New Zagreb Airport terminal designcreates controversy

Zagreb Airport is set to quadruple in size according to its expansion. The main hub of Croatia will get a new terminal which will enable five million passengers to travel through it every year, compared to the current capacity of two million. The new design (pictured above) was unveiled earlier during October. Current facilities are expected to be renovated by next summer, while the new building is created 2.5km north-east of the existing structure. Boško Matković, the airport’s director, said that the project is finally coming to a realisation 20 years after it was first proposed. He added: "We now have to request a construction permit, the drawing up of implementation projects and issue a tender for contractors. If everything goes to plan, we expect the works to be completed by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012”. However things are not going to plan.

An anonymous person has filed a report that Jure Radić, Branko Kincl and Velimir Neidhardt plagiarised their project for Zagreb’s new airport from Osaka airport, by the architect Renzo Piano. The report was given to the chamber of architects and engineers of construction. The chamber confirmed that there is no valid signature on the report, so they do not know who reported the architectural proposal for Zagreb’s new Pleso airport. The report requests that Radić, Neidhart and Kincl have their permits permanently revoked because of the plagiarism. The report also says that the competition was set up, and that people were professionally incompetent to notice a copy. It also said the architects who evaluated the work should have their licences revoked, which includes Jerko Rosino. The winning design caused controversy in Croatia as many believed there were much better designs. The airport authorities in Zagreb said that the allegations of plagiarism are nonsense.

To view the designs in order of the prize it received follow this link. Once there scroll down the page and make your own judgment if the best design won.

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Another mechanical problem on Croatia Airlines flight

Due to technical problems another emergency has occurred on a Croatia Airlines flight, this time to Munich from Zagreb’s Pleso Airport. The morning flight, which departed at 6.30AM, was force to return to the Croatian capital 30 minutes after takeoff. The aircraft in question is the regional ATR42 which will soon be fazed out of the fleet. At first, the passengers noticed water leaking from the overhead baggage compartments after which reading lights turned off. The pilot informed the passengers that the defrosting valve was not working properly and the aircraft landed safely in Zagreb.

Although not a major incident, it is the third of its kind within the last month. First there was an emergency on a charter flight from Barcelona followed by an emergency on the brand new Dash 400 after flames were seen coming from the engine. On top of this bad publicity Croatia Airlines recently received a category 2 rating from the FAA banning it from flying to the United States more importantly effecting its code share agreement with United Airlines. The Croatia Airlines ATR42’s are 15.6 years old. Read more

Croatia Airlines winter 2008/09 Mass reduction of service from Split

On October 25, 2008 Croatia Airlines, the national airline of Croatia will begin with its winter schedule. As usual for this time of the year Croatia Airlines will be decreasing its regular frequencies however there are a few surprises.

Regionally Croatia Airlines is increasing its 3 weekly flights to Priština to 4 times a week. Flights OU310 will be operated 3 times a week by an Airbus A319 and once by an Airbus A320. Flights from Zagreb to Sarajevo will decrease from 18 weekly flights to 14 with the ATR42 completely removed from the line. Flights to Skopje will decrease only by one to daily flights using the Airbus A319. Other regional destinations will remain with the same number of flights although the ATR42 will be removed from the Podgorica line and replaced with the Dash 400.

Croatia Airlines is cancelling its services from Zagreb to Tel Aviv while it will also see large reductions of services from Split, Pula and Dubrovnik. From Dubrovnik, Croatia Airlines is ending flights to Amsterdam, Dusseldorf (only a seasonal destination), London-Gatwick, Paris, Tel Aviv and Zurich while it will keep flights Dubrovnik-Rome and Dubrovnik-Frankfurt. Similarly, Split will see a major reduction of destinations with flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Dusseldorf, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Lyon, Munich, Paris, Vienna and Zurich all edning while flights to Frankfurt will be operated on a daily basis and Rome will be operated 5 times per week. The big withdrawal of services from Croatian airports (outside of Zagreb) continue with flight to Amsterdam and London-Gatwick also cut from the schedule from Pula leaving the city only with flights to Zagreb, Zadar and Zurich operated by Croatian Airlines.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address. Soon B&H Airlines’ 2008/09 winter schedule will be published on the blog.

