Turkish Airlines will enhance its operations between Istanbul and Zagreb this coming summer, building on the previously announced planned frequency growth. Initially, the Star Alliance member planned to increase frequencies between the two cities starting March 30 from eighteen to 21 weekly flights. It has now further revised its growth plans with the introduction of a fourth daily service on select days during the peak summer travel period. The carrier will add a fourth daily rotation on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays between July 1 and September 1 for a total of 24 weekly rotations. The additional services have been added into reservation systems, although availability has been zeroed out, meaning tickets are still unavailable for purchase, at the time of writing.
Turkish Airlines is adding a new departure from its Istanbul hub to the Croatian capital just after midnight during the peak summer travel period, arriving in Zagreb at 01.45 local time. The return service is scheduled to depart at 02.40, arriving in Istanbul at 05.55 local time. These complement the three daily rotations departing Turkey’s largest city in the morning, afternoon and evening. Up until the pandemic, 60% of customers on the route were transfers from the Far East. However, this changed in the proceeding years due to the closure of many Asian markets. These have now recovered but the US market is also providing significant feed, particularly flights to/from Miami, New York and Los Angeles. The addition of Australia to Turkish Airlines’ network is further boosting transfer traffic on the Zagreb route.
In addition to growing operations to Zagreb, Turkish Airlines also plans to increase frequencies between Istanbul and Dubrovnik this summer. Between July 1 and September 1, the carrier will increase frequencies from its planned daily rotation on the route to nine weekly, with two daily services to be maintained on Tuesdays and Sundays. The Croatian Ministry for Tourism and Sport recently noted, “In the context of the development of year-round tourism, good air connectivity is extremely important for Croatia, which is why we are very glad that we have a quality partner in Turkish Airlines that connects Turkey directly with Zagreb and Dubrovnik, and with a codeshare partnership with Croatia Airlines further connects Pula, Split and Zadar”.
Great news for ZAG
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteAnd OU never saw any potential in this route....
ReplyDeleteTK and OU need to cooperate more. I don't see why they don't
DeleteIf 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.
DeleteAs far as I remember, Croatia Airlines flew to Istanbul until around 2013.
DeleteCorrect. They launched it in 2011 but it lasted just two years.
DeleteThey do cooperate in that Turkish sells tickets for Croatia Airlines flights to Pula, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik.
Delete@09:05
DeleteOU is LH's puppy so no-no to cooperation with other carrier.
TK 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.
Delete"If the majority of passengers on the route are transfers, what is left for Croatia Airlines?"
DeleteDoesn't stop them from doing business with LH Group with exactly the same model.
OU could also feed into the TK network in IST.
DeleteIt's too early for them.
DeleteWell done! I hope we eventually see a fourth daily flight on all days.
ReplyDeleteWell deserved. It is one of the best airlines out there.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the obsession with TK.
DeleteI'm assuming this red eye is for transfer passengers?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteAt one point TK said it plans to launch Split. What happened with that?
ReplyDeleteOU started this route last year.
DeleteThere is still room for them.
DeleteIt's going to be a fantastic summer for Zagreb
ReplyDeleteI think they will definitely have more than their targeted number of passengers.
DeleteFor sure
DeleteWell done TK!
ReplyDeleteFranjo Tudman airport will for sure reach 4.8 million passengers this year.
ReplyDeleteIf OU's capacity increase lasts through autumn and winter and there is some small increase in load factor I can see ZAG getting closer to 5 million.
DeleteImpressive!
DeleteWhat type of equipment is TK currently using to Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteA321s mostly.
DeleteBoeing 737
DeleteA mix of all types of narrow bodies.
DeleteQR reduces, for the fleet problems and shortage, TK jumps in. Just hope EK will not wait too long to return
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteQR is on "service mode" in every aspect and it will only worse for them. So no wonder other carriers step in. Etihad is in turbo mode also, I'm sure ZAG is on their radar.
DeleteTK has fleet issues as well with the Pratt engines.
DeleteTurkish Airlines expects to have about 30 aircraft on the ground on average per month in 2025 due to the ongoing Pratt & Whitney engine recalls.
DeleteQR does not have issue with engines but with the fact that their former CEO stuffed them up because of feud with Airbus and order for narrow body Airbuses was cancelled. By now they would have already had a number of those aircraft in the fleet. So they have an actual aircraft shortage, made worse by the fact that Airbus and Boeing now have major backlogs and issues in delivering aircraft themselves. QR just leased another 2 B787s from Oman Air. They are leasing equipment left and right. Former CEO was fired because of the Airbus debacle.
DeleteAl Baker screwed them over in the end.
DeleteAsian tourists and agencies dictate TK capacities for summer season
ReplyDeleteLooks like Asians can't wait visiting Croatia this year!
DeleteNot the best news for Croatia Airlines-Lufthansa which carry a lot of US transfers.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the majority of transfers are to Asia.
DeleteSo sad to see nonstop flights to Asia and America by foreign carriers from other continents and dozens of daily flights by both OU and foreign carriers full with transfer passengers to far away markets while OU goes after "single type fleet" to remain being humiliated feeder instead finally taking advantage of its long-haul potential based on its status as tourist power, huge diaspora from both Croatia and region, excellent geographical position, EU open skies agreements, cheaper labour compared to N and W EU, skilled professionals working now all over the World ...
DeleteYap skilled professionals...
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.
