Flights to Croatia: Windrose Cancels Certain Departures to Zagreb in December
December 6, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Windrose cancels certain departures to Zagreb in December.
Croatian Aviation reports that due to new epidemiological measures, Windrose Airlines has canceled certain departures on the route Kyiv - Zagreb - Kyiv.
Namely, because the entry of foreign nationals into the Republic of Croatia is limited after the last epidemiological measures were introduced, Windrose Airlines canceled certain flights to Zagreb in December.
Windrose will not fly on the Kyiv - Zagreb - Kyiv line on December 6 and 9 (Wednesday and Sunday), and the normal flow of traffic on this line is expected from December 13. The airline leaves the possibility of additional flight cancellations, which will primarily depend on border measures and decisions of the national headquarters related to the entry of foreign nationals into the Republic of Croatia.
The airline sees great potential on the line to Zagreb. In the second month of operations on this line, they recorded an average occupancy of the passenger cabin of a high 72%.
The airline was scheduled to introduce an additional, third flight a week on this route, beginning in December, every Friday, until the end of the winter flight schedule. As confirmed by Windrose Airlines, the reason for not going ahead with additional frequencies is the result of the previously mentioned epidemiological measures and restrictions at the borders that directly affect reservations, both on this route and others. The line will continue to operate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Windrose Airlines plans to increase the number of weekly flights to Zagreb in the summer flight schedule in 2021, provided that the epidemiological situation is much better and that there are no restrictions on international travel to or from Croatia. Confirmation of the potential of this line is in the excellent Load Factor in October and a satisfactory number in November, especially at a time when international travel is kept to a minimum.
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.
Flights to Croatia: Windrose Announces an Additional Weekly Flight to Zagreb
October 22, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Windrose announces an additional weekly flight to Zagreb.
Croatian Aviation reports that less than a month after the launch of the Kyiv-Zagreb route, Windrose Airlines decided to increase the number of weekly flights on the route to Zagreb. In addition to flights on Wednesdays and Sundays, the company will operate on this route from December on Fridays!
Windrose Airlines launched the Kyiv - Zagreb route on October 4 this year, a little less than a month ago. Due to excellent occupancy and high demand, the company will add another flight per week on this route in December.
As confirmed to Croatian Aviation by this airline, which also operates to other airports in Croatia (Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik) in the summer flight schedule, the occupancy of aircraft to and from Zagreb is excellent, which consequently led to the decision to increase the number of weekly flights to this line.
In the first three weeks of operation, almost 600 passengers traveled on this line, which gives an average Load Factor (passenger cabin occupancy) of a high 82%.
Windrose Airlines planned to operate ERJ145 aircraft on the route, which has a capacity of only 48 seats in the fleet of this carrier, but all Sunday flights operate on aircraft of higher capacity, ATR75 (72 seats).
During the pandemic, especially when the numbers of infected are rising again across Europe and the world, Windrose Airlines has excellent results on this newly established route between the capitals of Croatia and Ukraine.
Unlike flights on Wednesdays and Sundays, the additional flight on Fridays will operate in the morning:
Kiev 07:40 - 08:50 Zagreb 09:35 - Kiev 12:30
On the additional rotation on Friday, ERJ145 aircraft was announced.
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.
Flights to Croatia: Windrose Reconnects Zagreb and Kyiv, KLM to Split and Zagreb in October
September 23, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Windrose reconnects Zagreb and Kyiv from October, and KLM continues to fly to Split and Zagreb next month.
HRTurizam reports that Zagreb and Kyiv will soon be reconnected by a direct airline, according to Rajko Ruzicka, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board in Russia.
This is the announcement of a new Windrose airline flight, which should connect Kyiv and Zagreb twice a week from October 4, 2020, to March 24, 2021.
"Despite the global coronavirus pandemic and the overall reduction in tourist traffic in 2020, investments in the promotion of Croatia as a top tourist destination on the Ukrainian market have paid off. Charter flights from Kyiv to Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik, which operated this summer, have significantly increased the number of arrivals of Ukrainian tourists in Croatia," said Ruzicka, adding that a number of Ukrainian tourists arrived in Croatia this year by road.
