February 27, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Aeroflot cancels Zagreb flights, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announces that Croatia bans Russian airlines.

Due to the Russian aggression on Ukraine, Western countries are imposing more and more sanctions on the Russian Federation. Among other things, more and more countries are banning the landing, take-off, and overflight of Russian airlines. The biggest restrictions on air traffic are expected since the end of the Cold War, reports Croatian Aviation.

An increasing number of European countries are banning Russian airline flights through their airspace, which is another blow to the Russian economy through air transport. Russia has reciprocally banned the overflight of aircraft and European countries that have introduced this restriction.

Russia's S7 Airlines has already cut off regular flights from Russia to European countries, explaining the move as a result of the ban on overflights of many European countries, which significantly complicates the planning of operations and increases fuel consumption, given that it is no longer possible to fly the shortest route on almost all routes.

It is also expected that a decision will be made at the European Union level to ban Russian aircraft from flying over the airspace of all EU member states, leaving Russian carriers unable to find an alternative and forced to cancel all operations. Thus, in addition to the disabled passenger transport, Russia will also be unable to transport cargo, which will directly affect the business of the airline and Russian airports.

Many critics reacted and called out the European Union for not withdrawing the move and closing the European skies to Russian carriers, but the fact is that there are certainly a large number of European citizens in Russia who now want to return to their home countries as soon as possible, and the same would be completely disabled by air in the event of an EU closure.

If that happens (and it most likely will), it will be the biggest restriction on air traffic since the end of the Cold War, but the move will not benefit either side.

Most European airlines use Russian airspace when flying from Europe to Asia and vice versa, given that this is the shortest route, but several carriers have already been banned from flying over Russian airspace (or they decided to do it for security reasons), so they fly a long way between Europe and Asia, avoiding Russian airspace.

In addition to all the above, the sanctions go in the direction of banning the export of spare parts for aircraft to Russia, which will further complicate the normal conduct of operations for Russian carriers.

In the coming days we can expect further bans from other European countries, as well as a decision at the EU level, which will, first of all, force Aeroflot, Russia's national airline, to cancel almost all flights to European cities, and consequently flights from St. Petersburg and Moscow to Zagreb. Several flights from Russia to Croatian airports have been announced for the summer, with about 50 weekly flights in the peak season. If the sanctions continue to be in force, Croatian airports will compensate for the lack of passengers from Russia by increasing demand from other markets, given that further recovery in air traffic due to the global pandemic is expected.

Aeroflot closed sales on all flights between Zagreb and Moscow today until March 27, and flights for tomorrow and the day after are currently canceled. It is a logical move after Italy banned the flight of aircraft registered in Russia, so now the closest route to Aeroflot is to Zagreb via Turkey and Greece. The Government is on the move, which is expected to decide on the ban on the entry of aircraft registered in Russia into Croatian airspace, which was confirmed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. 

"The government has already made a political decision today to ban flights for our air traffic to Russian airlines. We will make appropriate decisions at the EU level. We will make a decision on the implementation of restrictive measures that will, given the dynamic situation in Ukraine, address this issue on a daily basis," Plenković said today for Index.hr.

A formal decision is expected on Monday, February 28, so with the entry into force of that decision, Aeroflot will no longer be able to fly to, from, or via Croatia.

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

February 18, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as British Airways Zagreb flights return at the end of the month, and new Norwegian low-cost passenger airline Flyr announced its second route to Zadar. 

British national airline British Airways will resume regular flights between London (Heathrow Airport) and Zagreb from the last day of February, reports Croatian Aviation.

Namely, as of February 28, British Airways has announced it will resume traffic between Zagreb and London. Since the beginning of the pandemic, this airline has very often changed its schedule to Zagreb, continuously canceling a number of flights.

The last time this happened was at the very end of 2021, and now, after less than two months, the airline will resume traffic to the Croatian capital.

