July 9, 2019 - British media report on a 'nightmare' flight from Manchester to Zadar, full of drunk, rowdy and even vomiting passengers - 3 arrests have been made. 

 The party season is well and truly underway, and The Daily Mail reports on a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Zadar, which had a large number of drunken Brits heading to the Hard Dance Festival on Zrce Beach on the island of Pag. 

 The British paper reports that Aneta Zukow, 24, and boyfriend, Piotr Nesan, 32 were on the flight with Zukow commenting:

'It was like being in a jungle with wild animals,' she said. 'It was hell on earth. It was the worst flight of my life. It was absolutely appalling

"The only way I can describe it is like being in a nightclub without the music 10,000ft above the ground."

The flight was delayed from Manchester due to the behaviour of the clearly drunk passengers, one of whom managed to vomit in the aisle before passing out. Seatbelts were largely ignored by many as the cabin crew were far from in total control. Croatian police were waiting when the flight when the plane landed in Zadar, and three passengers were arrested. Lots more detail, quotes and photos in the link to the Daily Mail above - I will leave you with the video below. 

The issue of drunk Brits surfaces every year in Croatia these days, and Zrce Beach and the town of Novalja has been at the centre of much of the story. 

In 2017, the Mayor of Novalja, Ante Dabo, accepted an invitation from the BBC to film a reality show about young British tourists in Novalja, called The Brits are Coming. He professed himself satisfied with the results for the promotion of his destination when I asked him about it at a conference in Zagreb in 2017. Judge for yourself - below is one of the BBC highlights from one episode.  

A few weeks before allowing the BBC series, the results of which he was satisfied with, he was quoted in the British media:

"I have mixed feelings of sadness, bitterness and responsibility as a mayor of this town who is deceived and humiliated by barbarism and the unskilled portion of the young English guests."

Does Croatia want or need this kind of tourism? No.

Are the Brits involved a disgrace? Absolutely. 

But if you don't want that kind of tourism, why agree to a BBC series which specifically targets them? It was obviously a very effective promotion.

To learn more about the gorgeous island of Pag, check out the Total Croatia Pag in a Page guide. 

Ryanair, one of Europe’s favorite budget airlines, celebrated 4 million passengers in Croatia since the beginning of its operations in the country in 2006, reports AvioRadar on June 6, 2019.

The 4 millionth passenger traveled on Ryanair’s new service from Eindhoven to Zadar, which is part of the summer. schedule this year. The 2019 summer schedule also includes new escapes such as Berlin, Cologne, Dublin, Krakow, and Prague. Ryanair will transport 550,000 users in Croatia this year and boasts more than 400 staff in the airports of Dubrovnik, Pula, Rijeka, Split, and Zadar. 

Ryanair’s 2019 summer schedule in Croatia boasts two new airports (Dubrovnik and Split), five airports in total (Dubrovnik, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar), and 11 new routes, including Zadar to/from Cologne, Eindhoven, Krakow, Hamburg, Milan, Bergama, Nuremberg, Poznan, and Prague. Dubrovnik and Dublin are also connected on Ryanair this year, as is Pula and Berlin, and Split and Dublin. 

Ryanair has a total of 31 routes in Croatia. 

The celebrate 4 million passengers in Croatia, Ryanair dropped seat prices down to 22.99 euro for trips in June, which should be booked by midnight on Saturday, June 8, 2019. 

“Ryanair is pleased to celebrate 4 million passengers in Croatia and the record 2019 summer. As part of the celebration, in June, we will sell seats from Croatia for 22.99 euro. This offer is available until Saturday, June 8, at midnight,” said Olga Pawlonka, a representative of the airline in Zadar. 

Josip Klišmanić, the managing director of Zadar Airport, said:

“It has been 12 years since Ryanair started flying to Zadar. Then, we handled only about 65,000 passengers. I am happy to announce that more than 750,000 passengers will travel through Zadar Airport this year. Ryanair is the most important partner in achieving this goal. I believe that this will remain and that we will celebrate more and more travelers in the future.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As Ryanair announces flights to Split and Dubrovnik, it appears that neither destination airport got the memo.

As we reported recently, the largest European low-cost airline, Ryanair, announced that it will launch flights from Dublin to Split and Dubrovnik as of next summer, but it seems nobody at either Split or Dubrovnik airport knows much about it.

As Josip Bohutinski/VL/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of December, 2018, more strangely still, Ireland's popular Ryanair has already begun selling tickets for these flights which will commence on June the 1st, and be in operation until the 25th and 26th of October, 2019, starting at just 9.99 euros.

