May 20, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as only 11 international routes to Rijeka Airport will operate this summer.
Croatian Aviation reports that Rijeka Airport has announced a preliminary flight schedule with only 11 international routes to 10 destinations in Europe this summer season from the island of Krk. The first regular international flight this year on Krk is expected on May 29.
German Eurowings will have the largest number of lines to Rijeka this summer (just like previous seasons) and is planning 5 lines: from Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne, and Stuttgart.
This year's first international scheduled flight to Rijeka has been announced for Saturday, May 29, from Dusseldorf, on an A319 aircraft.
Eurowings is planning a significantly smaller number of weekly flights to Rijeka compared to the 2019 season, which is logical given the global pandemic:
The Berlin - Rijeka - Berlin line has been announced from the end of June to the end of October, twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays.
The Düsseldorf - Rijeka - Düsseldorf line will operate from May 29, once a week, on Saturdays, and from the beginning of July, the second weekly flight will be introduced on Wednesdays.
The Hamburg - Rijeka - Hamburg line is planned from the end of June, three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, while the line from Cologne has been announced twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The Stuttgart - Rijeka - Stuttgart line will operate twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays, from the beginning of July to the middle of October.
In 2018, the Dutch Transavia started traffic to Rijeka on the line from Eindhoven, and the same was in traffic last summer. The start of traffic is expected only in July, and from then, the company plans to travel to Rijeka as many as four times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The long-term partner of Rijeka Airport, Air Baltic, plans to introduce its seasonal line from Riga only in July. Two flights a week are announced on Mondays and Thursdays. The company announced a line between Rijeka and Vilnius in February last year, but it was not realized for obvious reasons - the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new Lufthansa line from Frankfurt was supposed to start operating in May but was postponed to early July. Lufthansa will operate to Rijeka once a week, on Saturdays.
The Munich-Rijeka-Munich route, operated by two airlines, Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines, has been announced from the end of June. Croatia will operate on it three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays, and Lufthansa on Saturdays.
LOT introduced a line between Rijeka and Warsaw last summer, and flights have been announced since June 19, also once a week, on Saturdays.
Judging by the current schedule, Rijeka will have the busiest traffic on Saturdays, when as many as 9 aircraft operations are expected on international routes. Still, the other days of the week are extremely weak: only two international flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, three on Tuesdays, five on Thursdays, and no flights announced on Fridays!
Compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic, Rijeka was left without several lines. This year, it will not be possible to travel directly to London (in 2019, two lines, to Stansted and Gatwick), Marseille (Volotea), Belgrade (Air Serbia), Stockholm, and Brussels (Ryanair), Tel Aviv (Arkia), and Hanover Eurowings). In the published schedule, there are no regular charter lines from Paris and Košice that operated in the summer of 2019.
In 2019, Rijeka managed to reach 200 thousand passengers in one year for the first time, but already in 2020, there was a sharp decline due to the impact of the pandemic - only 27,680 passengers passed through this airport last year. Given the preliminary schedule and the modest announcements of the airlines, it is obvious that the number of passengers at Rijeka Airport will not be large this year either.
In addition to the mentioned international destinations, Rijeka Airport also has direct routes to Osijek, Split, and Dubrovnik as part of the PSO program. These lines operate twice a week throughout the year.
Given the announced traffic in neighboring airports (Zagreb, Zadar, and Pula), the number of international routes to Rijeka, according to the schedule HERE, will be relatively small, so most passengers who gravitate to this airport will start or end their travels to the three airports mentioned above.
This will be the case until one airline decides to connect Rijeka Airport with a major European hub, such as London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, or Paris, at least three times a week throughout the year.
Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE. For everything, you need to know about Rijeka Airport, follow our Total Croatia page.
For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
May 4, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Croatia Airlines summer flights have been announced to 33 international destinations from 4 Croatian Airports!
Croatian Aviation reports that the Croatian national airline Croatia Airlines announced a destination plan for this summer season with departures from four Croatian airports: Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, and Rijeka.
The largest number of international lines was announced from its central hub, Zagreb, with as many as 14 lines, followed by Split, Dubrovnik, and Rijeka.
This summer, Croatia Airlines will operate from Zagreb to as many as 14 European destinations. Most of the announced lines are already in service. Still, with the beginning of June, the number of weekly operations to almost all destinations is expected to increase and the introduction of regular lines to Dublin and Athens.