Croatia Airlines, which currently operates between the two cities four times a week, and Ryanair, which has reduced the number of flights from seven to five in the first two months of this year, have maintained regular operations on this line.

British Airways planned to return to Zagreb at the beginning of February, but not long after all flights were canceled until February 28. After that, five flights a week were announced for March, and then all flights were canceled on Fridays. Thus, there should be four flights a week in traffic next month, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Unlike the line between London and Zagreb, where there were significant reductions in last year's summer flight schedule, British Airways did not have such problems with flights to the coast (Dubrovnik, Split, and Pula), so larger reductions of announced flights to the coast are not expected in the upcoming summer season.

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, in the summer of 2019, British Airways had a very high demand on the line between Zagreb and London, prices were often quite high and there were as many as 13 flights a week run by the British carrier. 

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that the new Norwegian airline Flyr will introduce another new route to Zadar Airport this summer.

After announcing a regular seasonal line between Zadar and Oslo, Flyr will operate between Zadar and Bergen once a week from June 11, every Saturday. The route has been announced until mid-August, i.e., August 13, and the flights are already on sale on the airline's official website.

This carrier has six B737-800 aircraft in the fleet with a capacity of up to 189 seats. Along with Zadar, Flyr will release tickets on another new line to Croatia on February 22 this year. Namely, Croatian Aviation reveals that in the upcoming summer flight schedule, Flyr will operate on a regular route between Oslo and Dubrovnik. 

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

February the 14th, 2022 - All of the Zagreb Airport ground handling services have been taken over by a Turkish company. The move happened on the 10th of this month.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, back on February the 10th this year, a Turkish company (Havas) specialising in ground handling services became the owner of MZLZ Zemaljske usluge d.o.o., a company that has so far performed all tasks related to the reception and departure of passengers, cargo and aircraft at Zagreb International Airport.

This made Zagreb's Dr. Franjo Tudjman International Airport the 31st airport at which Havas provides ground handling services. In addition to airports in Turkey, Havas manages the reception and dispatch in Riga, and from February the 10th, it's been doing the same for Zagreb Airport ground handling services, as reported by Croatian Aviation.

Havas' General Manager, Mete Erna, said: “We're continuously focusing on the development of our operations through innovation, striving to provide the highest quality service to our partners, the airlines. Approximately 30 airlines operate regularly to Zagreb, and it is the main airport in Croatia, a globally known tourist country. By taking over the reception and departure services at Zagreb Airport, we'll increase the quality of the services and continue to invest in groundhandling services, for the benefit of passengers and airlines in Zagreb.''

Havas will provide reception and dispatch services for passengers at the airport, as well as cargo and mail in Zagreb with approximately 500 employees and with the support of 176 motor vehicles. Zagreb Airport also has an ISAGO certificate issued by IATA (Air Transport Association).

Back in the record year of pre-pandemic 2019, Zagreb Airport had 3.45 million passengers and 45,000 flights, and about 13,000 tonnes of cargo. Due to the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic, passenger traffic in 2021 was at 41 percent of the traffic from the record breaking year of 2019. The consortium of TAV Airports and ADP Group has the right to manage Zagreb Airport until the year 2042.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

February 11, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Croatia Airlines international Zagreb flights could resume by this summer, if all goes to plan. 

Croatia Airlines flights from Zagreb may be restored to a number of international markets this summer after they were discontinued in 2020 due to the pandemic, reports Ex Yu Aviation. Recall, Croatia Airlines stopped operations to Barcelona, Bucharest, Helsinki, Lisbon, Milan, Mostar, Oslo, Prague, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Tel Aviv, and never launched flights to Sofia and Podgorica as planned. The Croatian national carrier has announced that it would resume flights to Barcelona in June (originally planned for March) and hopes to restore operations to these other destinations by the 2022 summer season.