"Ryanair is pleased to announce the introduction of its new route from Dublin to Dubrovnik and Split, which will operate twice a week from June," Robin Kiely of Ryanair said.

Vincent Harrison, the director of Dublin Airport, said that he was glad to hear that Ryanair was expanding its route network by adding Dubrovnik and Split. Depite this, the director of Split Airport, Lukša Novak, says he cannot confirm that these flights will be realised at all.

Josip Paljetak from Dubrovnik Airport has said that they have had no official information from Ryanair at all. He pointed out that the company hasn't even contacted the airport this year.

"We were very surprised to see that they'd announced flights from Dublin, and it's very strange that they've started selling tickets for flights which they never agreed upon with the airport. We don't even know if we can accept their planes for when they say they want the flights,'' Paljetak said.

In Croatia, Ryanair already flies to Zadar, Rijeka, and Pula.

Ryanair offered no response when requested to explain the announcement of their 2019 summer flights to Split and Dubrovnik.

Make sure to stay up to date with our news and travel pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Josip Bohutinski/VL on Poslovni Dnevnik

November 14, 2018 - It has been confirmed that Ryanair is in talks with both Split and Zagreb as the Irish low-cost carrier looks to expand its operations in Croatia.

An interesting development in the budget airline market in Croatia, as it has emerged that Ryanair is in discussions to bring routes to both Zagreb and Split. The Irish carrier, which brought budget flights to the Dalmatian coast with the opening of Zadar back in 2007, had fallen behind some of its competitors in recent years in the Croatian market, with easyJet in particular establishing itself on Croatia's Adriatic coast.  Zagreb has limited options currently regarding the budget market, and for an idea of how Ryanair can change things, our interview earlier today with Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers explains how Ryanair quickly established itself in the wake of the collapse of Malev back in 2012. Ryanair has been trying to get into the market in Dubrovnik, with the possibility of year-round flights, but the main sticking point was the financial concessions which Dubrovnik was reluctant to give. 

"In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said, "Ryanair has held positive discussions with the Minister regarding longer-term traffic growth and route development at its existing Croatian airports as well as potential new airports like Zagreb and Split". The development comes just weeks following reports that Zagreb Airport's operator requested for the Croatian government to lower its annual concession fee. The operator argues that as a result of the concession fee, it was forced to increase its charges, which has in turn deterred low-cost airlines from flying to Zagreb. This winter season, only one low-cost carrier, Eurowings, will maintain services to the Croatian capital."

For the full story from ExYuAviation with more information about Split and Zadar, click here.

For the latest flight news from Croatia, click here.

October 30, 2018 - Ryanair has commenced the first flights into Bosnia, as a fully booked flight from Stockholm Stavska landed earlier today. The first of three European destinations to Banja Luka, the new Ryanair service presents some options for travellers in eastern Croatia.

The Swedish route is one of three being introduced this week by Ryanair, with the first flight from Memmingen arriving this afternoon, and a connection with Brussels via Charleroi due to land on Friday. Currently, Banka Luka is only served by flghts to Belgrade, with some 17,000 passengers last year, so the 100,000 passengers promised by Ryanair is a considerable upping of the ante in the capital of Republika Srpska. 

Local authorities are hoping that this is the start of a beautiful relationship with Ryanair, with two more routes to Austria and Switzerland planned this year, and discussions about flights to Greece, Turkey and Tivat in Montenegro. Banja Luka Airport's General Manager, Duško Kovačević, was quoted by ExYuAviation on Banja Luka's plans to expand the Ryanair relationship: "We are very interested in adding other services as well, especially to Austria and Switzerland but also other destinations in Germany and Sweden. We will try and negotiate in the coming period, although it is ultimately up to the airline to make a final decision".

While the main target market is the local population and its diaspora, the new Banja Luka routes also give options to the population of eastern Croatia. With improved road links in recent years, the Croatian border and Slavonia are an hour away by car, Slavonski Brod 90 minutes and even Zagreb just two hours. With the crushing emigration from Slavonia showing no signs of slowing down, Banja Luka may play an important role in connecting eastern Croatia to its diaspora. 

Read the full Ryanair story in Banja Luka on ExYuAviation. 

For the latest information about flights to Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN flight page.

Good news for travelers going to and from Germany - Ryanair has just added three new routes set to operate from next year. 

Of the other airlines flying into Croatia, Ryanair and Norwegian both received a lower than four star rating.

Ireland's wildly popular Ryanair is set to connect Zadar and Prague twice per week as of next season.

While Croatia Airlines has managed to avoid a strike for now, Ireland's Ryanair hasn't been so lucky...