July 23, 2021 - Nine new Ryanair Zagreb routes have been announced for December, with promotional flight prices of just 150 kn if booked by July 25! 

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, opened its base at Franjo Tudjman Airport today and announced that it will have an additional aircraft there, so from December this year, the fleet will consist of three based aircraft, reports Vecernji List.

Ryanair says their total investment in Zagreb is $300 million, and during the winter they will have 62 outgoing flights a week from Zagreb on 24 routes, including nine new routes unveiled today.

Ryanair states that their flight schedule, after high demand this summer, will help the functioning of Zagreb as a key city break destination and will support the recovery of the Croatian tourism industry. They also state that they will create 90 direct jobs in Zagreb.

Today, they presented nine new lines from Zagreb to Basel, Eindhoven, Malaga, Manchester, Naples, Paphos, Thessaloniki (twice a week), and Dublin (three times a week). The new additions will be introduced between December 1 and December 17.

“We have one aircraft based in Zagreb from July 23, the second comes in September and the third in December. We have 41 weekly frequencies this summer and are connecting everything from London to Billund, from Oslo all the way down to Rome. So, in winter we are adding nine new routes, 25 routes in total and I hope we are going to grow that next summer. We are driving the recovery. I have to thank the airport for securing Ryanair for Zagreb and Croatia too. What I can promise you is that everyone flying through this airport in the next twelve months is going to be paying less for their airfares," said Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, in Zagreb today. 

In total, there are 24 lines to and from 16 countries - Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In the first year of flying on routes from and to Zagreb, Ryanair will transport about 700,000 passengers.

To open the new base, Ryanair launched the sale of tickets at prices of 150 kuna for travel until the end of March, which must be booked by Sunday, July 25 at midnight on the official website - ryanair.com.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July 14, 2021 - Zagreb Airport flights to 46 destinations are available for passengers ahead of the peak season!

After months of falling traffic caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Franjo Tudjman Airport experienced a significant recovery in the second quarter of this year after European borders opened and COVID-19 (at least temporarily) fell into the background. As the peak of the tourist season approaches, Zagreb has once again become attractive to foreign carriers

From April to the end of June this year, air traffic in Zagreb increased by 350 percent,

The peak season at 'Franjo Tudjman' is expected at the end of this month when the low-budget carrier Ryanair will open its base and introduce a number of new lines for foreign and domestic passengers. T.portal researched where passengers can fly from Zagreb this summer and the options if you are planning a trip abroad.

Most of the traffic this summer, but also all year round in Zagreb, falls on Croatia Airlines, the national carrier that flies from Zagreb to five domestic airports - Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Pula, Brac - and maintains international routes that include Frankfurt, Vienna, Copenhagen, Munich, Zurich, London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Sarajevo, Skopje, Rome, and Athens.

Another domestic carrier, Trade Air, connects Zagreb and Osijek.

The biggest expectations from this season are set for Ryanair, currently flying from Zagreb to Charleroi Airport near Brussels and Bergamo near Milan.

When the Irish carrier opens its base on July 23, as previously announced, Zagreb will be connected to as many as twelve new destinations. These are Ciampino (near Rome), Dortmund, Gothenburg, Podgorica, Sofia, Beauvais Tille near Paris, Karlsruhe, Memmingen (south of Germany), Hahn (near Frankfurt), Malmö, Weeze (near Duisburg) and Torp Sandefjord (south of Oslo). 

Of the destinations within the EU, 'Franjo Tudjman' currently connects Lufthansa with Munich, Austrian flies to Vienna, Air France to Paris, KLM to Amsterdam, Eurowings flies to Cologne and Stuttgart, TAP to Lisbon, Iberia to Madrid, British Airways to London, Vueling to Barcelona, and LOT to Warsaw.

The Airport reveals that Eurowings flights to Düsseldorf, Nordwind Airlines to Moscow, EL AL, and Croatia Airlines to Tel Aviv have been announced for the season, while Aegean Airlines will fly to Athens during the peak season.

