January 19, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as two Polish Lot Zadar lines will return this summer, and Brussels Airlines Split and Dubrovnik flights have been announced from April. 

Polish national airline, LOT Polish Airlines, will resume traffic between Zadar and Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland, in the upcoming summer flight schedule, reports Croatian Aviation.

Namely, LOT has announced on its official website that the Zadar-Rzeszow line, a city in southeastern Poland with just under 200,000 inhabitants, will return this summer. This route was introduced by the Polish airline in the summer of 2020, and regular operations also took place in the summer flight schedule in 2021.

Flights between the two cities will run once a week, every Saturday, starting on June 18, and the Polish airline plans to use DashQ400 aircraft with a capacity of 78 seats.

In addition to the regular route from Rzeszow, LOT Polish Airlines will operate to Zadar Airport on a regular route from its main hub - Warsaw.

Flights between Warsaw and Zadar should start on Saturday, April 30. Larger capacity aircraft, such as the Embraer E195, which has a total of 112 seats will operate on this route.

Like other airlines, LOT Polish Airlines is currently working on finalizing the summer flight schedule, so in the coming weeks, we will know the official 2022 summer flight schedule. 

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Brussels Airlines has announced its 2022 summer flight schedule, which includes two Croatian airports - Split and Dubrovnik. 

Although the airline was expected to increase the number of weekly rotations to Croatia, judging by the published schedule for the summer season, this will not happen.

Namely, the Brussels - Split - Brussels line has been announced from Saturday, April 23 to the very end of the summer flight schedule, Saturday, October 29. Two flights a week are currently announced on Saturdays, both on Saturdays, offering 642 seats on its A319 and A320 aircraft on a weekly basis between the two cities.

The Brussels - Dubrovnik - Brussels line is on sale from April 2, and flights are announced once a week, also on Saturdays. Unlike flights to Split, the route to Dubrovnik should run until October 1. Airbus A319 aircraft with a capacity of 141 seats in the passenger cabin has been announced between Brussels and Dubrovnik.

Brussels Airlines has previously confirmed that it will not return to Zagreb International Airport, which was expected given that Ryanair has introduced a regular route between Brussels Charleroi Airport and Zagreb, and Croatia Airlines operates from the main Belgian airport from Zagreb. This year, Brussels does not plan to operate to Zadar Airport, but only to keep seasonal operations to Split and Dubrovnik.

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

January 17, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as there are currently no international winter flights to Dubrovnik Airport 

Dubrovnik Airport ended 2021 as the third busiest Croatian airport after Split and Zagreb. As things currently stand, the beginning of 2022 did not bring new regular international routes to Dubrovnik, but the airport instead was temporarily left without its regular international Turkish Airlines and Vueling lines, reports Croatian Aviation.

According to earlier announcements and the Dubrovnik Airport winter flight schedule, Turkish Airlines and Vueling aircraft were to fly from Istanbul and Barcelona to Dubrovnik until the end of the winter flight schedule.

According to the earliest announcements, Turkish Airlines was supposed to operate up to four times a week in Dubrovnik this winter, but the flight schedule was quickly revised by the airline. The last recorded Turkish Airlines flight on a regular route to Dubrovnik was recorded on January 8.

According to the earliest announcements, Vueling was supposed to operate twice a week this winter in certain periods, i.e., on Thursdays and Sundays, but Vueling made its last recorded flight between Barcelona and Dubrovnik on January 9.

According to available information, the first available date to purchase Turkish Airlines tickets from Dubrovnik to Istanbul is Saturday, January 22. From January 22 to March 26, Turkish should continue to operate to Dubrovnik Airport twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Vueling's return to Dubrovnik is expected on March 3, when the Spanish low-cost airline should continue to fly to Dubrovnik twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays.

From January 9 to January 22, there was no international air traffic at Dubrovnik Airport, and Dubrovnik is connected to international destinations by Croatia Airlines planes, but with a transfer at Zagreb Airport.

Although 2022 may not have started with many scheduled international flights at Dubrovnik Airport, Croatian Aviation concludes that we can certainly be pleased that a significantly larger number of international flights from Dubrovnik are already announced for the summer flight schedule.

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

January 5, 2022 - Split Airport is the busiest Croatian airport in 2021, dethroning Zagreb Airport for the first time in history! 

The three leading Croatian airports, Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik, published their monthly statistics for December, thus rounding off the annual statistics for 2021. Split Airport has confirmed its status as the busiest Croatian airport in 2021!

As Croatian Aviation already announced a few months ago, Split Airport is now officially the busiest airport in the Republic of Croatia. Namely, in 2021, a total of 1,577,584 passengers traveled through the airport. On the other hand, Zagreb, which has always been busier than Split, recorded 173 thousand fewer passengers than Split Airport in 2021. 