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New Croatia Airlines hangerat Zagreb Airport

Croatia Airlines continues to maintain its position as the leading airline out of all in the EX-YU republics. Not only has it seen an increase in passengers, destination serviced and fleet, its management also yesterday opened the airline’s very own hanger at Zagreb Airport (pictured above) which will give both the airline and the airport bigger opportunity to maintain aircraft. The hanger will be operated by Croatia Airlines and its partner Lufthansa (Lufthansa Technik). It has been agreed that Lufthansa will also service some of its Airbus A319 and A320 fleet at Zagreb’s Pleso. The close cooperation between Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa Technik started as early as 1992. Today Lufthansa Technik provides the airline with Total Engine Support TES and Total Component Support TCS, as well as services covering Airframe Related Components (ARC) and landing gears. Lufthansa Technik had taken over the component support for the Bombardier Q400 fleet of the Croatian airline only recently. Croatia Airlines on the other hand has already performed C-checks for Lufthansa Technik for a while. During a C-check the entire aircraft is subjected to comprehensive checks, among them very detailed functional and structural tests. Airbus A320 family aircraft are due for C-checks after about 18 months. Each aircraft requires somewhere between 1,500 and 2,800 man hours. In Europe Lufthansa Technik has currently performed C-checks mainly at its German locations as well as at Lufthansa Technik Malta. The new cooperation with Croatia Airlines is another step to expand the global maintenance network of the company.

However the new hanger has strong competition from its neighbours – from Jat Tehnika in Belgrade servicing around 10 airlines and Adria’s CRJ hangers in Ljubljana which service CRJ aircraft for many airlines from the EU.

NOTE: Tomorrow we will publish the winter 2008/09 Croatia Airlines timetable and all the changes taking place.

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Another emergency on Croatia Airlines

A week after its emergency in Barcelona, a Croatia Airlines aircraft has had another serious emergency. Yesterday the new Dash 8 Q400 was forced to return to Zagreb’s Pleso Airport a few minutes following its departure after flames were seen from the aircrafts engine however the management of Croatia Airlines is denying the allegations from Croatian media. The incident sparks a major debate within Croatia concerning the purchase of the Dash 8’s and their reliability since the aircraft type has been plagued by incidents and mechanical failures across Europe for years.

In Croatia Airlines, the management states that there was no fire and that there was no emergency landing. The management claims that the pilot noticed on his instruments that the temperature of the fuel was higher than normal and decided to return the aircraft back to Zagreb a few minutes after departure. The aircraft which was transporting passengers from Zagreb to Zadar had 33 passengers onboard and the management is persistent in highlighting that none of the passengers were in danger. Croatia Airlines currently has 2 Dash Bombardiers which arrived this year and a further 2 will arrive next year in order to replace the aging ATR42’s. One of Croatia’s Dash 8’s has already experienced mechanical problems this year. Croatian media have criticised the national carrier for purchasing the “unreliable” aircraft referencing the fact that Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) withdrew the aircraft model from its fleet after the much publicised incident in Copenhagen in 2007.

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Emergency on flight OU8221

In the week which will be remembered by countless emergencies in commercial aviation, Croatia Airlines has joined the long list to experience an incident. High scholl graduates who were expected to return home to Zagreb from Barcelona, half an hour after midnight on Thursday their flight OU8221 experienced wheel corrosion after a bird flew into the engine as the aircraft was about to depart. A few birds flew into the engine and the aircraft was forced to come to a halt at full speed. Upon checks the engine was given the green light however one of the wheels was damaged due to the sudden termination of departure.

As the checks on the Airbus A319 took place until 6.30AM the pilots’ and cabin crews working hours ran out. In accordance to Croatian law, which regulates air traffic, the cabin crew, together with the students waited until midnight until they could depart. All of the 106 students spent the extra night in the hotel.

This week there were many incidents which involved Air France (overshot runway), RyanAir (loss of cabin air pressure), Sudan Airways (hijacking) and Itek Air (crash).

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Croatian aviation booms

In the first half of the year Croatian airliners have transported over 1 million passenger while both international and domestic airlines have transported over 2 million passengers in Croatia, a record for the country as the tourism industry continues to grow and the standard of living continues to increase. According to data from the Croatian agency of statistics, local Croatian airliners have transported nearly 1.03 million passengers (both domestic and international traffic included), which is a 7.1% increase compared to last year’s result. When including both local and international airlines the number of transported passengers rises to 2.08 million, a 9% increase compared to the same time last year. This only includes passengers that have either boarded or disembarked from scheduled international and domestic destinations by all airlines from or to Croatia.