The offer of destinations outside the European Union is quite modest, with only five offered. Turkish Airlines can take you to Istanbul, Windrose Airlines to Kyiv, Aeroflot to Moscow, Air Serbia to Belgrade, and, finally, Qatar Airways to Doha.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July the 7th, 2021 - The new Ryanair Zagreb route looked as if it was set to put not only Croatia Airlines, which many complain is far too expensive, but British Airways, which hadn't been present in the Croatian capital for months, out of work. With air traffic for the Zagreb on the rise, just how is this wildly popular Irish carrier doing?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, after several months of falling and stagnant air traffic, Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman International Airport is recording a trend of gradual recovery, in the summer months they expect continued acceleration of growth, which will peak at the end of the summer season, when the Ryanair Zagreb base is expected to open.

After two US companies (Delta Airlines and United Airlines) launched direct flights to Dubrovnik, Hungary's Wizz Air, one of Europe's fastest growing airlines, yesterday marked the launch of flights from Dubrovnik to Rome, Warsaw and Vienna. At the same time, Zagreb Ryanair flights were cancelled, which can only be assumed is the result of the apparent low interest of passengers.

Compared to the second quarter of 2020, during the lockdown, the traffic at Zagreb Airport is 3.5 times higher. This year’s figures are currently at 220,000 passengers, and June alone closed with more than 100,000 passengers. From July, Croatia Airlines will fly from Zagreb on 14 international and 5 domestic routes, and will have a total of more than 150 weekly departures. They expect a significant contribution to the recovery of traffic in Zagreb from Ryanair. At the Franjo Tudjman Airport, the plan is to serve between 90 and 100 daily air operations during the peak period of the summer season, and Zagreb will be connected with 6 domestic and 42 international destinations with regular lines.

However, experience shows that things are not going quite so smoothly yet, as the Croatian Aviation portal published the testimonies of passengers whose flights were cancelled by Ryanair.

On June the 17th, the Irish carrier launched its second of 15 planned routes from Zagreb to Bergamo, an airport near Milan. Since then, planes have operated on this route four times a week, but the portal received a number of passengers who bought tickets for flights in August, only to receive a notification from the company that their flight had been cancelled. It turned out that all 18 flights were cancelled in August, and the passengers were notified in the email that the cancellations were due to new restrictive measures for tourist trips between Croatia and Italy.

This is not clear at all, however, as nothing has changed in terms of restrictions between these countries. Moreover, Ryanair has announced the Rome - Zagreb - Rome route in August, Ryanair flights from Zadar to Milan have not been cancelled, nor have the other four routes between Zadar and the Italian destinations operated by this airline. Croatia Airlines, Vueling, EasyJet, Volotea and Wizz Air also didn't cancel flights scheduled to fly to Italy in August.

It's difficult to understand what is really going on here, given the lack of clarity that has dominated flights ever since the pandemic began at the beginning of 2020, but with tickets as cheap as they are and with Croatia Airlines being the other option, it's hard to imagine the Irish carrier suffering a great deal as a result.

For more on Ryanair Zagreb flights, make sure to follow our dedicated travel section.

June 18, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as an Air Canada Zagreb service will launch from Toronto in 2022! 

Great news for the Canadian market in Croatia as Air Canada plans to launch a service between Toronto and Zagreb from June 2 next year.

Namely, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Air Canada will take over the route from Air Canada Rouge. Air Transat also operates on this route and plans to resume its seasonal service to Zagreb service on May 29 next year with the 332-seat A330-200 jet. Recall, Air Transat canceled all already announced flights on the Toronto-Zagreb route this year back in March. In January, the airline confirmed that it planned to re-establish the line between Toronto and Zagreb in the upcoming summer season, leaving the possibility of reducing or completely canceling the line if the demand was not satisfactory. The airline established a direct line between the two cities in June 2016, continuously increasing the number of weekly flights from season to season until the summer season last year when the line did not operate due to the pandemic.

Thus, from June 2, 2022, the new Air Canada service will run three weekly flights on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and return the following day. The 297-seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 32 seats in business (signature) class, 24 in premium economy, and 241 in the standard economy will operate on this line. 

The last flights that connected Toronto and Zagreb operated in October 2019, after which the COVID-19 pandemic stopped all flights between Toronto and Zagreb in 2020 and 2021. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that the Canadian market is significant for Croatia as it serves both travelers on holiday and those visiting friends and family. 

Just how successful the routes between Canada and Croatia have been can be seen by the 2019 figures when Air Canada Rouge and Air Transat recorded 65,486 passengers, a 14.6% increase compared to 2018. Furthermore, the number of indirect passengers flying between Croatia and Canada was 71.254 in 2019.

