June 16, 2022 - Croatian Aviation exclusively reveals that Korean Air Zagreb charter flights are in the plans for October, connecting Seoul and Zagreb later this year. 

A Croatian Aviation exclusive reveals that the Korean national airline and SkyTeam alliance member is planning charter flights to Zagreb in October this year!

The Korean airline used to operate on a regular route between Seoul and Zagreb until the outbreak of the pandemic. At one point, Korean Air announced on its official website the possibility of re-establishing this direct line this summer season, though this will not happen, which, given the reduced demand, was expected. The airline plans to replace the risk of re-establishing this regular line with charter operations between Seoul and Zagreb in October this year.

October, along with April and May, is the month in which Korean citizens travel the most abroad, so it is not surprising that operations are announced at the very end of the summer season. It is at the time of Chuseok when most citizens use their vacations and go on trips abroad.

Several South Korean tour operators are offering travel packages to Croatia in October, and an agreement was reached between the tour operator and Korean Air on conducting charter operations to the Croatian capital. The project is logistically supported by Croatian Aviation, primarily in the form of the organization of transport and crew accommodation in Zagreb.

Regular charter operations are planned once a week, from October 7 to 29 this year, with arrival in Zagreb on Friday and departure on Saturday.

Tour operators are also working on the option to turn the planned direct line between Seoul and Zagreb into a stop line in Athens in case of lower interest in holidays in Croatia. The final decision will be made in the coming months.

A330-200 aircraft with a capacity of 218 seats in Korean Air's fleet is planned for these charter flights. This type of aircraft was not frequent in Zagreb when Korean Air operated on a regular route between the two cities.

The airline claims that the decision on the summer flight schedule for next year has not yet been made, so the regular line between Seoul and Zagreb for the next summer season is questionable. As these are currently planned charter flights, operational changes are certainly possible.

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

June 9, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as more Ryanair Zagreb flight cancellations have been announced in July, totaling to 56 return flights on 15 international routes.

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has canceled several scheduled flights from Zagreb in July, while flights for May and June were canceled earlier, reports Croatian Aviation.

Namely, Ryanair has canceled the following flights from its Zagreb base:

Brussels Charleroi, 2 times a week (instead of 5) until 18 July,

Sofia, all flights are canceled until July 19,

Paphos, once a week (instead of 3), until July 18,

Dusseldorf Weeze, 2 times a week (instead of 3) until July 19,

Frankfurt Hahn, 2 times a week (instead of 3), until July 18,

Karlsruhe, once a week (instead of 3), until July 19,

Memmingen, 2 times a week (instead of 3) until July 18,

Brindisi, all flights are canceled until July 20,

Milan Bergamo, 4 times a week (instead of 5) until July 19,

Malta, 2 times a week (instead of 3), until July 19,

Oslo Torp, once a week (instead of 2), until July 20,

Malaga, once a week (instead of 2), until July 20,

Gothenburg, 2 times a week (instead of 3), until July 18,

Malmö, 2 times a week (instead of 3), until July 19,

Basel, all flights are canceled until July 18.

From the beginning to the middle of July, Ryanair canceled 56 return flights on the 15 mentioned international routes, which reduced the number of available seats by 20,160.

The Irish airline traditionally does not go public with the reasons for cancellations, but given the many problems for airports and airlines recently, it is obvious that this airline also has operational problems that lead to flight cancellations.

Given that more flights were canceled in May and June, and even in the first half of July, which is the peak season, it is expected that in the next few weeks the Irish airline will reduce the flight schedule for the second half of July. Passengers who had tickets on canceled Ryanair flights received an apology email and were offered several options, such as a refund or a change in travel date.

Croatian Aviation concludes that one thing is for sure - the frequent Ryanair cancellations in Zagreb will certainly not positively affect the company's reputation among passengers.

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

May 26, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as the Qatar Airways Zagreb route is boosted for the 2022 World Cup later this year. 

