July 24, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, and Pula. 

Croatian Aviation reports that Qatar Airways has canceled flights on the Zagreb-Doha route until mid-August. There have been frequent cancellations on this line in recent weeks.

Qatar Airways resumed traffic to Zagreb on July 1 this year, reconnecting Doha and Zagreb 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) with the A320 aircraft.

Due to reduced demand, the company has often canceled certain departures on this route since the beginning of re-operation, and now all flights on this line have been canceled until mid-August.

Traffic should resume from Wednesday, August 12, when the Qatar Airways aircraft should fly on this route again. Recall that this carrier operated twice a day between Doha and Zagreb in the summer, in the morning and the evening, but there was a significant reduction in the number of weekly flights due to reduced demand due to the impact of the global pandemic.

Croatian Aviation also reports that FlyDubai, a company that closely links its business to Emirates, will not fly on a seasonal route to Dubrovnik this year.

The company previously announced the operation of its B737-800 aircraft on the Dubai-Dubrovnik route twice a week this summer season, but all flights have been canceled until the end of the summer flight schedule and the company does not intend to launch them this year.

Considering that many tourists from Asia came to Dubrovnik with this line, which is almost non-existent in our country this year, the cancellation of this line is a logical step of the company.

FlyDubai operates on the Dubai-Zagreb route in winter, instead of Emirates. After Emirates canceled all flights on this route for this year, FlyDubai should work on the same from the end of October this year. FlyDubai has not yet made a final decision on whether this line will operate in the winter flight schedule, and there is a possibility of its cancellation, which would leave Zagreb without a direct connection with Dubai after many years.

Finally, Croatian Aviation reports that before the outbreak of the pandemic, Windrose Airlines announced the launch of a new route to Croatia, between Kyiv and Zagreb. The company ultimately canceled the line for this year, but introduced flights to its third destination in Croatia.

The company planned to launch the first direct line between Zagreb and Kyiv three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays), then postponed it until the winter flight schedule this year due to the pandemic, only to cancel it now. Windrose Airlines could return to Zagreb with this new route in the summer of 2021.

But that is why the company announced an increase in weekly flights between Kyiv and Pula, and as of July 23, it operates on this route three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays), and regular operations are planned until mid-September.

Interestingly, Windrose Airlines sent an ATR 72-600 aircraft on this route for the first time yesterday. The journey with this smaller type of aircraft took 3 hours and 40 minutes from Kyiv to Pula! The line is regularly operated by aircraft of higher capacity type A321.

The Kyiv-Split line will continue to operate three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) in August, on A321 aircraft.

Despite giving up the launch of the Kyiv-Zagreb route this year, Windrose Airlines connected, for the first time, the capital of Ukraine with Dubrovnik, and amid the pandemic, launched a new route to Croatia.

The Kyiv-Dubrovnik line has been in traffic from July 17, once a week (every Friday), and traffic will run regularly until the end of August, specifically until August 28 this year. ERJ145 aircraft with a capacity of 48 passengers operate on this route.

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July 23, 2020 - In the second match of the playoff finals for the Croatian champion, played on Wednesday night in Zagreb, Dubrovnik's Jug AO were better than the home team Mladost in yet another penalty shootout and celebrated 13-11 (2-2, 3-3, 4-2, 1-3, 3-1) to take the 2-0 lead in the series to three wins.

HRT reports that the match ended in a 10-10 draw, and Jug goalkeeper Toni Popadic brought the Dubrovnik club the victory in the shootout with two crucial saves.

During regulation time, Jug's best scorer was Loren Fatovic with five goals, Alexandros Papanastasiou scored three, and Luka Loncar and Filip Krzic scored one goal each. Mladost's top scorer was Lovre Milos with four goals, Matias Biljaka scored two, and Milos Cuk, Luka Bukic, Franko Lazic and Konstantin Harkov scored one goal each.

After a tie game during the first two quarters, Jug created a three-goal lead in the third quarter (9-6), but the home team responded with a four-goal streak and took a 10-9 lead two and a half minutes before the end.

In the remaining time, only Filip Krzic managed to get past Mladost goalkeeper Marcelic to equalize at 10-10. Mladost had an attack to win, but the crossbar stopped Bowen's shot, so, just like in the first game, the winner was decided in a penalty shootout.