Certain destinations to which Croatia Airlines normally operated from Zagreb in the summer were missing. The company points out that it is ready to react to the increase in demand and operate on certain routes that are not currently announced if necessary.
The Croatian national carrier will increase the number of international routes from Split Airport. Namely, as many as 12 scheduled flights have been announced, and a new one will operate - Croatia Airlines will connect Prague and Split with one flight a week, on Saturdays. Return tickets on this line are currently on sale for 970 kuna.
In addition to Prague, regular routes to Vienna, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Lyon, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zurich are also announced.
Although Croatia Airlines does not currently have international routes from Dubrovnik, this will change as early as this month when Dubrovnik will be connected to Frankfurt again. Along the route to Frankfurt, Croatia will offer direct flights from Dubrovnik to Athens, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zurich.
Rijeka should be connected to Munich again from the beginning of June. Croatia Airlines plans three flights a week on this route, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and in addition to the code-share with Lufthansa, a flight is also available on Saturdays. This is extremely important for Rijeka Airport, which has no new routes this year (only one from Frankfurt), so Croatia Airlines will connect Rijeka with a large European hub such as Munich.
In addition to regular lines, the company has been engaged on charter lines for a long time, which is planned to continue this summer season, especially on charters from the markets of Austria, Italy, Ireland, Israel, and Scandinavia.
Tickets on all these routes are available for booking on the official website of the national airline.
With 33 international routes from and to four Croatian airports, Croatia Airlines will support the tourism sector in Croatia in this summer season. Like last year, it will be imperative to have good air connections with European destinations.
Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.
For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
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.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.
January 11, 2021 – Unlike the record 2019, when more than 11.4 million passengers passed through Croatian airports, in the crisis 2020, that number dropped by as much as 81 percent, counting less than 2.2 million passengers.
At the beginning of each new year, the revenues from the last tourist year are added up, and tourists' numbers are concluded. However, it was inevitable that in 2020, during which world tourism experienced a massive decline due to the coronavirus pandemic, would also affect tourist numbers.
As reported earlier, the Croatian tourism sector saw 50 percent fewer tourist overnight stays in 2020 than the record 2019. Likewise, commercial aviation experienced its largest decline in history. In 2020, Croatian airports accepted and dispatched less than 2.2 million passengers, writes Croatian Aviation.
Traffic to Croatia's three largest airports, Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik, has been growing steadily for years, but this series has been interrupted by a global pandemic. The three mentioned airports had over 9.6 million passengers in 2019, while in 2020, they recorded less than 2 million passengers together (1,929,336). The fact that the other five Croatian airports had 242,827 passengers last year is also devastating, of which Zadar alone served over 120,000 passengers.
Source: Franjo Tuđman Zagreb Airport
With 924,823 passengers throughout the year, the main Croatian airport Franjo Tuđman Zagreb failed to reach the millionth passenger in 2020. However, almost half of the total Croatian traffic in 2020 was realized at the Zagreb airport.
Although it recorded an increase in the number of passengers in January and February compared to the same period in 2019, Franjo Tuđman Airport recorded a decrease in the number of passengers of 73 percent compared to 2019.
Unlike Zagreb Airport, Split Airport in January and February has modest traffic compared to the summer, seasonal months, and so it was in 2020. However, after the global pandemic hit Croatia, air traffic in Split almost stopped.
However, compared to other Croatian airports on the coast, Split still had a certain number of passengers in the peak season, especially in August. Still, the numbers in the post-season dropped drastically again. With 674,366 passengers, Split Airport recorded a decrease in the number of passengers of 79.58 percent compared to 2019.
Dubrovnik Airport was one of the biggest losers last year. It was closed in April, while the traffic was very poor in May and June. An increase in the number of passengers was recorded only in July and August, but not enough to avoid a large drop in the number of passengers.
Although many companies flew to Dubrovnik this summer, the planes were empty rather than full, as confirmed by statistics. The decrease in the number of passengers at Dubrovnik Airport is 88.6 percent compared to 2019.
