January 18, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Zadar, Pula, and Split. 

HRTurizam reports that the Vakantiebeurs Tourism Fair is held in the Dutch city of Utrecht from January 15 to 19, 2020. It is the largest tourism fair for business and general audiences in the Benelux area, with more than 1000 exhibitors attending the jubilee 50th edition of the fair this year, as well as the Croatian Tourist Board with 18 local co-exhibitors.

It is at the Vakantiebeurs Fair that new lines from the Netherlands and Belgium to Croatia have been announced.

"We are very pleased with the growing interest of airlines in Croatia, as is evidenced by the announcement of three new flights from the Netherlands and Belgium to Croatia this year, namely Easyjet from Amsterdam to Zadar, Ryanair from Maastricht to Zadar and TUIfly airlines from Brussels to Pula,”  said Ivan Novak, Director of the HTZ Representation for Benelux.

During 2019, nearly 500,000 arrivals and approximately 3 million overnight stays were made from the Dutch market.

In other news, Ex Yu Aviation News reports that Croatia Airlines is planning to launch a service between Zagreb and Tirana this summer. Recall, while the Croatian national carrier used to operate on the Zagreb-Tirana route, the two cities haven’t been connected by the airline in years. 

Namely, the airline's CEO Jasmin Bajić and Director of its Commercial Division, Slaven Žabo, discussed the potential new line with Albania’s Ambassador to Croatia, Riza Poda.

“Both parties agreed for talks between Croatia Airlines and relevant authorities in Albania to commence immediately in order for this important project to be realized as soon as possible,” the Albanian Embassy in Zagreb said. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that the Croatian carrier hoped to establish a base in Tirana back in 2016, though the project never came to fruition. Albanian national carrier Air Albania said it would launch flights to Croatia back in 2017, though they have yet to do so. The aviation portal added that an average of 24,000 Albanian passport holders visited Croatia annually over the last few years. 

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and a large delegation of Croatian investors will visit Tirana in May. The Croatian national carrier also plans to service Sofia and Podgorica this summer. 

To end this week of flight news, Avio Radar reports that FlygBRA-Braathens Regional Airlines announced the first regular flight from Sweden to Croatia this summer. The new Malmo-Split route will run once a week, on Saturdays, from May 30 to September 26, 2020.

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

On Tuesday, the low-cost carrier easyJet launched its new route between Amsterdam and Pula, reports HRTurizam on June 26, 2019.

The inaugural flight, which operated using the Airbus A320 aircraft, was scheduled to land at 19:40, but arrived 10 minutes earlier, at 19:30. The flight carried 110 passengers to Pula, while 94 passengers were on the flight departing back to Amsterdam. The new route will operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays, until September 1, 2019. 

“Compared to the traffic in 2018, up to Monday, we had a 16 percent increase in the number of passengers, which is justified by the repeat flight plan for all existing companies, and new lines on Laudamotion for Stuttgart, Volotea for Bordeaux, Jet2.com for Birmingham, easyJet for Amsterdam and Geneva as well as TUI UK for Doncaster,” said Svemir Radmilo, director of the Pula Airport.

In addition to the newly opened line for Amsterdam, easyJet flies to another ten destinations from Pula.

• Paris on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until August 30

• Milan on Mondays and Fridays until August 30

• Berlin Schönefeld Tuesdays and Saturdays until August 31

• Berlin Tegel on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays until October 20

• Basel Tuesdays and Saturdays until August 31

• Bristol on Wednesdays and Saturdays until August 31

• Liverpool on Wednesdays and Sundays until October 13

• London Gatwick on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays until October 26

• London Southend on Thursdays and Sundays until October 26

• Geneva on Wednesdays and Saturdays until August 31

Pula’s airport dates back to 1911, when some pilots and engineers from the Austro-Hungarian army took to the air from a grass field. This is the present location of the airport.

Civilian flights began in 1924 with a seaplane service. Seaplanes reappeared briefly to Pula in 2015, but European Coastal Airlines stopped flights in 2016. The seaplane company is presently in pre-bankruptcy proceedings.

The current airport was turned over to civilian use back in 1967, and it proved very successful. 1987 saw Pula handle over 700,000 passengers, a number that would not be bettered until 2018.

For all of your Pula Airport needs, check out Total Croatia. 

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

Three new flights to Croatia are on the cards as Croatia's rich tourist offer impresses the Dutch in Utrecht.

As Morski writes on the 10th of January, 2019, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has been presenting the Croatian tourist offer at the Vakantiebeurs fair, which takes place in the Dutch town of Utrecht from January 9th to the 13th, 2019. The fair is intended for both a business and a wider audience, and on the first day of the fair alone, the Dutch have shown huge interest for various Croatian destinations, especially for the Croatia's camping segment. Owing to the level of interest from the Netherlands, three new flights to Croatia from Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Einhoven are ready to take off in 2019.

''The presentation at the Utrecht fair starts with the presentation of the Croatian tourist offer at the most important fairs with key emission markets. The Croatian National Tourist Board will organise the presentation of the Croatian tourist offer at a total of 22 fairs in 2019, of which there are 17 general ones, and five specialised ones, including three nautical fairs and two camping fairs,'' said the Croatian National Tourist Board's director Kristjan Staničić, adding that during 2018, almost 500,000 arrivals and about 3.2 million overnight stays were realised by Dutch tourists, representing fairly significant growth of nine percent in terms of arrivals and of five percent in terms of overnight stays made by the Dutch back in 2017.