This announcement means even more good news for the capital city airport, which also welcomes a Ryanair base this year with 15 international routes. 

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

June 5, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Eurowings Zagreb-Düsseldorf flights resume August 31!

Avio Radar reports that German low-cost airline Eurowings will resume traffic on the Zagreb-Düsseldorf route. The line stopped operating even before the pandemic but is now on offer again, currently only from August 31 to the end of October with flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

Eurowings flew non-stop on the lines from Cologne and Stuttgart with two interruptions during the pandemic in the spring and winter of last year. It is in traffic again from May 20. Eurowings currently operates 3 flights a week from Zagreb to Cologne on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and two flights a week to Stuttgart on Thursdays and Sundays. From July 1, the same number of flights is planned for both routes as before the pandemic. Namely, there will be six flights a week from Cologne, every day except Saturday, and five flights a week for Stuttgart, every day except Tuesday and Saturday.

Last month, Eurowings announced 16 flights to Croatia, with 23 flights a week to 6 Croatian airports - Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Rijeka. 

Eurowings will operate for the first time from the new Berlin Airport (Brandenburg) with lines to Dubrovnik, Rijeka, and Split.

The Berlin - Dubrovnik - Berlin line will run from June 27, once a week, on Sundays, with a second weekly flight on Tuesdays from early July.

The Berlin - Rijeka - Berlin line will run on Saturdays from June 26, with a second weekly flight on Thursdays from the beginning of July.

The Berlin - Split - Berlin line will run from Saturday, June 19.

Eurowings will connect Hamburg and Dubrovnik on Sundays from June 27, Hamburg and Rijeka on Saturdays from June 26, and Hamburg and Zadar on Saturdays from June 26. 

From June 28, Eurowings will increase the number of operations between Hamburg and Split to two flights a week on Mondays and Saturdays.

Eurowings will connect Dusseldorf and Rijeka on Saturdays in June and connect Dusseldorf and Pula on Saturdays from June 26.

The Dusseldorf - Split - Dusseldorf line will continue to operate twice a week in June, on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The Cologne and Split line will work on Saturdays through June.

The Stuttgart - Split - Stuttgart line runs from June 9 with a second weekly flight on Wednesdays, while Stuttgart and Zadar are connected from June 13 on Sundays.

The Dortmund - Split line will run on Saturdays and Tuesdays from June 9. 

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

June 4,  2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as the Ryanair Zagreb-Sofia flight is the airline's 15th route to the capital city network.

Avio Radar reports that Europe's largest low-cost airline has announced a new route from Zagreb to Sofia. The line will run twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays from August 3, with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft from a base in Sofia. It will be the 15th new Ryanair line from Zagreb and the first direct line between Croatia and Bulgaria.

Ryanair Sales and Marketing Manager for Central, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, Olga Pawlonka, said:

"As vaccination programs continue in the coming months, and the summer season is just around the corner, we are pleased to announce this new route from Zagreb to Sofia that will be in traffic twice a week from August as part of our Croatian 2021 summer flight schedule.

Bearing in mind that restrictions change regularly due to COVID-19, customers can now book flights for a well-deserved vacation, knowing that if they need to postpone or change the travel date, they can do so by the end of December twice without a change fee."

The Irish low-cost airline landed at Zagreb Airport for the first time on Wednesday, June 2. The first arrival was on line number FR4982 from Charleroi Airport near Brussels. This line will be in traffic twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, and from September 3, it will be intensified by the third flight a week, on Fridays. On the first flight was a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with registration number EI-EVP with 67 passengers arriving. There were 40 passengers on the return.

Ryanair announced a base in Zagreb with 12 new lines. Two more were added later. From June 17, traffic will start on the line from the base at Bergamo Airport near Milan with four flights a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Traffic from the base in Zagreb will start on July 23, with the first departure from Zagreb on the line to Gothenburg. On the same day, the plan is to start traffic on the routes to Rome ("Ciampino" airport) and London ("Stansted" airport). Other 9 lines to: Paris (Beuvais Airport), Dortmund, Dusseldorf (Niederrhein-Weeze Airport), Frankfurt (Hahn Airport), Karlsruhe, Memmingen, Malmö, Oslo (Sandefjord-Torp Airport) ") and Podgorica are scheduled for September 1. 

