Croatia Airlines handled 329.481 passengers during the first quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 2.3% on the same period last year, or an additional 7.545 travellers. The figure is still 4.7% behind its pre-pandemic 2019 performance, when it welcomed 345.800 customers over the first three months of the year. The airline’s average cabin load factor stood at 59.9%, up 0.2 points on 2024, but still down 8.7 points on 2019. A total of 6.813 block hours were logged across 5.232 flights, representing a 1% decrease in both flight numbers and block hours compared to the same period in 2024. During the first quarter, the Croatian flag carrier served a total of thirteen international and five domestic destinations.
Croatia Airlines welcomed 240.308 passengers on international services, an increase of 2.3% compared to last year. Its average cabin load factor on international flights amounted to 59.9%, up 0.1 points. Domestic flights accounted for 88.226 travellers, an improvement of 3.1% on the first quarter of 2024. Loads amounted to 63.5% on intra-Croatia flights, up 1.6 points. The airline transported 947 passengers on charter services, representing a decrease of 30.2%, although this segment made up only 1% of Croatia Airlines’ operations. During Q1 2025, the carrier uplifted 3% less cargo than last year.
Croatia Airlines is betting on more meaningful growth over the summer season, during which it will introduce five new routes and increase frequencies on a number of services. During the peak of summer, the flag carrier will connect Croatia with 28 international destinations across 29 European airports, operating a total of 52 scheduled international routes. The airline is expanding its international network by launching new routes from Zagreb to Milan, Prague, Bucharest, Madrid and Hamburg. Frequencies on existing services will also be increased from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik. Over the course of the summer season, more than 18.800 flights are planned, an 8% increase compared to summer 2024. Croatia Airlines is offering over 2.29 million seats during the summer, marking a 15% rise year-on-year.
They moved my Prague flight from A220 to A319 -.-
ReplyDeletePoor you. Be happy its not dash….
DeleteThey literally said in the press release that the route will exclusively be operated by A220 for more comfort, so ome would expect that to happen
DeleteIt was reported hete 2 weeks ago
Delete"The Croatian carrier has also adjusted its A220-300 deployment on select routes this summer. New services from Zagreb to Hamburg, Bucharest, Milan and Prague, scheduled to launch in July and initially planned for the A220s, will now also feature A320-family aircraft too. As a result, the Milan route will be operated almost exclusively by the A319, while Prague and Hamburg will see a mix of both. Bucharest will remain primarily operated by the A220, although the A319 has been scheduled on select dates. Meanwhile, flights to Madrid, also launching this July, are still planned to be operated exclusively by the A220. Croatia Airlines is set to take delivery of its third A220 soon and expects to have a fleet of fifteen of the same type by 2027. During July, August and September, the A220s are currently scheduled on 33% of all Croatia Airlines flights."
Has anyone here flown on their A220? I am on their website and I am looking at seat pitch information:
DeleteA220: 71.1 cm /81.3 cm
A319: 76.2 cm / 71.1 cm
Based on these numbers, the legroom on the A319 is actually a bit more generous. Would be interesting to hear what the actually experience is like?
Genuinely asking, what's wrong flying with DASH
DeleteThey’re focusing on expansion, but the load factor shows they can’t fill the planes they already have.
DeleteHow tf 76 cm is more generous than 81 cm🤣
DeleteI was comparing 71.1 vs 76.2 I suppose that is the seat pitch in economy?
DeleteWhat are you taking about? Why are you comparing business class pitch in A319 with economy in A220?
DeleteThis is the sad part
ReplyDelete"During the first quarter, the Croatian flag carrier served a total of thirteen international and five domestic destinations."
Still below precovid levels...
ReplyDeleteThe cabin load factor is a disaster and this since years. 😱
ReplyDeleteI love it. Only by flying with them u get empty seat next to you for free on almost every flight 🙂 or row 😂
DeleteIt will get worse since they are getting more and more A220s and retiring the Q400s.
DeleteA 60% load factor in 2025 is simply not competitive. Most airlines are pushing 80% or more. This shows poor network planning.
DeleteThis is a true disaster. All airports in Croatia grew close to double digits in Q1 but OU only by 2%?!
