Croatia Airlines registered a 9.92-million-euro net loss during the first three months of the year, following three consecutive quarters of profitability. The company’s financial performance in Q1 is largely on par with that of Q1 2023 when it registered a net loss of 9.96 million euros. The carrier generated 44.2 million euros in revenue, while its expenditures stood at 54.4 million euros, with both increasing on last year due to a larger volume of flights. “Expenses related to flight operations increased the most on last year due to short-term aircraft leases, which are intended to bridge the gap during aircraft maintenance, as well as the arrival of the fist two Airbus A220 aircraft in the fleet”, Croatia Airlines said.
During the first quarter, Croatia Airlines handled 321.936 passengers on board its aircraft, down 6.9% on the pre-pandemic 2019 but up 6.1% on last year, with an additional 13.499 travellers carried. The airline welcomed 234.987 travellers on international flights, 85.593 on domestic services and 1.356 passengers on charter flights. Compared to five years ago, figures were down 8.4% and 3.2% on international and domestic services respectively, while the number of travellers on charters decreased by some 2.000 passengers, or 58.6%. When contrasted to 2023, international traveller numbers were up 6.1%, domestic 8.9%, while passengers on charters were up 17.1%.
The average cabin load factor in Q1 2024 stood at 59.7%, down 9 points on 2019 and a decline of 1.6 points on last year. Average loads amounted to 59.7% on international services (down 1.9 points year-on-year) and 61.9% on domestic flights (up 3.8 points year-on-year). Croatia Airlines ran a total of 5.272 flights, which was more than four years ago when it operated a total of 5.019 services, as well as a 3% improvement on last year. Its fleet comprised of twelve aircraft during the Q1 period, including six Dash 8 Q400s, four A319s and two A320s. The turboprop fleet was utilised on 64.9% of all flights. During the first quarter, the Croatian carrier counted a total of 921 employees.
Nista novo.
ReplyDeleteSve je vrlo jednostavno-prevezite manje putnika i bice manji minus! Isto vazi za ostale igrace na ovim prostorima a bogami i sire....to vam je kao mala prodavnica na cosku a pored Lidl ili neki megastore!
DeleteThe first sentence should have been:
DeleteCroatia Airlines registered a 9.92-million-euro net loss during the first three months of the year, following successful sale of the very last of it's assets
Bravo Hrvatska! I wish you a good morning!
ReplyDeleteI don't get that 4 years after Covid passenger numbers still have not recovered.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa and KLM Air France numbers are down also during Q1.
DeleteLufthansa and Air France-KLM fly to all corner of the globe and are much more impacted by regional recovery and geopolitics. Their European passenger numbers have recovered. It is not normal that an airline with 13 planes and 20 routes in winter can't reach pre-Covid passenger numbers after 5 years.
DeleteNot that I am defending them but their post-covid world is much different now as they have Ryanair to deal with. I am sure that many who used to fly with them made the switch to FR especially to places like Brussels and London.
DeleteThey should have adapted like Air Serbia, LOT or Aegean did. Instead they kept going as if nothing changed. That's why they are doomed and have no future, especially not since their debt keeps on growing.
Without selling engines they would have been last year one of rare companies that managed to work with loss.
Deleteit seems that unfortunately in response the covid epidemic, OU management and decision makers were even less prepared or more lazy than JU, FB and others. OU as EU operator were very well positioned to step into Slovenia after Adria collapsed, and could have stepped into BiH as well, but missed their opportunities. Now they weren't careful and Ryanair is taking over the Croatian market.
Deletein next two years it will be revealed how well they planned this A220 development plan. If they did it well then they can recover and grow, but if those in charge did not do a good job, route planning, marketing etc, then this would make OU situation worse and could endanger the airline.
You mean that they didn't copy what Adria did with their random bases around Europe? That turned out well for them.
DeleteConcept of legacy carriers is such that they work best when they are focused on one city/hub.
OU tried to copy what Aegean did with bases in tourist heavy markets on the coast. We will see how successful these are going to be in the end.
It's not random bases to have in Slovenia and BiH, both Jug nations that they know intimately.
DeleteSAS is a legacy carrier for Denmark, Norway and Sweden and it works.
Are you seriously comparing Copenhagen-Oslo-Stockholm with Ljubljana-Zagreb-Sarajevo???
DeleteOU failed to convince Croats to fly with them despite that being their home market. You honestly expect them to be successful elsewhere where their brand awareness is close to zero? Somehow I don't see it, especially since both SJJ and LJU are small markets with limited growth potential.
DeleteAlso had they expanded in LJU that could have affected their operations in ZAG. Very few legacy carriers managed to successfully expand beyond their home market. Even SAS struggles beyond Copenhagen which has remained their only true hub.
My comment was under the condition that OU had capable and skilled management decisionmakers. Obviously if you use example of their failure under current leadership then expanding bases to Slovenia and BiH will also fail.
