Croatia Airlines recorded a decline in passenger numbers in Sarajevo during the first quarter, despite increasing its capacity compared to last year. The drop comes as Ryanair expanded its operations from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital in late March and early April. At the same time, Sarajevo has significantly enhanced its connectivity over the past year, with several new carriers launching services to the city.
Based on figures provided by the European Union's statistical office, Croatia Airlines handled 22.938 passengers between Zagreb and Sarajevo during H1 2025. The figure represents a decline of 13.6% year-on-year and is 24% below 2019 levels. The Croatian carrier increased its capacity on the Zagreb - Sarajevo service this year when compared to last by 1.074 seats, maintaining eleven additional operations compared to 2024. Its average cabin load factor on the route stood at 44%.
Sarajevo has traditionally been an important transfer market for Croatia Airlines, with strong demand for connections via Zagreb to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, Paris and Munich. Before the pandemic, 56% of passengers on its Sarajevo service were transfer travellers. The airline now hopes to boost its performance in the second half of the year, supported by new routes launched from Zagreb in July and further network expansion planned for next year with the arrival of additional Airbus A220 aircraft.
Croatia Airlines has a long-standing relationship with Sarajevo Airport. It was the first carrier to resume scheduled flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital after the war and has since handled over one million passengers on the Zagreb - Sarajevo route. Services initially began with an ATR42 turboprop, later growing to thirteen weekly flights operated by the Dash 8. In 2016, the airline even considered opening a base in Sarajevo and launching several nonstop routes to Western Europe, though the plan never materialised. As Croatia Airlines transitions to an all-A220 fleet, it has indicated that routes such as Sarajevo will be operated by a wet-lease partner using turboprop aircraft.
OU has to reinvent itself. A completely new business model. 44% load factor is beyond embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've read from a media/portal such a low LF for an airline.
DeleteOU's network wide load factor is not much better.
DeleteEverything you need to know about Croatia Airlines' load factor was shown this summer when in July they were doing flash discount sales for their flights in AUGUST which is when they are supposed to have full planes.
Delete^ And this was for the new routes no less.
DeleteReturn bus ticket with Flixbus Sarajevo - Zagreb is 80+ euros. If Croatia Airlines would somehow manage itself with tickets of 100-120eur, people would use them! But for 300eur - no!!! If they rather go empty, then reduce price, I wish them all the worst.
Delete300 € should be the price for MUC - SJJ and not ZAG - SJJ
DeleteI love OU, but the management is Delboyish...
Even for that 300€ is too much cause he can find cheaper with Turkish. AirSerbia for example is 150 euros sometimes for SKP-PRG, or VCE, LJU..
DeleteI totally agree. To have a avrage load factor of 44% that carried so many ZG -SJJ passengers/transfers is just beyond embarrassing.
DeleteThis just shows the true colours of our beloved and incompetant management who thinks that the most expensive price is the best price, NOT!! No wonder you lost so many London bound passengers due to your exorbitant prices. And from the looks of it, the same thing is now happening with Sarajevo. And believe me, others will follow soon!!
At one point you will have to decide whether you wanna take OU to a next level or keep surviving before you hit inevitable point of no return (administration).
I would suggest, introducing an extra flights with an affordable prices and returning Okusi Zavicaja in economy class, etc. This will create a competitive market which in return will spark debate and great marketing opportunities for OU.
A220 is the ideal aircraft to SJJ ! Bravo really bravo OU!
ReplyDeleteFrom the article
Delete"As Croatia Airlines transitions to an all-A220 fleet, it has indicated that routes such as Sarajevo will be operated by a wet-lease partner using turboprop aircraft"
And in that everyone should believe because?
DeleteWell it's the airline's statement. Thr CEO said it.
DeleteDo we finally know which wet-lease partner they will have?
DeleteThere are rumours it is Sky Alps but nothing official yet.