“Traffic will continue to be contingent on external factors, beyond the company’s control, such as restrictions, bans, and other measures, which directly impact on people’s ability to travel both domestically and internationally. Accordingly, we will focus on the flexible planning of our network. Our goal is to achieve optimal load factors with average fares in existing conditions of reduced capacity. Therefore, in 2022 our focus will be on greater rationalization of costs and the implementation of the company’s defined post-Covid strategy," Croatia Airlines’ CEO Jasmin Bajić said about maintaining flexibility for its summer network while basing operations on demand. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that many international airlines have taken advantage of Croatia Airlines' absence from Zagreb, launching their own flights from many of these destinations. For example, TAP Portugal will run 4-weekly flights between Zagreb and Lisbon from next month and has maintained this seasonal line since last summer. Finnair's Helsinki-Zagreb flights will begin on May 1, with three flights a week until September. Aeroflot and Rossiya Airlines operate on the St Petersburg-Zagreb route, and Ryanair offers services to both Podgorica and Sofia.

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

February 3, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Air Serbia announces Belgrade-Zadar flights from June, Aegean Airlines launches Zagreb-Athens this summer, and 13 Freebird Dubrovnik winter charter flights will run from the end of this month! 

Serbian national airline Air Serbia will re-introduce a regular flight between Zadar and Belgrade this summer, reports Croatian Aviation. 

Namely, as of June 14, the Serbian airline will operate between Belgrade and Zadar. A few days ago, the same airline announced it was restoring the route to Rijeka. 

The Zadar-Belgrade line was introduced in the 2019 summer flight schedule, and flights ran twice a week, every Friday and Sunday. The airline will also operate twice a week between the two cities this summer season.

Following the pandemic, the airline stopped traffic on this route and did not operate in the summer of 2020 and 2021.

ATR72 aircraft have been announced on the route, which has a capacity of up to 70 seats in the passenger cabin. There will be just under four thousand seats on sale between Belgrade and Zadar. 

In the summer flight schedule, Air Serbia is planning regular flights from Belgrade to six Croatian airports: Zagreb, Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik, and up to 18 weekly flights have been announced in the peak summer season.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Aegean Airlines should re-establish a regular connection between Zagreb and Athens from mid-June this year.

The scheduled flights have been announced in the summer flight schedule, from June 15 to October 8 this year. Only two flights a week have been announced, every Wednesday and Saturday, but with A320 aircraft, which have a capacity of 180 seats in this airline's fleet.

Before the pandemic, Aegean flew to Zagreb several times a week, but at that time, DashQ400 aircraft with drastically lower capacity operated on the route compared to A320 aircraft.

Aegean Airlines will offer a total of 12,240 seats between Zagreb and Athens. In the summer of 2020 and 2021, this airline did not operate to Zagreb but exclusively to Adriatic airports. However, Aegean is currently not planning to return to Split, only to Dubrovnik.

The flight schedule is still subject to change, and it is to be expected that Croatia Airlines will also operate on a regular route between Zagreb and Athens (with a technical stop in Dubrovnik).

Finally, Croatian Aviation announced that the Turkish charter airline Freebird Airlines would introduce numerous charter routes to Dubrovnik Airport at the end of this month. 

Namely, from February 21, this Turkish carrier will launch regular charter traffic on 13 lines to and from Dubrovnik Airport from:

Vienna,

Berlin,

Brussels,

Dusseldorf,

Frankfurt,

Hannover,

Hamburg,

London,

Manchester,

Munich,

Marseille,

Paris,

Stuttgart.

On the 13 listed charter lines, Freebird Airlines plans to use A320 aircraft, with a capacity of 180 seats in the passenger cabin. As a result, this airline will generate many passengers on these routes, which is also much needed in the winter months.

Dubrovnik Airport published statistics for January this year, in which a total of 9,320 passengers passed through it, which is almost 50% of the traffic from January 2020 when the pandemic was not yet present in Europe. In January 2021, there were only 3,729 passengers in Dubrovnik.