In December 2021, 24,568 passengers passed through Split Airport, which is significantly more than in December 2020 (only 8,665 passengers). As expected, the largest number of passengers was generated by Split in the summer months, and August was the busiest with almost half a million passengers.

Unlike the 2021 airport champion, Zagreb was not as busy in summer, though August was the most active month with only 194 thousand passengers. In December 2021, almost 180 thousand passengers traveled through Zagreb, which is an increase of 138 thousand compared to the same month in 2020. In 2021, a total of 1,404,478 passengers traveled through the Franjo Tuđman passenger terminal.

The third-busiest airport is Dubrovnik. In 2021, Dubrovnik recorded 927,934 passengers. In December, 11,738 passengers traveled through Dubrovnik Airport (4,325 passengers during the same month in 2020). As Croatian Aviation announced a few months ago, it was difficult to expect that Dubrovnik would exceed one million passengers in 2021.

Dubrovnik generated 597,787 passengers more than in 2020, Split recorded an increase of 903,218, and Zagreb the least - 479,655!

In 2021, 3,909,996 passengers traveled through the three busiest Croatian airports. Although it may seem that this is a relatively large number, the same three airports in 2019 recorded 9,633,688 passengers. In 2020, Split, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb had only 1,929,336 passengers.

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

December 15, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as the British Airways London Gatwick-Dubrovnik flight will resume next year, namely in April with a daily service from May! We also have the latest on Dubrovnik-based Croatian start-up Pragusa.One. 

British national airline British Airways has announced it would resume the scheduled flight between Dubrovnik and London Gatwick Airport, bringing two flights to Dubrovnik next summer from London, from two different airports, reports Croatian Aviation. 

The London Heathrow-Dubrovnik line was in traffic last summer season, while this airline previously operated to Dubrovnik from Gatwick Airport. Following the pandemic, British Airways relocated all operations to Heathrow to reduce its operating costs, and with the gradual recovery of traffic, the line from Gatwick Airport will run again. 

From Monday, April 4, British Airways will connect Dubrovnik and London Gatwick once a week, on Mondays, from April 20 three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and from May 2 every day!

In addition, the airline will keep operations from Heathrow Airport, so Dubrovnik will have two regular routes to London on this British airline.

The lines between London and Dubrovnik are very well filled in the summer flight schedule, which is not surprising considering that Dubrovnik is the most frequent destination for British tourists in Croatia. British Airways currently operates between London and Zagreb, and in the summer flight schedule additionally to Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik.

In other Dubrovnik flight news, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Croatian start-up Pragusa.One will finally launch flights from Dubrovnik in the fourth quarter of 22022. The airline was meant to launch flights already in the 2021 summer. Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft from Dubrovnik and Prague will be used on long-haul flights to North America and Asia. 

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

December 12, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as American Airlines Philadelphia-Dubrovnik flights will not resume next summer. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that American Airlines will not resume its Philadelphia-Dubrovnik flights for the 2022 summer season. While the airline successfully maintained the route in the 2019 summer, it did not return the following year with additional flights and capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But Dubrovnik isn't the only victim of American Airlines. Ex Yu Aviation adds that the airline won't resume seasonal flights to Prague and has discontinued operations to Edinburgh, Shannon and Hong Kong. The airline will, however, operate from New York to Doha, Qatar.

"Boeing continues to be unable to deliver the 787s we have on order, including as many as thirteen aircraft that were slated to be in our fleet by this winter. Without these widebodies, we simply won’t be able to fly as much internationally as we had planned next summer or as we did in summer 2019," said Vasu Raja, American’s Chief Revenue Officer. 

United, on the other hand, has announced it would return to Dubrovnik next summer.

United introduced a regular line between Dubrovnik and New York in early July this year. Three flights a week were announced which quickly increased to four times a week from the beginning of July to the beginning of October this year.

Encouraged by the great interest, the airline announced that traffic between Dubrovnik and New York would run in the summer flight schedule next year.

Unlike this year, United Airlines plans to launch the first flight between Dubrovnik and New York at the end of May (May 27, 2022). This summer season, the last flight was at the very beginning of October, and for next year, United plans regular operations until the very end of October (October 26, 2022). Thus, this line will be in traffic for a full two months longer next summer compared to this season.

Delta Air Lines, which also operated regularly between New York and Dubrovnik this summer, has not yet released tickets on this route for next summer. If this route doesn't relaunch, United may increase its capacity to Dubrovnik, either by introducing a larger type of aircraft or by increasing weekly rotations. Only time will tell. 

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

November 23, 2021 - The latest news on flights to Croatia as 4 easyJet summer lines to Dubrovnik and Split have been canceled for the 2022 season. 

