Croatia Airlines has tentatively scheduled the retirement of its remaining Airbus A319 aircraft for next month as it accelerates its transition towards an all-A220 in-house fleet. Based on the carrier’s current schedule filing, the type is due to operate its final commercial service on October 11. The A319’s last day of operations is presently scheduled to involve flights from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, continuing to Rome, before returning to Dubrovnik and finally Zagreb. However, the allocation remains tentative and is highly likely to change as the airline adjusts its fleet deployment. Nevertheless, the filing provides an indication that Croatia Airlines plans to end A319 operations imminently.
The carrier currently has four active A319s, registered 9A-CTG, 9A-CTH, 9A-CTL and 9A-CTN. The type has formed part of Croatia Airlines’ fleet since 1998 and has been deployed extensively across its domestic and European network. The aircraft are configured with 144 seats. Their withdrawal will follow the retirement of Croatia Airlines’ final Airbus A320 earlier this year. The last aircraft of the type, registered 9A-CTO, operated its final commercial service between Zagreb and Amsterdam on January 26, bringing an end to almost three decades of A320 operations at the airline.
The accelerated phase-out of the A319s comes as Croatia Airlines continues the largest fleet renewal programme in its history. The carrier currently operates eleven A220s, comprising nine A220-300s and two smaller A220-100s. It expects to take delivery of a further three A220 aircraft by the end of this year, subject to the manufacturer’s delivery schedule. The fifteenth and final jet from the current order is due to arrive in 2027. Croatia Airlines will continue operating its remaining three Dash 8 Q400 turboprops during the 2026/27 winter season. They are expected to be retired at the end of the scheduling period in late March 2027. The airline will then operate an all-A220 in-house fleet, supplemented by wet-leased ATR72 turboprops. Its ATR operations are expected to expand next summer, with a second aircraft planned and the number of flights operated by the type set to increase significantly.
End of an era
ReplyDelete@admin
DeleteIsn't the 9A-CTN going to stay in the fleet or is it some new change?
Terrible decision by clueless management. Croatia deserves better.
ReplyDeleteDecision was not made by so called management. It's decided in Središnjica, whose puppets aparatchiks from "management " are. And Središnjica got instructed from one of Organization Bosses, ex first President FT chief of office, who surrendered croatian market to foreigners long time ago and is still the one who decides OU to remain midget and shameful feeder. Highly corruptive BCG deal on single type fleet, including the aircraft choice, was just the cover and disguise for the charade
DeleteOh the shame!
DeleteEveryone retires A319 nowadays even JU. It's not terrible decision on it's own. However the replacement fleet is.
DeleteYes, they should fly them 30 more years till they drop from the sky 🛫
Delete@PIR bro, the airframes are old. They should be retired and you know it. OU lacks pilots, and re-training them will enable more crews on 220.
DeleteNow, the 220 is a good plane for the passanger, maybe not ao for the airline, but i do agree with you on the bottom line: even a 777 that has no crew and burns no furl and is free would still be a minus under this management.
17 plane fleet next year with network that can be done with 9
ReplyDeleteIt cannot be done with 9. However, for current network 17 aircraft is way too much.
DeleteReminds me very much of Airbaltic which also has an all A220 fleet and also much more than they need. And look where they ended up - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and must restructure.
DeleteSad to see them go but the cabins were really showing their age. The A220 is a major improvement for passengers.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot big windows and USB stuff. LOL. And yeah, off runway excursions and aircraft grounded and/or constantly returning to departing airport soon after take off for technical issues are not only major improvement but unforgettable experience for passengers
Delete@PIR do you know what happens in OU? Do you work for them and know something we don’t? you complain for hours everyday on an aviation portal! Please, I know the so called management is Non existant but you are exaggerating too much. Maybe it’s time to collab with the #1 Expert himself on the other portal?
Delete220 is a great plane. That OU cannot utilize them right is another topic. That OU did not protect itself is another tooic. That for the decisionmakers a weak OU is important is another.
DeleteI wouldn’t be surprised if the final date changes several times. The A319s will probably remain available as backup until all three new A220s arrive.
ReplyDeleteThe A319 was perfectly suited to many Croatia Airlines routes. I’m still not convinced the larger A220-300 is the right aircraft for the entire network.
ReplyDeleteIt has 5 more seats...
