Croatia Airlines is preparing to transition to a single-type A220 fleet with the carrier seeing the arrival of the aircraft as an opportunity to turn around its business. The company recently announced the first aircraft would arrive during the second quarter of next year, however, initially the plan was for one A220 to arrive in February 2024 and the second in April with the aim for the jets to enter the fleet before the height of the summer season. However, this has been slightly pushed back for unspecified reasons. The airline will take its first six A220s from the Air Lease Corporation in 2024 and 2025, while another six will arrive factory-fresh from Airbus in 2025 and 2026. “Airbus didn’t have aircraft available until 2025 and 2026 so we will first take delivery of planes from the leasing company. All aircraft will be financed through an operating lease”, Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said recently. An operating lease is a contract that allows for the aircraft’s use but does not give Croatia Airlines ownership rights. These leases will allow the carrier to use the jets without incurring the high expenses involved in purchasing it.
The CEO explained the aircraft order includes pilot training for the new type, which will begin this year. “Taking delivery of new aircraft and phasing out old ones is a huge job that requires the commitment of everyone in the company, because it is a major project that necessitates all of us to give it our all. At one point we will have three aircraft types in our fleet, which is operationally, financially and in every other sense very demanding”, Mr Bajić said. He added, “The Dash 8s and two Airbuses are owned by leasing companies and their fate depends on their owners. On the other hand, we own five Airbuses, and in time we will decide what to do with them. In most cases, older aircraft are used for spare parts”.
Commenting further on the incoming A220s, Mr Bajić noted, “Similar to back in the 2000s when we were the airline with the youngest fleet with our current Airbuses, in 2024 we will have the most modern fleet with the new Airbuses. The on-board experience will be elevated. We will have three different Internet packages on board, chargers for mobile phones, as well as USB A and USB C ports in each seat. I am convinced passengers will be satisfied. These are new planes, new technology, the aircraft are much quieter and more environmentally friendly”. Mr Bajić previously said the carrier’s network will be adjusted as the new aircraft arrive, with an emphasis to be put on winter operations from secondary cities in Croatia.
Swiss Aviation Software, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Technic, has announced a strategic partnership with Croatia Airlines. The collaboration will see the implementation of Aircraft Maintenance and Operational Support (AMOS), a comprehensive software solution designed to optimise and streamline the airline's maintenance and engineering operations for the incoming A220s. “We are delighted to announce that Croatia Airlines will be introducing new, more comprehensive MRO software system AMOS for our operations. After considering a number of options, the strategic decision was made to use AMOS as our main platform to support our Part-CAMO, Part-145, Logistics and Finance, as well as third-party requirements. AMOS was selected as our future platform, due to its compatibility and wide industry usage, strong customer focus, easy transition and integration, regulatory framework (EASA), cost reduction and productivity efficiency. Choosing the right platform for our company was crucial, as we needed a product that would have the capability to go well beyond the requested scope, and would provide Croatia Airlines with a long-term strategic advantage. We are looking forward to implementing AMOS as our new software system in the near future”, Mr Bajić concluded.
At this point they can do whatever they want but they’re still a bad airline.
ReplyDeleteOU is a good airline. Punctual, good service e, nice and friendly cabin staff, professional and capable crews, good equipment.
DeleteAn airline crew consists of Flight Crew (which you call crew) and Cabin Crew (which you call cabin staff). Staff is the term reserved for Ground Staff and Administrative Staff. Their "equipment" is aged and worn out, and miniature in size given the market, both fleet size and individual units size. Their punctuality is average. Basic lack of knowledge on people employed in an airline and fleets airlines operate, as well as your arbitrarily given statement on punctuality, disqualify you from making any justified conclusions
DeleteSo the planes won’t be owned by OU?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteIt says in the article: "An operating lease is a contract that allows for the aircraft’s use but does not give Croatia Airlines ownership rights. These leases will allow the carrier to use the jets without incurring the high expenses involved in purchasing it."
DeleteSo they will no longer own any aircraft in their fleet
DeleteThey won't. But I don't know why the surprise? There was no chance in hell they could have afforded straight out buying brand new planes. The Q400s are also on operating lease and will now be returned to their owner.
DeleteFrom what I understand first ones will be leased while the ones they'll get directly from Airbus will be bought.
DeleteMy guess is they'll do a sale and leaseback though
No. Read what the CEO of the airline said. All aircraft will be financed through an operating lease. It is in the first paragraph of the article.