Qatar Airways, a member of the One World Alliance, has made changes to the type of aircraft on more than 80 international routes in the last two days, including the route to Zagreb. These are operational changes have been made due to the World Cup, which expects great demand for flights to this country, reports Croatian Aviation.

Due to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Qatar Airways is increasing the number of flights to Zagreb and will also use wide-body aircraft on the route.

Namely, from November 17 to December 20 this year, Qatar Airways will operate daily between Zagreb and Doha, with evening departures from Zagreb. Furthermore, instead of the narrow-body aircraft type A320, the wide-body aircraft type Boeing 787-8 will operate on the route.

The World Cup will be held in Qatar from November 20 to December 18 this year, and the national airline is preparing for high demand for its flights. Thus, as mentioned earlier, only in the past two days has the airline made operational changes on more than 80 international lines

Between Doha and Zagreb, the B787-8 will operate a total of 34 return flights, offering Qatar Airways a total of 17,136 seats, of which almost 1,500 seats are available in business class.

Qatar Airways B787-8 aircraft in the business class have a 1-2-1 configuration, while in economy class in the classic 3-3-3 configuration. Recall that before the pandemic in the summer of 2019, Qatar Airways operated twice a day between Zagreb and Doha, and the wide-bodied B787-8 was supposed to arrive in Zagreb in the 2020 summer flight schedule, but that did not happen due to the pandemic. 

The Croatia national team will play this November at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in Group F against Morocco, Canada, and Belgium. Croatia will open the tournament against Morocco on November 23 at 11 am local time at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor. The second round is scheduled four days later, on November 27, when Croatia plays Canada at 5 pm at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. The Group F derby is played on December 1, when Croatia and Belgium will play at 4 pm at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.

If Croatia is one of the first two national teams in their group, they will cross paths with Group E, where Spain and Germany are the favorites to pass, while the group also includes Japan and either Costa Rica or New Zealand. 

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

May 20, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as two Aegean Airlines Zagreb flights will run weekly from Athens from June 15!

Greek national airline Aegean Airlines will operate on a regular seasonal route between Athens and Zagreb from mid-June, reports Croatian Aviation.

Namely, the Star Alliance alliance member is renewing the line between Athens and Zagreb as of June 15. Two flights a week have been announced, every Wednesday and Saturday, and A320 aircraft will operate on the route.

Recall, Aegean introduced a regular line between the two cities in May 2018 with three flights a week in traffic, but with a smaller capacity aircraft type DashQ400. The line operated until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then the airline announced its return to the Croatian capital in the previous two summer seasons, though never fulfilled its promise. 

Given that there has been a significant increase in market demand, especially compared to the previous two seasons, the Greek airline will still operate on this route this summer, twice a week, and the first flight was announced in less than a month.

In 34 rotations, from mid-June to early October, Aegean Airlines offers a total of 12,036 seats between Zagreb and Athens, and A320 and A320NEO aircraft have been announced on the route, with 174 and 180 seats in the carrier's fleet, respectively.

Zagreb and Athens will also be connected by the regular Croatia Airlines line, which will operate from June 2 until the end of the summer flight schedule, i.e., the end of October. It is a long-term seasonal line between two cities with a stop at Dubrovnik Airport, and DashQ400 aircraft with a capacity of 76 seats operate on the line. 

Croatia Airlines will operate a total of 63 rotations on this route in the summer season, offering 10,448 seats, three flights a week, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

A total of 22,484 seats between these two carriers will be available between Athens and Zagreb this summer, both of which are members of the same aviation association.

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

April 27, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as the Air Transat Toronto-Zagreb line returns from May 8!

Canadian leisure airline Air Transat will resume traffic on the regular seasonal line between Toronto and Zagreb in just over a week, reports Croatian Aviation.

As earlier announced, Air Transat will connect Toronto and Zagreb again on May 8 this year with a regular line that will operate twice a week during the peak summer season.

