Update - For the latest on the coronavirus in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

March 11, 2020 - Search terms such as United Airlines coronavirus flight cancellation are topping the Google search charts, but how are things with flights to Croatia, especially with a new flight frontier lockdown in neighbouring Italy?

These are uncertain times, and with the lockdown of Italy and all the cancelled flights due to the COVID-19 virus, tourists are understandably nervous. 

There have - thankfully - been no fatalities in Croatia or its neighbouring countries yet, and the total number of case is 19. You can see the current corona map of Croatia at the bottom of this article. 

Some flights have been cancelled, and some airlines have been more forthcoming than others with information. There is still some confusion about the situation in Croatia, and while we certainly do not have all the information at all, we are trying to build a picture of how things are looking. 

What is certain is that there has been a significant number of flight cancellation measures taken for March and April, particularly it seems in Zadar. Many routes are now currently scheduled to start in May. 

Below is an overview of the situation I have tried to put together. ANY additional info/links/resources will be gladly received in the public interest of building a broader picture. Please contact me with info on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Here is what I have found so far. 

easyJet

 I checked the easyJet site for flights to London. All looks ok at the moment from Split, with first bookable flight from March 31, 2020.

As with many other airlines, easyJet from Zadar to London is currently scheduled to start in May.  

Services from London to Dubrovnik start on March 31. 

For the latest travel information and details on flight cancellations policy, check the easyJet website.

Norwegian Air

Norwegian is one of the most important budget carriers to Croatia, and it helped open up the Scandinavian market. On its website, the Norwegian airline has stated that it plans to cancel 3,000 flights globally from mid-March to mid-June. You can follow the latest updates from their official website on this page. 

The first scheduled available flight for the popular Oslo to Split route is on March 31, with April currently looking very available. 

Ryanair

 Ryanair has cancelled a lot of flights, with April to Zadar wiped out for some routes, according to some reader emails. London is currently on from May 9, but there are already come cancelled flights in June. 

 A similar situation to Dublin. 

Pula, on the other hand, will start as things stand on March 29.  

As will Ryanair in Dubrovnik, with its flight to Vienna.  

And Ryanair is certainly not cancelling everything in March - Stuttgart to Split is already in operation, with the next flight tomorrow.  

For the latest information on your Ryanair flight, you can check this page on their website.

Eurowings

Eurowings has introduced a flexible rebooking option for anyone flying before December 31, 2020. You can find out more on the following link. 

Split to London Gatwick with Eurowings is currently available from April.  

British Airways

British Airways has a dedicated COVID-19 FAQ page.

British Airways has announced global cancellations, but Dubrovnik from Gatwick is currently operational.

As is Split to London.  

Croatia Airlines

Not so much information from Croatia Airlines on their website, but flights to Frankfurt from Zagreb, for example, seem to be proceeding as normal.

For more information, here is their travel information page. 

Lufthansa 

Lufthansa is an important connecting partner for Croatia, and the recent news that it plans to cut its flights by up to 50% will have a huge effect globally. Today, the German carrier announced 23,000 flight cancellations. You can keep track of their latest COVID-19 advice here.

This will no doubt have an effect on Croatian flights - for now, things seem to be relatively normal - Split to Munich availability above. 

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways is one of the most important intercontinental connections for Croatia, with 12 flights a week to Zagreb. More information about their COVID-19 and flight cancellation policy here.

Emirates

Emirates is also an important connection for Croatia, with six flights a week from Zagreb to Dubai and the world. Follow the latest on the dedicated COVID-19 travel page.

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines is an extremely important regional and intercontinental partner - follow the latest updates on their dedicated page.

Korean Air

Tourism to Croatia from Korea has boomed in recent years, so much so that Korean Air even introduced daily flights. Sadly, this became the first airline with direct flights to Croatia to be affected. As TCN reported recently, the route has been discontinued until at least April 23. Click here for the latest information. 

The other place to check for latest information are the airport websites. 