DeletePurchasing new aircraft is expensive, smaller airlines tend to lease aircraft and when they’re slightly bigger purchase in what is called lease to own agreement. One option Croatian airlines has is to have full on operating lease agreement for 10 years and with an option to lease to own same aircraft after that, which airline can exercise. If Croatian airlines went on to purchase brand new A220-300 and A220 100, the costs would be substantial in excess of €570 million for 12 aircraft. By leasing these 12 aircraft, airline saves roughly €25 million per year in costs. It is very likely Croatian Airlines will return old Q400s which had option to purchase at much reduced price (roughly €3 million per aircraft), considering the fact that Q400 is no longer young aircraft, operating costs to maintain aircraft would have been much higher. Leasing 12 aircraft would roughly cost €35 million had airline purchased these aircraft outright, airline would need to pay €570 million + interest, spread over 10 years that would easily come to €60 million repayments, roughly 450 million kuna, or twice as much airline was already paying for leasing 8 aircraft year. Logic of returning 8 older leased aircraft but getting new aircraft which will cost slightly more but will reduce airlines outgoing, for Croatian airlines had massive costs associated with repaying the old aircraft which were purchased under unfavourable terms. A220s 15 of which will eventually be in service + 5 A319s in summer season can mean massive increase in operations and support Croatian tourism without impacting operations and summer schedule.
DeleteJust two questions for you :
DeleteDo we have any kind of guarantee that new aircraft will not be "purchased under unfavourable terms" as the old ones were, and, how much "outgoing" costs will be reduced with new aircraft. Those two missing big time in order your post to be convincing. And you actually don't have to answer at all, better just enjoy your coffee in Buzin
@pozdrav iz Rijeke10:21 Leasing deals are public and 3rd party can't be inserted in to any mutual leasing agreement. However, that being said, there’s always a corruption in large deals, this one won’t be an exception. Quite possibly you can make money by getting paid by a party in this case lessor to negotiate away your commercial rights or discount % for a large order but management gets a massive “personal bonus” that benefits airline managers negotiating this deal, they could then excuse their increase in bank balance by saying they’ve sold some old family assets this circumvent any suspicion, corruption is part of everyday life.
DeleteIn this case airline and the state and therefore the taxpayers would lose aircraft discount %g, if we’re talking A220 300 and let’s say for ease of calculation, lease rate is €250 000 per month per aircraft before lease over 10 years, so that would be 12x250x10x12 aircraft, you come to a grand total of €360 million over 10 years, now this is before a discount of 10%, you add a discount, new total is €324 million. Now, lets say lessor offers “2%” discount and pockets the rest, but the key people in airline leasing the aircraft suddenly discovered they’ve inherited small fortune from long lost relative in Nigeria. Suffice to say, the state would have been damaged by €36 million + interest, however 4-5 people at national airline have been paid off with less than €500 000 in total. How do you prevent this, well one way to do it is to go via public tender, so we know what we pay and also have very strong anti-corruption laws, if you steal from the state, you lose everything.
Good thing they got pilot training included in the deal.
ReplyDeleteAny idea where it will take place?
DeleteMy guess is Swiss pilot training. But we will see.
DeleteAs long as it is tied up to Lufthansa Group.
DeleteThen they could get someone from Lufthansa to manage their social media or emails. 4th day with lost luggage. No info on its status or when it will be delivered. Their social media team is non existent. They don't reply to anything. No one replying to emails.
DeleteComplaining to OU on social media is completely pointless. They really don't have a social media "team" it's no secrete. And they don't handle complaints through social media either.
DeleteYou should have a little understanding. It's summer holidays time. Hard working people from Buzin just took their deserved rest. I mean it's legal requirement. People must have some rest from drinking coffee and gossiping on daily basis. Some change. Some holidays. So, my advise : next time don't even try to contact them during summer peak season. Or over winter ski holidays. Or over Christmas, Easter, and many other occasions. And be compassionate. They work so hard, lead by mastermind genius Jasmin. Give them a break and some credit. They showed so far they deserved it multiple times....
DeleteCan i ask do you work in the aviation world yourself?
DeleteOf course not
Delete@14.06
DeleteFor over 30 years. 2 flag carriers, 2 alliance members, 1 LCC, 1 leisure, 2 ACMI, in 4 diferrent countries
@14.47
LOL
Love these planes
ReplyDeleteMe too. But they need to sort out engine issues.
DeleteI really wouldn’t be surprised if the arrival of the first planes is moved from Q2 to Q3. The arrival in February and April made much more sense.
ReplyDeleteOn today’s OU menu we will be serving some pie in the sky
ReplyDelete" At one point we will have three aircraft types in our fleet, which is operationally, financially and in every other sense very demanding"
ReplyDeleteok...
They are going to have a huge increase in capacity on routes served by the Q400s.
DeleteI can imagine the A220s on PSO routes like Zagreb-Brac.
DeleteDue to their lower cost they don't have to be operating at 100% capacity to turn a profit.
DeletePSO routes are flying around with 1 passenger onboard so it doesn't really matter what the load will be like.
DeleteIf PSO are really so miserable, why don't they lease dođe 10 seater and fly them?
