Mayor Milan Bandic wants to expand the Zagreb tram network and introduce a tram from Kvaternikov trg (Kvaternik's square) to a residential location close to Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport. Will the mayor's Zagreb Airport tram project manage to get off the ground?

As Vedran Marjanovic/Novac writes on the 4th of March, 2020, the City of Zagreb's administration has announced that Geoprojekt and Elektroprojekt will produce the Zagreb Airport tram project's technical documentation for the construction of the line which will go from Kvaternikov trg to the settlement of Velika Kosnica, located close to Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport, for a price tag of three million and 683 thousand kuna.

The offers put forward by Geoprojekt and Elektroprojekt weere selected as the most favourable of all at a public tender launched by Zagreb's Public Procurement Office, initially announced back at the end of 2016. However, according to the latest information from the Public Procurement Office, the value of the contract has since increased by 683 thousand kuna.

According to the general urban plan of the Croatian capital city, the new tram line would connect Kvaternikov trg and Velika Kosnica with a total length of seventeen kilometres, or 8.5 kilometres with a two-lane traffic line. The aforementioned length doesn't take into account any possible extensions of the tram line from Velika Kosnica to the City Stadium in Velika Gorica and Zagreb Airport.

The envisioned Kvaternikov trg-Velika Kosnica or ''Zagreb Airport tram'' route will be divided into four different sections. The first section relates to the construction of the line along Heinzelova in order to directly connect Kvaternikov trg with Ulica grada Vukovara (Vukovar street). Two sections then relate to the construction of the tram line along Radnicka cesta (road), across Savisce all the way to Domovinski most (Homeland bridge) and the rest relates to the line from Domovinski most to Velika Kosnica.

The planned ''Zagreb Airport tram'' route envisages twelve tram stops, and ZET wouldn't introduce any new tram lines according to the aforementioned guidelines, but would divert the number 2 line now operating from Crnomerec to Savisce. According to the plans, the two would connect the railway and bus stations to Velika Kosnica, or to Zagreb Airport, when the route leads to the airport.

Preparations for the construction of the tram line to Velika Kosnica began back at the end of 2016, when Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic announced that the railway would be finished in 2019, and the total value of the investment stood at 50 million euros. Considering the fact that the contract with Geoprojekt and Elektroprojekt has been established only now, it's uncertain when the construction of the line could actually begin.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of March, 2020, in addition to opening up lines to new destinations, additional flights are being introduced to many existing destinations to and from Zagreb Airport.

Zagreb Airport (Franjo Tudjman) has so far enjoyed a positive start to 2020. In January, passenger growth was 6.2 percent, while in February it increased by 2 percent, despite the impact on coronavirus-related traffic. This summer's flight schedule has thus seen flights to three new destinations and a dozen additional flights to existing destinations announced.

Domestic carrier Croatia Airlines has announced the introduction of flights to two new destinations, Sofia (Bulgaria) and Podgorica (Montenegro). Both destinations will be available through three flights per week starting in May. From June, Zagreb and Kiev (Ukraine) will be connected by direct flight with Windrose Airlines three times weekly.

Air France will be launching its second daily flight from Zagreb to Paris as of May. Along with Croatia Airlines' daily flights, Zagreb Airport and Paris will be connected with three routes daily. British Airways is adding another four weeks of flights from London (Heathrow) to Zagreb, which will ultimately add up to a total of eleven flights per week between the two European nations.

Croatia Airlines is adding another weekly flight from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Zagreb Airport, offering passengers a total of eight flights a week from Zagreb to Amsterdam. Air Serbia will add two more weeks of flights from Belgrade, which will reach a total of thirteen flights a week between Belgrade and Zagreb.

Aegean is changing the type of aircraft it uses and will fly an Airbus A319 aircraft during the summer instead of a Q400 aircraft. It will also double its seating capacity on the route to Athens. Croatia Airlines will also increase the seating capacity of flights to Brussels (Belgium), Skopje (Macedonia) and Copenhagen (Denmark) using more A319 aircraft instead of the CRJ1000.

In addition to these scheduled flights, there are also talks going on with two new carriers from Africa and Asia for charter flights for Zagreb Airport's 2020 summer flight schedule.

The situation with coronavirus has a certain negative impact on the traffic in Zagreb, so the situation is being carefully monitored and regular contact is going on between all companies, who are all monitoring their timetable updates on individual direct routes to Zagreb Airport.

