During the first three quarters of 2023, Skopje retained its position as Zagreb Airport’s busiest regional route (excluding domestic destinations), followed by Belgrade, which overtook Sarajevo. Notably, the Skopje route started off strongly during the first quarter of the year, outperforming pre-pandemic traffic levels, however, figures fell sharply during the second quarter and even more so during the third quarter, corresponding with the introduction of Lufthansa flights to the Macedonian capital, as well as seasonal operations by Croatia Airlines between Split and Skopje.
Zagreb regional route performance, Q1 - Q3 2023
Regional destinations from Zagreb are currently served almost exclusively by Croatia Airlines (Skopje and Sarajevo) and Ryanair (Podgorica and Sofia), with Belgrade being the only exception, operated by Air Serbia. Zagreb Airport aims to better connect to regional destinations with Budapest, Bucharest, Pristina, and Tirana recently included in its Connecting Capital Cities Incentive Model, with all four having been served in the past.
Out of the four regional routes Zagreb Airport aims to subsidise in the coming period, Tirana is the busiest unserved destination based on indirect traffic volumes. It is followed by Bucharest, Pristina and Budapest. Zagreb was last linked to Budapest when Qatar Airways introduced flights to the Croatian capital which were operated with a stop in Hungary. The airline held fifth freedom rights between Budapest and Zagreb. The stop in the Hungarian capital was discontinued in the summer of 2015. In 2019, LOT Polish Airlines expressed interest in adding flights between Budapest and Zagreb as part of its new base in Hungary, however, these never materialised. On the other hand, Croatia Airlines introduced a seasonal service between Zagreb and Bucharest in 2017. At the time it noted, “We are seeing a number of transfer passengers on these flights, keeping in mind that Romania is the second largest market in Southeast Europe". The carrier even considered extending operations between the two capitals into the winter months. Ultimately, the service was not restored in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and has been discontinued since.
Croatia Airlines also used to link Zagreb and Pristina, with its last service on the route operated in October 2016. That year, the carrier ran two weekly rotations between the two, down from a peak of seven weekly flights in 2009. The Croatian flag carrier also used to connect Zagreb with Tirana in the early 2000s. Twenty years later, just prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Croatia Airlines’ management held talks with relevant stakeholders over the introduction of flights to the Albanian capital. That same year the airline had scheduled the introduction of flights to both Sofia and Podgorica, which never materialised and were later launched by Ryanair.
Are these passengers to/from Skopje mostly transfers or point to point?
ReplyDeletewould say half half for the afternoon flights but early morning departures are transfer heavy especially in high season
DeleteInteresting. I'm a bit surprised. I would have expected Sarajevo to be first.
ReplyDeleteThe subventions were lower in 2023 and other hubs such as Belgrade with the rise of Air Serbia took a bit of transfer traffic. Mostar also has a direct line now
DeleteWhat "subventions"?
DeleteAll these new regional route ZAG wants are best suited for Croatia Airlines
ReplyDeleteBudapest and Bucharest are more likely with Ryanair in my opinion.
DeleteThere's absolutely no chance Ryanair will launch Zagreb-Budapest.
DeleteWhy? They have more ande more short routes as TIA-BRI for example.
Deletelol there are not millions of croatians emigrated to Hungary to compare this route
DeletePlus there is the sea between TIA and BRI. I doubt FR would operate this flight if there was a land connection.
DeleteThere are so many Albanians in Italy, it’s unbelieveable: I saw on FR24 that Tirana is the busiest route from Bergamo, Treviso and Pisa, with most weekly flights.
DeleteHow many times pre week Croatia flies to Skopje?
ReplyDelete9-13 weekly this year. In summer mostly with Airbuses.
DeleteWow that is really huge, not expected that they are using Airbus. Maybe that is one of the reasons why JU Is not doing so well on SKP route
DeleteAnd you know how they are doing in Skopje? You have their financial results in this route?
DeleteJU is also doing good in SKP. JU has bigger network then OU and plus they have JFK and Chicago now, so if there wasnt demand then the route would have operated 10 times per week this summer not 14.