Zagreb Airport

Split Airport

Dubrovnik Airport

Zadar Airport

Pula Airport

Rijeka Airport

Osijek Airport

For the latest on the coronavirus in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

March 8, 2020 - As airlines announce many flight cancellations due to the coronavirus, how is Croatia affected with the crucial tourism season about to start? Some hints from the Ryanair Croatia booking engine.  

A lot of people have contacted me recently asking me to write something about coronavirus and the upcoming tourist season in Croatia. This is a very sensitive time, with so many rumours, theories and panic due to the coronavirus, and I am aware that the information put out by this portal is widely read these days, and it therefore comes with a responsibility. 

Regarding coronavirus, I am firmly in the Jurgen Klopp school of thought on this. Just as the Liverpool coach can't understand why his opinion is important, as he is a football coach, not a medical expert, so too with me. I could write something clickbaity which I am sure would be shared and I would make some ad revenue, or I could write something soothing to make feel better, but as I am not an expert, it is better I write nothing at all in terms of opinions, and stick to reporting the facts. And the facts about coronavirus in Croatia at time of writing, is that we have 12 confirmed cases, all of which seem mild, in Varazdin, Rijeka and Zagreb only. All the major Croatian coastal tourist destinations are coronavirus-free at time of writing.

The fallout from the virus is going to - is already - have a big impact on the tourist season. Stories of Lufthansa possibly cutting up to half of their flights worldwide are pretty scary for the global economy, tourism and otherwise. But how are things in Croatia? Are airlines cancelling flights en masse?

Several people sent me emails similar to this, above, communications from budget airlines such as Lauda and Ryanair about cancelled flights to or from Zadar in April or May, 2020. The reason for the cancellation cited was "due to the impact of COVID-19." Were airlines really cancelling flights two months in advance?

The Internet is a wonderful thing, and these days it is relatively easy to check such things. I decided to check out the booking engine of Ryanair, one of the major budget airline players in Croatia, whose flights service Pula, Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik, with the largest number of flights going to Zadar. People had contacted me with details of flights cancelled from Zadar to both Paris and Dublin in April and May. I decided to go through the Ryanair site and look for cancelled flights. What I found was interesting. 

Flights to Split, Dubrovnik, Pula and Rijeka had NO cancelled flights whatsoever. Not one. Some sample starting dates for seasonal lines, including to Split today;

March 8, 2020 - Split - Stuttgart

March 29, 2020 - Pula - London

March 30, 2020 - Pula - Brussels

March 29, 2020 - Pula - Frankfurt

March 29, 2020 - Dubrovnik - Vienna

With Zadar, however, the situation was a little different. There have been several cancellations, even one in June. Not a huge number, but across several destinations. It should be remembered that there are a lot more Ryanair flights to Zadar than any other Croatian destination. 

Some examples of cancellations - one flight from Liverpool in May.

Two from Brussels. 

Two from Dublin. 

One from Paris. 

And interestingly, one in June from Stuttgart.

I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged that so few flights have been cancelled. This could, of course, change quickly, and a good way to check the latest situation is to check the booking engine yourself for destinations. 

I asked the aviation experts at ch-aviation for a comment, as their insights are a lot more valid than mine:

They are cutting capacity blaming a lack of demand, with flights with the lowest number of advance booking being cut. That is what all of the other carriers are doing as well, as demand has really plummeted and people are either not booking at all, changing dates or simply not showing up for departures. It is probably an unprecedented situation in recent European airline history in the sense that it is very unpredictable for airlines to see what the medium-term demand effects are. I suspect it will become a big legal argument in courts whether or not people can claim compensation for these cancelled flights when there is no government mandate or travel warning in place to ban flights.

It is a subject we will keep an eye on and report accordingly - if anyone has any insights to contribute, please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Flights. 

For the latest flight news to Croatia, check out the dedicated TCN section.

