Ryanair to bring “great uncertainty” for Croatia Airlines
The President of the Air Transport Association at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the General Manager of Brač Airport, Tonči Peović, has expressed his uncertainty over Ryanair’s growing operations at Zagreb Airport, warning it will destabilise the national carrier Croatia Airlines. Mr Peović, who previously served as both the General Manager of Zagreb Airport and Dubrovnik Airport, said, “Low cost airlines bring less revenue to airports, therefore, I am not sure how good it is that Ryanair has opened a base in Zagreb. It will bring great uncertainty to Croatia Airlines. It is different in Split and Dubrovnik, where Ryanair pays the same fees as all other carriers”. Mr Peović added, “In addition, we have new airlines being established without the burden of prior debt. Trade Air recently acquired a new aircraft and now has four Airbus A320s in its fleet, as well as several Fokkers, while another small Croatian carrier, ETF Airways, already has three jets in its fleet. Based on capacity, these two airlines are already almost the size of Croatia Airlines”.
Ryanair will be operating 24 routes out of the Croatian capital by the end of the year, just six months after commencing operations to the city. At this point, over the course of the winter season, Ryanair will maintain 2.370 flight operations to and from Zagreb compared to Croatia Airlines’ 7.142, which also includes its domestic network. The budget airline has 427.158 seats on sale to and from the Croatian capital, while Croatia Airlines has 785.140. Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, previously said there would be enough room for the budget carrier and the national airline to coexist in Zagreb. “It will just mean that everyone will become more efficient, and everyone will be paying less. There is room for everyone”, he noted.
Ryanair’s CEO said his airline is launching flights to Zagreb because it sees opportunities but also because of the airport’s incentive policy. “We don’t get any subsidies. What you have here is that an airport needs passengers and they put an incentive in. That’s a published scheme, it’s not a secret deal and any airline can access it, Croatia Airlines included”, he noted. Unlike Mr Peović, Ryanair’s CEO believes his airline will generate more revenue for Zagreb Airport. “We are all for transparency because the airport here has invested in fantastic facilities. The only way they are going to get a return on that is not by putting up prices but by generating more passengers to spread it across their fixed costs. So, the more passengers they get, the more efficient they get and the more revenue streams they get. It’s the way everything works. Constraining that is the wrong way to do it”, Mr Wilson said.
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