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 3 June 2021 - Irish Ryanair on Wednesday started operating a new route between Zagreb and Brussels Charleroi, which is scheduled twice a week, and the same airline announced the launch of several other flights from Zagreb, with ticket prices from €19.99, Zagreb Airport (MZLZ) has said.

The flight to Milan Bergamo launches on 17 June, and the flights to Gothenburg, London Stansted, and Rome Ciampino will be available from 23 July, when the first Ryanair airplane will be based in Zagreb.

The full Ryanair flight schedule from Zagreb for summer 2021 will be available from September, when the second airplane will be based in Zagreb and nine new routes will open to Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, and Montenegro.

Ryanair's Sales and Marketing Manager for Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Olga Pawlonka, said that she was pleased that her company had officially marked the first flight for Zagreb on the Brussels Charleroi route.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 27 May 2021 - A flight from Dublin with about 100 passengers landed in Zagreb on Thursday, whereby Croatia Airlines (CA) and Zagreb International Airport (MZLZ) marked the relaunch on flights on that route after they had been suspended due to the pandemic, and CA hopes to intensify flights to European destinations.

The national flag carrier CA hopes to expand its flight network from Croatia to European destinations and as part of its plans, it will intensify flights on the Zagreb-Dublin route.

There will be two flights a week on that route, on Thursdays and Sundays, and the plan is to adapt to current market demand, depending on the epidemiological situation in Croatia and the world. The first direct flight on that route was established in 2018.

A member of the management board at MZLZ, David Gabelica, underscored that Zagreb is currently connected to 24 destinations and that as of June that will increase to 36. There are 300 flights a week and at peak season there will be 700.

Gabelica added that CA is MZLZ's most important partner and they are in constant contact. Considering the conditions that Ryanair was recently awarded, which are much more favorable than for Croatia's flag carrier, Gabelica said that CA can always count on the best conditions.

The director of the Zagreb Tourist Board, Martina Bienenfeld, underscored that the reintroduction of Dublin-Zagreb flights shows that interest exists for people to come to Zagreb and Croatia.

"The majority of passengers, according to my information, are staying in Zagreb but I am convinced that a large number of flights that Croatia Airlines is gradually reintroducing to Zagreb will have transfers to other destinations in Croatia," she said.

She explained that the majority of tourists currently in Zagreb are from the USA and that tourism numbers are similar to last year's.

CA commercial director Slaven Žabo said that CA will fly to 18 European destinations during the summer, including 14 from Zagreb.

He confirmed that the national flag carrier was in negotiations with MZLZ regarding better conditions.

In an effort to ensure better connectivity and support to Croatia's tourism, CA plans to provide 80,000 seats a month during the summer season on flights from European destinations to Croatia while cooperation with tour operators foresees more than 200 tourism charter flights from Austria, Italy, Ireland, Israel, and Scandinavia, said Žabo.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 26, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as flights from Scandinavia to Croatia return this summer thanks to SAS, Norwegian, TUI, and Nova Airways. 

Croatian Aviation reports that SAS, Norwegian, TUI, and Nova Airways are announcing the start of operations on their seasonal routes from Scandinavia to Croatian airports.

After several months, Scandinavian airlines are resuming traffic on their seasonal international routes to Croatian airports. Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik will again have direct connections with several cities. A look at the flight schedule for June.

Lines to Split begin first

The first flights this season have been announced to Split Airport. From June 5, Norwegian will operate once a week on the Stockholm - Split - Stockholm route, and from the end of June, daily flights have been announced.

In addition to Stockholm, Norwegian plans to introduce the Copenhagen - Split - Copenhagen route (daily) from the end of June, and flights on the Oslo - Split - Oslo route have been announced from June 17, three times a week, every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

SAS Scandinavian Airlines will resume operations on the Stockholm - Split - Stockholm route from June 5, and as of June 16, two flights a week have been announced on this route, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

As of Wednesday, June 9, SAS introduces the Copenhagen - Split - Copenhagen line, which will operate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. At the beginning of July, the company will introduce a regular line between Oslo and Split.

In addition to the two mentioned carriers, from Friday, June 4, TUI will operate once a week from Stockholm to Split. Nova Airways will also operate on the regular charter line Gothenburg - Split - Stockholm from the beginning of June.

At the end of June, the return of SAS to Pula

From the end of June, SAS Scandinavian Airlines routes to Pula Airport have also been announced. These are three international lines, from Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm.