DeleteWhy paying someone for wet-lease for ever while purposely ordering aircraft which are not suitable for all routes? I can't understand the logic, bet there is one. I think they will be in more profit if they simply end the flights to SJJ rather than spending money on wet-leasing for a route with 44% LF. What did they think? That SJJ and SKP will never get those direct flights that they offer? Even if Adria still existed their numbers would have also been in decline cause the reality now is different than in 2018. If Ryanair didn't come to ZAG now SKP would have overtaken it, but their national carrier will offer transfers, ridiculous.
DeleteThat’s crazy. SJJ has record passenger numbers and Croatia Airlines has decline. Ryanair really did have an impact.
ReplyDeleteAnd way better transfer options and prices via BEG
DeleteTransfer options via BEG do not work. I have never seen a good transfer via BEG. With one weekly flight transfers are often with night stop in BEG.
DeleteAND STOP THIS RYANAIR BLAME! Croatia Airlines killed itself long time ago before Ryanair was there. I mean - we talk about the drop of LF from 55 to 44%! Ryanair is guilty for.this 11% difference. Who is guilty for another 30-35%, so they don't have close to 90% after having and developing the route for 30 years!
JU does not fly "one weekly" to Sarajevo. I flew SJJ-BEG in July (I wrote a trip report here) and I would say 80% were transfers. The Sarajevo flight catches the entire afternoon wave. There were Russians and Italians mostly. The lady checking in in front of me was going to Amsterdam. It does depend on which day you fly though. JU has 4 distinct days in the week which are tailored to maximise transfer passengers.
Delete12:02 There are plenty of good transfer options via BEG: Berlin, Prague, Ankara, Venice, Larnaca, St. Petersburg, Moscow...
Delete
ReplyDelete44 on Dash will be 30 on A220?
They won't use A220 to Sarajevo.
DeleteArent they transitioning to single plane fleet?
DeleteYes but it says in the article
Delete"As Croatia Airlines transitions to an all-A220 fleet, it has indicated that routes such as Sarajevo will be operated by a wet-lease partner using turboprop aircraft"
They can't fight Ryanair with a turboprop. They should send A220 to Sarajevo, that aircraft is a game changer and would attract new passengers.
DeleteWell, half a century ago, trasition from CV440 to DC9 on Belgrade to Sarejevo flights by JAT - doubled the passenger numbers on the route :)
DeleteDo you really believe that the vast majority of passengers know which aircraft they are flying on? Some do, but most don’t. Or, to put it more formally, do they even know which airline they are actually flying with? This in turn determines which aircraft they end up on when, for example, they buy a Ryanair ticket (Ryanair, Lauda Air, Malta Air, Buzz). I often fly with ITA Airways, and their A220s are not a pleasant experience because the legroom is catastrophically bad, unlike on LX or BT. In fact, for a short route like ZAG–SSJ, the travel experience with the OU Q400 is much better. Has anyone here already flown on the OU A220? What was your experience?
DeleteThat 44% load factor is terrible.
ReplyDeleteStrange they did not cut frequencies with such bad performance
ReplyDeleteThe airline's motto is "It's too early". This was their response in 2019 when they were asked will they react after Adria went bankrupt.
DeleteOU doesn't fly to Sarajevo to make a profit, it is done for political reasons and will never stop flying there!
DeleteThey should suspend the route completely from February. Then they should negotiate the subsides with Sarajevo Canton and get millions, same like others did! xD
DeleteWhy would they cut frequencies? Are they going to pay for debts and losses? No. Are they going to be penalized with salary cut or similar for bad results? No. OU problem is they don't give a shit about company and its results and taking care about their pockets and benefits only
DeleteThe funny thing is that Kresimir Kucko’s idea to open a base in SJJ was actually smart. They would have ruled the market for many many years before seeing any serious competition from Ryanair or Wizz Air before them.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAnd they will again miss an opportunity by not stationing 1 A220 in LJU.
