Several destinations within Zagreb Airport’s top ten busiest surpassed their pre-Covid passenger performance during the first quarter of the year, data provided by the European Statistical Office shows. During the first three months, Frankfurt remained the airport’s busiest route, with 56.348 passengers handled jointly by Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa, although figures were still down 20.3% on the same period in 2019. Notably, the Lufthansa Group’s hubs within the top ten busiest - Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna - all failed to reach their pre-pandemic passenger figures. Zurich, which was the eleventh busiest, was also below pre-Covid levels. However, during this time, both Frankfurt and Munich were hit by industrial action, forcing the cancellation of a number of flights from Zagreb to the two German cities in February.
Zagreb Airport's busiest routes, Q1 2023
Turkish Airlines performed strongly during the first quarter, establishing Istanbul as Zagreb’s second busiest route and improving its performance by a notable 33.4% on four years ago. The only other destination within Zagreb Airport’s top ten busiest to have surpassed its pre-Covid passenger performance during the first three months of the year was Amsterdam, operated by Croatia Airlines and KLM. Ryanair outperformed both Croatia Airlines and British Airways on flights to London. The budget carrier handled 28.837 travellers between the Croatian capital and Stansted Airport, while the two national airlines welcomed a joint total of 25.350 passengers on board their aircraft to and from Heathrow. Stansted is also Ryanair’s busiest Zagreb route with the carrier maintaining daily flights between the two.
During the first quarter, Zagreb Airport handled 694.956 travellers through its doors, representing its busiest start to the year on record. Much of the growth was fuelled by Ryanair, which opened a base in the city in 2021. The budget carrier said it handled 330.580 travellers to/from Zagreb Airport between January and April of this year, accounting for 33% of all passengers. It recently criticised Zagreb Airport for increasing airline fees by 12.4%, branding the development as “ridiculous”. “These increases only punish passengers and will have a detrimental impact on Zagreb and Croatia’s connectivity, tourism, traffic, jobs, and overall post-Covid recovery”, Ryanair noted.
These are quite bad numbers.
ReplyDeleteRyanair is generating the growth.
DeleteAnd also that OU didn't have any meaningful recovery
DeleteIt is very, very dangerous to have LCC like Ryanair that is generating your growth.
DeleteFR know it very well and I am sure they will use it to blackmail Zagreb.
Interesting times ahead.
I do wonder what the result would be without FR.
DeleteAnd I wonder what the result would be with OU operating as an airline, not Party entity
DeleteGood work for Turkish though
ReplyDeleteYou have to wonder why Croatia Airlines never introduced flights to IST
DeleteTurkish has benefited a lot from Gulf airlines reducing their operations to ZAG since the pandemic
DeleteIt probably also helps that Korean has not returned.
DeleteYes OU did. I flew on a Dash to IST from ZAG 10 years ago.
DeleteLufthansa is simply too expensive this year. And Turkish is taking a lot of LJU pax as they are struggling with capacity on IST-LJU-IST due to extremely high demand.
ReplyDeleteThe German market is very slow with its recovery. One of the slowest country markets in Europe for Covid recovery.
ReplyDeleteIt is not just Germany. Most of the top ten routes are down.
DeleteOne of the main reason for the decline in numbers on LH Group hubs is because there are a lot less flights than there used to be before corona.
DeleteThere are a lot fewer flights because the demand is a lot lower. People that were previously forced to connect through FRA & MUC can now fly directly on FR to a lot of destinations.
DeleteZagreb had 694k passengers in the first quarter, while Ryan had 330k, yet it says that it holds a 33% share? Or maybe I did not understand something?
ReplyDeleteIt says Ryan had 330k for January - April, while Q1 is January - March.
DeleteI see. It is unusual to compare numbers then when the period is not the same
DeleteBut no one compared them. The airport passenger traffic is in relation to the table which is Q1. The Ryanair figure is the number the airline gave for 4 months. They aren't being compared.
DeleteThey are right next to each other so yes they are being compared.
DeleteI agree, placed in the same sentence, one would assume that the comparison has been made, it would be more logical to include the same period
DeleteI guess FR is impacting many airlines/routes in ZAG
ReplyDeleteEspecially OU/BA on London route.
