Despite the poor half-year results of Lufthansa, the owner of the German low-cost airline Germanwings (due to volcanic ash, the crisis, and fuel prices), the Germans have decided to open another destination for Croatia on the Hannover-Zagreb route.
With this route, Germanwings connects Croatia with six German destinations (Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, Dortmund), which is the largest number of connections from one country in the region. – While we are seeing stagnation in traffic in other countries in the region, we expect a ten percent increase in passengers on flights to Germany and Croatia, or about 440 thousand. Along with Russia, Croatia is currently our only growing market. Over these six years, Croatia has proven to be a very successful story for the company, – said Andreas Engel, Director of International Public Relations at Germanwings, a company that owns 30 aircraft and flies to 148 destinations, at a press conference. Germans are traditionally the most numerous guests in Croatian tourism, so it is not surprising that instead of personal cars, they increasingly use the services of low-cost airlines, and more and more Croats are going on weekend city breaks to European destinations. Engel believes that the occupancy of aircraft on the routes between Croatian and German cities will exceed 80 percent, which will be supported by this year’s increase in the number of flights from Zagreb and Split to Hannover, and the average ticket price will be between 80 and 100 euros. In the summer, Germanwings flights also go to Dubrovnik, Pula, and Zadar, while winter flights remain in Zagreb and Split. The most Germans coming to Croatia are from Stuttgart and Cologne, especially business travelers who make up 42 percent of Germanwings’ total traffic. The company has also introduced three new fare calculation tariffs, and the so-called smart connect flights, which involve layovers, have become particularly popular among Croats, including the recently added Israeli Tel Aviv. (Željka Laslavić)