ReplyDeleteThis is a disaster beyond any meaningful words. No wonder their finances deteriorated. Only way for them to be saved is for the HR government to discourage ZAG from encouraging FR to keep on growing. This would not be good for the consumers but it's the only way for them to save Croatia Airlines. It's obvious they are being damaged by Ryanair.
Croatia needs to decide what its future will be like, with or without OU. If the airline keeps on operating like this then it won't last much longer.
+1
DeleteAbsolutely wrong. FR takes part in OU disaster with 5-10 percent. You of all the people should know legacies and LCC go after diferrent markets. The cause of the problem preciseley is political interference on OU, for which you call, crime, corruption, incompetent management, overstaffing in administration, low work productivity, lack of strategy, main role as LH feeder, wrong decision on single type fleet, wrong choice for single type fleet, undeveloped network, lack of waves in the main base (deliberately not written hub), lack of cooperation with ZAG, lack of long-haul operations (in acceptable level), lack of codeshares, lack of marketing...
DeleteFR has very little to do with all of the above
I disagree with your view which is somewhat outdated. People today fly on an airline that suits them the most. Actually, it's 5% to 10% of the travelling public tha sticks to legacies no matter what. The rest move around depending on what is more convenient for them.
DeleteThat is where FR butchered OU and that is why the latter can't get their act together and can't get beyond their pre-covid numbers. Looking at ZAG numbers we can see this quite clearly.
Look at what is happening on the ZAG-LON market. Do you think FR's success comes only from creating a new market or have they actually stolen passengers who used to fly on BA/OU to LHR in the past? Same with many other overlapping markets.
Legacy carriers have downgraded their product to such an extent that there isn't much difference with LCCs.
Yes, OU might be experience all you mentioned in your post but on top of all that they also have Ryanair breathing down their neck and harming them big time. The same way LCCs are killing Tarom and Austrian Airlines or have killed Malev in the past.
Across the Balkans and eastern Europe, only LOT, Air Serbia and Aegean have successfully fought off the LCC invasion while maintaining their legacy status.
In my opinion, at this point OU is on life support and I don't see them making it out alive. The government will keep on funding them for a while longer but given the current trend it's doubtful they will be able to do it for much longer.
LCC influenca legacies, that's out question and that's where I agree with you. But FR did not "butcher" OU, as you are saying, because OU was failure much much before FR arrived to Croatia. Legacies and LCC operate one next to other in numerous markets, it's more rule than exception. But precondition to fight LCC is size (point proven by you listing LO,JU and A3), strategy, and good management. If OU had those 3, FR wouldn't be the problem at all. But asking politics, which caused situation in OU to further intervene by limiting growth of FR, or any other, that you propise, is totally wrong, and even impossible. Instead, they should let OU breath with full lungs. In that case FR would be much smaller problem or no problem at all
DeleteOf course politicians are the main problem, no one is saying otherwise. All I said is that the ship has sailed on OU being saved.
DeleteCroatia is in the EU so it would be next to impossible for them to fund OU's regeneration in the same way the Serbian government did with JU. Such failing businesses can't survive based on a single cash injection. They need a few in order to sustain their growth and development. When it comes to LOT, a lot was done before Poland joined the EU. By then their fleet was modernized (both long and short-haul) so they had a solid foundation upon which to build their future.
Mind you, Jat Airways was in a much worse state than OU is in today. Ryanair's aggressive expansion is not allowing OU (under current conditions) to return to their pre-covid levels. Just look at how much they expanded all around. This has made OU far more irrelevant on the Croatian market, especially in ZAG.
LO, A3 and JU had/have something OU doesn't have. They all invested in their network so as to gain access to a group of travellers that are out of reach to LCCs: transfers.
OU has not been able to do this and that is why they are ending up fighting for the P2P traffic with an airline with much lower costs which is why their financial performance is going from bad to worse.
Passengers who, in the past, flew on OU to places like Barcelona, Munich, Frankfurt, London... have another option now. So what is OU forced to do? They carry less passengers or dump their fares. Either way they are worse than they were in the past.
When evaluating the current and future state of OU, one can not exclude Ryanair which is the main culprit for their worsening state.