This airline introduced a regular seasonal route between the two cities back in June 2016, and the number of weekly rotations gradually increased, so that in the summer of 2019, three flights a week were available on the route. Recall that in the summer of 2019, the daughter company of the Canadian national airline, Air Canada Rouge, operated on this route four times a week, running as many as 7 flights a week between Zagreb and Toronto. 

After the global pandemic hit, Air Canada Rouge retired all wide-body aircraft and canceled the route to Zagreb, and the plan was for Air Canada to operate on this route with A330-300 aircraft, but no flights were made.

Air Transat planned to return to Zagreb in 2020, but due to low demand and passenger restrictions, this did not happen, as in the summer of 2021.

After a long time, this airline returns to Zagreb International Airport on May 8 this year. In May, one flight per week was announced with departure from Zagreb to Toronto every Sunday, and from June two flights per week have been announced, additionally on Wednesdays.

The line should operate until the end of October (October 30), so this summer Air Transat will operate a total of 47 return flights between Toronto and Zagreb with its wide-body aircraft type A330-200. It is also the only confirmed overseas route to Zagreb Airport this summer season, and the only line on which wide-body aircraft have been announced.

Given that Air Transat aircraft has a capacity of 332 seats, around 31,208 seats are available on the route from May to October. Namely, most economy classes have a 3-3-3 configuration, while the standard legacy carrier on this type of aircraft is 2-4-2. For example, Korean Air also used this type of aircraft on a regular route between Zagreb and Seoul, which had a capacity of 218 seats, or 114 seats less than Air Transat.

The return of Air Transat to Zagreb is certainly positive news for the airport itself, which had several lines with wide-body aircraft before the pandemic. The average duration of a direct flight between Toronto and Zagreb is 9 hours and 20 minutes.

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

April 21, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as more Ryanair Zagreb summer flights have been canceled, this time in June, after the airline already reduced and canceled many flights in May.

Just a few days after several Ryanair flights from Zagreb were canceled in May this year, this airline has made additional changes in its flight schedule for this summer season and canceled a number of flights on international routes to and from Zagreb in June, too, reports Croatian Aviation.

The Irish low-cost airline has reduced the number of operations for June this year on the following routes:

Brussels Charleroi - two flights a week instead of five, 

Paphos - one flight a week instead of three,

Dusseldorf Weeze - two flights a week instead of three, 

Frankfurt Hahn - two flights a week instead of three, 

Karlsruhe - two flights a week instead of three, 

Memmingen - two flights a week instead of three, 

Corfu - all flights canceled,

Brindisi - all flights canceled,

Milan Bergamo - four flights a week instead of five, 

Malta - two flights a week instead of three, 

Oslo Torp - one flight a week instead of two, 

Malaga - one flight a week instead of two, 

Gothenburg - two flights a week instead of three, 

Malmo - two flights a week instead of three, 

Basel - all flights canceled.

In June alone, more than 190 flights were canceled on 15 of these routes, which is 35,000 fewer seats to and from Zagreb compared to the airline's original plan.

See Ryanair canceled/reduced flights canceled in May below:

From Zagreb to:

Brussels Charleroi - two flights a week instead of five in May,

Sofia - all flights canceled in June,

Paphos - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Dusseldorf Weeze - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Frankfurt Hahn - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Karlsruhe - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Memmingen - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Corfu - all flights canceled in May and June,

Dublin - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Brindisi - all flights canceled in May and June,

Milan Bergamo - canceled flights on Sundays in May,

Rome - two flights a week instead of four in May,

Malta - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Gothenburg - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Malmö - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Basel - all flights canceled in May and June,

London - four flights a week instead of seven in May.

The airline offers passengers the possibility to refund the ticket and change the date of travel according to availability on other flights. 

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

April 14, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as several Ryanair Zagreb flights have been canceled in May and June, with passengers informed in the last 24 hours. 