ReplyDeleteNot so sure about what you claim 09.22. TK is not that cheap anymore. My 3 last flights to the US during last year were with KLM, Condor and Aer Lingus. All 3 times TK was way more expensive than 3 mentioned above. They used to be cheap before. But they are reliable and have good service, also new IST gives much better experience than old one, and I believe those are the reasons why people from the region choose TK sometimes even with an hour or two backtracking
DeleteWe are talking about people originating from Ex-Yu airports. If you flew Aer Lingus, you could not have left from Ex-Yu because their Split and Dubrovnik flights arrive in Dublin after all the North America connections leave Dublin.
DeleteNo, you can transfer from Dubrovnik to Washington DC, New york jfk, boston and chicago with Aer lingus
DeleteAny airline growing in the region is good news. Hope they keep increasing frequencies
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWell done! Fantastic news!
ReplyDeleteTK flights to Australia will increase the number of flights out of IST that last no longer than 3 hours.
ReplyDeleteTK fleet reaches to 500 planes this year.
TK flights to Australia aren't that much of a game changer tbh, at least not in their current form. You still have a stopover between IST and Australia and you still have to take all your stuff, get out of the plane and do the usual transfer procedures.
DeleteOnce the hardware is there to make the flights non-stop, then it will be a revolution.
Completely agree with Vlad. Currently it is more convenient to fly with Qatar to Australia than with Turkish.
DeleteJust got ticket's to Brisbane with TK-SQ for around 1600€.
DeleteThe next cheapest option was QR with some 2200.
The other problem with Turkish is that the stopover is so uneven. A 2-hour flight followed by a 10-hour flight is not great. It is much better to do 6 hours followed by 7 hours.
DeleteThere I completely disagree. I vastly prefer one short flight followed by one long flight where I can relax and get some decent sleep to two mid-haul flights where I get woken up just as I was getting sleepy and often in the middle of the night.
DeleteHope the premium loads are good too.
ReplyDeleteThey send mostly A321s so it most likely is.
DeleteThis will replace QR's reduced frequnecies.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. Although I wish we saw more TK widebodies in the region.
ReplyDeleteBetter to have more frequencies than widebodies.
DeleteWidebodies would be terrible because that would result in fewer frequencies and longer connection times in IST. I do not need a widebody on a 2-hour flight.
DeleteExactly. Better 4 daily than them sending an old and worn out A330 as they have the habit of doing on short haul flights.
DeleteUnexpected
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or did TK at one point have 10 weekly flights to Dubrovnik?
ReplyDeleteThey had 14 weekly in top season before covid
DeleteThat's a lot. Thanks.
DeleteAre there any other flights from Zagreb departing in the middle of the night like this?
ReplyDeleteNo. Last arrival around 00.35 and no departures until 05.45.
DeleteRealistically flights arrive well after 1am in the summer because of all the ATC delays. Even at Zadar Lauda A320s arrive around 2am most days, sometimes as late as 5am.
Delete9:54 last departures now in winter are BGY at 23:30 and OMO at 23:00 (not every day ofc). In the upcoming summer schedule, the latest, depending on the day, are DBV 22:45, OMO 23:00, SKP 23:35
DeleteI'm quite excited to see how check-in, security etc. are going to handle fourth TK :)
Why can't tickets be purchased yet?
ReplyDeleteShould be available soon
DeleteIt just says "Full" on the site. It means they haven't loaded the fares yet.
DeleteStill displaying 'full'
DeleteI wish OU grew a pair! Would e nice to see them have a proper go.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWould be better if AJet started Izmir or Ankara to Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are limitations within the current bilateral.
DeleteThere is no bilateral. Turkey and EU have Open Skies Agreement
Delete^ educate yourself. There is no open sky between EU and Turkey and every EU country has separate bilateral agreements with Turkey.
DeleteIt is true. There is no Turkey-EU aviation agreement. Pegasus was only able to start flights to ZAG last year after years of lobbying.
DeleteIt's actually the reason Pegasus is trying to get European AOCs.
DeleteGreat to see TK expanding in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteWill we see TK eventually launch Split? Yes, OU flies the route now but only seasonally and with low frequency. Maybe we could see TK launch a few of its own flights.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible. Wonder if Pula or Zadar could work for them.
DeleteI think it's a long way away before that happens.
DeleteWhat aircraft type have they listed for these additional flights?
ReplyDeleteB737-800 and B737-900 mostly.
DeleteThanks
DeleteHow many seats does B739 have?
DeleteHonestly did not expect this, but happy about it
ReplyDeleteLet's hope next year it is four daily every day.
ReplyDeleteWill ZAG now have the most TK flights in the region?
ReplyDeleteYes, if you don't count Ajet as TK.
DeleteNo, BEG will have 4 daily TK flights.
DeleteNo, it will not. It continues to have 3 daily flights. What you read on another site by a self proclaimed expert is misinformation.
Delete????? Are you nuts? Check TK website. They will have 4 daily flights to BEG from IST.
DeleteAgain, it is three flights. The fourth flight you are seeing after midnight is Air Ssrbia's flight. If you bothered to check the flight number you would realise it.
DeleteWith literally no direct competition it is not surprising. Hopefully they will increase LJU to these frequencies in the future too.
ReplyDeleteNow we need Ajet.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they decrease PRN and TGD though?
ReplyDeleteDoes ZAG have dedicated check-in/gate staff for TK flights?
ReplyDelete