DeleteLJU is too close to Zagreb to make sense. And it is an expensive airport.
DeleteParty bots here spit on Kucko just to hide the fact that he managed to clean the mess and totally destroyed company with enormous debts he had found after OU gravedigger Mišetić left. Over short period he managed to bring OU to "positive zero", with solid base for development. Then, Party took over again, and placed its aparatchiks to continue destroying OU. Kucko had some unpopular moves but it was the only way to make it stay afloat. He sued Mišetića for his illegal and corruptive acts but "independent" croatian judiciary ruled everything was OK. If Kucko remained CEO, OU today might have looked totally different
DeleteOU should sign a cooperation agreement with one shuttle provider for Slovenia, if - as they say - they are targeting Slovenian passengers. ITA has such an agreement with GoOpti and their arrival in Trieste is coordinated with ITA flights. But we all know that OU is not very good at coordinating schedules of any kind, not even their own flights.
DeleteI don't understand why they should open a base in LJU or any other airline?? LJU has most of the routes covered already, what's the point? Some which are not are available from Trieste and others from Zagreb. If an airline cannot launch LJU-LHR, FRA, MUC, ZRH then how do u expect them to make profit? From half empty planes to BER, ARN, OSL, OTP and TIA? The only successful thing would be FR or W6 which would offer much cheaper flights to the destinations that are already covered, nothing more or less.
DeleteFlying half empty planes, and posters here argument this is not a problem, because A220s save more fuel than the older planes
ReplyDeleteThose posters are either Buzin uhljebs or Party bots
DeleteThe A220 may save a little fuel but at ALL TIMES up to 20% of the A220 fleet globally is grounded (300 out of 2000). This ratio may be slightly different for different airlines, but all the savings are trumped by the technical issues.
DeleteInteresting to see how indirect competition can influence performance.
ReplyDeleteBut the new A220s will fix everything they said. Imagine you can’t fix lack of having proper waves at your hub by buying new planes.
ReplyDeleteProblems at the airline start with the management.
Delete@9.09 who could have predicted that...
DeleteWell I’m not surprised considering you can’t even buy connecting flights for half their network.
ReplyDeleteWhy do they do this? I noticed this for many routes, even when toy have time to connect.
DeleteDoes anyone remember what other bases they planned when they wanted to open the Sarajevo one? I remember there were a couple.
ReplyDeleteI think Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo and Tirana were planned.
DeleteIt was those but without Podgorica. Basically they were going after regional cities without national carriers and Skopje since Wizz Air was already the de-facto flag carrier there.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/05/croatia-airlines-unveils-major.html
DeleteThat link is a blast from the past :D
DeleteThe carrier's CEO, Krešimir Kučko, says Croatia Airlines will, as a result, become a true regional leader. "The plan is to maintain our strong position in the region through the opening of new bases, for which we need to acquire new aircraft. We are currently negotiating and are in the process of wide-scale planning", Mr Kučko says. The carrier intends to open bases in Sarajevo, Skopje and Pristina, as well as Tirana. "We will link these cities primarily to points in the European Union. A base in Belgrade is not an option for us. Wherever a national carrier is present, our plans would be difficult to fulfil", Mr Kučko adds.
DeleteHow times have changed
DeleteWonder where they would have been had they followed that strategy.
DeletePRN and TIA could have worked at the time as they were served by unreliable carriers.
DeleteWorked great for Adria
DeletePRN and TIA bases didn't bankrupt Adria. Incompetence did. PRN numbers have more than tripled from 2010, the year which Adria opened the base there. If they played their cards well, they could have benefited from this growth. On other hand LJU numbers in same time grew just 4%.
DeleteWhat a waste of taxpayers money.
ReplyDeleteExactly
DeleteWhy are OU's numbers so below pre Covid period? They are operating the same amount of flights...
ReplyDeleteRyanair, competition, lack of waves, lack of planning, lack of strategy.
