Croatia Airlines admits that it is dealing with substantially-higher costs than expected from its fleet-renewal programme, after turning in a half-year loss.
The airline has introduced five Airbus A220s into its fleet and intends to take another two this year.
Its overall fleet comprises 17 aircraft – the A220s, plus six Airbus A320-family jets and six De Havilland Dash 8-400s – all under operating lease.
Two of the Dash 8s are not flying, as they are being prepared for return to their owner, and the carrier is also looking to withdraw one of the A320s.
Croatia Airlines posted a near-8% rise in revenues to €132 million ($153 million) for the first six months of the year, but a 13.8% hike in costs left it with an operating loss of €21.2 million.
While it reduced net losses from €15.9 million in the first quarter to €2.1 million in the second, the airline acknowledges that its second-quarter performance did not achieve the profit of the previous year.
“The main cause of the negative result is the increase in operating costs associated with the fleet transition process,” it says.
Croatia Airlines states that the financial implications of the fleet-renewal period are proving “significantly higher than previously anticipated”.
The carrier points out, however, that its EBITDA figure was positive for the second quarter in contrast to being negative in the first.
Over the first half of the year it made investments of €24.8 million of which nearly half, €11.9 million, was attributed to the acquisition of a spare A220 engine.
Croatia Airlines benefited from reduced dependence on short-term leased capacity, with only 14 flights in the first half of this year compared with 700 in the same period of 2024.
It adds that, while the increased costs include higher salaries, the airline is only one year into a five-year collective agreement.