Source: Zadar Airport
Traffic also dropped drastically at Zadar Airport, but not as much as in Pula. These two Croatian airports have been competing in the number of passengers for several years, and the difference between them is relatively small. Nevertheless, in 2020, Zadar accepted almost 40,000 more passengers than Pula. Zadar Airport recorded a drop in the number of passengers of 84.93 percent compared to 2019, and Pula Airport 89.6 percent.
In 2019, Rijeka Airport finally exceeded 200,000 passengers for the first time in its history. Still, the numbers dropped drastically in 2020 as many airlines have given up on introducing seasonal routes to this airport due to the global pandemic. Rijeka Airport thus recorded a decrease in the number of passengers of 86.22 percent compared to 2019.
In 2020, Osijek Airport had only domestic PSO (Public Service Obligation) lines and the Eurowings line to Stuttgart, but only in August. It recorded a decrease in the number of passengers of 85.72 percent compared to the previous 2019.
Brač Airport also recorded a decline in the number of passengers in 2020. A slightly more significant number of passengers was recorded only in July and August, but these are also modest numbers compared to the 2019 summer season.
You can see the graphs of the 2020 traffic from all Croatian airports at Croatian Aviation.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.
September 17, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Lufthansa announces Frankfurt-Rijeka in 2021.
Croatian Aviation reports that Germany's Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it would introduce 14 new international routes from its base in Frankfurt in the summer flight schedule in 2021. Among others, the Frankfurt - Rijeka line is being introduced.
In the summer flight schedule, Lufthansa operates to five destinations in Croatia from Frankfurt: Zagreb, Pula, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik, and from next summer season, the sixth destination in Croatia - Rijeka Airport will be added to the list.
On the line from Frankfurt, Ryanair used to operate to Rijeka, which moved its operations to Hahn this summer season, so Rijeka was without a direct flight with the main Frankfurt airport.
On the line between Frankfurt and Rijeka in the summer season of 2019, the German Condor also operated twice a week, but this year it did not launch that line due to the global pandemic. It will be interesting to see if this German airline returns to Rijeka in the 2021 season.
The new Lufthansa line will operate in the evening: departure from Frankfurt is scheduled for 17:35, and arrival in Rijeka at 19:00. The return flight will depart from Rijeka at 8 pm, while the arrival in Frankfurt is planned at 9:30 pm. The company leaves the possibility of adding more weekly flights on this route, which will primarily depend on the state of bookings. This company operates on the Munich - Rijeka route in the summer flight schedule, but this year it is not in traffic due to the impact of the global pandemic.
Tickets on this new line are already on sale on the Lufthansa website, and all tickets purchased through December 31 this year are flexible which means passengers are entitled to an unlimited number of travel date changes.
This is the third completely new line announced for next year's summer flight schedule. We remind you that Ryanair previously announced a new line Vienna - Pula, while TAP Portugal announced the introduction of the Lisbon - Zagreb line a few days ago.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages
July 19, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb and Rijeka airports.
Croatian Aviation reports that Emirates, a renowned Dubai-based airline, has canceled all flights on the Dubai-Zagreb route for this year.
Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Emirates planned to launch its seasonal route from Dubai to Zagreb with the first day of the summer flight schedule, at the end of March this year. For obvious reasons, this did not happen, and the start of the line was delayed several times. The last plan was to launch the line in September this year.
As this is a seasonal line (it operates only in the summer flight schedule, until the end of October), it was to be assumed that Emirates will not come to Zagreb this year, which has now been confirmed.
Namely, the company canceled all flights on the said route, withdrew sales on all dates, and currently offers flights from Zagreb only in the summer flight schedule in 2021.
Emirates connected Zagreb with Dubai daily, using a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which was also the largest wide-body passenger aircraft at Zagreb Airport. With the complete withdrawal of Emirates from this line for this year, Zagreb was left without wide-body aircraft. Recall that Korean Air, Air Canada Rouge and Air Transat also canceled flights to Zagreb and used wide-body aircraft to operate them.
In the winter flight schedule on the Dubai - Zagreb line, FlyDubai should return with a B737-800 aircraft, but this will depend on epidemiological measures and travel restrictions.
Emirates canceling this line is another significant blow to Zagreb Airport traffic.
Croatian Aviation also announced that Croatia Airlines will still launch a direct line between Munich and Rijeka, according to Rijeka Airport.
Although Croatia Airlines previously closed sales on this route and has not operated on it since the beginning of the pandemic, the company has now released tickets on the direct route between Rijeka and Munich.