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February 19, 2020 - After a five-month break, Emirates and Korean Air will resume their seasonal services to Croatia next month. 

Namely, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Emirates will once again fly to Zagreb on March 29, on the route that has been operated by Flydubai for the winter. Ex Yu Aviation adds that the Zagreb service was the first time these two airlines shared a single route. 

"Zagreb is an example of how much our cooperation with Flydubai managed to improve our results. We served the route in winter with our Boeing 777 aircraft. However, it emerged that this route is not as strong in winter, so now we can still continue serving Zagreb well through Flydubai,” said Emirates’ Area Manager, Martin Gross. 

“Zagreb is corresponding with our development in Europe. We have wide coverage in Europe, and we understood that Croatia has big potential for two reasons. First, it is a destination that is really interesting for travel from Asia, Australia, China and Taiwan. Therefore, there is a lot of incoming traffic to Zagreb and the entire country in general. From Croatia it is a way to offer the local population a link to our Dubai hub. There is a lot of demand from Croatia to the world. This is primarily to Dubai but also beyond, for example, to destinations in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, such as Phuket in Thailand”, Emirates said about the future of the Dubai - Zagreb service.

We will also see the return of Korean Air to Zagreb from March 31. The airline will increase capacity on this route this year and use the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which has capacity for 269 passengers. Korean Air will run on the Seoul-Zagreb route three times per week.

Recall, Korean Air previously ran year-round to Zagreb, though it cut back its winter operations in 2019. 

“We have not yet decided whether suspending the flights during the winter season will be continued in the future,” the airline said for Ex Yu Aviation.

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

February 12, 2020 - Croatian national carrier and Star Alliance member Croatia Airlines is introducing new international flights from Zagreb to Sofia and Podgorica this summer. 

Namely, Avio Radar reports that regular international flights from Zagreb to Sofia are scheduled from May 1 to the end of October this year. This service will run three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and will operate using the 76-seater Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. 

Two days later, on May 3,  2020,regular international flights on the Zagreb-Podgorica route will be introduced on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Flights will also be operated by the Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. As of today, return airline tickets are sold on both routes. 

Compared to the last tourist season, where Croatia Airlines had a fleet of 14 aircraft (12 of their own and 2 chartered CRJ 1000 aircraft), they will enter this season with one additional aircraft. Based on a long-term dry lease, the fleet will include a 150-seat Airbus 319 in late March and an additional 76-seat Dash 8-Q400 in late April to support unplanned traffic disruptions. In addition, from April to October, a short lease (wet-lease) of one CRJ 1000 aircraft by the Spanish air carrier Air Nostrum is also planned. 

Thus, the company will have a fleet of 15 aircraft this year (two Airbus 320s, five Airbus 319s, seven Dash 8-Q400s, and one CRJ1000 aircraft).

Croatia Airlines aircraft will fly scheduled flights to 40 destinations in 26 countries during this tourist season, thus continuing to contribute to regular and year-round connectivity in domestic and international air transport, as well as provide strong support to the development of Croatia’s tourism potential. 

Furthermore, Croatia Airlines is also looking to hire new cabin members to cover its expanding fleet and route network. President of the Supervisory Board Zlatko said on Ex Yu Aviation:

“Croatia Airlines is a decent and high-quality Central European company, whose strategic goals are, first and foremost, quality and passenger safety. In the words of our owner, the government of the Republic of Croatia, the expansion of our destination network, as well as fleet renewal, is our strategic focus in the upcoming period”.

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

January 27, 2020 - The Croatia handball team arrived in Zagreb early Monday morning as the European Championship silver medalists.

The Cowboys have landed!

24.Sata reports that around 1 am on Monday morning, the Croatia handball team returned to Croatia with a silver medal around their necks. The flight arrived later than scheduled, but the cheerful Croatian fans in attendance didn't seem to mind.

Namely, fans started gathering at the airport around 11:30 pm, and by the time the Cowboys landed, as many as 500 had arrived at the airport. The fact that Monday is a working day didn’t bother those up past their bedtime - and the team was truly elated to have such a warm welcome home.

“Phenomenal, I thank these wonderful people. It's 1 am and I thank you on behalf of the whole team. These images will remain with us for a lifetime,” said Euro MVP Domagoj Duvnjak upon leaving the plane, adding:

“We were very sad, we felt like we were close to gold. But when you come here and see so many people, you know you've done a great thing.”