The line from Copenhagen to Pula is announced twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays, the line from Oslo once a week, on Mondays, and the line from Stockholm twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The lines will be in operation from the last week of June, and an increase in the number of weekly operations is expected from July.

Norwegian is currently not selling tickets to Pula Airport for this summer season.

Lines to Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik has SAS and Norwegian flights in the announcement; both mentioned airlines should resume traffic to Dubrovnik in the last week of June.

SAS is currently planning two lines to Dubrovnik from Copenhagen and Stockholm. The line from Copenhagen is announced once a week from June 28, on Mondays, while the line from Stockholm is also announced once a week, on Sundays, from June 27. The carrier also plans to increase the number of operations towards Dubrovnik in early July. 

Norwegian currently offers only one line to Dubrovnik Airport. It is a line Stockholm - Dubrovnik - Stockholm, which should have its first flight this season on June 28. Three flights a week have been announced, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and from July on Saturdays.

Four lines from Zagreb

According to current announcements, Zagreb will have four direct lines to Scandinavia this summer.

At the beginning of June, Croatia Airlines will increase the number of operations on its regular route Zagreb - Copenhagen - Zagreb with a morning departure from Zagreb Airport, and in June, flights on this route will be available daily.

From July 23, Ryanair will introduce the Zagreb - Gothenburg - Zagreb route (three flights a week), while from September, regular flights from Zagreb to Oslo Torp and Malmo have been announced (both routes two flights a week).

In previous years, Norwegian operated on the line between Copenhagen and Zagreb, but this line is not on sale on the airline's official website this year either.

Flights from Zadar to Stockholm

Since the end of June, Zadar Airport has announced a regular direct Ryanair flight between Gothenburg and Zadar; two flights a week have been announced, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and in July, there will be as many as four flights a week on this route.

In addition to Gothenburg, Zadar will be connected to Stockholm and Aarhus in July.

Rijeka, Osijek, and Brac, the three remaining airports open to international traffic, currently have no scheduled flights from Scandinavia for this summer season. 

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 25, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Iberia flights to Split and Zagreb return next month, while the Dubrovnik line will increase to four flights a week! 

Croatian Aviation reports that Spanish national airline, Iberia, will resume traffic to two Croatian airports - Zagreb and Split - from the beginning of June.

Iberia is running again to Zagreb and Split from the beginning of June! Since March, the Spanish national airline has been operating on a regular route between Madrid and Dubrovnik and will reintroduce routes to Split and Zagreb next month. 

Return to Zagreb

These lines were not in operation in the summer of 2020, and the airline only had reduced traffic to Dubrovnik Airport. Still, in the summer of 2021, Iberia will operate to the Croatian capital, Split, and later to Zadar, which will restore traffic on all lines Iberia had in the summer season of 2019, before the pandemic.

The Madrid - Zagreb - Madrid line was announced on Friday, June 4. Initially, Iberia aircraft will operate on this route three times a week, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Three flights a week have been announced throughout June, and A320 aircraft will operate on the route.

Iberia will offer a total of 4,104 seats between Zagreb and Madrid in June.

Madrid - Split - Madrid from June 1

In addition to Zagreb, Iberia will return to Split Airport as of June 1. In the first half of the month, two flights a week are announced, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and from mid-June, flights on Saturdays and Sundays are added.

As early as the end of June, Iberia will operate between Madrid and Split five times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Currently, 16 rotations have been announced on this line in June, with 5,472 seats available for sale between the two mentioned cities.

More flights to Dubrovnik

As we mentioned earlier, Dubrovnik is the only Croatian airport to which Iberia operated in the summer of 2020 and is also the company's first destination in Croatia this summer season.

So far, two flights a week have been available on this route, and as many as four have been announced since the beginning of June (from Friday to Monday).

From Friday, June 18, Iberia plans to operate daily between Dubrovnik and Madrid, with A320 aircraft, so that the Spanish company will offer the largest number of seats to Dubrovnik. There are currently as many as 7,182 seats on sale.

Zadar from July!

Regular flights on the route between Madrid and Zadar are currently postponed to the beginning of July (from July 3). Two flights a week have been announced on this route, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but given that the start date of operations is still quite far, there is no need to hurry with booking because the airline could continue to cancel flights on this route.

In June, Iberia will have three lines to Croatia with a total of 15 weekly operations. Between Madrid, Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik, there are as many as 16,755 seats on offer.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.