Article Update (reader contribution)

Hi,
Your article is helpful but also misleading.
We were booked Dublin to Zadar return going out on first flight of the season on 29th March. (We have boat in Croatia)
Yesterday, we were told both flights were cancelled.
On Ryanair website first flight to Zadar from Dublin is now 1st May., over one month later.
So obviously a lot more than 2 flights cancelled as you stated.
Hopefully this will be resolved soon, we absolutely love Croatia.
Best regards,

Second reader update

I have a correction to make regarding your latest article regarding flight cancelations, where you said that flights to split are not affected. I had a flight Stg- Split beginning of April which got cancelled, and I can confirm first hand info that return flights from Fuerteventura to Stuttgart end of March got canceled, the flight to Fuerteventura next week however didn’t. My conclusion was they set a date end of March where they’d cancel most of their European lines, but I guess we’ll see ;)

February 25, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb and Dubrovnik.

Avio Radar reports that Croatian national carrier and Star Alliance member Croatia Airlines will strengthen the Zagreb-Amsterdam route in 2020. Namely, in addition to morning flights, a second flight on Tuesdays will be introduced in the afternoon. A total of eight flights per week will be offered. The additional flight on Tuesdays will run from April 28 to September 29, 2020. An Airbus A320 and Airbus A319 aircraft will serve this line. 

The additional flight on Tuesdays is being introduced instead of the Dubrovnik-Pula-Amsterdam seasonal route, which will no longer be available. 

Furthermore, Avio Radar reports that German airline Condor has begun selling tickets for a new seasonal route from Germany to Croatia. Namely, the Hanover-Dubrovnik route will be in service once a week, from Saturday, May 30 to October 24, 2020. An Airbus aircraft has been announced for this line. 

This is the second Condor line from Germany to Dubrovnik in addition to the existing line from Frankfurt. Condor announced earlier that it would cancel the Hanover-Zadar route for this year. 

Last year, Eurowings flew from Hanover to Dubrovnik twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, though that line is no longer on offer. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that Croatia Airlines has presented a plan for the near future. The national carrier will run three flights per week from Zagreb to Sofia and Podgorica this summer, as TCN already announced. 

“We are expanding our network of destinations to a total of forty cities in 26 counties. That is a respectable number for a small nation such as Croatia,” said CEO Jasmin Bajić. 

The new routes will not only help ‘point to point’ travelers but will improve loads on services to Western Europe by generating transfer traffic, Ex Yu Aviation said.

Furthermore, Croatia Airlines’ passenger numbers are up 1% thus far in 2020, though that could change with the spread of Coronavirus.

“It [virus] has had less of an impact on Croatia Airlines than other European carriers which are dealing with this major issue. Based on our advanced bookings for March, we do see a slump In demand compared to previous years. However, we are still not considerably affected”. 

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

February 19, 2020 - After a five-month break, Emirates and Korean Air will resume their seasonal services to Croatia next month. 

Namely, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Emirates will once again fly to Zagreb on March 29, on the route that has been operated by Flydubai for the winter. Ex Yu Aviation adds that the Zagreb service was the first time these two airlines shared a single route. 

"Zagreb is an example of how much our cooperation with Flydubai managed to improve our results. We served the route in winter with our Boeing 777 aircraft. However, it emerged that this route is not as strong in winter, so now we can still continue serving Zagreb well through Flydubai,” said Emirates’ Area Manager, Martin Gross. 

“Zagreb is corresponding with our development in Europe. We have wide coverage in Europe, and we understood that Croatia has big potential for two reasons. First, it is a destination that is really interesting for travel from Asia, Australia, China and Taiwan. Therefore, there is a lot of incoming traffic to Zagreb and the entire country in general. From Croatia it is a way to offer the local population a link to our Dubai hub. There is a lot of demand from Croatia to the world. This is primarily to Dubai but also beyond, for example, to destinations in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, such as Phuket in Thailand”, Emirates said about the future of the Dubai - Zagreb service.

We will also see the return of Korean Air to Zagreb from March 31. The airline will increase capacity on this route this year and use the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which has capacity for 269 passengers. Korean Air will run on the Seoul-Zagreb route three times per week.

Recall, Korean Air previously ran year-round to Zagreb, though it cut back its winter operations in 2019. 

