NOIR

Hello,

I didn't know where to find the right thread so I just made a new one if that's alright?

My question is will Air Canada, or Rouge be flying to Croatia in the near future? Air Canada use to have a Zagreb service before via Zurich. We are hearing a lot of rumors lately that Air Canada is likely to start a service to Zagreb once the new airport terminal is complete in March.

Another source http://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/02/...reb.htmlstates that Air Canada will not be coming to Zagreb which I really don't believe to be the case because of the high tourist numbers in high season. Just last year over 125,000 Canadians came to Croatia, and the numbers keep on rising ever year.

Does any body have any contact details of who I can ask regarding concrete answers to a potential Croatian flight in the future? Would really appreciate any help some one could give me.

A direct flight would make life great to visit the vacation home in summer, plus Toronto is Croatia's largest pool of diaspora out side of Croatia. There are another four million Croats that live in the States as well which AC could poach.

Thanks in advance.

YYC009

You will hear about it if and when everyone else does if and when it is made public.

YOWCDNFF

This would be an interesting addition. Less knowledgeable about the infrastructure in Zagreb and arguably most Canadian tourists head to the coast (mainly Dubrovnik, followed by Split). The airport in Split is bursting at the seam during the busy tourist season and Dubrovnik airport is actually quite small, which might make Zagreb the only option if it considered Croatia

YZF_Elite

The area is fairly well served with connections. When I visited, I found flying out of Sarajevo was a better solution to visit Dubrovnik/Mostar than Zagreb would have been. I'm not sure how many Canadian tourists want to visit Zagreb vs other points in the area.

NOIR

Basically Air Canada in the past said we will only consider ZAG once the new terminal is finished. Well now it's finished, and here's a link to see what it looks like,

http://www.zagreb-airport.hr/about-u...enger-terminal

My friend was the one who organised the whole SkyGreece YYZ-ZAG debacle. The good thing that came out of it once he showed Air Transat the numbers they jumped right in the next tourist season. They started off on a one weekly 332 rotation, and with in a week or two raised the air frame to a 333 because the bookings were better than anticipated. This season they have upgraded to a two weekly YYZ-ZAG rotation, and on top on that their high season will start earlier, and end later. Air Transat said that ZAG did better for them than Pisa, or Prag in high season. And yes Split, and Dubrovnik are always getting double digit growth year, on year. Actually Split is expected to rise at least 18 percent this summer.

So with the 125,000 Canadians who traveled last year to Croatia, and a lot more expected to come this year I think this would be a good high season option for AC. Let's not forget that AC could also poach over half a million US pax who are expected to go to Croatia this year, with a million predicted to come in the future.

The reason so many European tourists are coming to Croatia is because it's safe, at least for now. Croatia is getting tourist's who are refusing to travel to Turkey, Tunis, Egypt, France and even Greece.

Basically most tourists transit through Zagreb to visit the vast options on the 1000 km coast line which attracted more than 16.8 million tourists last year. They are expecting more than 18 million tourists this summer.

Taoyuan

Did you really need to start one of these threads each on the AC, AA, and UA boards?

24left

Apparently..


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...y-croatia.html

NOIR

Sorry if I offended any one, just wanted to see if anyone was in the know by throwing a net out on a few airline threads that's all, will move on to the advised thread.

Mod you can close the thread as far as I'm concerned.

YOWCDNFF

Not only Europeans, but Canadians as well. That much was indeed confirmed by the AC concierge in MUC when we flew back to Canada last year, connecting from Split. She was mentioning that a lot of people that originally selected Turkey as their destination changed their mind and that Croatia and Italy had been the main beneficiaries. In mid-August, we regularly ran into Canadians in Dubrovnik.

tcook052

As this was OP's first thread on the topic I'm inclined to leave it open and return to the discussion of the possibility of an AC route Canada - Croatia. The cross-posted threads in the other FT forums may be deleted or closed at the discretion of the moderators in the respective forums but for future reference cross-posting is discouraged by FT Rules:

http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#crossposting

regards,

tcook052
AC forum moderator

Sean Peever

My question would be - does the demand actually exist to fill 300ish seats 3x a week or so (so 1,800 pax per week) on this route.

I'm not so sure that the demand is there on such a regular basis.

HerpaYvr

Mmmmm Croatia!

Customs exchange Hello Mr. Herpayvr have you visited before?
Herpayvr well yes I have
Croatia Customs: when did you visit last?
Herpayvr: mid 1990's .......I can see the discussion going very bad after this

tcook052

I'm more sure it could work. If AC can add flights to KEF on routes with much competition why not give Croatia a shot? Just MHO.

canadiancow

I wanted to go to Croatia for New Years but I couldn't find Aeroplan availability. AC flights (IKK) would really help me do it this year

NOIR

Well I managed to get in contact with the routes managing director of ZAG airport, and I can assure you AC is in let's say progressive negotiations for a possible high season service in the near future. So I would say rumor/speculation is turning into fact.

I would mention it's not a matter if AC will come, but how many weekly flights they will have once they decide to come. AC can easily do a daily flight in high season for a 90 day span, and their air frame would have a high LF for sure making good profits for the airline. Over 150,000 Canadians are expected to come this summer season alone, and that is not even taking into consideration that AC could poach pax from the United States. Also like to mention over 500,000 Americans are also expected to arrive this summer. The numbers are there to justify a credible/sustainable business venture. I think as far a AC is concerned it's about getting the additional metal. I'm not sure they will launch the service this year, but 2018 has a very, very good chance.

As a Canadian I would always like to have a direct flight instead of a stop over, and why should we as Canadians have our JV partners poach our pax?

Just by interest does any body know how many more 763's Rouge will have by next season? Is Rouge taking AC's 763's when their additional Dreamliners arrive?