Delete"good" and they stil fly with ATR's.... Even A3 has now 9 weekly flights in winter
DeleteAgain, have you seen their financial results on the route to make any conclusions?
DeleteWell, they also send the ATR to VIE, BUD, PRG ... does it mean they are not performing well there? I am sure JU will send something larger than the ATR to SKP when SKP is able to fill such a plane. Until then the ATR it is.
DeletePlus it would make sense for them to boost SKP to 21 before increasing capacity.
dont get me wrong I would love to see JU going 21x at my airport but they are stagnating, LOT had almost overtaken them last year by pax numbers. I believe their ZAG route is doing better then their SKP route. Thank god for opening OHD though!
DeleteThe airline had 23.448 passengers on its Skopje route during the first half of the year, an increase of 40% compared to the same period in 2019.
DeleteFinally this delusion ends now. As you see there is even increase.
DeleteJU has realy bad times for SKP pax conecting on US flight. It yhey can improve that to 2-3 hours instead of 6-8 hours or next day, numbers will be much higher.
Delete@14:36
DeleteJU is taking over their 3 ATR in the beginning of 2024. So hopefuly they can utilise them for better timing on regional flights to Skopje and Sarajevo so people can connect to the long haul flights.
Also with the changes to the fleet at OU next year it will be interesting to see how that will impact their operation in Skopje. Could they maintain it or will it decrease further?
Well, they are experiencing a 20% drop in passenger numbers while operating some flights with the Q400. I don't see how they can operate normally with a plane which is much larger ... unless something major changes.
DeleteBEG will most likely overtake SKP in fourth quarter
ReplyDeleteI agree especially since JU added noon departures to ZAG this winter. Will be interesting to see if LJU-SKP affects ZAG-SKP in any way. We have to wait for Q4 numbers for that.
DeleteIt will defenetly affect it. This summer there were slovenians in Skopje which flew with Croatia. Plus, many others which used Croatia Airlines to get from Slovenia to Macedonia and back are now using Wizz to Ljubljana as well as many which used Croatia to fly from Zagreb to Skopje are now maybe using Wizz from Ljubljana. The numbers will be down for sure, they already are bacause of Lufthansa which shows that the route was for transfer pax mostly, and those who used it dirrectly are now changing to Wizz ( some of them ), so the numbers will be even more low.
Deletesorry lower*
DeleteI am not familiar with OU's pricing policy but it seems like it's not very competitive compared to what Wizz is offering. Did they even lower their fares to SKP? I am seeing €160 one way fares from ZAG which seems a lot for such a relatively short flight.
DeleteDuring the discound they offered several days ago or maybe two weeks passed till now, but the return ticket was 110 euros which was pretty cheap. Overall i believe that its cheaper to fly to Ljubljana and take bus to Zagreb. If i plan to visit Zagreb i would use Wizz to Ljubljana.
DeleteWhen Wizz announced flights to LJU fares were dirt cheap, I think it was €50 return. Naturally subsidies help but OU had to react to this.
DeleteI don't feel sorry for OU as they are generally useless but this is something they should have complained about. These subsidies are distorting the market as the North Macedonian government is paying Wizz to take away passengers from OU. Both ZAG and LJU are in the same catchment area. They should have requested funds from the Croatian government to protect them from this new competitor.
Had Wizz launched Maribor flights then OU and ZAG would have nothing to worry about, like this...
Had Wizz launched Maribor flights then OU and ZAG would have nothing to worry about, like this... - maribor is even closer to zagreb than ljubljana.
DeleteTrue, my bad.
DeleteLJU - SKP will affect both ExYu airlines as both took over some of the Adria pax
DeleteWhy would Macedonia request subsidies from Croatia? Our goal is to have more routes not to secure the ones we already have, especially not the ones who are operated by carriers who are stagnating. Ljubljana was one of the busiest unserved routes from Skopje as well as Skopje was the busiest onserved from Ljubljana. Ljubljana is more important for us then Zagreb. Yes we are paying Wizz Air money but thats how things work in the Balkan and its better to pay a few million dollars then to invest 20-30 millions for a carrier who is stagnating. I get your comment, nothing wrong with that but from our side its important to have more routes not to help OU. Why would we?