“We have not yet decided whether suspending the flights during the winter season will be continued in the future,” the airline said for Ex Yu Aviation.

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

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

Avio Radar reports that Latvian national carrier AirBaltic has announced that is will reinforce the new route from Lithuania to Rijeka - Vilnius-Rijeka, which has already been scheduled for one flight per week, on Thursdays, with traffic starting in May this year. 

However, the airline has strengthened the new route before it has even launched, with an additional second flight per week, on Saturdays, from June 6 to September 26, 2020.  The Airbus A220-300 will service this line. 

Furthermore, Avio Radar adds that Irish national carrier Are Lingus will strengthen the Cork-Dubrovnik route in the 2020 summer fight schedule. The line first began operating last year with two flights a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

In the peak season, the third flight per week has been introduced, on Thursdays, from July 2 to August 27. An Airbus A320 aircraft will fly on this line. 

Finally, Avio Radar reports that German low-cost carrier Eurowings will fly four flights from Germany to Zadar instead of Split over the next two weeks. This is because of the reconstruction of the runway in Split. 

Thus, Eurowings has decided to divert all its lines to Zadar from February 17 to March 1, 2020. Tickets for all diverted routes from Dusseldorf, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart to Zadar are on sale in booking systems. 

Recall, Avio Radar reported last week that regular international flights from Zagreb to Sofia are scheduled from May 1 to the end of October this year. This service will run three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and will operate using the 76-seater Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. 

Two days later, on May 3,  2020,regular international flights on the Zagreb-Podgorica route will be introduced on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Flights will also be operated by the Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. As of today, return airline tickets are sold on both routes. 

Compared to the last tourist season, where Croatia Airlines had a fleet of 14 aircraft (12 of their own and 2 chartered CRJ 1000 aircraft), they will enter this season with one additional aircraft. Based on a long-term dry lease, the fleet will include a 150-seat Airbus 319 in late March and an additional 76-seat Dash 8-Q400 in late April to support unplanned traffic disruptions. In addition, from April to October, a short lease (wet-lease) of one CRJ 1000 aircraft by the Spanish air carrier Air Nostrum is also planned. 

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

February 16, 2020 - TCN recently started a discussion on why there are no budget winter flights to Split, which got a lively response. And now we have an expert view to consider. 

One of the many fabulous discoveries I made about Croatia in the last couple of years is a fantastic Swiss company called ch-aviation, which is the market leader in aviation data. Fantastic because their data and analysis has been a great source of information for me for stories about flights to Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. And a fabulous discovery because they opened their main subsidiary office right here in Croatia, in Zagreb. And so successful have they been with their Croatian operation that they have expanded quickly, and continue to look for more talented young Croatian staff. You can read a TCN feature about ch-aviation here, and then check out their website. 

The ch-aviation chaps have always been very obliging when I have asked for comment on an issue regarding the Croatian air industry, so having opened the topic about budget winter flights to Split, I thought it would be useful to get some expert thoughts. And here they are, courtesy of Chief Marketing Officer, Simonas Bartkus, for which many thanks:

Europe is by far the most seasonal continent in the world when it comes to air travel. It means there is massive demand in Summer, but the demand goes down in Europe-wide. I don‘t have exact numbers, but I believe Croatia is one of the most challenging countries in Europe when it comes to seasonality (everything connects to sea-coast tourism as a key purpose to travel to Croatia).

In Europe, most of the airlines are making their profits in summer. Even ultra-low-cost-airlines, like Ryanair or Wizz Air, announce quarterly losses when financial quarters includes winter months only. From time to time low-cost airlines report very thin positive margins, but mainly due to their smart capacity management (reducing in winter, planning all maintenance events and crew holidays in winter) and more business profile routes in their network.
 
Having said that, I should say, profitable operations in winter-only operations are not realistic from Split in winter. Nevertheless, every additional flight would be beneficial for local tourism and the economy. As the region has the infrastructure to serve loads of people in summer, the capacity is under-utilized in winter. It would make sense to the region (tourism authority, local businesses or local government) to subsidize routes, but the amount of the subsidies may be high: we could look at the numbers to subsidize 30% or even 50% of all the cost of the flights which may result in few millions of subsidies per route. At the same time, the long term development the subsidies will develop the traffic to the level it can sustain itself in the long term also is not very realistic, in my opinion.
 
