January 18, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Zadar, Pula, and Split. 

HRTurizam reports that the Vakantiebeurs Tourism Fair is held in the Dutch city of Utrecht from January 15 to 19, 2020. It is the largest tourism fair for business and general audiences in the Benelux area, with more than 1000 exhibitors attending the jubilee 50th edition of the fair this year, as well as the Croatian Tourist Board with 18 local co-exhibitors.

It is at the Vakantiebeurs Fair that new lines from the Netherlands and Belgium to Croatia have been announced.

"We are very pleased with the growing interest of airlines in Croatia, as is evidenced by the announcement of three new flights from the Netherlands and Belgium to Croatia this year, namely Easyjet from Amsterdam to Zadar, Ryanair from Maastricht to Zadar and TUIfly airlines from Brussels to Pula,”  said Ivan Novak, Director of the HTZ Representation for Benelux.

During 2019, nearly 500,000 arrivals and approximately 3 million overnight stays were made from the Dutch market.

In other news, Ex Yu Aviation News reports that Croatia Airlines is planning to launch a service between Zagreb and Tirana this summer. Recall, while the Croatian national carrier used to operate on the Zagreb-Tirana route, the two cities haven’t been connected by the airline in years. 

Namely, the airline's CEO Jasmin Bajić and Director of its Commercial Division, Slaven Žabo, discussed the potential new line with Albania’s Ambassador to Croatia, Riza Poda.

“Both parties agreed for talks between Croatia Airlines and relevant authorities in Albania to commence immediately in order for this important project to be realized as soon as possible,” the Albanian Embassy in Zagreb said. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that the Croatian carrier hoped to establish a base in Tirana back in 2016, though the project never came to fruition. Albanian national carrier Air Albania said it would launch flights to Croatia back in 2017, though they have yet to do so. The aviation portal added that an average of 24,000 Albanian passport holders visited Croatia annually over the last few years. 

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and a large delegation of Croatian investors will visit Tirana in May. The Croatian national carrier also plans to service Sofia and Podgorica this summer. 

To end this week of flight news, Avio Radar reports that FlygBRA-Braathens Regional Airlines announced the first regular flight from Sweden to Croatia this summer. The new Malmo-Split route will run once a week, on Saturdays, from May 30 to September 26, 2020.

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