The British low-cost airline easyJet has canceled some seasonal routes to Croatia, despite announcing that the airline will significantly increase its capacity to Croatian airports next summer. This is due to financial troubles, which began before the pandemic, reports Croatian Aviation.

As the Ex Yu Aviation announced earlier, easyJet withdrew three lines to Dubrovnik and one to Split. The airline claims that the lines with the least passenger interest were withdrawn from sale.

Namely, lines between Luton, Milan, Toulouse, and Dubrovnik are no longer on sale, and the line between Belfast and Split has been canceled. In addition, the airline has not launched several other lines to Croatia this summer season, justifying the move by low demand due to the pandemic.

easyJet currently offers 40 international routes to Croatia next summer, but there will be operational changes at the beginning of the summer season. The Croatian Tourist Board points out that the airline showed great interest in Croatia at the World Travel Market in London, and even announced negotiations with Rijeka and Osijek on establishing regular routes to the two mentioned airports.

For now, the largest number of easyJet lines is offered to Split (14), Dubrovnik (12), Pula (9), and Zadar (5).

The airline also points out that they will announce new routes to Croatia in the coming months, emphasizing the importance of Croatia as a traditional destination of this airline. Negotiations on introducing new lines for next summer are underway. It should be noted that easyJet is one of the largest users of joint advertising, for which the Croatian Tourist Board is announcing a tender.

Croatian Aviation adds that easyJet is slowly but surely losing its share of transported passengers on the Croatian market, primarily due to the new lines of Ryanair and Wizz Air, which also have yet to announce summer programs for next year.

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

November 13, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Ryanair Zadar summer flights and Blue Air flights from Bucharest to Dubrovnik and Split have been announced.

As the summer flight schedule is slowly being announced, more routes to Croatia have gone on sale, including to Zadar Airport, reports Croatian Aviation. 

New Ryanair summer flights include:

Zadar - Nuremberg - Zadar, from March 29, 2022, twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday until the end of October,

Zadar - Stockholm Arlanda - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, twice a week, every Wednesday and Sunday, until the end of October,

Zadar - Turin - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, twice a week, every Monday and Friday, also until the end of October.

These new lines will offer almost 70 thousand seats from the end of March to the end of October next year. 

Nuremberg will also be Ryanair's ninth destination in Germany from Zadar (along with Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dusseldorf Weeze, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, and Memmingen), and Stockholm will be the third in Sweden (existing lines to Vaxjo and Gothenburg).

Currently, 39 international Ryanair routes are on sale to and from Zadar Airport. 

In addition to the lines to Zadar, Ryanair operates on year-round lines to Zagreb, and next summer, it will be present in Pula, Rijeka, Split, and Dubrovnik. 

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Romania's low-cost airline, Blue Air, announced two scheduled flights to Croatia in the 2022 summer flight schedule.

Namely, Blue Air has announced seasonal routes to Split and Dubrovnik.

The Romanian low-cost airline operated mainly on charter routes to Croatia in the summer flight schedule this year, specifically to Dubrovnik, with ad-hoc arrivals to other Croatian airports. The airline is now announcing regular operations to Dubrovnik and Split from the Romanian capital.

Bucharest - Split - Bucharest will run from June 23 to September 29, 2022, twice a week, every Thursday and Sunday,

Bucharest - Dubrovnik - Bucharest will operate from June 28 to September 27, 2022, every Tuesday and Saturday, also twice a week.

The airline plans to operate on ad-hoc charter flights to Croatia next summer, mainly for Romanian tour operators selling holiday packages in Istria and the central Adriatic. Blue Air will thus operate on charter flights to Pula and Zadar airports.

When asked about introducing a regular line to Zagreb, Blue Air points out that they are considering several destinations, including the Croatian capital. 

Until the beginning of the global pandemic, Croatia Airlines operated three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) between Zagreb and Bucharest in the summer flight schedule. The line was introduced in May 2017 and was in operation every summer until 2020. It is unknown whether Croatia Airlines will resume operations between Bucharest and Zagreb in the summer of 2022.

In addition to two new lines from Split and Dubrovnik, Zadar will also have a regular connection to the Romanian capital. Ryanair will continue to operate between Zadar and Bucharest next summer, twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from March 30 to October 29, 2022.

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

November 11, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia with the announcement of Finnair Helsinki-Zagreb flights and new Condor flights to Rijeka and Dubrovnik. 

Finnish national airline Finnair (Oneworld alliance member) announced its 2022 summer schedule, and Zagreb is on the list of new destinations, reports Croatian Aviation.