Here, the Dubrovnik team showed much more precision, and their goalkeeper Toni Popadic stopped the shots of Bukic and Lazic, while Bowen hit the crossbar. Thus, Jug took a 2-0 lead in the final series, and in three days, Vjekoslav Kobescak's team will have the opportunity to win the Croatian championship title for the fifth time in a row, and for the 16th time in total.

The third game of the finals is scheduled for Saturday, starting at 8:15 pm, and will be played in Dubrovnik at the Gruz swimming pool.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July 22, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Pula. 

Croatian Aviation reports that easyJet returned to Split at the beginning of July with six international flights to Split, and from the end of this month to Dubrovnik, Zadar and Pula. Now, in August, the low-cost airline will significantly increase the number of destinations and weekly flights to Croatian airports.

Lines to Zadar

Zadar - Amsterdam continues to operate 2 times a week,

Zadar - Basel continues to operate 3 times a week,

Zadar - Berlin continues to operate 1 week,

Zadar - London Luton continues to operate 2 times a week,

Zadar - London Gatwick is introduced, from July 25, twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays),

Lines to Pula

Pula - Amsterdam continues to operate 2 times a week,

Pula - Basel from August will operate 2 times a week,

Pula - Berlin continues to operate 1 time a week,

Pula - London Luton from August will run 3 times a week,

Pula - Bristol is introduced, from August 1, 2 times a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays),

Pula - Liverpool is introduced from August 2 two times a week (Wednesdays and Sundays),

Pula - London Gatwick is introduced from August 1, the line will operate 4 times a week (Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays).

Lines to Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik - Amsterdam from August 2 will operate 4 times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays),

Dubrovnik - Edinburgh will operate 1 time a week,

Dubrovnik - London Gatwick will operate daily,

Dubrovnik - London Luton from August 1 will operate 1 time a week (Saturday), from August 20 the second weekly flight is added, Wednesday,

Dubrovnik - Manchester will run twice a week,

Milan - Dubrovnik will operate 2 times a week,

Dubrovnik - Basel is introduced, 1 time a week through August,

Dubrovnik - Belfast is introduced from August 2, 2 times a week (Wednesdays and Sundays),

Dubrovnik - Bristol is introduced from August 2, 3 times a week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays),

Dubrovnik - Geneva is introduced from August 1, 1 time a week (Saturday),

Dubrovnik - Paris Orly is introduced from August 4, 3 times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays).

Lines to Split

Split - Amsterdam line will operate 6 times a week from August,

Split - Basel will operate daily from August,

Split - Berlin line continues to operate daily,

Split - Geneva continues to operate through August,

Split - London Gatwick from July 27 will operate daily,

Split - London Luton from July 22 will operate daily,

Split - Lyon continues to operate in August, 3 times a week,

Split - Manchester continues to operate through August, 3 times a week,

Split - Naples continues to operate through August,

Split - Paris line continues to operate through August,

Split - Bristol is introduced from August 1, 5 times a week (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays),

Split - Glasgow is introduced from August 2, 2 times a week (Wednesdays and Sundays),

Split - London Stansted is introduced from August 1, 4 times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays),

Split - Paris Orly is introduced, from July 24, 2 times a week. From August 3 flights a week (Mondays, Fridays and Sundays).

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July 20, 2002 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik.

Croatian Aviation reports that at one point, the Turkish national airline had open sales on the Istanbul - Dubrovnik route for August, but now, there are no longer flights on offer.

Turkish Airlines launched a line between Istanbul and Zagreb in early July, and it currently operates in a reduced form, only five times a week.

The second line of this well-known airline in Croatia is the service to Dubrovnik, which operates throughout the year, and in winter with a smaller number of weekly flights. In the summer of 2018, there were as many as 11 weekly flights on the line between Istanbul and Dubrovnik.

The company stopped traffic on this line during the pandemic and has not yet established traffic on it again. Given that the start of traffic has been delayed several times, there is a very high probability that Turkish Airlines will not return to Dubrovnik Airport so soon.

Direct flights on this route are now available for booking from September 1 this year, but, just as was the case with Emirates and the Dubai - Zagreb route, which was completely canceled for this year, there is a very high probability that the same will happen with this line between Dubrovnik and Istanbul.

Thus, we will have to wait and see what will come of the Turkish Airways routes to destinations in Croatia; Dubrovnik and Zagreb.