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

February 1, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as there is a slight reduction in Istanbul-Zagreb flights in February, while Animawings announces another seasonal line between Bucharest and Dubrovnik after Blue Air. 

Animawings, the Romanian subsidiary of Greek Aegean Airlines, introduces seasonal flights between Bucharest and Dubrovnik.

Namely, Ex Yu Aviation reports that the first flight between Dubrovnik and Bucharest has been announced for Saturday, June 18. Fights will run until the second half of September (September 17) using A320 aircraft with a capacity of 174 seats in the passenger cabin. Animawings will thus offer a total of 4,872 seats between the two cities.

Croatian Aviation reports that Blue Air will also operate twice a week on this route from June 28. 

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Turkish Airlines plans to operate 10 times a week between Istanbul and Zagreb in February this year. 

Although there were 13 weekly Turkish Airlines flights on the Istanbul-Zagreb route in January, there will be three fewer weekly flights in February. This reduction is expected given the state of the pandemic in Europe, but also the fact that passenger traffic in February is relatively low.

Turkish will thus maintain daily operations to Zagreb, with two flights a day announced every Monday, Thursday, and Sunday.

A321, B737-800, B737-900ER, B737 MAX8, and MAX9 aircraft with a capacity of 151 to 188 seats in the passenger cabin have been announced. In addition, Turkish Airlines is offering 12,558 seats between Zagreb and Istanbul in February.

Turkish Airlines also plans to operate to Dubrovnik Airport in February. Two flights a week have been announced, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from February 5 to February 26. This makes up 7 return flights on which Turkish Airlines offers 2,266 seats to and from Dubrovnik Airport.

At the very end of last year, this airline also used wide-body aircraft type A330-200 and A330-300 to Zagreb, mainly due to additional ad-hoc demand for cargo.

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

January the 29th, 2022 - Ryanair's arrival in the City of Zagreb has been a fantastic move for all of us residents of the capital who are keen to travel elsewhere in Europe for next to nothing. With only Croatia Airlines and their often unjustified ticket prices for basic economy flights being the only option for many for years, the Irish low-cost carrier's presence is reassuring for frequent flyers. David O'Brien of Ryanair has stated that the company has opened more than 80 new Croatian routes, and hired 180 new staff members.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, although the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic has led to changes and temporary reductions in some Croatian routes, Ryanair has almost fully met its expectations since last year's opening of its Zagreb Airport base.

This was confirmed by David O’Brien, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ryanair Group for Lauda and Malta Air - the aircraft under this brand have been stationed by Ryanair at Zagreb Airport.

"Zagreb is a metropolis of one million inhabitants within its surroundings, and so many more people gravitate to it. Based on our rich experience I can say with certainty that the planned 3.5 million passengers per year is a very conservative estimate. It will probably grow even more in the coming period,'' said O'Brien, who visited Zagreb recently and announced some new Croatian routes and three more aircraft to be based there.

Ryanair were observing Zagreb for a very long time...

He added that the Croatian capital has been in Ryanair's focus for a long time now and that he is happy that they finally managed to open up a base here, not only the route, but also the base.

"We've long viewed Zagreb as Lufthansa's backyard because the fact is that, although there are other carriers, you actually have to use Lufthansa and its partners to go anywhere in Europe. Ryanair wants to change that and be a quality competition that will give Croatia's residents and passengers coming to Zagreb a much better and cheaper service,'' stated O’Brien.

He added that Ryanair currently has six routes to Croatia country this year - Zagreb, Zadar, Rijeka, Pula, Split, Dubrovnik, of which there are bases in Zagreb and Zadar where it holds three aircraft.

“We've opened more than 80 Croatian routes and created 180 direct jobs. This is a total investment of 600 million US dollars from Ryanair in Croatia, and all this without a single euro of any state subsidies from the government, unlike the 12 million euros that Croatia Airlines receives annually,'' he explained.