DeleteHowever competent management with proper planning ahead of time in 2016/17 would have seen Adria struggling. if they had proper management in 2010 they would have made a better plan and placed themselves in better situation today.
We say if my aunt had balls she would've been my uncle
DeleteHow, Yes, No
DeleteLF is really a disaster!
ReplyDeleteNot disaster but definitely disappointing.
DeleteLet's not forget that in that LF are included also PSO flights.
DeleteSo, I believe it is really a disaster.
That argument makes no sense because PSO routes are by definition routes which will have a low load factor. Croatia Airlines actually has a higher load factor on PSO flights than on international services, and that's truly tragic.
DeletePSO routes usually have lower prices and yes, I do agree, higher LF.
DeleteSo, if there was no PSO already tragic LF would be even worse.
I hope it is understandable.
I don't understand how the load factor is at 60 procent because every time I fly the to Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen or Split the flights are always packed
ReplyDeleteIt was reported on here that their loads on some regional routes such as SKP or SJJ are not the best. Honestly, makes me wonder if they are not successful here, how do they expect to do well in Tirana where there is an ongoing war between FR and W6. Is there really that much O&D demand to fill three weekly A319?
DeleteI do not believe they will do anything there with only 3pw.
DeleteIt's a seasonal route
DeleteAnon 09.26
DeleteAnd that's another problem. Making TIA seasonal is an issue as it shows that they don't know what they are doing. If they want to have a hub (which is their official policy) then Tirana is a must have destination. You can't expect to have a loyal customer base with such pathetic presence. Add to that their modest network out of ZAG and you come to realize that the only ones who are going to be flying are locals. What does OU offer in TIA that JU, OS or LH don't already? What will be their main selling point?
Cheap transfers to Munich? Frankfurt? Split maybe?
No matter if it seasonal or not there is simply no P2P demand for ZAG-TIA and with 3pw they can't do anything for transfer flights especially as their network is quite weak.
DeleteI tried booking TIA-ZAG-BER and there were no results. I tried to type Tirana and then CDG... Paris... and still nothing.
DeleteSame for Munich, Copenhagen, Vienna, London... Frankfurt is available two times per week, both directions. Their domestic flights are as well.
Can someone check, maybe I am doing it wrong.
You are not doing wrong. They don't sell transfer flights for some routes at all, or they forget to make them available online. Happened in the past too
DeleteDidn't they announce TIA several months ago and doesn't it start in like a month? lol
DeleteWelcome to the world of OU.
DeleteAnd I thought OU can't surprise me more...
DeleteWell, at least you can book TIA-ZAG-OSI and back for €526 ... with no luggage.
DeleteBargain! lol
DeleteCroatia Airlines is a disgrace. A national embarrassment
DeleteNo it's not. And there is no such thing as national emvarresment. The problem is the Government and the respective Minister who take OU's mismanagement as a given. The entire management must be sacked and OU's administrative staff cut in half.
DeleteAnon, 07:43 , wishful thinking, in contrary, we see people there who got managerial and specialist positions are praised by Minister and CEO for the shameful results. They used to have great reps before, where are these people? Seems they now even don't have that small freaking understanding to just copy-paste what others do. Even for that one should have basic understanding too....so sad story. p.s great to see Namjee is back and brings value to discussion.
DeleteGreat success...
ReplyDeleteInteresting that they had more flights this year than in 2019.
ReplyDeleteLoad factor is low
ReplyDeleteFirst quarter is loss making for about 90% of airlines of the northern Hemisphere.
ReplyDeleteThey made no improvement on last year...
DeleteAnon 09.13
DeleteActually they made an improvement:
'...with an additional 13.499 travellers carried.'
Basically they carried 81 passengers more per day (one way). lol
That's basically 2, 3 extra passengers per flight.
You might want to look at their finances.
DeleteSo much wasted potential
ReplyDeleteLet's hope someone takes over and OU ca realize its full potential.
DeleteYeah, hope it's a good strategy .
DeleteAlways proves good to hope.
There are drunken billionaires everywhere, ultimately that's how they earned the money - by throwing it around on ex secret service infested holes.
What's the prediction for the end of year result?
ReplyDeleteI think it's still too early to tell. We must first see what effect FR will have on them and what will be the future of their CPH operation. Without SAS I highly doubt they'll manage to operate daily flights, especially once A220s start arriving. Even now with the code-share they occasionally send the Q400.
DeleteMy guess is that it will be reduced to 3 to 4 weekly with the Q400. If Ryanair boosts MMX then they might be in trouble, especially if they downgrade the route from an A319 to Q400.
If you carry more passengers and your losses increase then it means there is something fundamentally wrong with your business plan. They can't just blame the leases.
CPH with Q400 is terrible.
DeleteAgree with Nemjee, way too early to say, especially in a year where so many changes are expected for them
DeleteI just checked on FR24 and they sent the Q400 to CPH on April 28th and it flew for roughly 02 hours and 20 minutes. I fear this is too long when you are competing with FR which gets you to MMX is roughly 01 hours and 40 minutes.