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July 19, 2020 - In the first game of the Croatian Championship finals, which took place in Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik water polo club Jug defeated Zagreb's Mladost with a better performance in the penalty shootout for a score of 18-16 (5-2, 4-4, 3-4, 1-3 - 5-3) to lead the series 1:0.

HRT reports that Mladost did not have the strength to beat Jug twice in Dubrovnik in just four days after they celebrated to win the Adriatic Regional League title on Wednesday. The Dubrovnik team started the match much better and were up by three points at half time. Mladost was also left without their best player, Milos Cuk, due to a penalty. However, the Zagreb club proved to be more physically prepared again, gained an advantage, and scored five points before the end of the match with a goal by American player Alex Bowen.

In the penalty shootout, all five players of Jug hit the net, while Jug goalkeeper Popadic defended Luka Bukic's shot.

Hrvoje Benic scored five goals for Jug, while Luka Bukic, Konstantin Harkov and Alex Bowen scored three goals each for Mladost.

The finals feature the only two clubs with a double-digit number of Croatian championships won - Jug has 15 titles, and Mladost 10.

The second match will be played in Zagreb, on July 22, starting at 6:45 PM, and the third match will be in Dubrovnik on July 25 (8:15 PM). Possible fourth and fifth matches will be played in Zagreb on July 29 and Dubrovnik on August 2.

Jadran Split and Solaris Sibenik met for the first game in the series for 3rd place on Saturday night at the outdoor Zvoncac pool in Split. The Split club defeated Solaris 13:9. The two clubs will meet for the second match on Monday, July 20, 2020, in Sibenik. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July 17, 2020 - Business troubles caused by the coronavirus will bring considerable annual losses to airlines, and 2020 will be remembered as “the worst year in the history of the aviation industry”. The crisis has not bypassed Split Airport in Kastela, where it is estimated that this year's losses at the end of the year will reach 2 million fewer passengers compared to 2019, when more than three million passengers landed at that airport.

Slobodna Dalmacija reports that the first 6 months of this year, Split Airport had a turnover of 108,000  passengers, while in the first half of last year, 1.2 million passengers were recorded. If we compare the month of June, the decline is about half a million passengers. This year, 26,000 passengers were realized, while last year, 513,000 passed through Split Airport.

"Until July 13, we had a turnover of 55,000 passengers, and by the end, we expect another 65,000, which at the end of the month will amount to a total of about 120,000 passengers. In the first 6 months of this year, we recorded a loss of about a million passengers, and we will lose that much more in July and August. So we are in the red about 2 million passengers," said Mate Melvan of Split Airport.

When it comes to companies that fly to Split Airport, the situation is somewhat better, but the problem, they point out, is that there are no passengers.

"Unlike last year when we were connected with about 58 global companies, this year we are connected with 30. I must emphasize that only ten of these thirty companies last year accounted for 90 percent of our total turnover last year. I think we are well covered in this regard, but the problem is that there are no passengers. People just don’t travel by plane and that’s where the whole problem lies. Last weekend, our port had the highest traffic, there are all the main carriers and there are no obstacles and problems," concludes Melvan.

It is interesting to note that in April this year, there were only six passengers, and in the same month last year, the traffic was more than 156,000 passengers.

Vienna, Warsaw, Madrid, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Riga are just some of the twenty or so airports that are currently connected to Dubrovnik. However, the "real season" should start soon, when flights from Great Britain begin. British Airways (from London - three times a week), Jet2.com, EasyJet and others are establishing lines with certainly the most important tourist market for Dubrovnik. Low-cost carrier Ryanair is already flying on a route to Dublin, Ireland, and other airlines have decided to resume in an attempt to at least partially recoup losses in recent months.

Despite everything, by the end of July, Dubrovnik should be connected with more than 30 European cities. Compared to the current situation, traffic is expected to triple by the end of August. Thus, according to the announcements, there should be as many as 140 landings and take-offs at Dubrovnik Airport on the first weekend of August.

"It all depends on the epidemiological situation both in our country and in the countries from which our guests come. Most of the airlines we have worked with before are coming back, new ones are coming, and some have failed due to the corona crisis. We have to be optimistic because the situation is moving as we predicted," says the director of Dubrovnik Airport Frano Luetic.