DeleteAnd, most importantly, a lack of vision.
DeleteEntire management should have been replaced long ago.
DeleteWell on one hand I'm happy for Sarajevo that it finally has direct flights to Western Europe (although many routes are lacking). On the other sad news for OU and that they were unable to adjust.
ReplyDeleteWell this includes slow month's like JAN, FEB and MAR.
ReplyDeleteAnd those months are before Ryanair expanded in Sarajevo. Imagine what the load factor will be like next year at that time.
DeleteI doubt the passengers from SJJ are that high yielding. So it probably does not impact their finances much.
ReplyDeleteThey would not be flying 13 weekly if market was not important to them. And their finances are in tatters.
DeleteCould Lufthansa moving flights from MUC to FRA on the Sarajevo route contributed as well?
ReplyDeleteThat is more of a reason than Ryanair.
Delete^ doubt it. Lufthansa has been flying to FRA for several years and in 2024 Croatia Airlines increased passengers on Sarajevo route compared to 2023. So this is Ryanair's doing.
DeleteIt will just get tougher and tougher as new airlines and routes launch from Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteExactly. If nothing, Ryanair will keep growing and growing.
DeleteWhat a surprise....
ReplyDeleteFR is really becoming OU's nightmare. At home and abroad.
ReplyDeleteBut OU does not seem to have a clear strategy home or abroad.
DeleteTrue
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteThey missed Sarajevo base, 2026 is the last year where Lju base is viable too...so Let's hope at least that one happens
ReplyDeleteOU should move some of their SJJ capacity to OMO. It should retain SJJ operations though, with a higher frequency than OMO, but OMO has a better potential for transfers via ZAG now that SJJ is getting more and more direct connections.
ReplyDeleteOMO is also performing quite poorly but it is subsidised. LF of around 55%.
Delete09:35 The flight times for ZAG-OMO are quite dreadful compared to ZAG-SJJ. It's not possible to catch a lot of the connections through ZAG from OMO.
DeleteIt’s surprising that Croatia Airlines couldn’t hold onto its market share in Sarajevo even after adding more capacity. A 44% load factor is very weak. Perhaps they should rethink their strategy and adjust frequencies instead of adding seats.
ReplyDeleteRyanair’s arrival changed everything. People here are price sensitive, and if you can fly nonstop to Western Europe for less than a transfer through Zagreb, it’s a nobrainer. Croatia Airlines has to adapt if it wants to stay competitive.
ReplyDeleteThe article mentions that over half of passengers used to transfer via Zagreb before the pandemic. That was the airline’s strength. But with more direct flights to Europe now available from Sarajevo, that role is disappearing fast.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it’s about pricing. Croatia Airlines remains too expensive, even on short routes like Sarajevo–Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteThis is not just a Sarajevo issue. Croatia Airlines has been struggling for years with competitiveness and strategy starting with their very own hub in Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteTrue unfortunately.
DeleteDash 8 is loud, slow and uncomfortable (think of hand luggage only). Paying more to be in that plane will be done only once by anyone given the choice of a cheaper direct flight.
ReplyDeleteWith it being just over 40% full it's probably not that uncomfortable.
DeleteThe load factor of 44% is shocking. That’s less than half the plane filled on average. It shows something is fundamentally wrong with pricing or scheduling.
ReplyDeleteSo much for BCG's turnaround strategy. How much were they paid again?
ReplyDeleteFor years Sarajevo travellers relied on Croatia Airlines to connect them to major European cities. Now with Ryanair and others offering nonstop flights, that role is fading. This trend is unlikely to reverse.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteSad
ReplyDeleteThe load factor has gone down as they are using the Airbus 319/20 fleet quite often on this route since they have fewer q400's.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is also why their passenger numbers fell too?
DeleteNah bruh it’s the numerator not the denominator
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about?
DeleteUsing bigger jets to get small LF
Delete