Alongside the celebration of its 10th anniversary in December last year, the airline Jung Sky, which operates in the business aviation market, appointed Krešimir Vlašić, a manager with over 27 years in the aviation industry, to the position of Director of Operations from Croatia Airlines. We spoke with him about the industry itself, the company’s transition, the opportunities that business aviation offers to the economy and tourism, expectations, and plans for the coming years.
What would you highlight as the key reasons for moving to Jung Sky after 27 years at Croatia Airlines?
When you spend your entire career and nearly three decades in one environment, feelings of saturation and a desire for new challenges are normal. The motives for change inevitably become a combination of various circumstances. Nevertheless, I would highlight the fact that Jung Sky, after 10 successful years, is now at a point of positive turning. Namely, if I can single out a part of my career at CA as special, it would certainly be the phase in which the fleet was transitioned from Boeing to Airbus. I mention this not only because of the technologically significantly advanced aircraft but also because of everything the organization needs to adapt to in order to optimally introduce such aircraft into operation. Jung Sky is expected to undergo a similar phase, given that one of the plans is to replace the existing Cessna (CJ2) with Legacy 600 aircraft, which will introduce the company into a completely new business dynamic, and its success will largely depend on the strength of the established operational management system. I liked the vision of the company’s management, and the thought of leading this turning point together with them was crucial. Jung Sky’s needs are precisely in those segments where I believe I am strongest and where I enjoy working.
How do you view the first six months in business aviation and a private airline compared to the system you came from?
It’s a significant change; I replaced an environment of over a thousand people with a company that has 26 employees. However, I received what I expected and hoped for, which is a pronounced flexibility of the system in which decisions are made and implemented immediately. I came into a great working environment where you can feel the positive atmosphere and high level of enthusiasm every day. Clearly, like all companies, especially in air traffic, Jung Sky strongly feels the consequences of COVID; however, that very flexibility and speed of decision-making resulted in the fact that the business was not endangered but instead led to significant changes in plans that are now adapted to new circumstances while remaining maximally ambitious.
How did the whole story related to Jung Sky begin?
It was founded over 10 years ago by Krešimir and Vedran Jung. Unlike today, Jung Sky services were initially used mostly by locals as the company first offered panoramic flights over Brač and Zagreb. They did excellently, but that was just a warm-up for an incomparably larger and more complex business aviation market. The first business jet the company purchased was in 2011, after which followed a period of proving and positioning Jung Sky services in the European market, in an industry where competition is extremely pronounced. The company has developed qualitatively and moderately from the start and quickly gained an excellent reputation among its target audience.
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What is the status of small private airlines in Croatia? How satisfied are you with the business over the last 10 years you have been in the market?
Private or business aviation is a rather neglected activity in Croatia. There is hardly any awareness or interest in what the key characteristics of this service are and how it could benefit tourism and the economy in general. Although we mostly fly outside Croatia and our passengers are predominantly foreigners, we regret that it is so and that the economy does not utilize the positive effects of business aviation. Therefore, we consider it important that as pioneers of business aviation, we continue to spread the positive word and educate all involved parties and that our business serves as a positive example in Croatia.
What destinations do you cover? Where do you fly most often?
We are indeed everywhere in Europe, and we also fly to North Africa. One of the key characteristics of business aviation is that you do not have a standardized flight schedule; you go where the client wants and when they want, provided that all conditions for the flight are met. The most frequent foreign destinations in 2019 were Rome, Nice, London, Zurich, Vienna, Milan, Berlin, Geneva, Paris…
You are not really present in Croatia? How can one reach you, i.e., how to rent your aircraft?
I wouldn’t say we are absent in Croatia; it is more accurate to say that our passengers are in a very dominant percentage foreigners. In 2019, for example, we landed at over 200 different airports, and among them, ZL Zagreb and ZL Split were in the top 10 in terms of flight frequency, while ZL Zadar was just one place lower. Renting an aircraft is very simple; offers can be requested directly from our sales or indirectly through people who organize everything on your behalf. These are the so-called ‘brokers’ with whom we most often communicate. If you need a flight the same day or within a few hours, everything is feasible as long as the current aircraft schedule allows it. Business aviation is very practical in terms of flight organization.
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What were the plans for this year, and how much has this crisis ‘set you back’?