DeleteOh you ment that OU should request funds from the Croatian government? Then i am wrong about my comment above, sorry.
Deletethe MK gov (and especially the new Ohrid local gov which are a comedy) should offer something to OU to launch seasonal flights to OHD. That would be beneficial to everybody involved
DeleteAnon 11.27
DeleteIndeed, OU should request subsidies from the Croatian government to support ZAG-SKP at least until SKP-LJU receives financial support. Until then OU is at a disadvantage. Only question is if OU is even aware of that.
Anon 11.42
Especially now when JU's BEG-OHD route performed really well. It had n abysmal start but then overnight things turned around. Let's see what they do next summer and if they add more flights.
I think we all know the answer of your question. No, OU is not aware of that.
DeleteHahahah true!
DeleteOU is not suggesting anything to gvt or asking from gvt, business - wise, as they don't exist to do business. They exist to execute political and Mafia orders (gvt, AP, Misetic) for as for example : single-type fleet A220, feeding LH, not growing, keeping away from long-haul..... And are paid for that, as much as needed, through all possible forms and ways. Don't know how you still can't realize that
DeleteBizzare claim that the tiny macedonian gov support is distorting any market. They are creating new ones for them instead.
DeleteThe fat state aids to all 3 exyu airlines are in reality distorting markets
It's sad that OU had a better regional network 10 years ago than today. They used to fly to Tirana, Pristina, Podgorica...
ReplyDeleteOU should really start finding a new partner or atleast get out of this deal they have with lufthansa.. they completly run them over.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that LJU-SKP also happened.
ReplyDeleteBut at the end of September. This is for Q1-Q3.
Delete“however, figures fell sharply during the second quarter and even more so during the third quarter, corresponding with the introduction of Lufthansa flights to the Macedonian capital, as well as seasonal operations by Croatia Airlines between Split and Skopje“
ReplyDeleteThey forgot to add wizzair started Ljubljana-Skopje. Im sure some pax migrated there.
It started on 27 September. These are numbers until the end of September so I don't think one flight made a major difference to the figures yet
DeleteSo q4 will be even worse
DeleteIn October between SKP - LJU flew 3861 passengers. That's means concrete minus on ZAG - SKP flights. My opinion.
DeleteWell not all. Some of them were using JU from Ljubljana. Some of them were using bus but now they can afford flying.
DeleteWhere did you get this info? This means that the average LF on SKP-LJU-SKP was 94% in October. Wizz had two weekly flights with A321. Wow
DeleteI would say 10%-15% pax will migrate to wizz from Ljubljana
Delete2023M10 Prihod/odhod letal - SKUPAJ Redni/posebni prevoz - SKUPAJ Severna Makedonija 3.861
DeleteSIStat, Slovenian statistic office.
I don't think many switched from JU as those that were/are flying with JU are doing it because the schedule fits them. Not everyone is flexible when it comes to their travel plans.
DeleteI think business travelers will still stick to JU because of flexibility.
OU as the dominant player on the ZAG-SKP will be the first to feel Wizz Air ... if they manage to take away some passengers from them. We will have to see actual numbers before coming to a conclusion.
well if wizz schedule fit than why would i fly via belgrade. when i was booking my flight i booked one way wizz the other was JU.
Delete10:09 fala. I wonder how the bus companies are doing now. I bet there is still demand cause its still
Deletecheaper to go and come back with bus then buy a wizz ticket with 20kg baggage. Plus the tickets to LJU are rearly cheap. The cheapest i found was 45 euros return. While there is 25 euros return to Copenhagen.
Anon 10.12
DeleteAll I am saying is that with two weekly flights many people (like yourself) wouldn't be able to fully arrange their travel plans to fit W6's flight times. That is why down the road JU will be fine. Like I said, we have to wait and see OU numbers in SKP during Q4.
since average LF is 90%+, do you think they might add additional rotations in summer?
Deletenemjee, nobody is saying they wont be fine lol chill. im just saying some pax moved from JU to this. and its a 3 weekly, not two.
