May 9, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as FlyDubai Zagreb flights are boosted to five times a week in June, and the seasonal Dubrovnik line begins on June 23!

FlyDubai, a low-cost airline from the United Arab Emirates, currently operates a scheduled flight between Dubai and Zagreb, and a seasonal flight between Dubai and Dubrovnik will be introduced at the end of June, reports Croatian Aviation. 

FlyDubai has been operating regularly to Zagreb for several months now, while flights have been announced and canceled several times in the last two years. The partner company, Emirates, which operated on this line until 2019, canceled this route after the pandemic broke out due to low demand, and instead transferred it to a low-cost carrier.

Regular flights between Dubai and Zagreb are available 4 times a week, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The weekly rotations will be boosted from the end of June when the line should operate on Sundays as well. FlyDubai plans to maintain this number of weekly rotations until the beginning of September.

The seasonal line between Dubai and Dubrovnik will be in traffic again from June 23, three times a week, every Thursday, Friday, and Sunday until mid-September. The line will stop traffic in early October.

On both routes to Croatia, B737 MAX8 aircraft have been announced, which in the fleet of this airline have a capacity of 166 seats (10 in business and 156 in economy class).

From June to the end of the summer flight schedule, FlyDubai offers 32,204 seats between Dubai and Zagreb, and 13,944 seats between Dubai and Dubrovnik, for a total of 46,148 to and from these two Croatian airports.

FlyDubai has a code-share agreement with Emirates so it is possible to continue the journey via Dubai with this well-known airline to a number of destinations in Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

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

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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December 1, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as FlyDubai cancels Zagreb this winter. However, the airline could possibly make a comeback to Croatia in the spring. 

Croatian Aviation reports that although Emirates' partner company, FlyDubai, had announced regular flights to Zagreb from December this winter, which will no longer happen.

As we announced earlier, FlyDubai will not return to Zagreb Airport so soon. The company previously announced flights in early October, which it then canceled by mid-December. Although we announced then that the company will probably not operate on the line between Dubai and Zagreb this year, this has now been confirmed. FlyDubai withdrew all flights on the said route until the beginning of February 2021, and in fact, it is only a question of when those flights will also be canceled.

After Emirates completely gave up on the Dubai - Zagreb line for 2021, it would be logical for FlyDubai to take over this line in the 2021 summer flight schedule. According to the announcements, this should happen, but only from April, with four flights a week throughout the summer flight schedule. Of course, this will depend on passenger demand and the epidemiological situation, so predicting the return of this airline (especially the number of weekly operations) at this time is not wise.

FlyDubai is a state-owned company and works closely with Emirates, operating to less attractive destinations.

FlyDubai will not be able to offer one very important element in relation to its partner Emirates, which with the B777-300ER aircraft offered space for almost 18 tons of cargo or approximately 125 cubic meters of cargo space, depending on the configuration and capacity of the passenger cabin.

Given the announcements that the B737MAX aircraft will soon be re-licensed to operate regular commercial flights, it is to be expected that once FlyDubai returns to Zagreb on a route from Dubai, it will use this type of aircraft, which in terms of comfort and passenger cabin design has significantly better characteristics compared to B737-800.

Additionally, after the news that Korean Air withdrew from Zagreb Airport, FlyDubai will have the opportunity to take on some passengers from the South Korean market, which will certainly be important in the next summer season. It is certain that both Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways will try to create dominance in our traditional, and most important markets with their pricing policy.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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October 21, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik and Zagreb. 

Avio Radar reports that Turkish airline Freebird Airlines began a winter charter service from Dubrovnik to various cities in Europe, which started on September 30. One Airbus a320 aircraft is based in Dubrovnik and has two charter routes each day to various destinations in Europe, including Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin (Shonefeld), Billund, Brussels, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Hanover, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Leipzig, Munich, Oslo (Gardermoen), Rotterdam, Stockholm (Arlanda), and Stuttgart. 

The charter lines are organized by the travel agency RSD Reisen. Last year, Greek charter carrier Aegean Airlines flew on these lines, and before them was Turkish Corendon Airlines. 

Freebird Airlines began operating in 2000 with its main operating base at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Currently, an Airbus A320 aircraft, registered TC-FBR, is based in Dubrovnik. It was produced in 2005 for the Indian airline Air Deccan. Following the collapse of the Indian carrier in 2009, it was taken over by the current Turkish carrier. Freebird has 10 Airbus A320 aircraft in its fleet. One Airbus A320 is registered with its Maltese subsidiary, Freebird Airlines Europe, which allows the Turkish airline to fly charter flights to destinations within the European Union. 

In other flight news, Avio Radar reports that Flydubai has further reduced winter traffic on the Dubai-Zagreb line. While traffic has already been reduced from seven to five flights per week, it has now been decreased to four fights per week. The route will be in service on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

During the Christmas and New Year holidays, the line will be increased to six flights per week. This line operates in conjunction with Emirates, which runs daily summer flights on the Boeing 777-300, while Flydibai takes the winter period. 

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