Despite the unprecedented crisis for air traffic around the world, the airport is proud to highlight this week's agreement on the intercontinental connection of Dubrovnik and Dubai with Flydubai, and the start of flights from new destinations in Kyiv, Ukraine, Budapest, and Vilnius in Lithuania.

However, even with such an increase, the airport will find it difficult to achieve 30 percent of last year's traffic in July and August, which is mostly at the level of total air traffic worldwide. Namely, this year, up to thirty international planes a day will land at the airport in Cilipi during July and August, while in the same period last year there were even more than sixty.

The semi-annual number of passengers at the end of June last year was 1,059,684, while this year's number was 87,026 passengers in the same period, which is just over eight percent. Also, in June 2019, there were 415,876 passengers, while this year there were 10,592, which means that with the greatest optimism this year, it is difficult to expect more than half a million passengers at the airport.

"The Dubrovnik area and everything that gravitates to our airport are much smaller than the often mentioned area of ​​Split and their airport, which currently has more planes and passengers than us. One should know that Split gravitates to more than half a million local people, and their tourist capacities range from Zadar to the Neretva, and from numerous islands to the deep hinterland and Medjugorje. Our area is cramped and has less than a hundred thousand people, without the roads that Split has and with less tourist capacity. We are also oriented towards guests of higher purchasing power given that we have a lot more five-star hotels. And that is the reason why low-cost carriers opt more for Split because such is the offer and the purchasing power of passengers," says Luetic.

Last weekend, 3870 passengers passed through Zadar Airport. Compared to last year, the turnover is lower by 70 percent, and judging by the forecasts, these figures will be transferred to all of July. Namely, the expected weekly traffic in July is about 60 commercial aircraft, or 120 rotations, while during August, 70 commercial aircraft or 140 arrivals and departures are expected.

"Although it is difficult and ungrateful to give any forecasts at the moment, we expect about 33,000 passengers in July, and about 60 thousand in August. By the end of the year, the total traffic should reach the number of about 150,000 passengers, which is 19 percent of last year's result," said the management of Zadar Airport about the season which, if corona had not happened, should have been a record.

Last year, the traffic at Zadar Airport increased by 30 percent compared to 2018, and they welcomed the end of the year with more than 800,000 passengers. On the wings of these results, which were the best in the history of Zadar airport, this summer was greeted even more ambitiously.

This is best illustrated by the projections of the largest low-cost carrier in the world, Ryanair, which announced in early 2020 that it will carry a total of 670,000 passengers on 30 lines and its base in Zadar this season, 50 percent more than a year earlier. Instead, Ryanair currently flies on only ten routes, and the base, which was supposed to house three aircraft with staff for eight months, has been postponed until the summer of 2021.

In addition to Ryanair, whose share in traffic is by far the largest with almost 70 percent, ten other airlines are currently flying to Zadar Airport, connecting Zemunik with 29 European destinations.

Whether that number will be maintained or increased next season, no one currently wants to predict. Because it’s hard to say what will be next month, let alone next summer.

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July 17, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, Zadar, and Rijeka. 

Croatian Aviation reports that Transavia, a low-cost airline with subsidiaries in France and the Netherlands, has made some changes to its flight schedule to destinations in Croatia.

At the end of June and the beginning of July, the company launched lines to Croatia, as many as 8 of them, and continues to operate on them through August.

The Paris Orly - Split route operates 3 times a week, but the company previously planned to increase it to as many as 6 weekly flights. This will not happen due to low demand. From August 13, the number of weekly flights will be reduced to 2.

The Rotterdam - Split line runs 5 times a week, and the same number of weekly flights is announced in August (every day except Monday and Wednesday).

The Nantes - Dubrovnik line continues to operate twice a week, as was announced earlier.

The Paris Orly - Dubrovnik line operates 3 times a week, and the company planned one more flight a week through August, but will keep the same number of operations (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays).

The Rotterdam - Dubrovnik line continues to operate according to plan and through August, 2 times a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays).

The Rotterdam - Zadar line will hold three weekly flights in August (Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays).

The Rotterdam - Pula line will increase the number of weekly flights, from 3 to as many as 5, every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout August.

The Eindhoven - Rijeka line will continue to operate 3 times a week in August (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays), which is one flight less per week compared to the 2019 season.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that the Slovak airline, Air Explore, announced its first scheduled flight to Croatia.