DeleteI don't understand why people get so defensive about Air Serbia in these comments
DeleteI am chill, I am merely disagreeing with your point of view. Like I already said, people who used JU in the past did so because they needed flexibility. It's those who flew from ZAG that will be first to make the switch especially since OU is helping W6 by not lowering fares.
DeleteAnon 10.21
DeleteFor the same reason why people obsess about being unreasonably critical of JU.
Nemjee10:21 - well i disagree with your view that noone will switch from JU to wizz. for example: if i have to fly on tuesday and return on thursday no chance i book JU. Wizz has perfect departure, direct flight for 50€. even if i combine wizz and Ju is cheaper and faster than just booking JU. so definitely some pax will migrate from JU to wizz on this route.
Deletesorry but in the video they shot during the innagural flight at SKP there were passengers that said that they were flying either directly from ZAG or via BEG
DeleteOr INI-LJU. I flew this route on 31st December and there were 5 macedonians at least. Many are already using the direct route even though its not operating every day. For some its more important to save money by purshasing cheaper ticket with wizz and arrange the days then to go on the days they want with JU. Plus there is Treviso as an alternative which was always used by pax going to Slovenia as well. I have flown to Treviso and back in 2018 16 times and on every flight there were slovenians or macedonians going to Ljubljana or anywere in SLO.
DeleteTreviso was interesting for the Koper/Portoroz MK diaspora but LJU is much closer now
DeleteI have also once flown INI-LJU before Corona for fun when it was dirt cheap but mainly to try JU and INI
@10.09 interesting that WIzz to MK with 3.861 is almost as UAE with 4,541
Delete@12:28 That number of W6 was for October when 4.1k seats were offered. As of November they offer 4.7k seats so Skopje will overtake Dubai.
DeleteI mean it wont overtake it but it will be even closer.
DeleteWhat I find especially interesting is that ZAG was one of rare JU destinations not to have been massively cut, even LJU was slightly reduced from what I saw on their website (-2 flights). This is related to the latest round of cuts by JU.
ReplyDeleteI am looking at next week and JU plans on having 17 weekly flights to ZAG which is impressive. BEG-ZAG is a short route operated by an efficient plane making JU very competitive. I hope JU grows a paid and boosts both ZAG and LJU to 21 from the start of the summer season.
If JU had a competitive commercial strategy their growth would have been even faster and more impressive. Hopefully in the future they manage to hire/retain higher quality managers who can turn the idea of growth into a more sustainable reality. For the time being, Air Serbia is growing at its own pace, bit by bit.
Covid saved JU as it killed LO's plan on turning BUD into a MA 2.0 hub. Air Serbia's growth would have been challenged had Malev survived its financial crisis. With both MA and JP gone, JU had more room to breathe and position itself in the region. With OU on its way out, it remains to be seen what the Croatian market will look like. For the time being it seems like it's turning into a FR stronghold. Only time will tell how smart of a move that is. FR returned to OSI, they control over 30% of ZAG, they dominate in ZAD and now they are breaking through DBV's defenses. With these four airports they have the whole country more or less covered.
At the end of the day ex-YU region will be divided between Wizz Air and Ryanair with Air Serbia being the only remaining legacy carrier operating a transfer hub at BEG.
It's no surprise really. Ryanair is the biggest airline in Europe and Croatia Airlines is weak. It was only a matter of time. I wish they had come sooner so that passengers could benefit from lower fares sooner. But Croatia Airlines is not dying quickly enough for that to happen. And that's probably a good thing, on balance.
DeleteRyanair's base in Dubrovnik is significant only for October-April traffic. Dubrovnik is fully fine without Ryanair in the summer. And I don't think they'll generate much traffic in the winter anyway.
Zadar is reliant on Ryanair because Ryanair is the only airline that can bring such traffic volume. It is a massive win-win for everyone involved and a true success story despite Ryanair's monopoly position.
There's plenty of other airlines in Croatia for anyone to be worried about Ryanair dominating. The only slight concern is Zagreb where there is clearly some untapped short-haul demand but the airport's high fees are preventing airlines other than Croatia Airlines and Ryanair to build up a bigger network. But I think the management has more of a clue about what they're doing than people sometimes think - I'm sure that if Croatia Airlines went bankrupt they would take the compensation from the Government that they're entitled to as per the concession agreement, and drop fees across the board to get both Ryanair and other airlines to launch lots of flights.