In the Croatian domestic air market 456.000 passengers were transported, a large increase of 18.8% compared to last year. In the first half of the year 32.000 arrivals and departures were operated by foreign airlines, a 3.6% increase. The number of transported cargo has also significantly increased – by 10%. The large increase in passenger numbers can be largely thanked to the national airline which has introduced new lines, particularly in the region as well as the fact that more people are travelling due to an increase in living standards.

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Airport reconstruction becoming a hobby in EX-YU as Zagreb Airport announces new plans

Zagreb Airport is expecting the commencement of the construction of a new multi-million Euro terminal building. However as is a tradition in any Ex-Yugoslav republic the project is running late and it is already looking unlikely that a completely new terminal will rise from the ground at Pleso by 2011 – the current deadline. In the meantime the airport management will entertain itself with the reconstruction of the current terminal which is in bad shape resembling more a train station then an airport terminal buidling (as presented by the photo of the airport above). Minor reconstruction projects such as lighting and the reconstruction of the domestic transfer area have already been complete however the entire project will be finalised by summer of 2009. The airport management wishes to improve the foundations of the airport in order for it to remain stable in case of any earthquakes. Lighting around the airport as well as the airport park will soon have an improved look while the airport plans to open up 300 new parking spaces for cars. Ultimately when the new terminal at Pleso is built, Terminal one will become a low cost and domestic traffic terminal.

Zagreb Airport joins a list of airports in the EX-YU region undergoing reconstruction. Ljubljana Airport, as reported yesterday, is undergoing heavy maintenance with a planed Terminal 2 and a runway expansion. Belgrade Airport Terminal one is also undergoing surgery in order to fit in with the reconstructed T2 while Podgorica Airport in Montenegro also plans to reconstruct its Terminal one building, reminding readers that Podgorica has had a brand new terminal since 2007. Tivat also had its airport renovated recently.

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Croatia Airlines reaches million and outdoes the rest

The national Croatian airline on the 25th of July, 2008 transported its one millionth passenger in the year, the fastest this number has ever been reached by the airline, a total 17 days earlier compared to last year. Furthermore Croatian is the first EX-YU airline to reach the one million passenger mark this year. Following it, Serbia’s Jat Airways which has just surpassed Slovenia’s Adria Airways while Montenegro Airlines becomes the strongest amongst the smaller carriers (MAT Macedonian Airlines and B&H Airlines). Passenger wise it is expected Croatia Airlines will once again win the year and will retain its title of largest EX-YU carrier in passenger terms although in fleet terms it is currently being beaten by Jat, only just. However no matter who has the most passengers or the bigest fleet the airline with the largest profit will be celebrating the most once the year ends.

This year’s one millionth passenger for Croatia Airline was flying between Zagreb and Rome via Split. She received two return tickets to a destination of her choice.

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Belgrade Airport beats all

During July this year all of the weekly records of traffic operations in the last 18 years at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport have been broken, since the disintegration of Yugoslvia. For example, the highest weekly passenger volume is now 79.391 and the highest number of aircraft movements (total number of takeoffs and landings) is 1.213. This makes Belgrade’s airport unbeatable this year with no chance that other EX-YU airports can catch up by the end of 2008 (if no extrodinary events occur). According to present trends the airport management expects with certainty that the new weekly passenger record will be broken this week already.

Regardless of the present world crisis in air transportion, caused by high fuel rates, foreign airlines operating from Belgrade’s airport have foreseen for the coming winter season 2008/2009 (beginning this October and ending March 2009) an increase in the number of flights by 10% compared to the same period last year, while the national carrier of Serbia, Jat Airways, is still expected to announce its winter flight schedule. The only airport in the region currently ahead of Belgrade is Sofia’s airport.

