Croatia Airlines to focus on flexible network planning this summer
Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, has said the national carrier’s network planning will be flexible and dependant on the global epidemiological situation in the coming period. It comes as the two remaining national carriers in the former Yugoslavia announced plans to significantly grow their portfolio of destinations, with Air Serbia so far announcing eleven new routes throughout its network for the 2022 summer season, with more to come, while Air Montenegro has said it will grow frequencies on all existing routes and unveil new additions to its network in the coming weeks. The Croatian carrier has so far outlined plans to restore operations between Zagreb and Barcelona this summer, with the route having been suspended since 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Commenting on carrier’s plans, Mr Bajić said, “Traffic will continue to be contingent on external factors, beyond the company’s control, such as restrictions, bans and other measures, which directly impact on people’s ability to travel both domestically and internationally. Accordingly, we will focus on flexible planning of our network. Our goal is to achieve optimal load factors with average fares in existing conditions of reduced capacity. Therefore, in 2022 our focus will be on greater rationalisation of costs and the implementation of the company’s defined post-Covid strategy”. He added, “We worked with the leading international strategic consulting company BCG to develop a post-Covid strategy in order to define strategic initiatives, the implementation of which, with prior consent of the majority owner - the government of the Republic of Croatia - will take three years to enable a sustainable business”.
The post-Covid strategy is expected to be adopted by the Croatian government soon and foresees the renewal of the fleet, improvement in efficiency and competitiveness, as well as the optimisation of Croatia Airlines’ year-round route network. The carrier is facing strong competition at its main hub in Zagreb, with Ryanair now accounting for 17% of all seat capacity from the Croatian capital, while the national airline holds 51%. Croatia Airlines is still interested in the potential introduction of flights out of Ljubljana and is considering its options. However, in line with its flexible network strategy, the airline will temporarily suspend operations between Zagreb and Dublin from January 30 due to reduced demand. Flights are expected to be restored on March 31. Ryanair will continue to link the two cities.
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