January 18, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Croatia Airlines operates to 9 international destinations until the end of January. 

Croatian Aviation reports that the Croatian national airline, Croatia Airlines, will operate on 9 international routes departing from Zagreb from Monday, January 18, to Sunday, January 31.

Thus, Croatia Airlines continues to connect Zagreb with 9 international destinations within Europe until the end of this month. The airline has reduced the number of weekly flights on certain routes, leaving daily flights from Zagreb to Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

A look at the updated flight schedule until the end of January 2021:

Zagreb - Amsterdam - Zagreb is in traffic daily until the end of January. 

Zagreb - Vienna - Zagreb is temporarily suspended. The airline has no planned flights on this line until the end of January. Austrian Airlines has also suspended traffic on this route, so there are no direct flights between the two cities.

Zagreb - Brussels - Zagreb will operate on Sunday, January 24, Friday, January 29, and Sunday, January 31. 

Zagreb - Frankfurt - Zagreb operates on average twice a week. By the end of the month, the airlin will perform 29 return flights on this line. 

Zagreb - Copenhagen - Zagreb will operate on Wednesday, January 20, Friday, January 22, Wednesday, January 27, and Friday, January 29. 

Zagreb - London - Zagreb will operate on Monday, January 18, and Monday, January 25. 

Zagreb - Paris - Zagreb will operate on Thursday, January 21, Sunday, January 24, Thursday, January 28, and Sunday, January 31. 

Zagreb - Rome - Zagreb (via Split) will operate on Monday, January 18, Sunday, January 24, Thursday, January 28, and Sunday, January 31. 

Zagreb - Sarajevo - Zagreb is temporarily suspended. The airline has no planned flights on this line until the end of January. There are currently no direct flights between the two cities.

Zagreb - Skopje - Zagreb will operate on Monday, January 18, and Friday, January 29. 

Zagreb - Zurich - Zagreb will operate on Sunday, January 24, Wednesday, January 27, and Sunday, January 31. 

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January 15, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Croatia Airlines is the only airline currently offering direct flights between London-Zagreb.

Croatian Aviation reports that Croatia Airlines is the only airline to offer direct flights between London and Zagreb in January and February this year.

After a new strain of coronavirus was found in the UK, there was a suspension of air traffic to and from this country. Thus, air traffic between Croatia and Great Britain was briefly suspended. At that time, two airlines were operating between London and Zagreb - Croatia Airlines and British Airways.

British Airways returned to Zagreb only briefly, during the holidays, and currently has no direct flights between London and Zagreb in January and February. The first flight available for booking on their official website is scheduled for Monday, March 1, 2021.

Given the development of the global pandemic, British Airways may further cancel said operations, but it is unwise to forecast a month or more in advance.

However, with the first days of 2021, the Croatian national airline started operating again on the route between London and Zagreb and offers direct flights between the two cities with a minimum weekly frequency, every Monday.

It is the only direct line from Croatia to London. Namely, other airports in the winter flight schedule do not have a direct line to this European metropolis, except for Dubrovnik, to which British Airways also operated in the winter, apart from this year.

From March 1, Croatia Airlines also plans to increase the number of weekly flights, but this will, as is the case with British Airways, primarily depend on the global pandemic and the demand.

Croatia Airlines operates A319 aircraft on the route between London and Zagreb, which have a capacity of 144 seats in the national airline's fleet. By the end of February, Croatia Airlines offers over 2,300 seats on direct flights between these two capital cities. 

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January 14, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Israeli Airline Sundor plans to connect Tel Aviv with Zagreb and Dubrovnik this year.  

Croatian Aviation reports that Israeli leisure airline Sundor Airlines plans to establish a direct route between Tel Aviv and Zagreb with the start of the summer flight schedule.

Namely, Sundor plans to bring back the direct line between Zagreb and Tel Aviv with the start of the 2021 summer flight schedule.