DeleteMore worrying is OU's pricing policy. I compared ZAG-CPH to ZAG-MMX for the first week of post-SK code-share world.
01.09 to 08.09
FR: €62
OU: €421
That is crazy expensive for a CPH flight (on OU)
DeleteThat is why their load factor is so low.
DeleteYou can also compare their Brussels flights against Ryanair's Charleroi flights and you get the same insane price difference. Plus Ryanair flies an A320 and Croatia Airlines
sends the Dash.
Not to mention Rome which goes via SPU, Girona/Barcelona, Zurich/Basel etc etc
I guess they are afraid if they lower their fares the number of passengers will be the same and they will end up with less revenue. Unfortunately they seem to be stuck in 1985.
DeleteIt looks like their planes are half empty, it's really disappointing….
ReplyDeleteTheir line of thinking is that magically everything will be resolved with A220s
ReplyDeleteOU is tragedy
ReplyDeleteWell let's see how they go in the second and third quarters. That's when they make the most money.
ReplyDeleteLet's see whole year without engines selling.
DeleteI don't know what engines you are talking about. They did sell 5 planes though.
DeleteEngines are anyhow the most valuable part of the plane...so it is the same thing.
DeleteThe point is that they have creative accounting.
The load factor is quite worrying. Again under 60%.
ReplyDeleteTrue. That metric stands out to me.
DeleteDoes anyone know what Croatia Airlines' best performing routes are money wise?
ReplyDeleteIn winter none of them make money, at least that's what Kucko claimed.
DeleteKucko ran the airline 8 years ago
Delete^ Their finances haven't improved much since.
DeleteKučko was a disaster as well.
DeleteAny particular reason for this loss?
ReplyDeletewinter
DeleteRyanair, high prices, poor connectivity, bad product
DeleteIt is Q1. I don't know when they ever had profit in Q1.
DeleteAll of them, except of course incompetence. It's, but not limited to: winter, negative impact of the forex rates, Ukraine war, Palestine, rise in fuel costs, rise in debt servicing costs, inflation, stagflation, far right extremism, hemorrhages, low reliability of the fleet, competition, to many airplanes (soon to become too few airplanes), lousy market, short summer season ( further negatively impacted by the appearance of the planet Nibiru)....
DeleteWith only 12 aircraft, almost 1,000 employees seems excessive. That is what drives their costs up.
ReplyDeleteDismiss the management
ReplyDeleteI hope they get privatized and then get someone with a clear vision.
DeleteIs there a bigger chance they get privatized when they get new fleet?
DeleteNo the chances are smaller. It's s poison pill. Deliberately made to avert a potential buyer so that the business can go on as usual...
DeleteThey need to operate more charters.
ReplyDeleteIn winter?
DeleteI believe it is improving a bit in summer and that they now fly more charters.
DeleteAnyone know which destinations they fly charters to?
DeleteIt's a shame that this airline is in the situation it is in. Good luck OU and I hope the management does the right thing and finances improve with the arrival of A220s.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for Godot
DeleteWhat on earth have the new planes to do with finances improving???? How are they going to improve finances? By raising leasing costs by an order of magnitude?
DeleteWhat are you talking about?
What is the passenger yield, based on revenue passenger kilometers?
ReplyDeleteTheir yield is actually very high, but the volume is so low and their fixed costs so high that they cannot possible be profitable in the long-term until they make some big changes
DeleteCan someone predict what are realistic and possible outcomes for OU? Please exclude privatization as I don't think that's going to happen.
ReplyDeleteThey will get more money this year and then they can't get any for a decade. I don't think they will survive until then so bankruptcy it is. Similar to JP.
DeleteBut they also need to repay the covid loan.
DeleteThat was a gift. You don't return gifts.
DeleteJP was different because it became a private company. OU will stay and just do enough to not piss Brussles off. Unfortunately we will be seeing the same story for years to come.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska! NOT:)
ReplyDeleteThey probably won't reach pre covid numbers until end of Q3.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it happens then
DeleteThey will definitely reach them this year. Which is what they said would happen last year.
DeleteBravo OU!
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteI wish they did more to promote upcoming A220s.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteHow will this change anything?
They bought them because someone told them so. They decided noting. Never have, never will
Will they be able to be profitable this year like last?
ReplyDeleteThey have no airplanes to sell this year.
DeleteLooking like another reord tourist year for Cro so prob breakeven or maybe just slightly profitable
Deletethe prices are not like before covid... not everyone is ready to pay any price.
ReplyDeletea lot of people are price sensitive
OU is a government run organisation. Just look at whats been running the country for decades. 2 + 2 = 5 in this part of the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat was their LF for the whole of 2023?
ReplyDeleteHow you can expect one to run airline company, when their only experience is running local city busses, paid by the Party.
ReplyDeleteIn the course of SAS leaving Star Alliance and joined SkyTeam any clue what will happen with their codeshare with SAS. I can see they are well connected so lack of that partner contribution might reflect negatively.
ReplyDelete