The current standing of three most visited airports in EX-YU are:
1. Belgrade Nikola Tesla
2. Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport
3. Zagreb Airport Pleso

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New Dash 8 for Croatia Airlines arrives this evening

The second brand new Dash 8 Q400 is on its way to the Croatian capital Zagreb as it makes its delivery flight for Croatia Airlines. The expected arrival time in Zagreb is at 17.42. The flight DHC1 arrives from Toronto via Goose Bay, Reykjavik and New Castle. The new plane will be named Lika which is a mountainous region in central Croatia. The first Croatia Airlines Dash 8 Q400 was delivered a few months ago to the airline. Croatia Airlines has ordered a total of 4 Q400’s with the expected delivery of the other two aircraft in 2009. They have also signed an option for two more aircraft. The airline currently has 11 aircraft with the new Bombardier making it the 12th fleet member. Not included in the number is the Fokker 100 which Croatian Airlines wet leased from Trade Air for the 2008 summer season. The aircraft will replace the ageing ATR42. Read more

Croatia Airlines to increase ticket prices

The management at Croatian Airlines have announced in Zagreb that the airline’s ticket prices will increase if the current situation with fuel prices continues. Recently Adria Airways increased its ticket prices by 12 Euros as well as Croatia’s star alliance partners Lufthansa and Austrian. Furthermore Jat Airways increased ticket prices on selected lines between 1 and 7 Euros earlier this month. Fuel prices are affecting the aviation industry globally. Croatia Airlines has promised it will keep current prices as long as it can however any future rise in fuel prices will immediately increase fares. Croatia Airlines CEO Ivan Mišetić announced a rise in ticket prices as early as last month stating that expenditure of fuel prices rose from 12% last year to 35% this year.

Croatia Airlines management also states it has not increased its fares since 2002. Croatia Airlines is now spending 21 million Euros for fuel. In the first six month this year fuel expenditure has increased by 8 million Euros compared to the total 12 month expenditure in 2006.

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Second Bombardier for Croatian arriving soon

The second new Bombardier Q400 will be delivered to Croatian Airlines by the end of the month. The airline received the first Bombardier in late May while the second was expected in June. However there has been a significant delay in the delivery. Croatian media report that the new plane will be named Lika (a mountainous region in central Croatia) while the first Bombardier was named Slavonija. Croatian Airlines has ordered a total of 4 Q400’s with the expected delivery of the other two aircraft in 2009. They have also signed an option for two more aircraft.

The airline currently has 11 aircraft with the new Bombardier making it the 12th fleet member. Not included in the number is the Fokker 100 which Croatian Airlines wet leased from Trade Air for the 2008 summer season.

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Zagreb’s Pleso passes one million passenger mark

Zagreb’s Pleso International Airport on Tuesday saw its millionth passenger for 2008, an improvement compared to last year. The millionth passenger at Zagreb last year passed through its door on the 11th of July, in 2006 on the 7th of August and in 2005 on the 24th of August. The airport expects to welcome its 2 millionth passenger at the end of this year. Zagreb’s airport has seen an improvement in passenger numbers of 12% compared to last year in the period from January to July.

The lucky one millionth passenger (as seen above) received a 500 Euro voucher to spend at Pleso’s duty free and two return tickets from Croatia Airlines on any European destination. Read more

SAS Scandinavian Airlines expanding network throughout Croatia

On Monday the 31st of March in 2008, SAS introduced flights between Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and Zagreb, Croatia. The line between Stockholm and Zagreb is currently operated with departures on Monday and Friday afternoon. From the 30th of April frequencies were increased to three times a week with the new departures on Wednesday. The results from the flights are very good and have caused SAS to keep expanding their Croatia network. SAS Sverige started flights between Gothenburg and Split on June 7th and has continued to operate its Stockholm-Split service on Tuesday and Saturday. With all these direct lines between Sweden and Croatia SAS Sverige is now the largest operator of direct flights from Sweden to Croatia.

“With the new lines we continue our important expansion in Europe. The destinations in Croatia are a result from an increased interest in our flights from Sweden to Croatia, as a destination for holiday but also as a destination for business trips”, says Susanne Dahlberg, head of Commercial at SAS Sverige. Croatia’s national airline, Croatian Airlines, has no direct flights to any Swedish city.

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Croatia Airlines lands in Podgorica

Croatia Airlines believes it may soon become a regional leader in South Eastern Europe. This is what the CEO of the airline Ivan Mišetić said after the start of regular services to Podogrica yesterday and Priština 2 days ago. The first flight to Podogorica yesterday had 37 passengers on board. Officials from both countries waved goodbye to the aircraft at Zagreb’s airport. The flights are operated 3 times a week using a combination between the regional ATR42 aircraft and the A320. A return ticket from Zagreb’s Pleso Airport to Podogrica will cost you 140 Euros.

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