NEWS FLASH
Zagreb Airport handled 296.861 passengers in January, representing an increase of 5.8% year-on-year, or an additional 16.337 travellers. The figure was achieved despite a decline in the number of aircraft movements by 1.8%. The airport is on course for another month of passenger growth in February, with capacity levels projected to grow 7%.
Zagreb largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity, January 2026


Bravo OU! Many doubted their A220 strategy but now we see that they are actually leading this growth in ZAG!
ReplyDeleteThey always had the most capacity in January, February and March. Their loads in 2025 indicate a complete failure of their strategy. They have also cancelled many flights this winter due to overcapacity. The table is about capacity, not passengers handled.
DeleteDude OU is the main engine of growth in ZAG this winter and they are responsible for this 5.8% growth.
DeleteGive it a rest with this OU hate and look at the growth they are generating.
They are not generating any growth. Their numbers are dire. It's not hate it's the reality and you need a reality check. The only thing Croatia Airlines has generated this winter is yet another tax payer bailout. The passenger growth is being generated first and foremost by Ryanair and their near full planes.
DeleteFR had minimal capacity growth in January. OU grew a lot. There was an article about it here
DeleteFR's minimal growth is more passengers than Croatia Airlines 'huge' growth being generated for the pure fact that they are replacing smaller planes with larger ones but have no passengers to fill those seats.
DeleteEsentially there are 2 options: OU got somee new pax or FR got load factor of 150%. You choose :)
DeletePlease explain:
Delete1. What is this A220 "strategy"?
2. How does it lead to growth?
3. Where is the evidence of the growth?
Anon 09.43
Deleteyou are right and haters can't understand that. FR didn't grow and they were already full last January so growth had to come from OU and the extra seats they had on sale this January.
People are blinded by their hate for OU to understand that. OU is also becoming more proactive with sales and promotions. Things are definitely looking up for them.
Anon 09.49
Delete1. it was reported on here countless times.
2. bigger planes means more seats on sale.
3. have you read today's article?
"Things are definitely looking up for them."
DeleteYou are not going to like their upcoming financial report which will be published in 2 weeks. They were literally on the verge of bankruptcy a few weeks ago.
"2. bigger planes means more seats on sale."
DeleteOnly you think it means more passengers
"OU is also becoming more proactive with sales and promotions. "
Yes, last year in July they had a promo sale for flights in August. This is the busiest month of the year. It means their sales were extremely poor to offer promo sale in July for the following month. Absolutely no one does that.
It's not hate at all. I just don't want to celebrate an airline that is a national embarrassment and should be much larger and much more successful based on its market. I also don't want to celebrate politically appointed management that goes around selling their books at conference rather than managing the company properly.
OK, maybe they didn't earn anything because of cheap sales (or even earned less than before which wouldn't be a surprise for OU), but the 16k extra pax can come only from them, with others uping a bit their LFs. Let's be realistic. It maybe even means they had worse load factor but more pax due to the new capacity. We can't tell details except we can tell they had more pax this year than last year.
Delete09:53
DeleteOK, so you really are as clueless as I thought. You cannot give any answers to any of the three questions. If you think "more seats on sale" means "growth" when we are talking about passenger number growth then you are absolutely clueless.
"but the 16k extra pax can come only from them, with others uping a bit their LFs."
DeleteYou have ZERO clue what you are talking about, you are just guessing. And you are wrong.
"We can't tell details except we can tell they had more pax this year than last year."
You LITERALLY CANNOT tell that. You have absolutely no evidence for what you are writing.
Well the passenger numbers grew some 6% or 16k people, it's in the article. It doesn't have to mean more capacity-more pax always, but in Zagreeb it happened this January.
Delete@10.12 It's a basic math but you can always ask AI to help.
DeleteRyanair should have even less capacity this January, by some 2k. And it's impossible that LH or Turkish added all this pax, it's almost their entire month operations. So, the math is really mathing - OU is leading this growth.
DeleteOnly people who hate OU can be celebrating it at the moment.
DeleteYou think it would be better they had less pax? Could be, regarding their finances at least, but with these new birds they have to do some bare minimum, which is exactly what they did and it resulted in some pax increase. Not for fanfare though.
DeleteDo you realize the government just gave them over 100 million euros because they were literally weeks away from bankruotcy?
DeleteHow's that connected to Zagreb addding some pax this January, which is actually the news? Yes, we all know OU literally depends on Gov but must we write that down every time when talking about ZAG or OU? Should every article mention that at the beginning?
DeleteYes, because it means the strategy you are celebrating is a disaster. I actually do love having a national airline but not like this.
Delete"You think it would be better they had less pax? Could be, regarding their finances at least, but with these new birds they have to do some bare minimum, which is exactly what they did and it resulted in some pax increase."
DeleteYOU HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS IS TRUE OR NOT. Stop repeating nonsense. For the third time, show me the evidence of OU passengers being higher in January. Where is the proof?
11.11
DeleteSign under every single word you wrote. The problem not only in OU but in entire Croatia are people who actually hate Croatia, take advantage of Croatia or steal from Croatia and accept Croatia full of crime, corruption and incompetence while being very loud and screaming Bravo Hrvatska and Bravo OU, on this blog and many others, on daily bases. They are not advocating OU specifically, they are advocating their Party which made it possible and which is nothing else but tragically sad
@11.43: the proof is the basic math. FR had less capaacity, OU had more capacity than last year. Who added 16k pax? It's 1st grade thing, just compare the two numbers.
DeleteFirst grade math is not being able to understand oferred capacity doesn't automatically mean sold seats on capacity oferred. OU business results clearly show they are not able to do their job properly. On the other hand, Ryanair optimising its schedule, introducing higher capacity aircraft and more flights on those that sell out best, mean that Ryanair, together with other successful foreign airlines, are those generating growth in ZAG. But of course Buzin uhljebs and Party soldiers don't want to admit it
Delete"@11.43: the proof is the basic math. FR had less capaacity, OU had more capacity than last year. Who added 16k pax? It's 1st grade thing, just compare the two numbers."
DeleteYou think there are only two airlines at Zagreb Airport in all of January? You think Ryanair had 100% load factor last year?
ZAG and SKP are getting closer and closer.
ReplyDeleteJust that Zagreb in the same country has 8 more airports.
DeleteJust that N.Macedonia has no 6.000 km long Adriatic coast.
DeleteJust that none of this matters for Zagreb or for Skopje
DeleteExactly, Skopje is quite irrelevant for Zagreb.
Delete5.8% growth in pax with 1.8% reduction to the number of flights means loadfactors increased by a lot for all airlines serving Frnajo Tudman Airport!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYes and no. Ryanair cut the number of Lauda A320 flights and is operating more MAX flights I think. Rome is a MAX, London Stansted is a MAX twice a week, Memmingen is a MAX and some Bergamo flights are MAXs. That's 34 extra seats for each rotation.
DeleteZagreb is on pair with the Pristina airport by passengers. Kosovars can not easily travel through Serbia by road or rail.
DeleteOf course they can and they actually do it.
Delete