I simply believe that the Croatian government should have been more cautious when developing the aviation strategy. They should have encouraged Wizz Air to be more active in Croatia. Why hand over all the main airports to Ryanair? If DBV was ready to make a deal with an LCC then why not make it W6? Like that at least one Croatian airport will not be reliant on FR.
DeleteYes, DBV has more than enough carriers in summer but I am certain that there are many markets where FR will start competing with well-established carriers. This will certainly put pressure on their financial performance as Ryanair will no doubt try to undercut them. Why? Because FR knows very well that if they manage to chase away as many competitors as possible, DBV is a market that will be able to generate more revenue than Palanga, Osijek or whatever tertiary airport they operate from. They want those high yields in DBV for themselves. Ryanair isn't know to be a tolerant business that likes to share its market with others.
Like I said, only time will tell to what extent this strategy will be successful. With OU going from bad to worse it seems like one airline will dominate the market.
I think you all attack OU most of the time, but they are most likely to begin expanding elsewhere or change their strategy when the A220s arrive. It is just impossible to place the order and have them leave those planes empty. They might follow Lithuania and Bulgaria's example by ACMIs in winter or working for another bigger airline e.g. Luftie or Swiss as Air Baltic does in ZRH. Tricky part is that Air Baltic will have a large number of A220s soon and no idea what they will do with them. Baltic market is not big. They launched a base in Gran Canaria in winter, which is a good idea but Gran Canaria is comfortably a year-round destination and a very busy island similar to Tenerife. OU will need to be really creative and clever and see how it can tackle FR. FR will always find the weakest point and target the busiest route and most likely schedule the plane on the same day that OU operates. They do this with all potential competitors on the "sweet routes". In SOF, FR is stealing PMI and AGP from FB, which were both old routes with no competition and logically expensive. In OTP, they are quietly expanding in UK with the previous routes initially launched and dropped by W6 when they used to fly to many UK cities. OU should either expand eastwards or focus on other transfer airports such as CDG, LHR, AMS and work with QR or EK and FZ closer. They need to be more aggressive on busier routes in ZAG. The coast becomes a very small market in winter and destinations like SKP will not allow them to be profitable because SKP is also getting more and more P2P destinations and now with the arrival of LH it will be more complicated for them. Plus, JU is holding its grip there too.
DeleteAnother possibility is to base an aircraft in LJU. Something which is difficult to understand why there are not doing. They can convert their planes to an all-economy one to be more competitive with the rest.
@ 10:49 OU plan is to replace their fleet with A220's and not expand it at all. If they had planned another 10 to 15 as options in this order. then I would agree with you that they may aim to do something different. I am pretty sure they will add another route here or there but this will be 2 to 3 weekly flights max each. Remember OU pretty much has the same size fleet as they did in the 90’s when there was hardly any tourism in Croatia.
DeleteOU had years to do many of the things you mentioned above and did not bother. They did not even try to take advantage of the closure of Dubrovnik Airline for example, which was flying well over 600 thousand pax during its last year of operation.
They seem to forget that Croatia is part of the EU and now Schengen. They should be taking full advantage of this and could easily be creative with their fleet planning by offering a stop for example on some selected EU routes and selling tickets between the second leg to help make some routes viable. This would not be possible at all airports but some smaller airports it could work. This is something they could offer during the winter months to reduce seasonality.
It almost seems like there is some kind of gentleman’s agreement between the EU and OU when it comes to expanding too much. Stay in your territory and the EU will be happy to turn a blind eye to all the subsidiaries the state is paying OU so I personally do not think OU days are numbered but I am also not expecting much from them either unless we see some major changes in management.
@11:38, yeah man good points you mentioned. OU is definitely not going away anytime soon as many have predicted here for so many years. And yes, being in EU + EEA and US open skies and Schengen (not that important for aviation markets) are all huge benefits.