The Croatian fans welcomed the handball players with song and dance. One group of young men even brought a loudspeaker to warm up the atmosphere with patriotic songs.

“It was difficult after the defeat, but when we see how many people came to greet us at 1 am, we thank them. The reception will not only be at Ban Jelacic Square, but there will be a lot of parties, and in my Mostar. There will be a lot of work tomorrow, but most importantly, we are proud, and especially for the fans we played for. What this team did at this championship… I tip my hat,” said the best midfielder Igor Karacic.

The Cowboys, accompanied by fans, boarded their bus, waved goodbye, and headed to the hotel. The European Championship silver medalists will stay in Zagreb where a big reception will be organized at Ban Jelacic Square on Monday at 12.30 pm.

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

January 20, 2020 - A brand new VIP lounge has opened at Zagreb Airport, which will be especially important during Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union. 

Zagreb Airport recorded another busy year in 2019, handling 3,435,531 passengers in total, which is up 3 percent on the year before. After a slow summer, the capital city airport came back in the winter for a solid December, where it registered an increase of 7.6 percent. However, at the end of the year, Zagreb and Split were just 133,601 travelers apart.

Ex Yu Aviation reported that the collapse of Adria Airways certainly played a part in the airport’s growth during the last three months of 2019 as travelers were redirected from Ljubljana to Zagreb. 

However, another big player is the fact that Croatia has taken over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, which it will hold over the next six months. 

Keeping this in mind, the airport has opened a new VIP lounge, which will serve to ease the experience of travelers.

“A new VIP lounge for guests that arrive on regular flights was opened at the Zagreb Airport's terminal, as well as the lounge for private flights within the terminal of general aviation. These new lounges will be especially important in the next six months, during the Republic of Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union. This pleasant ambient, spreading over two locations with a total area of 900 square meters, will provide a place for relaxation, meetings and media conferences for many officials,” Zagreb Airport wrote on its Facebook. 

The airport also provided a gallery of photos by Josip Škof, which you can find below. 

Zagreb Airport should register another record year, as Air France announced it would double its service to the capital, and Croatia Airlines plans to launch new services between Zagreb and Podgorica and Tirana, to name a few.

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

December 9, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Zagreb.

Avio Radar reports that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced that it would terminate its base at Skavsta Airport near Stockholm, Sweden, and this year’s new base in Nuremberg, Germany. The airline stated the reason being that they would not be taking over the 20 Boeing 737MAX aircraft as planned for the summer next year. 

In the Croatian market, this means discontinuing the Stockholm-Rijeka route, which was the strongest Ryanair route to Rijeka. Namely, this route operated to Rijeka in the summer from early April to late October and is already not on sale for next year. 

“We also expect to cut summer capacity in a number of other existing bases, and we are currently in discussions with our people, our unions, and our affected airports to finalize these minor reductions”, Ryanair said in a statement on Ex Yu Aviation News. 

Interestingly, the airline recently announced that it would boost operations on the Stockholm-Zadar route from two to three times per week, and tickets for this line are still on offer for next year. Furthermore, tickets for the Nuremberg-Zadar route are also still on offer, although the Nuremberg base has plans to close. The airline updated customers with the news that this line would continue with operations, unlike the others. 

Avio Radar adds that British low-cost carrier Jet2 will increase traffic to Dubrovnik in their 2020 summer flight schedule. On the London (Stansted Airport)-Dubrovnik route, the sixth flight per week has been introduced, on Mondays, which means that Jet2 will fly this route every day except Wednesdays. The line will begin operations on April 2, 2020. 

Still, Jet2 has decreased operations from London to Pula and Split. The London (Stansted)-Pula route will run only once a week, on Sundays, from May 31 to September 20, 2020. The London (Stansted)-Split route will run twice a week instead of last year’s three, on Thursdays and Sundays. Namely, this line will no longer work on Wednesdays. A Boeing 737-800 aircraft should service all lines. 

Jet2 also introduced a new line between Stansted and Zadar next year. 

Finally, Avio Radar reports that Kenya Airways expanded its codeshare cooperation with French national carrier Air France. Both Airlines are members of the Skyteam global airline association. Zagreb is among the other new codeshare destinations for Kenya Airways. The extended collaboration began on November 26, 2019. Air France’s daily flights on the Paris route (Charles de Gaulle) to Zagreb will carry the Kenyan KQ3834, along with the French carrier’s symbol. 