The crisis has temporarily postponed plans, but we have not given up on anything because all indicators currently tell us that there will be no need for that. The strategically largest item that Jung Sky is introducing into a new era of business is the purchase of a third aircraft. To laypeople, this may not sound like such a big step, but it is an aircraft with double the range and double the number of seats, and all this entails expanding the team by at least a third of the current number, new markets, different clientele, new rules of the game for pilots, sales, operational center, maintenance, marketing…
Can you tell us something about the fleet itself? What aircraft do you operate, how many do you have, do you plan to buy new aircraft? What are the prices of the small aircraft you use?
The current fleet consists of two identical jets of the Cessna 525 A CJ2 type, with a capacity of 6+1 seats and a range of about 2,500 km, which allows reaching most destinations in Europe and North Africa without stopping. These are the so-called ‘light jets’, very popular for short and medium-haul flights. The aircraft we want to buy is the Embraer Legacy 600, and it would be the first Embraer in the Croatian registry.
While major airlines were grounded during the crisis, what was happening with you?
The number of flights was significantly reduced, but we did not have to completely halt operations. Inquiries were coming in continuously, but at the peak of the lockdowns across Europe, it was incredibly difficult to realize those inquiries. However, there were so-called repatriation flights when people were returning to their home countries. March was very good; in April, the number of flights fell by more than 80%, while in May we halved that decline and continued with very solid numbers.
Who is your clientele, do they have special requests?
From September to April, they are mostly members of the business community, company owners, senior management… In the summer months, the number of tourists increases, which is why Mediterranean destinations, including Croatia, are in high demand. We often fly with famous athletes, actors, singers, TV stars, and there are not many specific or extraordinary requests. Generally, it is within the framework of various types of catering during the flight.
What else can you provide to your clients, besides transportation?
Currently, we are focused on the service of transportation from one airport to another. If a client requests it, we have no problem organizing transportation from the airport to accommodation, but that is already ‘outsourcing’, and such requests are not frequent. Long-term, we are working on creating packages that combine flights with our aircraft with stays in luxury hotel accommodations, primarily in Croatia. This is a project where we see great potential and a paradigm shift related to private jet flights, but this is also one of the plans that the corona crisis has postponed to next year.
Prices? If you can specify?
Prices vary by season, and some of the variables can also be airport costs, use of VIP lounges, etc. Prices range from 1,800 to 2,200 euros per flight hour, regardless of how many passengers are on the aircraft.
As measures ease, how does this reflect on your business?
People are returning to standard daily routines and obligations. For our clientele, this means they can travel without major problems or the necessity of self-isolation upon entering another country. As soon as the strictest measures were lifted, we noticed a spike in inquiries and realizations.
Can business aviation play a larger role in tourism in Croatia? In what way?
Business aviation brings people with very high purchasing power from practically all parts of the world. From the passenger’s perspective, the service is fast, flexible, and quite simple to realize, which gains particular weight in the circumstances we have faced in recent months when there is intense consideration of epidemiological risks on one side and whether regular airlines offer a flight to the desired destination on the other. There are definitely reasons for more frequent and concrete communication between the tourism sector and business aviation operators.
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Have you laid off employees during the crisis? How many employees do you have in total?
We currently have 26 employees, among whom are nine pilots. Since the beginning of the crisis until today, there have been no layoffs or salary reductions at Jung Sky, which we are very proud of. In today’s conditions and after everything that has happened, especially in the aviation industry, that is truly no small feat and confirms that the ‘core’ of this company has very healthy business foundations.
What do you expect from business until the end of the year? Are the losses significant?
The losses are certainly not irrecoverable, especially considering that summer and autumn are typically our strongest months, and we have reasons to expect a good portion of ‘new’ passengers who will want to take advantage of the fact that traveling by private jet is the most epidemiologically straightforward and acceptable option. If there is no recurrence of lockdowns and restrictions at airports like those in April, we expect that by the end of autumn we will fully catch up with the results from previous years.
Plans for next year?
To recover or complete everything planned for this year. To purchase a new aircraft, strengthen teams, and structure them according to new requirements and upgraded operations. We also plan to finalize the project of combining flights with top accommodations and to be ready for new variations of the corona crisis at any moment.
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