The Israeli carrier has been operating on this route for years, which is mainly used by tourists from Israel, and Croatia Airlines also operates on the same route in the summer flight schedule, which is the only night flight in the summer flight schedule (departure from Zagreb airport around midnight). Croatia Airlines did not operate on this route in the summer flight schedule in 2020, while Sundor performed only a few rotations on this route in during the crisis in 2020.

Sundor will establish regular operations on this line from March 30, 2021, with one flight per week, every Tuesday.

From May 10, the number of weekly flights will increase to three, every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with B737-800 aircraft that has a capacity of 185 seats in the fleet of this airline.

Sundor plans to return to Dubrovnik Airport, too. The Tel Aviv-Dubrovnik line should start with traffic a little later than the Zagreb line, or from May 11. The airline plans to operate on this line only once a week, every Tuesday. B737-800 aircraft is also planned on the route to Dubrovnik.

Tickets for the two mentioned lines are already on sale on the official websites of Sundor and partner El Al Airlines.

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January 13, 2021 -  The latest news for flights to Croatia as LOT and Air Serbia have no Rijeka plans this summer.

Croatian Aviation reports that LOT and Air Serbia are not currently planning to return to Rijeka Airport in the upcoming summer flight schedule.

The Serbian national airline announced in a press release a few days ago that it would not resume traffic on four international routes in the 2021 summer flight schedule, including the line between Belgrade and Rijeka.

The Belgrade-Rijeka line was introduced in June 2019 and operated twice a week on ATR75 aircraft. The line continued to operate in most of the 2019/2020 winter flight schedule, but traffic was suspended before the global pandemic due to weak demand.

In the summer of 2020, Air Serbia did not resume traffic on several routes to Croatia (to Pula, Rijeka, and Zadar). The airline confirmed that it would permanently cancel the line between Belgrade and Rijeka in the restructuring process.

The Polish national airline, LOT Polish Airlines, introduced a route between Warsaw and Rijeka in July 2020. Originally, before the global pandemic, the airline planned to operate on this route from the very beginning to the end of the summer flight schedule last year. Still, for objective reasons, this was not possible.

LOT aircraft landed on Krk from the beginning of July to the middle of September 2020, and the airline currently does not plan to resume traffic on this line in the summer flight schedule this year.

Although introducing this line in the 2020 summer flight schedule was a bold move by the airline, it is not clear why LOT decided not to continue operating to Rijeka in the summer of 2021. Namely, whatever result the airline achieved on this route last summer cannot be relevant given that at the time of the global pandemic, the occupancy of aircraft on almost all routes was extremely low.

The loss is not great considering that LOT to Rijeka operated briefly and only once a week. Still, even such a minimum frequency enabled direct air connections between Kvarner and the Polish capital.

It should be noted that the German leisure airline, Condor, also confirmed that it does not currently plan to reintroduce the Frankfurt - Rijeka route in the summer of 2021 but is leaving the possibility of changes until mid-March when it concludes its schedule for this year's summer flight schedule.

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January 9, 2021 - Croatian start-up ETF Airways has announced plans to begin flying this year. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that ETF Airways, a new Croatian start-up registered in November last year, has plans to launch operations in 2021 with charter flights from the Adriatic coast to destinations around Europe. 

“ETF Airways is a new Croatian charter carrier that wants to improve the connectivity of Adriatic coastal cities with European and other destinations. At this point, we are looking for new members of our flying family,” ETF said. 

Namely, ETF is currently hiring a cabin crew for its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The crew will be based both at home and abroad. ETF Airways also plans to offer wet-leasing services.

Ex Yu Aviation adds that Trade Air, which operates international charter flights and domestic PSO services, is the only successful Croatian airline with a similar model to ETF Airways. As their existing PSO contracts expired on March 28, 2020, the Croatian Government is expected to grant the airline new four-year PSO contracts (currently held by Croatia Airlines and Trade Air) this year. 

