July the 29th, 2022 - Croatia Airlines has been in troubled waters for some time now, and although the search process for a strategic partner (yes, it's still ongoing) of the Croatian national airline was completely stopped for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that preparations are still ongoing in the corporate world.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the very well known Greek company Aegean Airlines announced this week that it is interested in taking over several carriers in Southeastern Europe, including Croatia Airlines.

As reported by Exyuaviation, the Vice President of Aegean Airlines, Eftychios Vassilakis, said that on a broader plan, the Greek carrier intends to strengthen its regional role in Southeastern Europe through possible new acquisitions.

This airline bought a 51% stake in Romania's Animawings last October, and it is firmly on track to break even in 2022 and is operationally expected to experience a full recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with a record summer season under its belt. Aegean's further interest could potentially lead to a strategic partnership between the two Star Alliance members. Just before the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic, Aegean confirmed that it had indeed submitted a non-binding offer to buy the Croatian national carrier Croatia Airlines.

The next phase was supposed to include direct talks between the Greek airline and the Croatian Government. However, the process was halted in March 2020 as the global health crisis hit the aviation and tourism sectors hard.

Back in September last year, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic mentioned that the negotiations between the two carriers regarding the strategic partnership agreement would definitely be renewed, but that has yet to happen. Aegean Airlines also participated in the previous attempt to privatise Croatia Airlines back in 2015.

There are some similarities between the two carriers

The Greek company entered into the second round of negotiations with the then privatisation advisor, International Finance Corporation, but the privatisation project was interrupted by the change of government here in Croatia. As an airline registered in the European Union (EU), Aegean can buy a majority stake in the Croatian counterpart without an issue.

The two carriers share a similar fleet structure, with both Airbus A320 family aircraft and Dash 8 turboprop aircraft being used. Furthermore, both operate in similar and competitive seasonal (summer) environments.

The similarities mostly end there. Aegean was continuously profitable from 2013 until the COVID-19 crisis, recording a record profit of 79.5 million euros back in 2019. It employed around 2,900 people, carried 15 million passengers and recorded an average cabin load factor of 84.8 percent across its fleet of 64 aircraft.

On the other hand, Croatia Airlines has, as previously mentioned, in troubled waters for a long time and with a poor track record among its users who often complain of poor service and extortionate prices. It also recorded a loss of over ten million euros in the ''record year'' of 2019, had a mere 1,000 employees, transported a much smaller number of 2.1 million passengers in 12 aircraft with an average annual occupancy rate of 73.6 percent.

With the strengthening of the Irish carrier Ryanair in Croatia, especially at Zagreb Airport, things will likely continue to get even worse for Croatia Airlines until something very drastic alters, and quickly.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

February 3, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Air Serbia announces Belgrade-Zadar flights from June, Aegean Airlines launches Zagreb-Athens this summer, and 13 Freebird Dubrovnik winter charter flights will run from the end of this month! 

Serbian national airline Air Serbia will re-introduce a regular flight between Zadar and Belgrade this summer, reports Croatian Aviation. 

Namely, as of June 14, the Serbian airline will operate between Belgrade and Zadar. A few days ago, the same airline announced it was restoring the route to Rijeka. 

The Zadar-Belgrade line was introduced in the 2019 summer flight schedule, and flights ran twice a week, every Friday and Sunday. The airline will also operate twice a week between the two cities this summer season.

Following the pandemic, the airline stopped traffic on this route and did not operate in the summer of 2020 and 2021.

ATR72 aircraft have been announced on the route, which has a capacity of up to 70 seats in the passenger cabin. There will be just under four thousand seats on sale between Belgrade and Zadar. 

In the summer flight schedule, Air Serbia is planning regular flights from Belgrade to six Croatian airports: Zagreb, Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik, and up to 18 weekly flights have been announced in the peak summer season.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Aegean Airlines should re-establish a regular connection between Zagreb and Athens from mid-June this year.

The scheduled flights have been announced in the summer flight schedule, from June 15 to October 8 this year. Only two flights a week have been announced, every Wednesday and Saturday, but with A320 aircraft, which have a capacity of 180 seats in this airline's fleet.

Before the pandemic, Aegean flew to Zagreb several times a week, but at that time, DashQ400 aircraft with drastically lower capacity operated on the route compared to A320 aircraft.

Aegean Airlines will offer a total of 12,240 seats between Zagreb and Athens. In the summer of 2020 and 2021, this airline did not operate to Zagreb but exclusively to Adriatic airports. However, Aegean is currently not planning to return to Split, only to Dubrovnik.