Finnair will operate regularly between Helsinki and Zagreb next summer, and the Helsinki - Zagreb - Helsinki line will be introduced on May 1, 2022. Flights will run three times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. A319 aircraft with a capacity of 144 seats have been announced on the route, meaning Finnair will offer more than 22,000 seats on the Helsinki-Zagreb route from May to October next year. 

Before the pandemic, Croatia Airlines operated in the summer between Helsinki and Zagreb, but the line was not in operation in 2021 and 2020 due to reduced demand.

Finnair has operated to Dubrovnik and Split in the summer flight schedule for many years, and earlier this airline had Pula on its destination map. Finnair's arrival in the Croatian capital is great news for all those who normally travel between the two cities, as well as for those who will continue their journey to destinations in Asia with this airline.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that German leisure airline Condor announced two new routes to Croatia.

Condor Airlines announced a series of new routes from Düsseldorf, which is the focus this winter. For now, several new routes have been announced for next year's summer flight schedule, including two to Croatian airports.

Condor plans to operate to three Croatian airports next summer. Split is already a traditional destination and will have three routes next year - from Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, and Munich.

Condor will introduce two new routes - between Düsseldorf and Rijeka, twice a week, and one flight a week between Düsseldorf and Dubrovnik. 

Croatian Aviation adds that A320 aircraft will operate to Rijeka and Dubrovnik, while Condor will use A320, A321, and B757 aircraft to Split, just like in the 2021 summer season.

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

October 11, 2021 - United Airlines flights to Dubrovnik have been extended until the end of October next year!

After an extremely successful summer season in which United Airlines launched a route between New York and Dubrovnik (from July to early October), they have announced more flights to Dubrovnik Airport next summer, reports Croatian Aviation.

United introduced a regular line between Dubrovnik and New York in early July this year. Three flights a week were announced which quickly increased to four times a week from the beginning of July to the beginning of October this year.

Encouraged by the great interest, the airline has already announced the continuation of traffic between Dubrovnik and New York in the summer flight schedule next year.

Unlike this year, next summer, United Airlines plans to launch the first flight between Dubrovnik and New York at the end of May (May 27, 2022). This summer season, the last flight was at the very beginning of October, and for next year, United plans regular operations until the very end of October (October 26, 2022). Thus, this line will be in traffic for a full two months longer next summer compared to this season.

Unlike United, Delta Air Lines, which also operated regularly between New York and Dubrovnik this summer, has not yet released tickets on this route for next summer season. If this route doesn't relaunch, United may increase its capacity to Dubrovnik, either by introducing a larger type of aircraft or by increasing weekly rotations.

With the announcement that Croatian citizens will no longer need visas to visit the USA from December 1 this year, and with 8 weekly operations between Dubrovnik and New York this summer, another regular line from the United States to Croatia may be announced for next summer season, concludes Croatian Aviation.

For more information about flights to Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

To learn more about Osijek Airport, click here. 

October 5, 2021 - Croatia's busiest airport will not be in the capital city this year, as Split Airport is set to transport the most travelers in 2021.

In September 2021, Split Airport accepted and dispatched more than 328 thousand passengers, which is 253 thousand more passengers than last year, and only 141 thousand fewer passengers compared to the record-breaking September 2019!

A few months ago, it was clear that Split will be the champion in the number of passengers transported in the Republic of Croatia this year, and this was confirmed on Monday by the publication of Zagreb airport statistics, which, despite the introduction of 15 Ryanair routes, remained below 200,000 passengers.

From January to the end of September, Split accepted and dispatched 1,363,413 passengers, which Zagreb is unlikely to achieve in the whole of 2021. However, given the number of weekly operations and available lines, a significant number of passengers in Split is expected in October.

Split Airport will deservedly take the title of the busiest Croatian airport at the end of the year after Zagreb Airport carried it for years.

By the end of 2021, Split will probably accept and dispatch more than 1.5 million passengers, which is less than in 2019, when there were 3.3 million, but there is no doubt that Split is on the right path to recovery and that will cross 2 million passengers again next year.

In other news, Dubrovnik Airport had more than 200,000 passengers in September this year. 

Namely, 207,558 passengers passed through Dubrovnik Airport in September, as many as 166,000 more passengers compared to the same month in 2021. On the other hand, compared to September 2019, there were 50% fewer passengers (405,924 at the time). The largest share in traffic is made up of passengers from traditionally dominant markets - Great Britain, the United States of America, and France.

From January 1 to September 30, a total of 787,590 passengers traveled through Dubrovnik Airport, while in the same period last year, there were only 306,949. 

Given that Dubrovnik will be well connected to several European destinations in October, a significant increase in the number of monthly passengers is expected to continue. Dubrovnik Airport will thus reach one million passengers by the end of this year. 

Source: Croatian Aviation

For more information about flights to Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

To learn more about Osijek Airport, click here.