DeleteInteresting. I wonder if the US transfers have shifted from Lufthansa.
ReplyDeleteTK seems to be doing a pretty good job in the region
ReplyDeleteThey are doing a good job pretty much in all regions of the world.
DeleteI hope we eventually see a third daily flight on some days by TK.
ReplyDeleteno way quite soon
DeleteWhy not codesharing with TK and introduce flights to IST? Croatia can benefit impressive network of TK with a codeshare.
ReplyDeleteOU is in deep sleep
DeleteAnd has been for years...
DeleteCeka se da Jasmin ispije kahvu, pa ce prionit.....
Deletewow Munich not even near pre Covid numbers.
ReplyDeleteSurprised Munich is struggling
DeleteMUC has lost a lot of its transfer appeal since Covid.
Delete^ Why?
DeleteDon't forget that Ryanair has flights to Memmingen so probably has an impact on the P2Ps
DeleteP2P ZAG MUC in most cases use 7 hours and 30-50 euro Flixbus. Ryanair has nothing to do with it. MUC was and is all transfer traffic, both long haul and Europe, with few P2P exceptions, of course
DeleteI am from Munich and Pozdrav is right .
DeleteThe new bus terminal at Hackerbrücke is also very convenient .
At least in my opinion .
That's the Ryanair effect. Turkish is the only airline that doesn't compete with FR because Istanbul is the only destination that Ryanair doesn't fly to on that list.
ReplyDeleteRyanair is doing very well on that Stansted route.
ReplyDeletePrice is king in our region.
DeleteNot that you get much more in terms of service on BA or OU other than an expanesive ticket.
Delete@9.27
DeleteSame case in most markets.
TK should really start Split, at least seasonally.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey were talking about it a few years ago as their third route in Croatia.
DeleteGood job by Ryanair!
ReplyDeleteStealing many airline's passengers.
DeleteInteresting to see busiest routes. No major surprises among them.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to see DBV and SPU so high up during winter season.
DeleteI think many of the P2P passengers migrated to Ryanair
ReplyDeleteMakes sense
DeleteI wonder why Pegasus or AnadoluJet haven't launched ZAG from SAW.
ReplyDeleteBecause Turkish people need a visa to enter Croatia so it is not as accessible to them.
DeleteAnd Croatians don't travel abroad, especially by plane, what we all know... 😃
DeleteExactly.
DeleteSome say here in Ex-Yu that many are sold by plane, others say that there are few in comparison. Does anyone have any figures on how much per inhabitant and compared to whom? The airport passenger numbers are an indicator and their ranking in Europe. Or are numbers unimportant here in the Balkans and you just rely on your "feeling"
DeleteNumbers are not unimportant, numbers are very important. And numbers show that Croatia has the most of passengers. And it's not only tourists. Go to ZAD, PUY, RJK, SPU, DBV, and you will see that good part of passengers are croatian, not tourists only. In addition to that, croatian and slovenian tourist agencies work together, and lot of passengers on charter flights from Ljubljana are Croatians. It's not only Slovenes in Zagreb. And people from Slavonia use BEG and BUD and people from Istra use TRS and VCE because OU is sh.t. So it's not about my feeling, it's about the feeling of people who just claim that "Croatians don't travel abroad by plane". Maybe they even fly less than Slovenes or Serbs, but it's generalization I talk about and criticize, which brought "paradise" lately, especially within ex-yu. And some are still going on and on with it
DeleteYou have numbers to back up it's the other way round?
DeleteYou don't need any numbers actually, because if you support generalization that "Croatians don't travel abroad by plane", then the only number you need is ZERO. And that one you can't make up, even with the magic of the statistics. And trying to prove right, " promasio si ceo fudbal"
DeleteNo one supported any generalization or claimed anything. Personally if I did, I would use facts. The only claims I read here were that a good part of passengers flying from Croatian coastal airports are Croatians and that so many Croatians are using neighbouring airports because of OU. How true is that I cannot prove and you can't neither
DeleteI asked the question out of interest. Because I often read here that Croatians rarely travel by plane and others claim the opposite, without naming any facts. Tourist numbers in Croatia are known, how many overnight stays by Poles, Germans, Slovenians, locals. Exactly one can compare the passenger numbers of the locals, right?
