In late 2022, Croatia Airlines announced plans to refresh and simplify its fleet in a pretty exciting way. With the first new aircraft expected to enter service in the coming weeks, the airline has just revealed a new brand identity. Let’s go over everything we can expect from the “new” Croatia Airlines.
In this post:
Croatia Airlines will exclusively fly Airbus A220s
Croatia Airlines plans to fly up to 15 Airbus A220s, with the first plane expected to enter service with the Star Alliance airline in July 2024. Specifically:
- Croatia Airlines has ordered six Airbus A220-300s directly from Airbus
- Croatia Airlines has an agreement to lease nine Airbus A220s, including six A220-300s and three A220-100s
- Croatia Airlines will equip its A220-300s with 148 seats, and will equip its A220-100s with 127 seats
- By 2026, Croatia Airlines intends to exclusively fly Airbus A220s, representing a complete fleet renewal
The first aircraft is expected to enter service as of July 2024, with the first route being between Zagreb (ZAG) and Frankfurt (FRA).
For context, Croatia Airlines currently has a fleet of 12 aircraft with an average fleet age of 18 years, including:
- Five Airbus A319s, which are an average of ~23 years old, and can seat 144 people
- One Airbus A320, which is ~22 years old, and can seat 174 people
- Six De Havilland Dash 8-Q400s, which are an average of ~18 years old, and can seat 76 people
At this point, a fleet refresh seems appropriate, both in terms of the cost of maintaining old aircraft, as well as in terms of fuel efficiency.
The A220 is Airbus’ awesome jet that’s a bit smaller than the Airbus A320-family of aircraft. The plane is fuel efficient and long range. From a passenger experience standpoint, this is probably the most comfortable narrow body aircraft, given the 2-3 layout, the huge windows, and the wide seats.
Croatia Airlines Airbus A220s will have inflight Wi-Fi
The Airbus A220s are exciting for Croatia Airlines for another reason. For the first time in the company’s history, the airline will offer inflight connectivity. Specifically, the airline will offer Panasonic Avionics’ Ku-band satellite connectivity.
In order to be sure people can actually use their devices onboard, A220s are also expected to feature power outlets (USB-A and USB-C plugs at every seats), as well as smartphone and tablet holders.
It remains to be seen what Wi-Fi pricing will be like. I imagine there will also be streaming entertainment available via the Wi-Fi portal.
Croatia Airlines unveils new visual brand identity
To coincide with the introduction of the Airbus A220 plus the carrier’s 35th anniversary, Croatia Airlines has also introduced a new brand identity. This is definitely more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. For example, below is a picture of Croatia Airlines’ initial planned A220 livery, and then below that is Croatia Airlines’ A220 livery with the refreshed branding.
As you can see, the tail more or less remains the same. What has changed is that there design of the logo has been brought closer to the design of the tail of the aircraft. So you can now see the same squares you’ll find on the tail both written next to the carrier’s name, and on the wingtips.
The airline claims that the new branding highlights the company’s commitment to quality, safety, and Croatian pride.
Below is a video about Croatia Airlines’ new visual identity.
As you can see, these changes are fairly minor, so the average traveler probably won’t even notice that anything has changed.
What a cool and bold fleet renewal!
Personally I love the concept of an airline having a fleet with just one type of plane. It’s great in terms of knowing what to expect (there won’t be a last minute aircraft swap), and it’s great in terms of operational reliability (swapping planes is easier, you have a bigger pool of reserve pilots, etc.).
There’s something to be said for this type of efficiency, and it’s something that airBaltic has done quite well with in Europe, as a major all-A220 operator (though the airline takes simplicity to the next level, with just a single variant of the A220).
Admittedly this is a bit of a gamble, though. Currently Croatia Airlines has planes with capacity from 76 to 174 seats, so that’s quite a range. Meanwhile in the future, all Croatia Airlines planes will have a capacity of 127-148 seats.
For most markets that will probably work, though there are certainly situations where the A220 may not offer enough capacity, while there are other situations where the A220 may offer too much capacity. I’d think the synergies of having a single aircraft type will largely make up for that.
I do wonder if Croatia Airlines will be forced to cut any destinations because of this change, as the A220 isn’t necessarily able to operate to some of the smaller airports that the Q400 can operate to. Quickly glancing at the list of Croatia Airlines destinations, I don’t see any obvious airports where this should be an issue, but it’s possible I’m missing something.
Bottom line
Croatia Airlines plans to acquire up to 15 Airbus A220s, including a direct order for six planes, plus plans to lease nine additional planes. The first plane should enter service in July 2024, and by 2026, the airline plans to exclusively operate the A220, meaning that all existing A320-family and Dash 8 Q400 aircraft will be retired.
Croatia Airlines’ fleet is getting old, so it’s nice to see that the airline has chosen such a capable jet for its fleet renewal. Furthermore, we’ll finally see the airline introduce USB-A and USB-C outlets, plus Wi-Fi.
Since this coincides with Croatia Airlines’ 35th anniversary, we’re also seeing the airline introduce a new visual identity.
What do you make of Croatia Airlines’ Airbus A220 plans, plus updated visual identity?
The reason airlines like this can have a fleet of all the same plane is because they only have short distance destinations. Consider one of the major carriers wouldn't be able to.
We flew Croatia Airlines a few weeks ago and was very pleased, old but clean and comfortable plane and a friendly crew... Zagreb is their home base/hub but they had 2 maybe 3 planes out of the 18 or so gates so it did not look and feel much like a typical hub operation.
The new plane looks nice, but I wonder how feasible it is to operate a small fleet of A220, with their notorious engine problems. I really like to fly the A220, but for instance LX has about one third of them grounded at the time …
I love their branding and I think this update has taken what was best about the visual identity and improved and built upon it.
They have said they plan to wet-lease turboprops for routes where the A220 is too large. While this all looks nice on paper, Croatia Airlines is severely mismanaged with a state appointed management. The company has been producing losses year over year (last year was an exception as they calculated the sale of their old A320s and A319s which they now lease) and their share of passengers in Croatia has been dwindling. In winter, their...
They have said they plan to wet-lease turboprops for routes where the A220 is too large. While this all looks nice on paper, Croatia Airlines is severely mismanaged with a state appointed management. The company has been producing losses year over year (last year was an exception as they calculated the sale of their old A320s and A319s which they now lease) and their share of passengers in Croatia has been dwindling. In winter, their network is bizarrely small and they are being destroyed by Ryanair at their base in Zagreb. Unfortunately, the entire management seems to be content with being a Lufthansa feeder airline, which is fine, but the issue is it is not making money for them. While I wish them the best of luck, I fear that in a few years we will be reading about the state bailing them out (once again).
Aegean had definitely been interested in buying them at some point, and it might well be a good fit- they could then work on providing feeder flights in all directions (LH to the North/West, A3 to the South/East).
The a220-100 and the Dash 8-400 have more or less the same take-off distance (4,800 ft vs. 4,675 ft). I assume that's why they ordered also the A220-100 instead of going just for the A220-300.
If things work out, could pick up a few A220's that Egypt Air is dropping.
Also, the A220-100 is certified for London City. Nice addition to the route.
Could do wet leasing work as well for extra cash.