Together with that, every subsidy creates a change in the competition environment. In winter, Croatia Airlines offers 86% of the capacity from Split Airport. The national airline is operating 3x daily flights to Zagreb which is subsidized by PSO mechanism in Croatia domestic airline network. Croatia Airlines also feeds Frankfurt and Munich with daily flights on their own commercial risk, feeding Lufthansa hubs and two largest Star Alliance hubs in Europe. Business travellers have an option to reach Split via Zagreb, Munich or Frankfurt in winter. If the new low-cost airline will be created in Split for winter operations, Croatia Airlines will become the one which will be hurt most, as I expect their routes SPU-ZAG, SPU-MUC and SPU-FRA serves connecting traffic mostly. This may result in the need to raise the subsidy required for SPU-ZAG or/and Croatia Airlines may decide to drop Frankfurt and Munich services for good. 

So to say, I‘m quite pessimistic with the longterm sustainability of such a project. Nevertheless, there are some good examples in Europe, when Malta, Cyprus or provinces of Italy try to attract a limited amount of low-cost flights during winter with offering subsidies. But at the same time subsidies schemes should be smart not to destroy existing traffic.

For the latest flight news from Croatia, check out the dedicated TCN section. 

February 7, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Zagreb.

Avio Radar reports that Spanish national airline Iberia, a member of the global airline association OneWorld, has announced larger aircraft on its route to Dubrovnik. On select flights on the Madrid-Dubrovnik route, from April 18-25 and September 7-26 this year, the larger, Airbus A330 will be used. The smaller, Airbus A321 aircraft usually runs on this route.

Furthermore, Avio Radar reports that Polish national carrier and Star Alliance member LOT Polish Airlines have announced a new route from Poland to Zadar. Namely, the new route will connect Rzeszow and Zadar once a week, from Saturday, May 30 to September 19, 2020. The Bombardier Q400 aircraft will run on this route. Rzeszow is located in southeastern Poland, and this will be the first scheduled line from Rzeszow to any Croatian destination. 

Previously, the Polish regional carrier EuroLOT flew the Bombardier Q400 from smaller towns in Poland to Zadar, but these lines were discontinued when LOT took over EuroLOT.

LOT will also increase capacity on the Warsaw(Okecie-Fryderyk Chopin)-Zadar route. Specifically, in the heart of the season, the larger Boeing 737-800 aircraft was announced on this line instead of the smaller ERJ-195 Embraer. 

Finally, Ex Yu Aviation reports that we have good news from Zagreb Airport, which welcomed 203,035 passengers in January, which is up 6.2%. Aircraft movements also grew from 2.9% to 3.133%.

Zagreb Airport General Manager, Huseying Bahadir Bedir, expects this trend to continue 

“We expect this trend to continue in 2020. Since the opening of the new passenger terminal, we have achieved significant results in overall traffic, such as an increase in passenger numbers, the number of destinations, new carrier, cargo traffic, an increase in the number of employees, as well as new shops and sales outlets that have been opened. With our strategies and strong focus on future development, we expect even better results in the years to come”.

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

February 4, 2020 - Croatian tourism chiefs keep talking about 12-month tourism, and the Dalmatian capital has enough content to support it, so why are there no budget winter flights to Split? Shall we try? 

When I first moved to Dalmatia back in 2003, I found Split in winter a little creepy. 

Walking through Diocletian's Palace after dark was a depressing experience, nothing was open, and I had the feeling that I might get mugged on some occasions. I remember the fabulous ladies from Zinfandel and B7 telling me that when they opened the first licenced hostel around the same time, things were so bad that they had to take their winter guests to a bar at the bus station to party. 

How times have changed! 