So far, the company has operated to Croatia on charter lines, mostly in the summer months, but will now launch the first regular line between Bratislava and Split.

The Bratislava - Split line will be in operation from Sunday, July 19, twice a week until the end of September this year. The line will operate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays in the afternoon on B737-800 aircraft.

This is the first, completely new route introduced by the airline since the coronavirus pandemic.

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July 16, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik.

Croatian Aviation reports that Spanish low-cost airline Volotea is announcing a return on its international routes to Dubrovnik, while routes to Split are already in operation.

The well-known Spanish low-cost airline resumed regular flights to Split last week. The company launched certain lines from France to Split, and introduced one from Athens.

Split - Marseille from July 8, once a week, Wednesday,

Split - Nantes from July 8, once a week, Wednesday,

Split - Bordeaux from July 8, once a week, Wednesday,

Split - Lyon from July 8, once a week, Wednesday,

Split - Athens from July 8, once a week, on Wednesdays.

Volotea is currently running some lines to the Adriatic Pearl, including Dubrovnik - Athens (Tuesdays) and Dubrovnik - Nantes (Thursdays). However, three more routes from France will be introduced soon:

Dubrovnik - Bordeaux from July 29, once a week, Wednesday,

Dubrovnik - Marseille from July 29, once a week, Wednesday,

Dubrovnik - Toulouse from July 29, once a week, on Wednesdays.

The company has opted for a minimum number of weekly frequencies, only once a week, but will expect an increase in the number of flights next month. B717 and A319 aircraft have been announced on all routes.

Furthermore, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Ryanair subsidiary Lauda has sacked plans to launch flights between Vienna and Dubrovnik, which were meant to kick off this summer. Recall, flights were initially meant to start on March 29 but were pushed back to August 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ex Yu Aviation writes that this line was to operate twice per week, and was to be performed by Ryanair equipment on behalf of Lauda. Austrian Airlines resumed its seasonal service between Vienna and Dubrovnik in June.

To conclude, Avio Radar reports that Swiss airline Helvetic Airways plans to travel to Brac soon. Namely, the airline will travel from Zurich on July 27, with return on Thursday, July 30. Helvetic has only Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft in its fleet. All Fokker F-100s left the fleet by December last year. The flights are in cooperation with the Swiss travel agency Meersicht Travel & Lifestyle. 

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July 13, 2020 -  Dubrovnik, the 'Pearl of the Adriatic' and Croatia's tourism star, is struggling to resume tourism post-lockdown.

The forecasts for the tourist season in Dubrovnik at the beginning of spring were not so bad, and probably much better than the actual outcome. It seemed then as if the coronavirus would disappear with the heat, tourists would travel, and most stakeholders in tourism were hopeful that the situation would improve significantly for the better. At the time, Dubrovnik unofficially said that they hoped for a turnover of at least 30 percent compared to last year. But that did not happen, reports Dubrovnik Daily.

Croatia is still recording new cases of infection, and according to the eVisitor guest check-in and check-out system, on July 5, 2020, 2,145 guests stayed in Dubrovnik, which is only 13 percent of the total number of guests last year on the same date, when 24 824 overnight stays were realized. According to the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Dubrovnik's hotel accommodation currently has the largest number of guests from Germany, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Germans, French and Poles mostly stay in private accommodation.

Dubrovnik caterers also hoped for a better situation at the beginning of the season. The president of the Dubrovnik Association of Caterers and the owner of the Otto tavern, Ante Vlasic, says that the current income they generate will not be enough to cover basic expenses. For that, as he says, at least 20 percent of the turnover should be realized compared to last season, but much less is realized.

"Most of my colleagues generate turnover and revenue of up to 10 percent compared to last year. This roughly coincides with the number of guests coming to Dubrovnik, about which we regularly receive information from the Dubrovnik Tourist Board. Maybe that percentage is even slightly lower because we lost daily excursionists, for example, from BiH and Montenegro, and cruise guests," said Vlasic.

According to him, no one prepared for the new situation, especially because last season was a record, and a reduction in VAT was even announced for this one, which would be an additional relief for caterers.