DeleteImo, OU are waiting for the right moment and probably making plans that they obviously won't reveal once the A220s start arriving. They can also begin developing BWK as an airport with much less competition in summer. They can look into the Caucasus region, Egypt and organise winter charters out of Zagreb and Ljubljana. The A220 will allow them to expand even further move given its excellent range. They can try with secondary Romanian or Polish cities with a larger population, there will always be a market for them.
The expansion of FR in ZAG is only a good thing, because it will indeed force them finally "do something". A probable scenario is by the end of 2024 but not the summer of 2024 as it is a bit too late.
Finally, it would be a good idea to collaborate with Aegean on the Athens route. Both companies are Star Alliance and can easily code-share on the route. Greeks can visit Zagreb and the coast and the international tourists arriving to Greece can combine it with Croatia. This goes out to the ones arriving from far destinations that usually book Europe for 2 or 3 weeks. So, this "hopping" will come handy with nations having access to the sea.
If FR already has 3 Greek destinations and Cyprus, then obviously the demand is there. Expanding the Athens route and code sharing in larger islands as a start and launching 2-3 weekly as a start would be a quite nice.
I don't see how you are predicting expansion when they won't have the planes for it. They will just replace the planes they currently have, not add more.
DeleteWhat good did FR bring to OU? Only thing it forced them to do is to focus on summer seasonal routes from SPU. However what happens when tourists go home? They have no strategy for ZAG which is the only airport in the country with year-round demand. So once SPU is done they will come back to ZAG expecting everyone to resume flying with them?
DeleteI don't think so. With FR aggressively expanding in ZAG, OU will be forced to burn their summer money in winter. We have already seen their relatively bad financial results. Do you honestly think the government can afford to keep them afloat and to keep on pumping millions into them? People thought Cyprus Airways and Malev were also safe until they weren't one day.
ZAG was more than fair towards OU. They gave them a warning which they clearly ignored. Since they failed to provide ZAG with necessary passenger numbers they went ahead and made a deal with FR. So what makes you think OU will turn things around now when they are operating in a very hostile environment? Also, given the state of their finances, how will they finance the leases for the A220s which will be anything but cheap. At least Air Serbia was realistic enough when they canceled the A320neo order. They based their growth on older, second hand planes which are more affordable. They lowered their costs until they could become profitable ... which they are today. OU is rushing by buying things they can't afford - very Balkanesque of them ... getting a loan to buy a shiny new ride they can't afford.
@Nemjee
DeleteCroatian government has NO STRATEGY AT ALL for OU and croatian civil aviation. Otherwise, OU wouldn't have been feeder for LH, it wouldn't be introducing single-type short-range fleet, other croatian companies wouldn't be ACMI only, PSO wouldn't be tragicomical as it is.....
@other posters
I would be the happiest person to be proven wrong, but nothing will change in OU as long as it is controlled by Ivan Misetic and heavily influenced by politics proven to be disastrous
Nemjee, JU cancelled the A32N orders, but flying random fleet hurting its brand and image very much, especially when it was born as a boutique airline in 2013. Having 20 planes and 4 plane types is not very healthy. Here we are not talking about having a shiny plane or not, but principles. Those orders were not from yesterday and they probably intentionally picked 2024. There is no way to announce new destinations from now, unless they physically have at least 2 or 3 planes. Look at what FB did, they already secured 3 out of their 7 A220 orders, kept the Embraers but wet leased their A320s to Cebu Pacific until summer but also took them ages to recently expand in SOF and VAR after attacked by FR and W6.
DeleteOU is likely to do the same. They first need the planes, then will possibly announce new destinations after they had plenty of time to do it. They may not be making money now, but will do so after the arrival of the A220s ad expanding markets to be able to pay the lease and get some extra cash. Of course, neither you or I know what the truth is. This is just a discussion. Also, you cannot compare FR with the largest fleet of planes in Europe with OU. It's like comparing JU with EK.
You do realize OU is increasing network by just 5% next year down over 15% pre-Covid
DeleteAnon 20:36 JU flying random fleet hurting its brand and image very much. Having 20 planes and 4 plane types is not very healthy.
DeleteAny evidence it is hurting very much? Are the passenger numbers significantly down? Number of destinations? Revenue? Shows us your proof.
