easyJet causes feud

Croatia Airlines unhappy with Zagreb Airport

A feud has erupted between the management of Zagreb Airport and its main customer Croatia Airlines. Angered by the recent news that easyJet will commence services from Paris and London to Zagreb, Croatia Airlines says that it may be forced to reduce frequencies or terminate the routes during the winter months. “This way Zagreb would lose flights to certain European cities, which would lead to its isolation as an airport and would negatively impact on Croatian tourism”, a spokesperson from Croatia Airlines told the “Buisness.hr” portal. Furthermore, the national Croatian carrier says that the arrival of low cost airlines won’t offer passengers anything new from Zagreb and will increase competition on the market, which is still recovering from the economic crisis. The airline says that easyJet’s flights to Paris and London and Norwegian Air Shuttle’s service to Copenhagen will see passenger numbers decline. The airline warns that Zagreb is becoming a low cost airport. “This is against European standards because low cost airlines do not fly to major hubs, instead they use secondary airports”, a spokesperson from the airline said.

“We believe that Croatia Airlines’ announcement regarding the suspension of some services shows the airline’s inability to face up to competition”, a spokesperson from Zagreb Airport said. He continued by stating that low cost airlines do not only operate from secondary airports. During the winter season a total of four low cost airlines will operate flights out of Croatia’s main hub – Germanwings, Wizz Air, easyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Meanwhile, Split is reporting record traffic. When statistics for July and August are combined, Split Airport handeled more passengers than any other airport in Croatia. A total of 502.100 passengers used Split in the past two months, comapred to 486.400 in Dubrovnik and 465.700 in Zagreb. Split is benifiting from a sucsesfull tourist season in Croatia and an influx of Russian tourists.