"People have made big investments that will not pay off for them now. We expected the situation to change significantly from June, but that did not happen. For example, my store operated in June at a rate of five percent of revenue compared to June last year. The least damage is caused by catering establishments that work all year round and which mainly serve drinks, some of them work at 30 percent of the usual traffic, and some at 50 percent, which is much more, but such are only two or three bars in Dubrovnik," said Vlasic, adding that he hopes that'll change after July 15, when, according to the announcements, more planes should land in Dubrovnik. Vlasic believes that it is necessary to carry out activities that would attract guests because there are many positive examples in Europe.

"Greek Mykonos is almost full, Italy is filling up very quickly, as is the French coast, Provence, and they were in a much worse situation than ours when it comes to the epidemiological picture and the situation around the coronavirus pandemic," says Vlasic.

Compared to restaurants, coffee bars that are open all year round and frequented by the local population are somewhat better. One of them is the cafe bar 'Antika' in Lapad Bay, owned by Zlatko Begusic, otherwise the president of the Association of Craftspeople Dubrovnik.

"Traditionally, we have a lot of local people from the City who come to have a drink, but the traffic is not even close to last season, let's say it is 50 percent lower. Cafes earn less than last year, but will survive, especially those outside the city, in Gruz or Lapad. Also, last year I had six waiters because there was such a need, now I have three," said Begusic.

Private landlords are rightly particularly concerned, because, for most of them, winter means investments and preparations for the season in which everything invested should return. But that didn’t happen this year. Slavica Grkes, vice president of the professional group of travel agencies at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and owner of the Dominium travel agency, says that the drop in their agency's turnover by July 1 is 94.67 percent. And when it comes to renting, there are some new trends.

"As far as renting is concerned, we record more reservations on Mljet and Peljesac than in Dubrovnik, and those related to Dubrovnik are mostly last-minute overnight stays for units that have parking. We are selling the cheapest and most luxurious accommodation we have to offer," said Grkes.

When it comes to prices, Grkes claims that almost everyone has lowered them, some even up to 60 percent, and some have decided not to rent their housing units for tourist purposes.

"We closed about 20 percent of the accommodation units for tourist rentals because the owners decided to rent those units for a longer period of time or not rent them at all, for fear of being infected with COVID. We hope for the arrival of planes, a better epidemiological picture, but also an extension of the measures. Everyone has mostly written off this season, but I sincerely hope and cannot come to terms with the fact that everything we have been building for years will disappear," said Grkes.

Although for many years they criticized cruise guests and the crowds in the City attributed to them, it has now been shown that they are also a very important factor in Dubrovnik tourism, which suffers losses due to the absence of cruise ships.

Thus, revenues from cruisers this year, compared to last year, are lower by 96 percent, and the Port of Dubrovnik, according to the data provided, is expected to record a decline in revenues when it comes to yachts (96 percent less revenue), lines (94 percent less revenue) and ship’s storage (63 percent less revenue).

In the port of Gruz, 362 ships that would bring about 550 thousand passengers were canceled, and nine of them were realized, with 3,532 passengers. For comparison, last year, there were 486 boat trips that brought over 768 thousand guests.

From January to May 2020, Dubrovnik-Neretva County had the most cruises in Croatia, 73.3 percent of them. The port of Dubrovnik had the most visits by foreign cruise ships, followed by Korcula, Split, Sibenik and Zadar.

In addition to the Dubrovnik Port Authority, Dubrovnik Airport also recorded losses, as did other airports around the world. According to the report of the 'European Airport Council' ACI-Europe, from January 1 to June 28, 2020, European airports lost 748 million passengers, while Croatian airports realized almost 800 thousand passengers in the first half of the year, while last year alone in June it was 1.6 million.

In the first seven days of July, 7,800 passengers and 272 aircraft landings took off at Dubrovnik Airport, which is an increase compared to the previous week by 78 percent in the number of passengers and 39 percent in the number of operations, said ZL Dubrovnik.

This may be good news in the new situation in which car destinations profit somewhat more than air destinations, including Dubrovnik. Therefore, it is not surprising that all hopes are placed on flights that could be the only ones to save this year's tourist season, reports the Dubrovnik daily.

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July 12, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Zadar.

After we announced the flight schedule of low-cost airline easyJet to Split, Croatian Aviation reports that they decided to launch traffic to other airports in Croatia at the end of this month.

easyJet will additionally return to Dubrovnik, Zadar and Pula, but in a significantly reduced form, with very few destinations and a small number of weekly flights compared to the 2019 season.

