Croatia Airlines to begin Dash phase-out next year

Croatia Airlines is expected to begin phasing out its Dash 8 turboprop fleet next year as it prepares to become a single-type operator of the Airbus A220 jet. The carrier will take delivery of two A220 aircraft next year, followed by six in 2025, four in 2026 and the remaining three in 2027. Croatia Airlines’ existing six-member turboprop fleet is under an operational lease. The agreement was concluded in 2007 with GOAL (German Operating Aircraft Leasing), a joint venture between Lufthansa and KGAL, for a period of ten years. GOAL has since sold some of the units utilised by Croatia Airlines to other lessors. The lease for the Dash 8s was later extended for two aircraft until 2024 and for the rest until 2025. Once the leases expire, the airline will return them in order to make way for the new A220s, the first of which is to enter the fleet in June of next year.

The 76-seat Dash fleet has been a workhorse for the airline. This year, the turboprops have been scheduled on a total of 15.783 flights compared to the Airbus jet fleet which was utilised on 11.279 flights. Furthermore, the Dash aircraft spent more time in the air than the Airbuses, with 11.436 hours of flying time during the first three quarters of this year, compared to 8.559 hours of flying by the carrier’s seven-strong Airbus fleet. “Taking delivery of new aircraft and phasing out old ones is a huge job that requires the commitment of everyone in the company, because it is a major project that necessitates all of us to give it our all. At one point we will have three aircraft types in our fleet, which is operationally, financially and in every other sense very demanding”, Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić said recently.

The incoming A220-100s and A220-300s will boast 127 and 149 seats per frame respectively. As a result, Croatia Airlines will have significantly more capacity compared to its existing fleet structure. However, the CEO of airBaltic, Martin Gauss, recently said his airline was successful in transitioning from the Dash turboprops to the A220s. “We had a Q400 operation - twelve of them. We decided to no longer use them because, for us, the business case to fly the A220 instead of the turboprop was positive. People ask us, how can you use a 76-seat turboprop and replace it with a 150-seat jet, but we are proof that it can be done. We had a positive business case on all the routes we fly”, Mr Gauss, who has promoted the A220 across the world, including Croatia, said.