He added that Zagreb as an air destination differs from the other five in Croatia because it is the capital city, which is a model that, for airlines, means that it has a year-round interest in travel, and also that it can represent a short trip of just several days.

For the base in Zagreb itself, O'Brien pointed out that this is an investment totalling 300 million US dollars, given that three aircraft are or will be based there, each worth about 100 million dollars

"We've remained in operation throughout the entire coronavirus pandemic and our aircraft occupancy is solid, standing at over 85 percent. However, the emergence of the Omicron strain has led to certain disorders - France and Germany previously banned arrivals from the United Kingdom, Morocco banned arrivals from many European countries, and many other European countries introduced their own individual travel restrictions.

Therefore, we had to temporarily reduce the number of flights by about 30 percent, which was followed by reductions in flights related to Zagreb, but we expect a recovery from March onwards and that in the summer of 2022, we should reach 100 million passengers,'' assured David O 'Brien.

For more on Croatian routes by air, land and sea, check out our travel section.

January 28, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as 27 Ryanair Zagreb summer routes will run this year, which is 13 more than in 2021. 

Ryanair, Europe's largest airline, announced the largest summer flight schedule in Zagreb to date, including 27 routes and more than 70 weekly flights to exciting European destinations such as London, Paris, Milan, Vienna, Frankfurt, and Dublin.

Namely, Putoholicari.hr reports that last summer, Ryanair opened its base with the first aircraft in Zagreb to support strong demand for flights to/from Croatia. This increased connectivity will support tourist arrivals and also provide international tourists and business travelers with plenty of travel choices to leading European markets like Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, France, and Austria.

While other airlines are reducing the number of routes, Ryanair is increasing capacity to a significant extent in Croatia. With an additional 13 lines compared to the 2021 summer season, including the recently announced for Bratislava, Corfu, and Lviv, travelers from Croatia now have 27 routes available for their next summer trip. This growth was driven by the delivery of 67 new so-called Gamechanger aircraft (which emit 40% less noise, 16% less fuel, and have 4% more seats available) before the start of the 2022 summer season.

A list of the flight destinations:

Baden - Baden
Basel
Bratislava
Brussels Charleroi
Corfu
Dortmund
Dublin
Eindhoven
Frankfurt - Hahn
Gothenburg
London Stansted
Lviv
Malaga
Malmo
Malta
Manchester
Memmingen
Milan - Bergamo
Naples
Paphos
Paris Beauvais
Podgorica
Rome Fiumicino
Sofia
Thessaloniki
Oslo - Torp
Dusseldorf - Weeze
*Note: 13 new lines during the summer of 2022 compared to the summer of 2021.

A statement was made by Lauda Europe CEO David O’Brien, on behalf of the Ryanair Group: 

"We are pleased to announce our largest summer flight schedule ever in Zagreb, where Ryanair will operate more than 70 weekly flights to 27 destinations, giving incoming tourism a much-needed boost, and Croatian consumers the widest choice of great destinations, both for leisure and for business travel. Ryanair is investing in Croatia to help the tourism industry recover from the coronavirus pandemic and strengthen ties with the rest of Europe, while Ryanair itself continues to grow and air traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels.

To celebrate these 27 summer lines, we are launching a seat sale with ticket prices of just 152 kn (€19.99) for a one-way trip until the end of April 2022. Take advantage of promotional prices until Saturday, January 29, at midnight. As these incredibly low ticket prices will sell out quickly, we advise you to book your seat at www.ryanair.com today."

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

January 27, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia brings more bad news to Zagreb Airport, as Air Serbia Belgrade-Zagreb winter flights have been further reduced in February, following Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Ryanair, and KLM.

The Serbian national airline Air Serbia will operate on a reduced basis on its only year-round route to Croatia - between Belgrade and Zagreb, this February, reports Croatian Aviation.

