The ongoing feud between Zagreb Airport and its main customer, Croatia Airlines, has reignited once again after it was revealed that Norwegian Air Shuttle began flights to Zagreb only a month after the director of Zagreb Airport, Tonči Peović, was named the Honorary Consul in Norway. easyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle both serve Zagreb from destinations already covered by Croatia Airlines, the “Croatian Times” reports. Croatia Airlines recently threatened to suspend flights from Zagreb to Paris, London and Copenhagen if Zagreb Airport continued to make deals with low cost airlines in an effort to lure them to Croatia’s main hub. In his defence, Peović states that foreign airlines that wish to launch flights to Zagreb are warned not to hurt Croatia Airlines. The airport, however, does not have the possibility to influence the airline’s choice of destinations as specified under the open sky agreement. Peović told the “Večernji list” newspaper that he proposed to easyJet to commence flights to Zagreb from 6 different cities, but they decided to launch services only from Paris and London. He adds that Norwegian Air Shuttle carried 8.000 passengers from Zagreb to Copenhagen in 2009, which is 1.000 more than Croatia Airlines.
The Croatian Ministry of Transport has said that airports must be careful to strike a good balance between new carriers and Croatia Airlines. Croatia Airlines is the biggest airline in the country in terms of passengers and frequencies. It is followed by easyJet, Germanwings, Ryanair, Lufthansa, Austrian and Air Berlin.
0 comments:
Post a Comment