DeleteTo be honest, I don’t think anything will change at OU, even when these planes come. There isn’t a magic wand that will change their route planning department, financial department and management just because these planes. Wishing them good luck in any case.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt will change. For worse. They will have much more costs to cover leases for the most expensive aircraft in its category on the market, more costs for subleases when a/c got grounded for engine problems, more costs for pilots and engineers type rating, more airport costs for operating heavier aircraft than Q400, more losses for reduced LF which is record low even today, they will have more losses feeding LH from every village in Croatia, for peanuts, which has already been announced, and so on and so on. But hey, no problem, USB ports will compensate for all of these....
Deletewow Mr Bajic has certainly ramped up his appearance in recent weeks.
ReplyDeleteSomething is finally happening at OU and it's not a new 1 weekly seasonal route to Munich from a secondary Croatian city.
DeleteHopefully these A220 bring some new kind of enthusiasm at OU and things start moving in the right direction. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part.
Delete^Don't get your hopes up. I thought the same when the Q400s arrived.
DeleteAll the people working at the airline will be the same before and after the A220s. That's the main issue. Not the equipment they have.
DeleteAbsolutely nothing is happening in OU, except bigger losses to come
DeleteThose planes will not arrive!
Delete@ 10:15
DeleteI've said that a long time ago and I was deleted for it! I agree, they are not coming.
What a surprise that software owned by Lufthansa has been purchased.
ReplyDeleteStill no aircraft, just pričanje? Oh my, it's sure taking a long time. *facepalm*
ReplyDeletePublished on 24 November 2013:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2013/11/croatia-airlines-plans-fleet-expansion.html
*facepalm*
Sorry, but you are not right. Expansion happened. In ten years, two aircraft. One 319 flying, and one 320 sleeping on tarmac. So, "Project Expansion", over. Now, "Project Reduction", going on 😃
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteIf you say so, be it so! LOL!!!
DeleteI really hope they use the new planes to introduce some longer routes. Middle East is a good option.
ReplyDeleteMiddle East is long overdue but there are many destinations in Europe that would make sense for them to introduce first. I mean they don't serve Portugal, no flights from Zagreb to Sweden, introduce a nonstop flight to Rome and Athens, start Istanbul, make deal with Turkish Airlines etc.
DeleteWhich route could they launch in the Middle East? They fly to Tel Aviv. Starting Dubai would be pointless against Flydubai. What could they launch?
DeleteI also think Istanbul would be a good idea. Especially when they get the A220s. They used to fly there. They can have a codeshare with TK but even if they don't people can connect onto their flights because they are Star Alliance. I think it could work for OU couple of times per week.
DeleteMore Minken. More Vrankvurt. That will happen.
DeleteCan't wait for this plane to FINALLY arrive in Croatia Airlines colors.
ReplyDeleteAnd for their new livery too :)
DeleteThey won't have a new livery. They just said they will redesign their logo. So I think the checkerboard stays on the tale.
DeleteWill be interesting to see how they tweak the logo.
DeleteTheir livery is actually perfect and the last thing i would change ..
DeleteOnce they announce long haul flights we’ll talk
ReplyDeleteLong haul isn't even in their long term plans.
DeleteLong haul was in there plans back in 1991. Long haul flights to JFK, ORD and YYZ were announced, published and being prepared for summer season 1994, with ex-LH DC-10 which was to join the fleet. Then, crooks and criminals took over.
Deletetheir plans, autocorrect
DeleteNice to see they are introducing proper WiFi. I was under the impression it would just be on board streaming portal (kid of like what Adria had for a while).
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYes a nice surprise. Although their routes are relatively short so I don't think there will be too much usage.
DeleteWell they definitely will have one of Europe's youngest fleet. So that deserves some congratulations.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that
DeleteAnd special congratulations go for feeding LH for peanuts with one of Europe's youngest fleets. Danke Deutschland!
DeleteUSB C ports gonna save this airline and push them into prosperity. Thst and line Mostar - Madeira.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to underestimate the value of cooperation agreement with music record label, which pushed Croatia Airlines to the borders of profitability!
DeleteThat record label deal was a gem.
DeleteCan someone remind me what was the point of that deal? Like what did Croatia Airlines say why was this beneficial for the airline?
DeleteThe deal between the carrier and Croatia Records (the successor to the Yugoslav-era Jugoton) is said to “provide numerous benefits to all their customers in the future, related to discounts when buying airline tickets, albums, vinyl records, books about music and other musical content”.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/11/croatia-airlines-inks-deal-with-music.html
The actual reason is that some money had to be pumped into Croatia Records and Jasmin is an avid collector of gramophone records, at least that's what he said in an interview I read a year ago.
This was a good laugh. Literally. Reminds of when some former Jat Airways politically appointed CEO said how airline tickets should be sold at the post office.