Delete@9.07 excellent reply to a clueless comment
DeleteHahaha this one made me really laugh
DeleteThe size is approximately the same. But it's not about seats. It's about lease costs which did not exist in 319/320 fleet. But who cares, stoka sitnog zuba will pay for it anyway
Delete@PIR- replacing old planes is a good thing. You reduce costs of maintenance, fuel etc. and you can't have old planes forever. Most people don't want to drive old cars and don't prefer to fly in old planes. Many people I know avoided OU as they didn't feel safe in their old planes. At some point you must buy or lease. I think there are many other issues or questionable decisions, corruption etc....e.g. unifying the fleet size
Delete"Many people I know avoided OU as they didn't feel safe in their old planes."
DeleteAtrocious comment.
Croatia Airlines is perfectly safe. The reason why people avoided them is because of the high ticket prices.
Atrocious? Some people don't FEEL save in old planes or cars. Nobody said they indeed aren't safe.
Delete@Mario
DeleteI've been in aviation for a very long time, and I am fully aware aircraft need to be replaced after certain time frame, maintaining of old aircraft is much more expensive and so on and so on, and with that part you wrote I fully agree. But you have to ask yourself is Croatia rich enough to have flag carrier with the youngest fleet in Europe and wider, and especially is its flag carrier capable to operate such new aircraft successfully and profitably. As you know yourself, the answer to both is NO. BIG NO. And, I was saying from the very first day, and I will say once again: 1.Croatian market is not single type market, it's too diverse.
2. There were cheaper and better aircraft on the market
3. Plus 20 years old aircraft could have been replaced with apx 10 years old, for the fraction of the price and no transition costs
4. Entire process was, as usual, super corruptive
5. Results (super negative) are already visible and will be even more visible in future
6. New aircraft (that you warn me about) without new strategy, new mindset, new management and new business model, and without politics and related crime and corruption, mean absolutely nothing and the results would be the same with any other type or types.
I do appreciate your concern and interest, but generally passengers don't care whether aircraft they fly on is 1, 5, 10 or 20 years old, as long as it's visually kept in good condition. And why OU aircraft your friends flew on were not in such condition, is just another proof of everything I talk about
@ PIR - appreciate your response as usual. Agree with all points.
Delete@Mario, we can trash Croatia all we want but their tech prowess and safety are most deinitely NOT the issue, on the contrary, it is the only reason Croatia is my first choice. Ryan and Lufthansa come in second. (Y'all may laugh st choice of Ryan but their record keeps my back.
DeleteI feel misunderstood :-) I was laughing because the first commentator above was really funny. I also fly with OU sometimes. No big issues, besides the too expensive onboard food & drings and some of the planes were too old from my perspective. However, I think that we all agree that it hurts seeing such big minuses. OU deserves better. It's our national airline and we need a better strategy, better connections and less corruption. PIR pointed out some of the issues. He's actually doing it all the time as he wants the same as we all do.
DeleteFolks, either you don’t see it or you don’t want to see it. Croatia has been going through one of its largest state investment cycles in decades. Beyond the Rafales and Croatia' "fleet renewal", major purchases include 89 fighting vehicles, 8 additional Black Hawks, 8 HIMARS systems, 44 Leopard tanks, 420 Tatra military trucks, Mistral 3 air defence systems and new 13 new Koncar trains. The gross value of these programmes is around €4.5 billion. And now everyone is suddenly wondering why the fleet had to be renewed? Come on. Membership in the EU cartel was never going to come with a free lunch. There is always a ticket price, and Croatia seems to be paying it rather generously.
Delete@mario fair point. Yes, the issues OU has are purely political and managerial.
DeleteBtwz yeah, on board menu should be 20 times better.
Hopefully Croatia Airlines organises some kind of farewell flight. These aircraft deserve a proper send-off after nearly 30 years.
ReplyDeleteThey won't. Didn't do anything for the A320 either.
DeleteThey're the same family of aircraft, so I get not doing a big show for the A320 while multiple A319s were still flying.
Delete@09:09 no they wont. That would require them to think.
DeleteCroatia Airlines has renewed its fleet but now it needs to renew its network strategy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that won't happen.
Deletefor that to happen it needs to renew its management.
DeleteEleven A220s already seems impressive considering the first one arrived only two years ago. The transition has happened very quickly.
ReplyDeleteBecause waiting times for A220 are not long, such as with A320neo.
DeleteThe entire legacy fleet will be withdrawn within roughly one year. That is an exceptionally rapid transition.
DeleteCroatia Airlines deserves credit for completing such a complicated fleet transition quickly.
DeleteThey completed it quickly but not well. They have way more aircraft than they need, the Dash keep getting returned to them, they had to lease an ATR cause the A220s are too big.