Lines to Dubrovnik

Amsterdam - Dubrovnik, from July 23, twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, from July 28 four times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays,

Edinburgh - Dubrovnik, from July 21, twice a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays,

Manchester - Dubrovnik, from July 22, twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays,

Naples - Dubrovnik, from July 20, twice a week, Mondays and Fridays.

Return to Pula

Amsterdam - Pula, from July 22, twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays,

London Luton - Pula, from July 25, once a week, Saturdays,

Basel - Pula, from July 25, once a week, on Saturdays,

Berlin - Pula, from July 25, once a week, on Saturdays.

Lines to Zadar

Amsterdam - Zadar, from July 26, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays,

Basel - Zadar, from July 25, three times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays,

Berlin - Zadar, from July 25, once a week, on Saturdays,

London Luton - Zadar, from July 25, twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The company will launch 12 international routes to the 3 mentioned airports, not including Split to which easyJet has been flying since the beginning of July this year. Changes are still possible and depend on the epidemiological situation in Croatia.

Croatian Aviation also reports that Air France started traffic to Croatia at the beginning of July (except for Split, which will begin in the middle of the month), and the company has already announced an increase in the number of weekly flights:

From August 1, the Paris-Dubrovnik line will operate four times a week (until then only two flights a week), on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

From July 27, the Paris-Split line will operate as many as 6 times a week (until the specified date 3 times a week), every day except Saturday.

The Paris-Zagreb route currently operates four times a week, but as of July 27, there will be as many as 11 flights a week on the route. Namely, Air France will significantly increase the number of flights, introducing two flights a day every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, it will operate once a day.

Aircraft type A319 / 320/321 has been announced on all routes to Croatia, while aircraft of smaller capacity, type E190, will operate towards Split.

Furthermore, British TUI, an extremely important airline that normally operates to 4 airports in Croatia during the summer flight schedule; Dubrovnik, Split, Rijeka and Pula, will likely not start regular traffic to destinations in Croatia this summer.

Croatian Aviation reports that due to the impact of the pandemic, the company grounded its fleet and canceled numerous destinations in its network, including those in Croatia.

This summer, TUI will not operate on as many as 8 lines to Dubrovnik:

London (Gatwick) - Dubrovnik,

Cardiff - Dubrovnik,

Glasgow - Dubrovnik,

Manchester - Dubrovnik,

Birmingham - Dubrovnik,

Bristol - Dubrovnik

Sheffield - Dubrovnik,

East Midlands - Dubrovnik.

It is important to note that all routes to Dubrovnik from Great Britain had one or two flights a week, they were mainly used to transport tourists from the TUI group (cruisers and packages that include hotel accommodation), and wide-body aircraft came to Dubrovnik regularly, like the B787-8 or even a larger version of B787-9.

As for Split Airport, 3 lines have been canceled:

London (Gatwick) - Split,

Birmingham - Split,

Manchester - Split.

At Pula Airport, TUI canceled 6 lines:

London (Gatwick) - Pula,

Birmingham - Pula,

Bristol - Pula,

Sheffield - Pula,

East Midlands - Pula,

Manchester - Pula.

TUI used wide-body aircraft, mostly B787-8. The only line to Rijeka (London Gatwick - Rijeka) has also been canceled for this summer season.

In addition to the significant loss for airports to which TUI UK normally flies in the summer flight schedule, the loss is even greater for the tourism sector, which has collaborated with this company in the sale of travel arrangements.

Finally, Croatian Aviation reports that Italian national airline Alitalia has announced its modified flight schedule for August, which has no destinations in Croatia.

The company will significantly increase the number of destinations from August, mainly to destinations from which many tourists traditionally come to Italy (a significant increase in weekly flights to Asia and the USA).

During the summer flight schedule, the company operated to Split and Dubrovnik from Rome (Leonardo da Vinci Airport - Fiumicino). The lines are not currently in operation, and the company does not intend to launch them in August, either. Given that both lines were in operation until the end of September, we can expect that the well-known Italian company will not return to Croatia this year.

Croatia Airlines operates from Zagreb via Split and Dubrovnik to Rome, and on direct flights from Rome to Croatia, there is also Vueling, so passengers who want to travel between Croatia and Italy have a choice in the form of direct flights, as well as those with one stop on the way from or towards Zagreb.

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