DeleteHow many times a person flies on average per year in Croatia
Delete@18.41
DeleteDisagree. If interested, you should check the number of Croatian tourists in each country of the World. The same Croatia has number of foreigners visiting, the same other countries have lists with numbers of visitors, Croatians included. Emitive country is not counting tourists leaving, recipient countries count tourists coming and staying. And for that one, I believe you are on the wrong blog, especially because (air) travellers are not only tourists, but businessmen, family visits, workers abroad and so on and so on
@18.50
DeleteSome persons never or once. Some persons 2 or 3 times. Some persons 20 or 30 times.That's exactly what I am talking about when I speak of generalization, which is stupid and impossible to do and some people keep on doing it and trying to prove impossible. And now I am stopping this discussion as it leads nowhere.
"base my opinion on my personal experiences." Like so many here on this blog. I thought there would be more experts here who would argue with facts and figures to make their point of view clear. From there you are right, I'm wrong here. interesting that you end the discussion, I didn't write to you personally. Or are others not allowed to answer?
DeleteIt's crazy that these 10 cities accounted for over 50% of Zagreb Airport's total passenger numbers
ReplyDeleteWhy is that surprising?
DeleteTime for Ryanair to increase Zagreb-Stansted to 2 daily or at least 10 weekly.
ReplyDeleteThese figures mean Croatia Airlines is nowhere near to getting close to pre Covid passenger numbers which is a disaster considering most airlines have surpassed those figures.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think they should care? The Party will provide fat pay checks, poor people will pay it from their taxes, Air Serbia will take care of the market, everyone happy
DeleteWould be nice to see TK start sending wide bodies to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteOther than a one off, doubt it will happen any time soon.
DeleteHas Turkish increased its number of flights compared to pre-Covid?
ReplyDeleteI think in winter months it is up from 10 weekly to 14 weekly but not sure.
DeleteI assume that if there were no FR, Croatia Airlines would not have retreated so much from Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteIf there were no FR, there would be another one. And yes, they would retreat, as they have been doing for last 20 years, since Misetic surrendered the market to LH, for his own benefits, and his puppets after are continuing his treason and crime obeying his orders
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI wonder how many passenger on the LH hub routes are carried by Lufthansa and how many by Croatia Airlines
ReplyDeleteThe main thing is how much money they are making and I can tell you right now that they get peanuts with the Lufthansa codeshare.
DeleteNot only that they get peanuts with LH codeshare, but they send Q400 from ZAG to MUC with average LF of 60 %, and I travelled ZAG to MUC about a month ago, on LH, the plane was A321, with about 90 % LF, and premium class fully booked. Of course one flight is not relevant, just posting as an indication of "succesful partnership" (for LH indeed)
DeleteMunich is mostly affected by the fact that it was decimated by Lufthansa. Remember that the flights didn't even resume until last year.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the number of passengers (and difference to 2019) for Zurich. You mention "Zurich, which was the eleventh busiest, was also below pre-Covid levels."
ReplyDeleteOh and thanks in advance
DeleteAirline policy in Croatia is totally wrong or there is no plan and things are just happening. Most probably it wont change, Ryan is doing something but the market is to small for them to do bigger changes.
ReplyDeleteTheir market is 500 million EU. Their market is the Balkans, in and out of OU. Their market is across the ocean, for diaspora and tourists. The possibilities on their market(s) are limitless, they are just incompetent and corrupt. And without any vision and strategy, on that one I fully agree
DeleteIn and out of EU
DeleteThere is no initiative from the government and in country like Croatia things wont change without that. If they invest money in roads and bridges, don't see reason why not invest in air traffic.
DeleteMaybe try Berlin. I think there is big demand from Zagreb to BER. We just need an airline to start those flights.
ReplyDeleteI wanna know how Aegean is doing especially now that they upgraded ZAG to year round.
ReplyDeleteEverything will be fine when Airbus A220 arrives
ReplyDelete☺
DeleteThat's the first precondition. The second one, Jasmin to remain CEO. And then, only skies are the limit, they are getting place no 1 in Europe, maybe even wider
DeleteOU = dead man walking. A220? I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes. Coming as sure as the ordered A319neo and A320neo
Delete