In the last 24 hours, Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has informed passengers about the cancellation of a number of flights on regular flights to and from Zagreb International Airport, reports Croatian Aviation. 

Namely, Ryanair has canceled several flights on international routes to and from Zagreb Airport for May and June this year.

From Zagreb to:

Brussels Charleroi - two flights a week instead of five in May,

Sofia - all flights canceled in June,

Paphos - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Dusseldorf Weeze - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Frankfurt Hahn - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Karlsruhe - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Memmingen - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Corfu - all flights canceled in May and June,

Dublin - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Brindisi - all flights canceled in May and June,

Milan Bergamo - canceled flights on Sundays in May,

Rome - two flights a week instead of four in May,

Malta - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Gothenburg - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Malmö - two flights a week instead of three in May,

Basel - all flights canceled in May and June,

London - four flights a week instead of seven in May.

On most routes, certain weekly rotations were canceled, and the airline cited commercial terms in the passenger notice. Namely, Ryanair has been selling very cheap tickets on these routes for months, from 5 to 10 euros one way, and now it is canceling those flights and offering passengers the possibility of vouchers or changing travel dates.

Croatian Aviation adds that the same thing happened earlier with the route to Milan. The airline then returned the flights to sale a few days later, but at much higher prices, so it should not be surprising if this is what happens on most of the above routes. Due to the early announcement, passengers are not entitled to compensation in accordance with EU regulations 261, and the airline leaves room for additional earnings by reselling the now canceled flights.

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

April 11, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as 26 Ryanair Zagreb flights in May bring more than 120,000 seats to and from the Croatian capital. 

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has defined its flight schedule for May, in which it will offer more than 120,000 available seats to and from Zagreb International Airport, reports Croatian Aviation. 

Namely, Ryanair is celebrating its first anniversary since opening the base in Zagreb, and in May it will operate 26 regular international routes and offer more than 120,000 available seats to and from the Croatian capital. 

From Zagreb to:

London Stansted - 11,160

Milan Bergamo - 8,056

Brussels Charleroi - 7,920

Rome Fiumicino - 6,480

Basel - 5,040

Dublin - 5,040

Bratislava - 4,914

Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden - 4,914

Memmingen - 4,914

Gothenburg - 4,914

Frankfurt Hahn - 4,914

Malta - 4,816

Malmo - 4,680

Dusseldorf Weeze - 4,680

Paphos - 4,680

Brindisi - 3,240

Paris Beauvais - 3,240

Dortmund - 3,240

Eindhoven - 3,240

Manchester - 3,240

Naples - 3,240

Thessaloniki - 3,240

Sofia - 3,240

Podgorica - 3,240

Malaga - 2,880

Oslo Torp - 2,880.

A320 aircraft based at Zagreb Airport with a capacity of 180 seats have been announced on all routes. The only exceptions are the line to Bratislava, where B737-800 aircraft have been announced, and the route to Malta and Begam, where B737 MAX aircraft will also operate.

The largest number of seats is available to London, which is solely due to daily flights between Zagreb and this city, while the smallest number of seats is available to Malaga and Oslo, given that these routes operate twice a week.

Still unofficially, Ryanair and Zagreb Airport are working intensively on basing the fourth aircraft of this carrier in the Croatian capital, which would increase the number of routes but also increase the number of rotations on existing ones. It is likely that this will happen as early as this summer season.

Zagreb International Airport welcomed 196,280 passengers through Croatia's main airport last month, or 152,549 more than in the same month last year. The result from March 2021 (as well as from 2020) is not comparable with the figures from the previous month, primarily because of the pandemic.

Nevertheless, with this good result, Zagreb is approaching the figures from the pre-crisis year of 2019, when 232,978 passengers were recorded in March.

For more, check out our travel section.

April 5, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Zagreb flights have been running daily since April 1, and three-weekly Dubrovnik flights begin from April 6. 