Croatia is no stranger to charter airlines, and some have certainly been more successful than others. Ex Yu Aviation recalls some you may remember, like Dubrovnik Airline, Anic Airways, Air Adriatic, Air Croatia, Sea Air, Limitless Airways, AWEX Croatia, Libertas Air, and European Coastal Airlines. Other airlines, like Dalmatian and Smile Air, never officially launched. 

“Based on current data, Croatia Airlines will have the largest share of available seat capacity to and from the country this year, standing at 30.2% with some 1.495.300 seats on offer. It is followed by easyJet, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Ryanair and British Airways,” Ex Yu Aviation concludes. 

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January 7, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Qatar Airways reduces traffic to Zagreb.

Croatian Aviation reports that Qatar Airways has updated its flight schedule on the Doha - Zagreb - Doha route. The airline has further reduced the number of weekly flights on its only route to Croatia.

Namely, Qatar Airways has made changes to its flight schedule for the rest of the winter and the start of the regular flight schedule.

This airline had announced an increase in the number of weekly flights to Zagreb during the Christmas and New Year holidays, launching the second weekly flight on this route. Due to weak demand, they were not realized, so they continue to operate on the Zagreb line only once a week, every Friday.

Qatar Airways currently does not have the capacity to fill its smallest aircraft in the fleet (A320) to Zagreb, all due to the impact of the global pandemic and passenger restrictions between countries. 

Until a few days ago, the airline offered two daily flights to Zagreb from the end of March, which is actually the schedule that existed before the global pandemic and has not changed so far.

These two daily flights are no longer available for booking on the airline's website. Instead of twice a day, the airline plans to operate twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays) between Zagreb and Doha, from the end of March to the end of May 2021.

As of June, two daily flights are available. Still, it is expected that the airline will withdraw these flights from sale in the coming weeks and reduce the frequency to two to three flights a week, depending on the epidemiological situation and the demand itself.

In January and February 2020, before the outbreak of the global pandemic, Qatar Airways flew to Zagreb twice a day on A320 aircraft and offered over 31,000 seats between Doha and Zagreb in those two months. In January and February this year, Qatar is offering just one weekly flight (Fridays) for a total of just over 2,100 seats. This is a drastic reduction in the available seats on this line by as much as 93%. 

The small number of weekly Qatar Airways flights is not a surprise - the line to Zagreb has been used by many tourists from all over Asia, Australia, and Oceania. There are almost no such passengers in Croatia since the outbreak of the pandemic. The line from Zagreb is also used by a large number of Slovenian citizens who do not have a direct line from Qatar Airways from Ljubljana. Still, at the moment, Slovenian citizens also do not travel in large numbers, so we will have to wait for a slightly larger number of weekly flights.

In February 2020, Qatar Airways planned to increase capacity on its afternoon flights to Zagreb and operate a B787-8 wide-body aircraft (254 instead of 132 seats) instead of the narrow-body A320, but this did not happen due to the global pandemic.

Before the pandemic, the airline also announced the introduction of the seasonal line Doha - Dubrovnik - Doha, which is currently not on sale for the summer flight schedule in 2021.

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January 6, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Flydubai delays Zagreb return to May 2021.

Ex Yu Aviation reports that Flydubai has delayed its Zagreb return until May 14, 2021, and will run on a daily basis once restored. Flights between Dubai and Zagreb were initially to resume on March 29.

Recall, Flydubai is replacing the famous Emirates, which has temporarily canceled the line to Zagreb and will not operate on it in 2021, due to the impact of the pandemic.

Flydubai had initially announced it would operate its first flight to Zagreb at the end of March 2021 and would run four times a week on this route through April and May, every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Now, Flydubai should operate daily from its new start date (May 14) until September 5 next year.

It was announced earlier that the number of weekly flights from September 6 will be reduced to four (Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays) until the end of October. 

Flydubai will operate on the Zagreb - Dubai route with narrow-body aircraft type B737-800, and in the summer flight schedule, it plans to perform as many as 164 return flights.