DeleteThey should first address crew shortages they have been having this summer
ReplyDeleteAll working people in our socialist self management society have legal rights to their deserved rest and holidays when it suits them most. Or sick leave if holidays not granted. Uuuups, I think I just said something forbidden....
DeleteSo, this time next year, Croatia Airlines will be flying A220s :) nice
ReplyDeleteHopefully, unless they delay the delivery again.
DeleteIs there any idea the first route(s) that will be operated by the A220? They will initially have only a few of them, so I'm wondering if there will be a certain route where the plane will be constantly used or they will just rotate it around various routes until they get more of them delivered?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that they will first put it on domestic routes and then just rotate them on international ones. But I might be completely off.
DeleteI can tell you all routes which will be operated by "shiny brand new A220 fleet" :
DeleteZagreb-Minken
Osijek-Minken
Pula-Minken
Rijeka-Minken
Zadar-Minken
Brac-Minken
Split-Minken
Dubrovnik-Minken
Zagreb - Vrankvurt
Osijek-Vrankvurt
Pula-Vrankvurt
Rijeka-Vrankvurt
Zadar-Vrankvurt
Brac-Vrankvurt
Split-Vrankvurt
Dubrovnik-Vrankvurt
You forgot 7 daily rotations Minken Vrankvurt
DeleteLet's make it 9 daily! Jasmin would say : Nije Beg cicija!
DeleteAli ZAG jeste 😁
DeleteHahahaha, good one ma'man 😃 I usually insist on JAT-Jat difference, but here all clear 😃!
DeleteIt’s interesting to see Croatian airlines has a fleet strategy but no growth plan whereas Air Serbia has a growth plan but no fleet strategy!!!
ReplyDeleteThe latter does have a fleet strategy. They renewed their ATR fleet and are growing it, they said they will go for mid-life planes and not new ones until they reach a fleet size of 35 to 40 planes.
DeleteTo add to the post above, JU have announced plans to replace the A319 with younger A320's, with a regional jet filling the gap between the A320 and ATR (now confirmed to be ERJ's with the first of 3 already flying for JU). ATR fleet was not only modernised 1 for 1 but has grown this year with further growth planned for this year and next year. 10 ATR's in total is planned. Long haul expansion will be done with more A332, 4 is expected to be in the fleet by next summer and a total of 8 so far is planned. No new (factory fresh) aircraft order will be made before the fleet count reaches 35 aircraft. I'm not too sure where you got the idea that no fleet strategy is in place, there have been tens of articles about all this the past 12 months.
DeleteIn comparison to OU, they have made plans for fleet renewal for more than 10 years and have done nothing other than continuously defer arrival dates. Fleet has not had any real growth while the list of routes and destinations has actually decreased. OU's market share in Croatia has decreased over the years while Croatian tourism continues to grow.
+1.000.000
DeleteBecause JU CEO is professional doing his job, and OU CEO spineless aparatchik executing Party orders which will benefit few individuals involved in or tied to high political structures
The ‘order’ placed with Airbus was just for show since Croatia Airlines is leasing all the planes and won’t own a single unit. When they were placing the ‘order’ Croatia Airlines said it was ordering 6 + 9 planes to be delivered by 2026 and that the first six would be A220-300s. Now it turns out it will be a mix of -100s and -300s. It also now turns out that the final 3 A220s are far from a sure thing and might join in 2027 but might not.
ReplyDeletewell airline needs 15 planes at least..
DeleteWith croatian market current numbers of 11 million, with summer coastal operations, with potential transfer options at base airport which could be turned into a proper hub, and with some idea how and good will and effort to create additional demand, OU fleet could easily be 30-35 units, 5-6 long-haul
Delete"with an emphasis to be put on winter operations from secondary cities in Croatia". Wow, huge loss on the horizon. Why do they need A220 for winter operations from secondary cities?
ReplyDeleteJust to put on a show
DeleteMutti Luftika deserves the highest quality feed possible. Who cares about losses?
Delete@ pozdrav iz Rijeke
DeleteI love your sarcastic but very realistic comments, you are my absolute favorite on this blog. Keep going man, we need more of such healthy characters!
Thanks @JU520BEGLAX!
DeleteWill try to do my best in future too! 😃
U make me laugh all the tme. Thank you 😊
DeleteWelcome! 😃
DeleteI really how this materialises
ReplyDeleteThank you so much "pozdrav iz Rijeke".
ReplyDeleteLP
👍
DeleteCan we guess if scientific book of Jasmin, Tatalovic and Misetic, famous trio-rio, will fit in the back of the seat A220 to give CTN PR hostesses food for thought how to contribute to revenue generation
ReplyDeleteof course, they will say: we may be at the brink of collapse, but we are going down in style....and then they will charge their phones with USB C ports in the seats....
ReplyDelete