Tourism has really boomed in Split since I arrived, and it was known back then as the Gateway to the Dalmatian Islands, whereas now it is known as one of the hottest destinations in Europe. In the summer and shoulder months. But once those budget airlines wind up for the season, things change considerably from November to early April. And yet the content is there if people came. Events such as Advent in Split are great additions to the winter scene (as those who remember the pre-Advent days will confirm). But adventure tourism, gourmet tourism, cultural tourism - these have all progressed considerably in the last decade, and the tourism providers stand ready to greet their winter guests. 

And yet - despite the explosion of budget air travel in recent years - the airports on the Adriatic are mostly idle. Does it really have to be that way?

I recently received a message from a tourism business owner in Split:

So the reason for this message is to get businesses in Dalmatia thriving (specifically Split) from 1st of November to April 1st. We are dying!!! Literally!! 

I've just been away and coming back made me realise how dead this city ACTUALLY is!!! I was too busy being a boring mum, ? and I didn't realise what a ghost town it actually was. Sure there a few local places that do well and manage to survive, but the overall situation is horrific! And if foreigners, even just Europeans were to fly here for short city breaks then it will motivate the locals to come out of there houses. It will create a chain reaction!!

Dalmatia is the Florida of Europe and all we have is sunshine and a bunch of pensioners!!! I even invested in a marketing agency over winter to help with winter businesses. But we have achieved nothing!! 

It's great that we are getting more flights over summer, but we desperately NEEEEEEEED to be connected to Europe over winter. 

Dalmatia is no better off than Slavonia over winter, I'm telling you. We may have the finances left from summer to get us through, but the lack of people and moral3 is so demoralising.

The email got me thinking - surely it was worth testing the market to see if there was enough of a market? I have heard SO many people complain over the years that Split and Dalmatia is so inaccessible over the years. If we made it more accessible, would they actually come and support such an initiative. Perhaps, perhaps not, but the only way to find out would be to try. 

Should we try or just keep on talking about it and complaining? 

The Croatian National Tourist Board had some kind of programme for providing financial assistance to airlines. I had thought that this was in the form of a subsidy, but as I found out when I contacted them (see below), it isn't actually a subsidy: 

Inquiry:

1. I know that HTZ subsidises some flights. Is it possible to give me more information, please? A statement on the strategy, as well as details of which flights/airlines are subsidised. 

2. Has there ever been a plan to experiment with subsiding a year-round flight to Split to see if the interest was there?

Response:

The Croatian National Tourist Board offers the opportunity for interested partners from the tourism industry to propose activities related to programs for Croatia via public calls for proposals, with the aim of realizing common interests, actively promoting the domestic tourist offer and attracting more guests.

All interested travel industry partners (tour operators and carriers) with all forms of organized programs for Croatia (air, bus and nautical) that are introducing or looking to enhance their programs or extend the period of operations in the pre-season and post-season with a tendency to further grow in the 3 years following the introduction of the program are eligible to submit to the public call.

Interested partners submit their proposals for cooperation to the CNTB representative office in the relevant market (CNTB Head Office for other markets depending on the partner's programs and headquarters), and when selecting a partner, the compatibility of the partner's program with the main strategic goals of the CNTB is taken into account. The proposal submitted, as well as the submitting partner’s market position, openness to cooperation and the possibility of establishing a viable partnership are all taken into account. A final decision on the selection of partners for the implementation of the CNTBs strategic promotional campaigns (affiliate marketing campaigns) is made by the CNTB Tourism Council.

It is important to note that this is not a subsidy, but a marketing cooperation, because in consultation with the chosen partners, advertising is carried out in all types of media, depending on the final agreement. While a portion of the agreed activities certainly include some related to year-round flight routes of interest to individual Croatian regions.

I am not sure I am much wiser in terms of my questions answered, but perhaps there is something that we can take from this. Assuming that the Croatian National Tourist Board is interested strategically in 12-month tourism and would support marketing cooperation to make that happen, and with the excellent connections the tourism chiefs must have with the airlines that they deal with, can we not package a deal to make it sufficiently attractive to a low-cost airline to dip a toe in the water and see what the interest? Even if that deal means giving the airline better summer landing slots, for example? Surely Split Airport would be flexible on fees to allow this seed to grow.