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

November 30,  2019 - A handful of carriers are contributing to the airline exodus at Zagreb Airport, and so far, only 69,739 passengers have been added compared to 2018. Should the capital city airport be worried?

Despite the recent announcements that airlines are pulling out of Zagreb Airport, and that its performance this year is a bit worse than the competitors on the coast, the capital city airport sees no reason to worry. 

“Since the beginning of the concession in 2013, Zagreb Airport has recorded excellent operational and financial results. We have registered passenger growth of around 46%. While Zagreb Airport handled 2.300.231 travelers in 2013, we welcomed 3.336.310 passengers five years later. This year we are also seeing an increase in our numbers. In 2013 the number of airlines serving the Croatian capital stood at 20, while today it amounts to 33. The number of destinations on offer has also grown from 34 to 52," Zagreb Airport said for Ex Yu Aviation News. 

Recall, TCN announced that a handful of airlines are contributing to the airline departure at Zagreb Airport. Like Eurowings, for example, which has terminated its two routes to Zagreb from Berlin and Dusseldorf. Furthermore, Swiss Air and Czech Airlines have canceled their seasonal services next summer from Zurich and Prague. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that we must not forget that Korean Air ultimately ended up discontinuing its service between Seoul and Zagreb in the winter, though their seasonal service will return from April 1, 2020. 

“We expect successful operations and passenger growth to continue in the future. We also believe that travelers will recognize our efforts and reward us for our high quality of service,” the airport added. 

The high-fees at Zagreb Airport are also a factor. After opening the new passenger terminal in 2017, the fee per each international passenger jumped from two euro to a total of seventeen euro. It also increased its fees by half a euro per domestic passenger to seven and a half euro.

Recall, Eurowings has cited high fees at Zagreb as a deterrent for introducing new routes and will cut the two routes mentioned above. It will only be serving Cologne and Stuttgart from Zagreb. 

Eurowings previously said that the fees in Zagreb are “significantly higher than most major European airports, making it less appealing for low-cost carriers."

Ryanair and Wizz Air do not serve Zagreb at all. 

“It [Zagreb] is a high-priced airport environment with fluctuating demand. Should the costs come down, we think they would attract us,” Wizz Air said when considering resuming operations to the capital. 

EasyJet left the airport in 2014, also citing high fees.

From January - October this year, Zagreb Airport welcomed 2,957,109 travelers, which is up 2.4% and is just under the European average. Overall, 69,739 passengers were added compared to 2018.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that Minister for Sea Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, will discuss the airport’s operations with Zagreb Airport’s concessionaire.

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

Major airlines are pulling out of the Franjo Tuđman Airport in Zagreb, Croatia. While the coastal airports are experiencing a boom in air traffic; passenger growth has been stagnating this year in Croatia’s capital. The decline is expected to continue into 2020; as Jakov Fabinger/SimpleFlying points out on November 24, 2019.

Low Passenger Numbers

According to the airport’s own statistics, Franjo Tuđman Airport has handled 2.96 million passengers so far in 2019. It had handled 2.89 million passengers by the same time last year, which is only a slight increase. There are two reasons why this is a significant problem for Croatia and for the airport itself. First, the negligible growth comes during a period when Croatia is booming. Iberia keeps expanding year after year, direct flights to the USA have resumed after 28 years, and passenger growth is averaging 10% this year. Zagreb Airport is lagging far behind the growth rates of Croatia as a whole, but it is also behind its European counterparts.

Zagreb in Advantageous Position

Zagreb Airport appears to be in an advantageous position. It is the only airport serving the Croatian capital and the only airport in the vicinity of the wider catchment area. But its passenger numbers are still comparably low. At just 45 flights per day, the airport is less busy than many of Europe’s secondary airports like Palermo, Hanover or Aberdeen. In Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, which is half the population size of Zagreb, air traffic is almost 50% higher.

2020 Will Be Worse

In 2020, Zagreb Airport passenger numbers are expected to shrink. No new routes have been announced. And Croatia Airlines, the national carrier of Croatia, will be receiving government grants to cover its operating losses. Furthermore, there is a risk that Ljubljana Airport will soon become the low-cost alternative to Zagreb. Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital, is just two hours’ drive away from and has been left with a serious lack of air connectivity since the demise of Adria Airways.