The flight schedule is still subject to change, and it is to be expected that Croatia Airlines will also operate on a regular route between Zagreb and Athens (with a technical stop in Dubrovnik).

Finally, Croatian Aviation announced that the Turkish charter airline Freebird Airlines would introduce numerous charter routes to Dubrovnik Airport at the end of this month. 

Namely, from February 21, this Turkish carrier will launch regular charter traffic on 13 lines to and from Dubrovnik Airport from:

Vienna,

Berlin,

Brussels,

Dusseldorf,

Frankfurt,

Hannover,

Hamburg,

London,

Manchester,

Munich,

Marseille,

Paris,

Stuttgart.

On the 13 listed charter lines, Freebird Airlines plans to use A320 aircraft, with a capacity of 180 seats in the passenger cabin. As a result, this airline will generate many passengers on these routes, which is also much needed in the winter months.

Dubrovnik Airport published statistics for January this year, in which a total of 9,320 passengers passed through it, which is almost 50% of the traffic from January 2020 when the pandemic was not yet present in Europe. In January 2021, there were only 3,729 passengers in Dubrovnik.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

May 11, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Aegean Airlines' Athens-Zagreb flights will not operate this summer. 

Croatian Aviation reports that Greek national airline, Aegean Airlines, has stopped selling all tickets on the direct route between Athens and Zagreb for this summer season.

Greece's national carrier withdrew ticket sales this weekend on a regular route between Athens and Zagreb Airport. Although in mid-January this year, the company announced the reintroduction of regular lines from Athens to Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik, in the meantime, there have been operational changes.

As announced earlier, the line to Split was canceled, while the first flights to Zagreb and Dubrovnik were announced for May. The company has now further reduced its network of destinations for the summer season, with no connection to Zagreb available. 

Aegean Airlines launched a regular flight between Athens and Zagreb in May 2018 and operated on it three times a week with DashQ400 aircraft. The line also operated in the winter flight schedule but reduced, with a short break in January and February 2019.

At the end of 2019, the company announced that it would introduce larger aircraft on the route to Zagreb in the 2020 summer season (A319 and A320 aircraft), but this did not happen due to the global pandemic, and the route was suspended. Although according to the company's announcements, Aegean was expected to operate to Zagreb in the summer of this year, according to the latest information, this will not happen, and the chances that the line will be renewed in the winter flight schedule this year are almost non-existent.

The only destination of the Greek national airline this summer in Croatia is Dubrovnik, according to which Aegean Airlines planes should operate from June 19, initially twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Zagreb remains connected to Athens by the regular line of Croatia Airlines (with a stop in Dubrovnik), which should start operating on Thursday, July 1. Flights on this line are announced three times a week; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and tickets are on sale on the official website of Croatia Airlines.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

August 5, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik.

Croatian Airlines reports that Aegean Airlines, a Star Alliance member, previously announced the start of traffic to three Croatian airports (Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb) from September this year. All flights to the mentioned destinations have been canceled for this year.

Before the pandemic, Aegean Airlines planned to operate to three destinations in Croatia from Athens (Eleftherios Venizelos Airport). The start of traffic was first postponed to September, and now all flights to Croatia have been canceled for this year.

Lines to Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik were supposed to operate with a smaller number of weekly flights compared to last summer season, but due to weak demand, the company completely canceled flights on these routes and does not intend to launch them this year.

This left the airports in Split and Zagreb without a direct connection with the Greek capital. Croatia Airlines operates on the route Zagreb - Athens with a stop in Dubrovnik, so the flight between the two capitals is not direct. The Zagreb - Athens (via Dubrovnik) route of Croatia Airlines continues to operate three times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday on the DashQ400 aircraft, with a capacity of 76 passengers.

It should also be mentioned that Volotea also canceled flights from Dubrovnik and Split to Athens until the end of the summer flight schedule.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reported that as of Sunday, August 2, Turkish Airlines is operating fewer weekly flights on the Istanbul - Zagreb route.

In July, Turkish Airlines operated five times a week on the Istanbul - Zagreb route, but since the beginning of August, there has been a reduction in the number of weekly flights. Throughout August, the company will operate on the mentioned line only four times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, flights will take place on Mondays and Fridays in the evening, and Wednesdays and Sundays in the morning.

Smaller capacity aircraft (mainly A319) have been announced on the route. It is worth mentioning that before the outbreak of the pandemic, Turkish Airlines flew to Zagreb twice a day, transporting a large number of passengers from Asia, and these tourists are almost non-existent in Croatia this year. The company has repeatedly adjusted its capacity on the line by introducing larger aircraft, such as the A330, but this will probably not be necessary this year.