Croatia realized about 230,000 overnight stays in August this year from Ukrainian tourists, which is about 80 percent of last year's result in August, and the favorite Croatian destinations of Ukrainians are Makarska Riviera, Porec, Rovinj, and Dubrovnik, where they usually stay in hotel accommodation.
Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Dutch airline KLM has announced its flight schedule for October this year. Until the end of the summer flight schedule, the company will operate to two destinations in Croatia: Split and Zagreb.
The Dutch national company will continue to operate on its regular routes from Amsterdam to Zagreb and Split in October.
KLM's Amsterdam-Zagreb route was re-established on July 4 with three flights a week, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and daily flights on this route are available from the beginning of August. The company operated on this line regularly, without canceling certain departures.
However, certain flights in October have already been canceled. From October 5 to 11, the company canceled flights on Tuesday and Thursday (October 6 and 8). From October 12 to the end of the month, the company offers daily flights between the two cities, but it remains to be seen whether it will cancel certain flights after mid-October, and the likelihood of this is high.
KLM's second route to Croatia, Amsterdam-Split, operated 12 to 14 times a week in August with larger capacity aircraft (B737-700, B737-800). In September, traffic was reduced to three flights per week (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays), and KLM plans to keep the same number of weekly flights on this route in October as it did in September. The last flight on the route Amsterdam-Split has been announced for Saturday, October 24.
E190 aircraft with a capacity of 100 passengers have been announced on both KLM routes. It is expected that KLM will operate to Zagreb in the winter months with significantly fewer weekly flights compared to last year's winter flight schedule.
Given the close partnership between KLM and Air France, there is a possibility that one of the carriers will completely stop traffic to Zagreb this winter and redirect its passengers to a partner airline; such a decision will primarily depend on the booking status and travel restrictions between individual countries.
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.
Flights to Croatia: Windrose Announced Zagreb-Kyiv Fights from October
August 29, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates for Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Rijeka.
Croatian Aviation reports that Windrose Airlines planned to launch the Kyiv-Zagreb route at the beginning of the summer flight schedule, but this route was not established for objective reasons.
The company then postponed the date establishing traffic on this line and then canceled it completely for this year. But Windrose made another change and reopened sales, announcing the first flight for October this year.
The originally planned three flights a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) are no longer on sale, but the company plans to connect Zagreb and Kyiv twice a week, every Wednesday and Sunday. The first flight has been announced for October 4, and flights will run throughout the winter flight schedule (until the end of March 2021).
This will be the first completely new line for Zagreb Airport this year, which can certainly be considered a success in this crisis. A direct line has never connected the capitals of Ukraine and Croatia.
Windrose plans to use the E145 aircraft on the route to Zagreb, with a capacity of 48 seats. The plane will depart from Kyiv at 11:30 am, with the expected arrival in Zagreb at 12:40 pm. Departure from Zagreb is planned for 13:25, and arrival in Kyiv at 16:20.
Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reported that Poland would ban flights from 46 countries from September 2 this year, and Croatia is among the many countries, according to a draft law released on Thursday. LOT, however, previously announced numerous routes to Croatian airports for September this year.
The Polish national airline currently operates on regular routes from numerous Polish cities to as many as 5 Croatian airports: Zagreb, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik. Although many of these lines will stop operating at the end of this month, which is logical considering that the end of the summer season is approaching, the Polish company announced traffic on as many as 7 lines to Croatia through September:
Warsaw - Zagreb,
Warsaw - Rijeka,
Warsaw - Split,
Warsaw - Zadar,
Rzeszow - Zadar,
Warsaw - Dubrovnik,
Krakow - Dubrovnik.
All these routes are still on sale on the LOT website, but the Polish national airline will likely be forced to cancel flights on these routes from the mentioned date (September 2). According to the announcements of the Polish authorities, with the ban on flights between Croatia and Poland, LOT has almost no other choice.
In addition to those who planned to travel directly between Polish and Croatian cities, this decision also affected many transfer passengers that LOT attracts, given the favorable prices.
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
Flights to Croatia: Windrose Launches First Nonstop Service from Kyiv to Zagreb Since 1980s
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.