DeleteCroatia Airlines deserves ZERO credit for anything. Its "management" is bunch of incompetent uhljebs and aparatchiks who obediently execute orders given by their Bosses. The only thing they deserve, together with those issuing orders, is to be fired and criminaly prosecuted for spending hundreds of millions of public money with ZERO positive results
DeleteThe A319s served the airline reliably for many years
ReplyDeleteI wonder where these four aircraft will go next. They could still have several years of service left with another operator.
ReplyDeleteLauda in Zagreb could do with birds that don't break down as often as theirs :D
DeleteMost likely scrapped. Most are 28 years old
DeleteGreat news for passengers
ReplyDeleteHopefully the A220’s reliability improves. Croatia Airlines will have very little flexibility once all its own aircraft belong to the same family.
ReplyDeleteThey have too many shiny new planes for their limited operations. No network strategy, no waves at hub, no proper connecting opportunities, limited route network, poor business class catering. They urgently need an independent management that knows what it is doing. It is shocking locals are happy taxes propr up this basketcase.
DeleteI still think retaining a few Dash 8s would make more sense than depending on wet-leased ATRs .
ReplyDeleteThe Dash 8 are getting very hard to maintain....not because of any problems on OU side but because they are now supported by DHC which is a small manufacturer without the power to influence the OEM like the bigger manufacturer.
DeleteDifficult to get parts and limited manufacturer engineering capacity from DHC.
ATR is way better....like it or not.
Does anyone know whether Croatia Airlines owns these aircraft or if they must be returned to lessors?
ReplyDeleteThey were all sold a few years ago. Croatia Airlines does not own any aircraft.
DeleteOU is just empty Plenkovic mirage castle.
Deletethe cost of keeping the A319/A320 fleet operational was probably too high.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's better to have an A220 fleet that doesn't fly even 70% of the time.
DeleteA modern fleet is welcome but Croatia Airlines now needs to use it to launch new routes rather than simply replacing aircraft on the existing network.
ReplyDeleteIt is impressive that Croatia Airlines will soon have one of the youngest fleets among European carriers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe issue is at what cost. The airline is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Delete^ true that
Deleteintroduce W A V E S. Is it that difficult? Im not even from HR to b ethat bothered but im puzzled of their non-existance and tvrdoglavost to not introduce it
ReplyDeleteModern aircraft, old business model.
DeleteZAG to FCO via SPU LOL
Delete09:34 it is actually difficult for a comapny is this state.
DeleteWhen is the next A220 supposed to arrive?
ReplyDeleteHow many of their A220s are currently actually in service?
ReplyDelete9 out of 11. 9A-CAN is still grounded in Split and unlikely to fly any time soon. 9A-CAM broke down in Stockholm 4 days ago and is still there.
Deletesuch a wonderful plane..as a passenger I did not feel the updgrade from and embraer e-jet or a 319/320
Delete@9.52 what happened with CAM?
DeleteNot sure but it's not the first time. It also had to divert on 3 September on a flight from Zagreb to Frankfurt. It landed in Munich and was unable to return for 24 hours to ZAG.
DeleteIncedibile!
ReplyDeleteCroatia beating Air Serbia on one thing.....
They will beat Air Serbia on earlier A319 retirement....😃
More seriously, hopefully switching to single type would improve their finances by avoiding maintaining 2 jet fleets in paralel.
Ridiculous comment for so many reasons
DeleteWrong strategy to go for brand new planes when you have strong seasonality. Moreover, i think some of A319 were owned.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines sold all its owned aircraft 3 years ago. It does not own any anymore.
DeleteYes, if they didn't sell, they wouldnt have to pay leasing during slow months and use them heavily in high season. The A220s require high utilisation to break even on the lease.
DeleteNice
ReplyDeletePerhaps the aircraft require expensive heavy maintenance checks soon making an extension financially unattractive.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they extend it? They have 11 new aircraft and next year 15.
DeleteFrom a passenger perspective, the A220 is superior in almost every respect: quieter, brighter and more comfortable.
ReplyDeleteIndeed
DeleteTimings are not bad. There are never early morning flights or late night flights. The bigger problem is frequency and lack of destinations.
DeleteIn flight service is very good actually, except the catering.
What's really poor is customer service (people in offices) and ticket prices that are not varied dynamically. And way too much staff. And an incompetent CEO who is completely clueless
Does anyone have any insights on the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) project? They must have performed terribly. Which offices were staffed on the project? Timeline?
ReplyDelete