We basically don't disagree much. I am not trying to erase existence of strong FR in HR and subsequently, of course FR has some influence to current state and eventual (positive) development of situation in OU. The only diferrence being your opinion that FR is the MAIN restrictive faktor, and me being absolutely positive there are much more and much bigger restrictive factors than just FR
DeleteWell Norwegian has published a net loss of USD 73.4 million during Q1 2025, so it could be worse
ReplyDeleteWell Norwegian has published a net loss of USD 73.4 million during Q1 2025, so it could be worse
ReplyDeleteYes and Austrian Airlines, I think around €111 million. However, OU is nowhere near to being as big or as relevant as these two are.
DeleteI'm starting to think this was all done on purpose.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteThe news of Air Croatia are a continuous up and down. It is a fact that while Club Med Countries such as Spain and Greece plus Portugal have managed to surpass Pre Covid Levels by far Air Croatia is legging behind. A mixture of ATR72-600 and 320NEOS would have been better. It is no coincidence that Aegean put Dash8-400 away and did not choose A220 but bought with cash most and leased ATR72-600. Air Serbia renewed its ATR72. As old they might be: A319 A320 of Air Croatia plus the Airbus Neo would have had better interchangeability .
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity also that A3 and OU did not go together. As they (A3)have gone to heavy maintenance facilities with a capacity of some 12 to 16 A320series at the same time there would have been space for OU besides Lufthansa. I cannot understand those people around OU.
Just aked ChatGPT to rewrite in understandable English: The story of Croatia Airlines continues to be one of ups and downs. While Mediterranean countries like Spain, Greece, and Portugal have significantly exceeded pre-COVID passenger levels, Croatia Airlines is still lagging behind. A mixed fleet of ATR 72-600s and A320neos would likely have been a better strategic choice. It’s telling that Aegean Airlines retired its Dash 8-400s and opted not to go with the A220, instead purchasing most of its ATR 72-600 fleet outright and leasing the rest. Air Serbia, too, has renewed its ATR 72 fleet. Despite their age, a combination of A319s, A320s, and Airbus Neos would have offered better fleet compatibility for Croatia Airlines.
DeleteIt’s also unfortunate that Aegean (A3) and Croatia Airlines (OU) never formed a partnership. Aegean has invested in heavy maintenance facilities capable of handling 12 to 16 A320-family aircraft simultaneously — a facility that could have easily accommodated Croatia Airlines alongside Lufthansa. Frankly, I can’t understand the decisions made by those managing OU.
Still operating below 2019 levels with fewer flights and low load factors doesn’t inspire much confidence.
ReplyDeleteToo little, too late. Croatia Airlines needs a major overhaul, not just five new seasonal routes.
ReplyDeleteWhy not restructure the existing network?
Delete^
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/C-4MOv61bZc
Meanwhile this is the fantastic meals they are serving in business class! With expensive fares and this kind of top notch service, no wonder load factor is below 60%
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/ropetko/status/1921123833131479318?t=B9cx_HCQaIzcpFp_07gIEg&s=19
I didn't know Croatia even had bussines class
DeleteThat's fine to go with the first round of drinks, but what do you get offered as a main?
DeleteThat is all that is offered.
DeleteIt's funny how OU is doing millions of losses while having US parasites like McKinsey in their advisory board. Parasites who probably tell them to lease expensive aircrafts, serve LH Group in order to enable them cheap access to ex YU, same time losses are being outsourced to the public. Thats how the western system nowadays function. Losses shall be socialized but majority part of profits jump into the pockets of those who already control everything.
ReplyDeleteWell, McKinsey knows something about aviation. Regional "experts" don't.
DeleteYes, we see how much they know through Croatia Airlines' stellar financial and operational performance. Year after year.
DeleteBravo OU. Bajic deserves a payrise.
ReplyDeleteI just come accros an online add for Croatia airways in my google feed.
ReplyDeleteAnd you migh have noticed it too, the add is shameful and this is me beeing polite.
It is a simple picture of their A320 not in the sky, not in the airport juts the model.
If this is the level of OU marketing, than no wonder they are loosing money and having 60% occupancy rate.
What a shame.