Thus, Air Serbia will mainly operate three times a week between Belgrade and Zagreb, on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays. This is a consequence of the low demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe. A month ago, it was clear that the airline wanted to operate on this line with significantly more weekly departures, however, there is no need. 

The airline planned daily flights on this route (28 return flights in February), but by February 24, as many as 14 return flights had been canceled, resulting in the withdrawal of 1,960 seats. 

In March this year, Air Serbia currently offers 5 weekly flights on this route, every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but there is no doubt that the airline will still revise its flight schedule and, in case of low demand, additionally cancel certain departures.

After Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Ryanair, and KLM, Air Serbia is just another airline in a series that has reduced the number of available seats to Zagreb.

However, Croatian Aviation believes that 1,960 fewer seats aren’t too big a number, especially compared to the aforementioned carriers. Austrian withdrew 3,600 seats to/from Zagreb, British Airways almost 5,300, Eurowings over 5,500, and Ryanair more than 23,000 seats!

There are 40,000 seats on sale, but due to low demand, flights were canceled, which led to the withdrawal of this capacity.

Last year, Zagreb Airport justified the suspension of flights by reduced demand, claiming that the same was happening in the region and Europe. Croatian Aviation adds that this is not an accurate figure, as Austrian was present last winter in Belgrade, Skopje, Sarajevo, Pristina, Podgorica, but not at Zagreb Airport. This winter, the airline again suspended flights between Vienna and Zagreb. The same could also apply to Eurowings, which is present in the region, while the number of weekly flights to Zagreb has been drastically reduced.

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

January 26, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as British Airways London-Zagreb flights in February have been canceled. 

Croatian Aviation reports that British Airways has canceled all flights between London and Zagreb in February this year. 

Namely, British Airways has canceled 15 return flights in February between London and Zagreb, justifying the move by low demand, which is directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

British Airways is currently planning to return to Zagreb on the last day of February, from which four flights a week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, have been announced again. As a reminder, as of January 27, the United Kingdom will abolish most of the strict measures, and testing on the second day after arriving in the country will no longer be mandatory. The easing of austerity measures is expected to allow more passenger movement, but it is hard to expect demand to rise so drastically in these winter months, which were mostly bad even in the years before the pandemic.

Irish Ryanair currently connects London Stansted and Zagreb 5 times a week, every day of the week except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while Croatia Airlines connects London Heathrow and Zagreb 4 times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Regular British Airways operations between Zagreb and London can be expected only in the summer flight schedule, but then the focus of this airline moves to the coast, to Dubrovnik, Split, and Pula.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reported earlier this week that Eurowings drastically cut the number of flights to Zagreb Airport since the beginning of this year due to reduced demand. January and February are traditionally the two worst months of the year regarding air traffic in Croatia and the region. This year, demand is adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and the world.

For this reason, Eurowings has canceled numerous departures to and from Zagreb International Airport. 

On the Stuttgart - Zagreb - Stuttgart line, Eurowings made its last flight on January 9 this year, and there are no regular flights between the two cities until February 7. Furthermore, 14 return flights were canceled in the mentioned period, which is 4,368 fewer seats to and from Zagreb.

On the Cologne - Zagreb - Cologne route, Eurowings operates regularly, twice a week, but some weekly flights have been canceled, as many as 10, which is 3,120 seats less than planned!

The Dusseldorf - Zagreb line last operated on December 28, 2021, as all flights for January and February were canceled. The next flight is announced for March 1. Zagreb lost an additional 6,120 seats from 17 canceled rotations.

The Prague - Zagreb line was supposed to start operating in the winter flight schedule this year, but it did not happen. Eurowings has already extended the start of operations on this line several times, and the first flight has been announced for March 8. A total of 6 rotations planned for January and February were canceled, which is an additional 1,872 fewer seats.

From the beginning of the year to March, Eurowings canceled 47 return flights on four international routes, which caused Zagreb to lose 15,480 seats.

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