The second line of Turkish Airlines in Croatia, to Dubrovnik, was previously announced for September. However, all flights have been postponed and the company is currently offering flights in October, though they will soon be canceled. In fact, Turkish Airlines will not return to Dubrovnik Airport this year.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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June 2, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik, and Zadar.

Ryanair plans to resume traffic to Zadar on selected lines from July. The first line from Stuttgart to Zadar, on which Lauda operates, will run from June 28. All other lines are planned to begin operations from the first week of July. 

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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There is not a single new line planned for this year with aircraft based in Zadar. Also, no routes from France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom are on offer. 

Furthermore, on all routes operating from the beginning of July, the number of flights per week has been significantly reduced. Most flights per week have been announced on the Vienna-Zadar route, twice a week from the beginning of July, with reinforcements to three times a week in August. 

In other flight news, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Aegean Airlines has delayed the resumption of all of its flights to Croatia until September. While the airline planned to fly from Athens to Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split from the beginning of July, they will not resume operations until September 1 to Split, September 2 to Zagreb, and September 3 to Dubrovnik. 

Finally, Croatian Aviation reports that Austrian national carrier Austrian Airlines has confirmed it is re-establishing the Vienna-Zagreb-Vienna route from the end of June.

As announced earlier, Austrian will fly from Vienna to Split and Dubrovnik again this month, so it was logical to expect the introduction of a route to Zagreb, on which, in addition to Austrian, Croatia Airlines also operates regularly.

From June 29, Austrian Airlines will once again connect the capitals of Austria and Croatia with one flight a day.

In the morning, a departure from Vienna to Zagreb is planned at 06:40, with arrival in Zagreb at 7:35. Departure from Zagreb to Vienna is planned for 8:15 am, with arrival in Vienna at 9:15 am.

In the afternoon, the plane will take off from Vienna at 13:10, and the arrival in Zagreb is planned for 14:05. The return to Vienna is at 15:15, with arrival in the Austrian capital at 16:10. In addition to direct (p2p) demand, passengers from Vienna are being offered a large number of destinations in Europe that Austrian will restart from the end of this month.

The smaller capacity aircraft, the DashQ400 and Embraer 190, are planned for the flights.

The company is currently working on a new flight schedule for July, but Austrian is expected to continue flying once a day on the Vienna-Zagreb-Vienna route in the first half of July.

November 14, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, and Zadar. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that low-cost carrier Eurowings will discontinue services from Berlin and Dusseldorf to Zagreb at the end of March next year, namely on March 28, 2020. In the past, Eurowings has complained about Zagreb Airport's significantly high airport fees, which is tough for low-cost carriers. With no competition on these two routes, Zagreb will no longer be linked to the German capital.

However, operations from Cologne and Stuttgart and their seasonal summer service to Hamburg will continue as usual. Next summer, Eurowings will operate six weekly flights from Cologne to Zagreb, five weekly flights from Stuttgart to Zagreb, and eight from Hamburg, with flights running once a week between July 8 and August 26. 

Eurowings is currently the only low-cost carrier operating year-round flights to Zagreb. 

Avio Radar reports that Greek national carrier Aegean Airlines, a Star Alliance member, announced larger planes for all flights to Croatia in their 2020 flight schedule. Flights will no longer run on the Bombardier Q400 aircraft of the Greek regional carrier Olympic Air, but instead be operated by the Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. 

The Athens-Dubrovnik route remains in operation with five flights per week using an Airbus A320 on all flights. The Athens-Split route will operate four times a week on the Airbus A319 instead of this year’s five flights per week on the smaller Bombardier Q400. Flights will no longer run on Sundays and remain on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The Athens-Zagreb route will operate three times a week on Wednesdays and Sundays with the Airbus A319 aircraft, while it will use the larger Airbus A320 on Mondays. This year, Aegean operated four flights per week to Zagreb with the smaller Bombardier Q400. This route will no longer work on Thursdays. 

Avio Radar also reports that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair will introduce a new flight from Poland to Zadar in the summer. It will connect Zadar with the town of Gdansk in northern Poland three times a week, on Tuesdays,  Thursdays, and Saturdays from March 31, 2020. 

Ryanair started operating flights between Poland and Zadar only this year when the Krakow-Zadar and Poznan-Zadar routes were introduced twice a week, which will continue in 2020. The new Gdansk-Zadar line will be the third from Poland to Zadar. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft of the Polish company Buzz will fly on all three lines. 

Buzz started operating in 2017. Ryanair founded this company in Poland under the name Ryanair Sun and initially flew only charter flights from Poland. It has now taken over most of Ryanair’s regular lines from Poland and Hungary. It already has 24 Boeing 737-800 aircraft in its fleet. 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

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