The Munich - Rijeka line will operate twice a week, every Thursday and Sunday, on a DashQ400 aircraft, from August 6 to September 27 this year.
This is certainly good news for Rijeka Airport, but it is a smaller number of weekly flights (previously operated on Tuesdays), and given that the route has been announced until the end of September, there is a possibility that it will not operate in the winter schedule, which has been the case so far.
As before, the aircraft will first operate the Split - Munich flight, then Munich - Rijeka - Munich, and then the return flight Munich - Split. The flight schedule remained the same, with the morning departure from Munich to Rijeka, while the return flight to Munich was scheduled shortly after noon from Rijeka Airport.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages
Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.
July 2, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, Rijeka and Zadar.
Croatian Aviation reports that Air Serbia, the national carrier of the Republic of Serbia, began regular traffic on the Belgrade - Zagreb - Belgrade route, while traffic to other airports in Croatia will be established in the next 10 days.
Air Serbia re-established traffic between the two neighboring capitals on an evening flight from Belgrade to Zagreb on Wednesday. The line will be in operation every day, with one daily flight on an ATR75 aircraft. Booking on the first flight was very small.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages
Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.
Air Serbia has already launched flights on the Belgrade-Split route. The company operated its first flight on Sunday, June 28, and flights will run twice a week through July, Fridays and Sundays.
The company will also launch flights to Dubrovnik. The Dubrovnik - Belgrade line will be in operation from July 3 with two flights a week, on Fridays and Mondays, and from July 15, another flight will be added per week, every Wednesday.
The Belgrade - Zadar line is also being introduced. The company will operate on this line from July 11 with two flights per week, Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The long-term seasonal Belgrade - Pula line will be in operation from July 10, with as many as three flights per week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
ATR75 aircraft are expected on the routes to Zagreb, Zadar and Pula, while aircraft of larger capacity, mainly A319, will operate to Dubrovnik and Split.
The only line that is no longer on sale is the one between Belgrade and Rijeka.
Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reported that Lufthansa would not operate on the Munich-Rijeka route in this year's summer flight schedule.
Lufthansa introduced the first line to Rijeka from its base in Munich last summer, and the line was in operation from the end of May to October 2019. CRJ9 aircraft operated on the route once a week, on Saturday evenings.
Croatia Airlines operates on the same route, three times a week, on a DashQ400 aircraft, but the line was suspended at the time of the pandemic and has not yet been returned to traffic. Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines have a code-share agreement on the Munich - Rijeka - Munich route.
Lufthansa has confirmed that it will not launch the Munich-Rijeka route this summer, but plans to return to it in the summer of 2021, but will, therefore, travel to Zagreb, Zadar, Pula, Split and Dubrovnik.
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.
December 13, 2019 -The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Rijeka, Dubrovnik, and Zadar.
HRTurizam reports that Dubrovnik and Rijeka will be directly connected to Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, in the coming year thanks to AirBaltic.
These flights will be active from the beginning of May until the end of October, i.e., the line for Rijeka will operate once a week on Thursdays, while the line for Dubrovnik will operate twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Martin Gauss, CEO of AirBaltic, said they aim to provide the best connection in both directions for all three Baltic capitals. “When assessing which destinations will depart from the Baltic capitals, we first look for the most sought after among local travelers. This is why we provide additional input to local airports, offering new travel options. By next summer, we will already serve 16 destinations from Estonia, 11 from Lithuania and over 70 destinations from Latvia."
"This is great news and an announcement that supports further increasing the number of airlines and further enhancing the accessibility of Croatian destinations. The first flight will feature a large number of travel agents and journalists from the Baltics and Scandinavia to whom we will present Rijeka, Dubrovnik and Split,” said Croatian Tourist Board Director Kristjan Stanicic, adding that the new Airbus A220-300 fleet will operate on these routes.
HTZ added that the AirBaltic presentation brought together more than 100 agents and partners, including Kresimir Kedmenec, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Lithuania, and Vedran Susic, Director of the HTZ Representative Office for Scandinavia, who organized a special presentation of the Croatian tourist agency deals with a focus on Rijeka and Dubrovnik.