Within the scope of the current Utrecht fair, numerous meetings with representatives of various tour operators, travel agents and airline companies such as TUI, Thomas Cook, Transavia, D-Reizen, Rotterdam-Den Haag Airport, Travel Counselors Association and others are also taking place.

Such meetings are aimed at discussing activities and better cooperation in the upcoming period. The first information which can be concluded from Dutch tour operators is that the interest level of the Dutch for Croatia is currently at last year's level, but the real period of intensification lies not too far ahead.

''We're extremely pleased with the increasing interest of air carriers for Croatia, as evidenced by the announcement of the introduction of three new air lines from the Netherlands to Croatia, more precisely to Zadar in 2019. The Transavie line will connect Zadar with Rotterdam, Ryanair will link Zadar with Eindhoven, and Easyjet will link Zadar to Amsterdam,'' said Ivan Novak, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board's representation for the Benelux countries.

Make sure to atay up to date with flights to Croatia and other travel trends by following our dedicated travel page.

Just hours after British low-cost carrier EasyJet announced four new routes to Croatia for next summer, including connections between Dubrovnik and Berlin (Tegel), Pula and Amsterdam, Pula and Geneva, and Zadar and London (Gatwick), another line was introduced - Dubrovnik to Nantes, reports AvioRadar on December 13, 2018. 

Yet another new line for the ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’, EasyJet will operate between Dubrovnik and Nantes with three flights weekly, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from June 24 to August 30, 2019. 

This will be the first EasyJet line for Croatia from Nantes, in the northwest of France, though it is the 18th line from Dubrovnik and the fourth connecting Dubrovnik and France. Either the Airbus A319 or the Airbus A320 will be used for this service.

These 2019 announcements, however, are all a part of EasyJet’s plans to expand their operations in Croatia, which should see over one million seats on sale going to and from Croatia next year. The plans also place particular focus on Pula, reports Ex Yu Aviation on December 14, 2018. 

"With more than fifty services operating in Croatia, EasyJet is committed to providing Croatian clients with affordable trips, offering them a broad network of connections with major European cities. Pula is very trendy both with young people who want to go to the various festivals of Croatia, but also with more mature people as well, and we expect all our new routes to be especially popular with passengers,” said EasyJet’s UK Country Manager, Ali Gayward. 

"This announcement of our expansion highlights our commitment to providing affordable routes to summer holiday destinations. We’re sure that they will prove extremely popular for those looking for a summer break or visiting friends and family,” Sophie Dekkers, EasyJet's UK Country Director, added. 

The new EasyJet routes are also in direct completion with airlines such as Croatia Airlines (which flies between Amsterdam and Pula) and Swiss International Air Lines (which operates between Geneva and Dubrovnik). The new Nantes route for EasyJet, which flies to the Pearl of the Adriatic, will compete against Volotea and TUIfly Belgium, while the Dubrovnik-Berlin (Tegel) route faces off with Eurowings. 

In 2019, EasyJet will operate over 3,100 flights to Croatia during the peak season - July and August.

To learn more about EasyJet in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

British low-cost airline EasyJet will launch four new lines to Croatia in their 2019 summer flight schedule, including two to Pula, one to Dubrovnik, and one to Zadar, reports AvioRadar on December 13, 2018. 

The strongest new line for the carrier will operate between Dubrovnik and Berlin (Tegel) three times a week, on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. This new line is in addition to the long-standing Dubrovnik-Berlin (Schonefeld) route. Unlike the Schonefeld route, the new Tegel route will begin operating almost two months earlier - from May 2, 2019. At the same time, this route will run until the end of the summer schedule, or October 26, 2019. 

The Schonefeld line, however, will also get an upgrade. The popular route will now be strengthened to four flights per week, instead of three, and run on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This brings the total number of flights between Dubrovnik and Berlin to seven a week, which is an additional four flights compared to last year. 

Pula will also get two new routes next summer from the Netherlands and Switzerland. The new Pula-Amsterdam line will operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays, from June 25 to September 1, 2019. The new Pula-Geneva line will also circulate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from June 26 to August 31, 2019. This will be the second line to Pula from Switzerland after Basel was introduced this year, which will continue operating with two flights per week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, in 2019. 

The fourth new EasyJet line for Croatia next summer is between Zadar and London (Gatwick). The new line will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from April 30 to October 26, 2019. Similar to Dubrovnik, this is an additional line for EasyJet from London, which already operates to Zadar from London Luton Airport. The existing EasyJet flight from Luton will run twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, from April 30 to October 26, 2019.

All EasyJet flights will use an Airbus A320 aircraft or the smaller Airbus A319. 

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

Airlines EasyJet and Jet2.com announced the upcoming tourist season for Pula, with new connections to Amsterdam and Birmingham, and the extension of the already seasonal flight schedule, reports Denis Ivošević, Director of the Tourist Board of Istria County.

This is the first time in history the company's magazine is devoted to a single country - Croatia.

The leading European airline is continuing to grow its operations in Croatia

Europe’s most popular low-cost carrier is looking to expand their Croatian operations in 2018.

Good news for those planning on travelling to Dubrovnik outside of the main tourist season!