This low-cost airline will offer more than 57,000 seats between Dubai and Zagreb in the summer flight schedule, which is significantly less than in 2019 when Emirates operated on this route with a B777-300ER wide-body aircraft with an average capacity of 358 seats per flight (in 2019, more than 152 thousand seats were available on this line, so the number of seats offered on this line will be lower by over 60% compared to 2019.)

Apart from the smaller capacity, the Dubai - Zagreb line will no longer have a first-class seat offer for which Emirates is world-famous. The number of offered seats in business and economy class will be drastically reduced. Nevertheless, the return of Flydubai to Zagreb will enable Emirates passengers to continue their journey to Zagreb with a partner company, which is very important for the market's recovery next year.

Flydubai also plans to return to its second destination in Croatia - Dubrovnik. The Dubai - Dubrovnik line should operate from May 13, twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. From June 25, the airline plans to add a third weekly flight (Fridays), and scheduled flights are announced until the end of September next year.

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January 5, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Volotea announces 21 lines to Croatia for summer 2021.

Croatian Aviation reports that well-known Spanish low-cost airline Volotea has announced as many as 21 international direct routes to Croatia for the summer of 2021.

Volotea, with operational bases in Spain, Italy, France, and Greece, plans to operate on as many as 21 international routes to two Croatian airports - Dubrovnik and Split.

Lines to Split Airport

According to the airline's current plans, Volotea will operate on as many as 10 international routes to Split Airport in the 2021 summer flight schedule, which will take effect at the end of March. This includes one line from Greece, as many as six from France, and three from neighboring Italy:

Split - Athens from April 25 will run twice a week, every Wednesday and Sunday,

Split - Bordeaux from April 11 will operate once a week, and from June 2 twice a week, every Wednesday and Sunday,

Split - Lyon will operate twice a week from April 11, on Wednesdays and Sundays, and from July 6, the third flight will be added (Tuesdays),

Split - Marseille will be in operation from April 25 twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays),

Split - Nantes from April 4 will run once, from April 28 twice a week, from July 6 three times (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays),

Split - Nice from April 25 will operate once a week, from July 7 twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays),

Split - Toulouse will operate twice a week from April 18, from July 6 three times a week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays),

Split - Bari will operate once a week from July 7, on Wednesdays,

Split - Palermo will operate from June 2 once a week, on Wednesdays,

Split - Venice will operate 4 times a week from May 28, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

All lines to Split should run until October 10, except for the lines to Bari and Palermo, which should end slightly earlier - on October 6. 

Lines to Dubrovnik Airport

Volotea is planning as many as 11 lines to Dubrovnik. These are two lines to Greece, six to France, and three to Italy:

Dubrovnik - Athens will operate twice a week from April 24, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and from June 1, they will add another flight per week and operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Mykonos will operate from May 29 twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Bordeaux will operate from April 10 twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Lyon will operate from April 10 twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Marseille will operate from April 24 twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Nantes will operate from April 3 once a week, from April 27 three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Strasbourg will operate from April 24 once a week, on Saturdays,

Dubrovnik - Toulouse will operate from April 17, twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays

Dubrovnik - Bari will operate from June 2 once a week, from July 5 twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays,

line Dubrovnik - Palermo will operate from July 7 once a week, on Wednesdays,

Dubrovnik - Venice will operate twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, from May 28.

Certain routes were in traffic in the 2020 summer flight schedule, but according to a significantly reduced flight schedule, which was expected given the global epidemic. Volotea has released all the lines listed here for the summer of 2021, but there is a possibility that they will reduce the flight schedule to these two Croatian airports if bookings are not satisfactory. 

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January 4, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as T’way plans to launch Seoul-Croatia in late 2021, and Ryanair announces Naples-Zadar. 

Ex Yu Aviation has reported that Korean low-cost carrier T’way Air will operate flights between Seoul and Croatia at the end of this year. 

Namely, a letter of intent has been signed to lease three Airbus A330-300 aircraft for new medium and long-haul routes. The Korean Ministry for Land, Infrastructure, and Transport has already given the Korean airline the necessary permits to run four weekly commercial flights between Seoul and Croatia.