The Turkish national airline and Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has been operating twice a day between Istanbul and Zagreb since the beginning of April and announced three-weekly flights to Dubrovnik, reports Croatian Aviation.

Turkish Airlines has been operating daily between Zagreb and Istanbul since April 1, bringing the number of weekly rotations back to pre-global pandemic levels. Two flights a day run every day of the week, departing from Zagreb in the morning and evening, thus providing several transfer options through its own hub in Istanbul.

On the route to and from Zagreb, Turkish Airlines uses several types of narrow-body aircraft in April, such as A320, A321, B737-800, B737-900ER, and B737-MAX8, and a total of 21,024 seats are available in both directions in April, with the share of Business Class seats also significant.

From April 6, Turkish Airlines will also operate regularly on the route between Dubrovnik and Istanbul. Three flights a week have been announced, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and A319, A321 and B737-800 aircraft will operate to Dubrovnik Airport.

In April, 4,246 seats were available between Istanbul and Dubrovnik. It's interesting to note that Dubrovnik recorded 25,645 passengers in March, while in the same month last year there were only 5,069 passengers. Several airlines returned to Dubrovnik on the last weekend of March, and domestic routes, as well as Freebird charter routes, were in traffic for the whole month. In the first three months of this year, Dubrovnik recorded 44,207 passengers, while in the same period in 2021 there were 12,346.

In April this year, Turkish Airlines announced a total of 73 return flights to Zagreb and Istanbul and a total of 25,270 seats available on the market. The number of seats will increase in the coming months when Turkish should increase the number of rotations to Dubrovnik and capacity to Zagreb.

Recall, we recently reported that the 2022 Zagreb summer flight schedule offers 3 million seats on 20 well-known European and international airlines.

For more, check out our travel section.

April 1, 2022 - The 2022 Zagreb summer flight schedule offers 3 million seats on 20 well-known European and international airlines.

After Croatian Aviation published the detailed figures of available seats on the two largest airlines at Zagreb International Airport, Croatia Airlines and Ryanair, they've released the figures of other airlines flying to Zagreb Airport in this year's summer flight schedule.

Namely, in this year's summer flight schedule, 20 well-known European and international airlines will operate on regular routes to Zagreb Airport. 

The Lufthansa Group's airlines have the largest number of available seats: Lufthansa, Eurowings, and Austrian Airlines. These three airlines offer a total of 330,760 seats to and from Zagreb on several international routes. 

The second group, KLM - Air France, offers a slightly smaller number of seats, a total of 204,140, currently 126,620 seats less than the Lufthansa group.

The share of seats available on low-cost airline flights has increased significantly, over one million, or 1,062,272. Ryanair offers the largest number of seats (over 850 thousand), followed by Eurowings (more than 125 thousand seats), FlyDubai (38 thousand), Vueling (32 thousand), and in last place is Norwegian (5.5 thousand).

As for legacy carriers, the largest number of seats is offered by Croatia Airlines (over 1.2 million seats), followed by Turkish Airlines (over 165 thousand), KLM (over 130 thousand), Lufthansa (over 115 thousand), British Airways (over 105 thousand), Austrian Airlines (86 thousand), Air France (almost 74 thousand), LOT Polish Airlines (more than 45 thousand), Qatar Airways (more than 40 thousand), Air Transat (30 thousand), Air Serbia (29 thousand), Finnair (19 thousand), TAP Portugal (18 thousand), Iberia Airlines (over 13 thousand) and Aegean Airlines (more than 12 thousand).

Legacy carriers offer more than 2 million seats, or exactly 2,104,800. In total, together with low-cost carriers, from March 27 to October 29 this year, airlines offer 3,167,072 seats. 

If taking into account the number of passengers in the first three months of this year (January - March), and flights that will take place in November and December this year (winter flight schedule), Zagreb in 2022 will have over 3.6 million seats. 

For more, check out our travel section.