Airline Routes Cut

Korean Air has converted its service between Zagreb and Seoul from year-round to seasonal. CSA Czech Airlines has discontinued flights completely and Eurowings has discontinued ticket sales for flights from Zagreb to Berlin and Dusseldorf from March onwards. FlyDubai has significantly reduced the number of wintertime weekly flights. Furthermore, Eurowings will be operating flights to Hamburg for a shorter time period in the summer only, and Swiss Air has completely cancelled its flights to Zurich.

Exodus After Short-term Incentives Expire

Eurowings has cited high fees at Zagreb as a deterrent for introducing new routes. And now that it will cut the two routes mentioned above. It will only be serving Cologne and Stuttgart from Zagreb. EasyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air do not serve Zagreb at all. EasyJet left the airport in 2014, also citing high fees.

The pattern of route cancellations is interesting too. Zagreb Airport offers incentives to airlines for new routes, and airlines make use of them. But as soon as the incentives stop, they tend to pull out. CSA Czech Airlines introduced year-round flights between Prague Václav Havel Airport and Zagreb in the summer of 2016. As it was a new route, the airline was given significant discounts on various charges. Discounts for winter operations were particularly high. But, CSA Czech Airlines made use of the incentives for one winter and then discontinued winter services for 2017/18. Finally, in 2019 it also discontinued summer flights and has left the airport completely.

Emirates operated daily flights to Zagreb for a one winter before pulling out of Zagreb completely, as did Korean Air. There is a clear pattern here: an airline will leave as soon as the incentives package expires.

From January until June 2020, Croatia will take its turn at EU presidency. And yet the country’s capital has only 14 airlines maintaining year-round routes, even during this time period.

Follow our Travel page for more information on airlines and travel options to Croatia.

November 6, 2019 - Emirates’ Senior Vice President for Commercial Operations in Europe, Thierry Aucoc, talks about the potential of the service to Zagreb and further developing Croatia in the future.

Emirates launched a daily service to the Croatian capital from Dubai back in June 2017, which worked from May 31 to the end of October this year. The winter timetable on this service is operated by Emirates' partner flydubai, which reduced the number of flights this winter from seven to four per week on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. However, during the Christmas and New Year holidays, flydubai will increase the number of flights to six a week. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that Emirates sees potential in the Dubai-Zagreb service, and is even monitoring the progress of Dubrovnik. 

“We decided to launch Zagreb a bit more than two years ago and it is corresponding with our development in Europe. We have a wide coverage in Europe, and we understood that Croatia has big potential for two reasons. First, it is a destination that is really interesting for travel from Asia, Australia, China and Taiwan. Therefore, there is a lot of incoming traffic to Zagreb and the entire country in general. From Croatia it is a way to offer the local population a link to our Dubai hub. There is a lot of demand from Croatia to the world. This is primarily to Dubai but also beyond, for example, to destinations in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, such as Phuket in Thailand,” said Emirates’ Senior Vice President for Commercial Operations in Europe, Thierry Aucoc.

Aucoc added:

“I was checking the results of airports in Croatia and I was amazed to see that many have double-digit growth. I noticed that Zagreb is now at 3.5 million passengers per year, which is a very good result. We are monitoring other airports in the country too. We are closely following the performance in Dubrovnik because we are offering seasonal flights to this city through Flydubai”. Aucoc went on to say that 258 Croatian nationals work at Emirates.

On October 26, 2019, the Emirates seasonal service between Dubai and Zagreb concluded. Emirates' partner flydubai operates the winter service. Aucoc said that Zagreb was the first to implement the new route-sharing strategy between the two airlines. 

“Zagreb is an example of how much our cooperation with Flydubai managed to improve our results. We served the route in winter with our Boeing 777 aircraft. Then last year, the route was maintained for five months by Flydubai aircraft. This winter, Flydubai will operate for the entire winter season because it emerged that this route is not as strong in winter, so we can still continue serving Zagreb well,” said Martin Gross, Emirates’ Area Manager. 

Gross also spoke about reducing the number of flights to Zagreb this winter, which is down to four flights per week. 

 "Zagreb was operated with Boeing 737 MAX equipment but had to be moved to the B737-800. Therefore, the entire flight plan had to change and has been partially reduced. Now we have to see when the B737 MAX is allowed to fly again.”

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