In other flight news, Avio Radar reports that Europe’s largest carrier Ryanair announced a new base and 11 new routes from Zadar for the 2020 season. Namely, there are a total of 31 lines in the 2020 summer flight schedule, including 11 new routes to exciting destinations such as Aarhus, Cork, and Riga. The flight schedule begins in April 2020, is estimated to carry a total of 672,000 passengers annually, and create around 500 jobs in the various activities and services provided at Zadar Airport.
Ryanair is also opening a base with three Laudamotion aircraft in Zadar, representing an investment of about $300 million and directly creating 90 new jobs in Ryanair.
Ryanair’s 2020 summer flight schedule in Zadar brings:
- 3 Laudamotion base planes ($300 million investment)
- 11 new lines for Aarhus. (2), Bremen (3), Cork (2), Paris Beauvais (2), Kaunas (2), Liverpool (2), Maastricht (2), Riga (2), Toulouse (2), & Wroclaw (2)
- 31 lines in total
- 672,000 passengers annually (+50%)
- 90 new Ryanair jobs
- 500 on-site jobs
Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair said:
“We are delighted to be opening our base in Zadar next summer as part of our efforts to contribute to the growth of transport, tourism, and jobs. Our 2020 flight schedule brings 31 lines, including 11 new lines, and we plan to carry a total of 672,000 passengers a year and generate 500 jobs in various industries in Zadar. Zadar and their guests can now buy the cheapest tickets and fly with the greenest/cleanest European airline on a total of 31 flights until the end of October 2020.”
Josip Klismanic, director of Zadar Airport added:
“The return of Ryanair’s base to Zadar with three aircraft is a great tribute to Zadar, both as an airport and as a destination. The growth of Ryanair’s offer to Zadar from all over Europe in recent years shows that Zadar and Croatia have something to offer our guests. Ryanair makes Zadar and Croatia much more accessible to Europe, but let’s not forget, it also makes Europe much closer to Zadar and Croatia. The announcements for 2020 justify our efforts to increase the level of service for our passengers by expanding the capacity of Zadar Airport and providing the preconditions for further growth. I do not doubt that Ryanair will play an essential role in that.
To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
December 9, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Zagreb.
Avio Radar reports that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced that it would terminate its base at Skavsta Airport near Stockholm, Sweden, and this year’s new base in Nuremberg, Germany. The airline stated the reason being that they would not be taking over the 20 Boeing 737MAX aircraft as planned for the summer next year.
In the Croatian market, this means discontinuing the Stockholm-Rijeka route, which was the strongest Ryanair route to Rijeka. Namely, this route operated to Rijeka in the summer from early April to late October and is already not on sale for next year.
“We also expect to cut summer capacity in a number of other existing bases, and we are currently in discussions with our people, our unions, and our affected airports to finalize these minor reductions”, Ryanair said in a statement on Ex Yu Aviation News.
Interestingly, the airline recently announced that it would boost operations on the Stockholm-Zadar route from two to three times per week, and tickets for this line are still on offer for next year. Furthermore, tickets for the Nuremberg-Zadar route are also still on offer, although the Nuremberg base has plans to close. The airline updated customers with the news that this line would continue with operations, unlike the others.
Avio Radar adds that British low-cost carrier Jet2 will increase traffic to Dubrovnik in their 2020 summer flight schedule. On the London (Stansted Airport)-Dubrovnik route, the sixth flight per week has been introduced, on Mondays, which means that Jet2 will fly this route every day except Wednesdays. The line will begin operations on April 2, 2020.
Still, Jet2 has decreased operations from London to Pula and Split. The London (Stansted)-Pula route will run only once a week, on Sundays, from May 31 to September 20, 2020. The London (Stansted)-Split route will run twice a week instead of last year’s three, on Thursdays and Sundays. Namely, this line will no longer work on Wednesdays. A Boeing 737-800 aircraft should service all lines.
Jet2 also introduced a new line between Stansted and Zadar next year.
Finally, Avio Radar reports that Kenya Airways expanded its codeshare cooperation with French national carrier Air France. Both Airlines are members of the Skyteam global airline association. Zagreb is among the other new codeshare destinations for Kenya Airways. The extended collaboration began on November 26, 2019. Air France’s daily flights on the Paris route (Charles de Gaulle) to Zagreb will carry the Kenyan KQ3834, along with the French carrier’s symbol.
To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.