleteLH A380 is one of LH's worst J products. No direct aisle access, outdated IFE and a cabin the size of a football field, eliminating any sense of privacy. I flew it to PDG back in 2015 and came off the airplane very underwhelmed.
DeleteTK has its fair share of ancient 777s flying around with the 2-2-2 config as well, but at least it offers ample space for feet and the catering is miles ahead of LH.
@anon 22:20.
DeleteAnd there's always those who will use their life to defend the corrupt regime and even turks.
Even when there is zero logic to it.
I have flown on Turkish Airlines several times this year but still not that beyond what I get on KLM or Lufthansa.
And istanbul I'd too big an airport. When you're not a traveler who wants to spend endless time shopping. Jut want to go to next gate and go