Anon 21:54 well, think about it. Compare JU of 2013 and JU of today. A319s and A320s and ATR for regional + A330 long haul. Now you have the same with the addition of the Greek Embraers, also Romanian LCC, etc. They can either use Embraer and ATR only +A330 and not A319, A320, Embraer, ATR and A330 if you know what I mean.
DeleteThis is why OU will switch to, similar to Air Baltic, to an all A220 fleet which is excellent for its branding.
The issue being OU doesen't take care of it's bottom line and there is likely not going to be a brand in a few years judging by their appaling finances.
DeleteAnon at 23:30 You didn't produce any evidence JU fleet is hurting their brand and image very much, just some gibberish once again about fleet. Once you are ready to acknowledge Air Serbia massive success in growing passengers numbers, destinations and revenue, we can continue.
DeleteI am generally critical of JU and I firmly believe that Marek is not the best choice for CEO and that Bosko Rupic needs to go. However, we have to keep in mind that JU is breaking all previous records in terms of passenger numbers and they should have a profit of around €50 million this year. So obviously there are people there (mostly middle management) who know what they are doing.
DeleteAs for wet-leases, you make it sound as if they are operating 40 year old Tu-154s or DC-9s. They have modern aircraft which are the norm in modern day European aviation.
Air Serbia simply can't operate a single aircraft model and neither can OU. Simply they are legacy carriers. Fleet commonality is important but we can't be dogmatic when looking at real needs of small, regional carriers. In retrospect we have to think if retiring the ATR was the right move for OU. Maybe having a mix of A220 and ATR would have been the best combination for them.
Imagine operating the A220 on ZAG-ZAD-PUY or similar short routes. There is a reason why Aegean brought back the ATR into its fleet. Croatia Airlines should have done the same but as Pozdrav said, common business sense is not their priority.
Destinations from ZAG such as SKP, SJJ, VIE, MUC, ZRH, PUY, ZAD, BWK, SPU, DBV... should have been all on a turboprop.
Take ZAG-ZRH as an example. How many years has it been in operation and yet OU can't boost it beyond double daily Q400. So what happens when they replace it with the A220 which is not only bigger but more expensive to operate?
Will they reduce the number of frequencies, invest in marketing or keep things as they are and record smaller profits on the route (or larger losses)?
ZAG-ZRH and ZAG-MUC are actually rare examples of why the A220 will be good. They sell out at very high fares regularly and they have far too much demand for them to be operated by Dash aircraft.
DeleteWhat about Ohrid? I think there could be potential for this route from Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteWith the new, the much-improved FR schedule ZAG-SOF should work well in 2024 together with ZAD. TGD and SOF are likely to increase because ZAG-TGD is upped to 3 weekly.
ReplyDeleteZAG-SKP is probably "hurt" by LJU-SKP, which is also going to be decreased from 3 to 2 weekly. Guess that demand is certainly falling.
Summer schedule is not finished.
DeleteIt is for quite a while for TGD and SOF. Unsure about the remaining destinations. ZAG-STN is available for winter 2024/5 already and can be booked.
Deleteif its reduced it is because of planning issues.
DeleteMaybe admin can find number of passenger in ZAG- SKP in October. We can look then how LJU - SKP effected on ZAG - SKP route.
ReplyDeleteWizz really screw up by not operating those Maribor-Skopje flights
ReplyDeleteWhy? So that poor OU is not affected? Ljubljana was the better choise.
DeleteMaribor is closer to Zagreb than Ljubljana is
Deletethe problem was that SKP-ZAG and SKP-SPU were uncoordinated which puzzles me a bit. On some days there were two morning departures from SKP to Croatia which would be fine if they have not reduced their ZAG network. The direct pax to SPU (and those transfering through SPU) and the launch of Lufthansa surely attributed to their reduced ZAG numbers.
ReplyDeleteYes i found it intresting that twice a week we had two planes of CTN parked at SKP. The fact that you mentioned gives you enough info that OU is at bad state and doesnt manage to manage the things.
DeleteThey shoudl really add seasonal ZAG-OHD before Ryanair snubs that too
ReplyDeleteDoes someone know how many pax serve Croatian on the route Split-Skopje this summer ?
ReplyDelete