This news comes as T’way plans to bounce back this year after a turbulent 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline currently has a fleet of 27 Boeing 737-800s, which operate on flights to Vietnam, China, Japan, and Taiwan. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that by leasing three A330-300 jets later this year, new destinations are on the horizon for the Korean low-cost carrier, and in addition to Croatia, they will include Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia to their flight network this year as well. 

Recall, Korean Air canceled its Seoul-Zagreb route in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, without any plans to relaunch the service this year. However, the airline is said to have kept its permit for 3x weekly flights to Croatia and could choose to bring back the Zagreb service at any time, according to Damir Kušen, the Croatian Ambassador to South Korea. 

In a normal year, Croatia welcomes around half a million Korean tourists annually. Over 43,000 passengers flew on Korean Air between Seoul and Zagreb in 2019, though many Korean tourists are also interested in visiting Dubrovnik. 

Croatian Aviation reports that the largest low-cost airline, Ryanair, has announced a new route to Croatia in the 2021 summer flight schedule.

Namely, from June 2021, the Irish low-cost airline will launch Naples-Zadar, on which Ryanair will operate for the first time.

There have been no direct commercial lines between Zadar and Naples so far, but that will change this summer. From June 4, Ryanair will introduce the mentioned line with two flights a week, on Mondays and Fridays, with B737-800 aircraft.

The line will be in operation until the end of September (September 27), during which time Ryanair will operate 34 return flights. In total, from the beginning of June to the end of September, this well-known low-cost airline will offer a total of 12,852 seats between Naples and Zadar.

Tickets for this route are already on sale on the airline's official website.

Recall that Ryanair has withdrawn from sale several lines to Croatia for the summer of 2021, but it is expected that most of them will be released by the end of February.

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January the 1st, 2021 - Following the shock ban on passenger transport from the UK to Croatia and vice versa after the discovery of a new strain of the novel coronavirus in parts of southern England, the ban has been lifted for Croatian citizens and British citizens who hold residence in Croatia. They may now travel home from the UK to Croatia.

The impulsive ban threw a proverbial spanner in the works for many a would-be Christmas traveller, and indeed for those waiting for turnaround flights by either British Airways or Croatia Airlines at either end. For some, the sheer level of wanton disregard for those trapped on either side of the channel was too much to deal with after a horrifically stressful year, with some taking their anger directly to PM Andrej Plenkovic's Twitter, where he announced what was to be an initial 48 hour flight ban.

It is worth remembering that the European Commission issued a non-binding recommendation that EU member states lift these blanket bans to allow for essential travel, as nobody should become stranded anywhere. Individual countries, however, could still do as they pleased, and Croatia did just that.

That initial 48 hour flight ban was extended until midnight on the 31st of January, 2020, as the rules for travel to the EEA for UK citizens who are also UK residents were set to change as Britain's transition period drew to a close anyway.

The official page of the British Government (GOV.UK) updated its rules as the UK's Brexit transition period ended last night, reflecting the changes. It now states that travel from the UK to Croatia, or indeed from UK citizens arriving from any other non-EU/EEA country to Croatia would not be permitted for the duration of Croatia's coronavirus measures, which are currently set to remain in place until the 15th of January unless they're extended again.

Thankfully, this ban on British travellers coming from either the UK or any other non EU/EEA country does not include Croatian citizens or British nationals who hold lawful residence in Croatia. Such people fall within the bracket of ''limited exceptions'' to this rule. As do those travelling for ''urgent personal, family or business reasons'', but all those arriving from the UK to Croatia for whatever reason must still present a negative PCR test result which is not older than 48 hours when crossing the Croatian border, or get tested immediately upon arrival (at their own expense) and self-isolate until a negative result is obtained.

It's worth remembering that testing isn't available at Croatian airports, so you're free to go and get your test from a testing centre (list here) before self-isolating. The results are typically available within 48 hours or less.

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