Croatia Airlines expands operations and fleet
Croatia Airlines will be expanding its international network from May 25 with the resumption of daily flights between Zagreb and Amsterdam, as well as the introduction of a second daily service to Frankfurt, complementing its existing one daily operation to the German city, which has been maintained throughout the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. The Croatian carrier restarted some domestic flights this week, with two daily services from Zagreb to both Dubrovnik and Split. However, the airline has now modified the operations, with one of the daily services operating with a triangle routing Zagreb - Split - Dubrovnik - Zagreb, due to lower demand for air travel.
Croatia Airlines’ newest addition to its fleet, an Airbus A319 aircraft registered 9A-CTN, touched down in Zagreb this Wednesday from Woensdrecht in the Netherlands sporting the carrier’s livery and new registration. The jet is eight years old and initially operated on behalf of Germania, before being utilised by HiFly Malta. It has been in storage since November of last year. The aircraft has the capacity to seat 150 passengers, which is slightly more than the rest of Croatia Airlines’ A319 fleet. The lease was negotiated prior to the widespread outbreak of Covid-19 in Europe. The A319 has been leased for a period of eight years and becomes the fifth of the type in its fleet. Furthermore, the aircraft is the youngest member of the carrier’s fleet.
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| 9A-CTN, photo courtesy of Menno Swart |
Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said it was too early to estimate the carrier’s losses as a result of the coronavirus. “Concerning the losses, it is too early to talk about it, as we do not know how long this crisis will last for. On one hand, you do not have revenue coming in, and on the other you do not know how big the expenses will be. We are adjusting to the current situation and are doing our job to the best of our ability. All our costs have been reduced as much as possible”, Mr Bajić said. Over the past two months, due to minimal fleet utilisation, Croatia Airlines has performed heavy maintenance on one of its Dash 8 turboprops, as well minor work on the rest of the fleet. “Our long-term strategy is to perform the majority of work in-house with our own personnel. We invest a lot of resources to maintain a stable but flexible system in our technical department, relying on highly skilled personnel. We are fully capable of performing heavy maintenance on our fleet including six-year and twelve-year checks, non-destructive testing, shop work and engineering. However, despite this extreme new situation of closed borders and limited travel, we will continue work on our fleet, for it to be completely ready when the time comes for our aircraft to fly again”, Davor Bujan, Croatia Airlines’ Technical Director, said.
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