A couple of flights a week from London, Oslo, Berlin and Rome, for example. 

Would local businesses like to be involved to see if it could work, either through financially supporting or offering special discounts? 

Isn't it worth a try?

To follow the latest from Split, check out Total Split. 

February 4, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zadar, Dubrovnik, and Split. 

Ex Yu Aviation and Avio Radar report that Ryanair has added its 12th new route and 34th total to Zadar for the summer season. Namely, Ryanair will connect Budapest with Zadar twice per week, on Thursdays and Sundays, from July 2 until September 27, 2020. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft will operate on this route. Avio Radar adds that this is only the second line from Hungary to Croatia. 

Recall, Lauda, which is Ryanair’s subsidiary, will base three aircraft at Zadar Airport in the summer. Around 672,000 passengers are expected to use Ryanair to fly to and from Zadar in 2020. 

Recall, Zadar Airport, also expects over one million in 2020. 

“Having welcomed 800,000 travelers in 2019 is a big achievement for us. It is a milestone. However, new records will be broken in 2020,” said Zadar Airport General Manager, Josip Klišmanić. “During our first fifty years of operations, we handled under a million passengers annually. This will no longer be the case in 2020,” he added. In 2019, Zadar Airport handled 801,347 passengers, which is an additional 197,308 compared to 2018. 

Zadar Airport will thus become the fourth airport in the country to welcome one million passengers in a single year, after Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik.

Furthermore, Avio Radar reports that SkyTeam member and French national carrier Air France has announced that it is boosting operations to Dubrovnik and Split. 

The Paris (Rossy-Charles de Gaulle Airport)-Dubrovnik route will operate daily in 2020. Namely, the line will begin operating on March 29, a week earlier than last year. At the same time, during the preseason, it will work twice a week, on Saturdays and Sundays, or one flight a week more than last year. 

During the heart of the season, Dubrovnik and Paris will be connected by seven flights per week instead of the five routes last year. The Airbus A318, A319, and A320 will run on this line.

The Paris (Rossy-Charles de Gaulle Airport)-Split line will run six flights per week, or every day but Saturday. This is twice as many flights as last year when the two cities were connected by Air France three times per week. The smaller Embraer ERJ-190 will fly on this line. Last year, the Airbus A319 aircraft flew on this route. 

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

February 1, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split and Pula. 

Ex Yu Aviation and Avio Radar report that Ukrainian Windrose Airlines has announced that it would launch a new service between the capitals of Ukraine and Croatia.

Namely, Windrose will launch the first nonstop service between Kyiv and Zagreb since the 1980s. Recall, Aeroflot was the last to connect the two cities with a nonstop flight before the break-up of Yugoslavia.

The new route between the two capital cities will run three times per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, beginning June 2. The new service will be seasonal and run until the end of October, though the airline could reevaluate its frequency given the performance. 

The Embraer E145 jet, which has a capacity of 50 seats, will be used on both routes. Windrose has six aircraft of this type in its fleet and all were taken from the flat of the regional Ukrainian carrier Dniproavia, which officially ceased operations. However, all six aircraft continue to wear Dniproavia’s coloring. Dniproavia flew to Croatia on regular charter flights from Lviv to Pula and Split. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that Croatia Airlines thought about connecting the two capitals back in 2009, though it never came to fruition. Furthermore, Ukraine International Airlines announced they were looking to connect Kyiv and Zagreb back in 2018, though nothing has come of it yet. 

There are, however, various seasonal connections from Kyiv to the Croatian coast. Namely, like in previous years, Windrose will also fly on seasonal scheduled flights from Kyiv to Pula and Split. Both lines will run twice a week, which is the same as last year. Windrose will fly to Pula on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and to Split on Thursdays and Sundays. The Airbus A321 aircraft will fly to the Adriatic destinations. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that based on traffic flow, Zagreb Airport has named Kyiv, Basel, Geneva, Riga and Sofia unserved European destinations with the potential to sustain direct flights. 

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