November 8, 2021 - Russian vaccination tourism in Zagreb is the latest trend, as Russian citizens flock to the Croatian capital to get jabbed with an EU-approved vaccine. Recall, Sputnik, the Russian vaccine, has yet to be accepted by the European Union - and EU digital Covid certificates are a hot commodity.

As TCN reported on Sunday, November 7, Russian citizens waited in line for hours at the small vaccination point in Zagreb's Kajzerica neighborhood last week, hoping they could get vaccinated. It's not that Russians are having trouble getting vaccinated in their country, but only the Sputnik vaccine is available, which has yet to be approved by the European Union. 

Thus, increased demand and high capacity on flights to Zagreb from Moscow this offseason are primarily thanks to the coronavirus vaccine. Many hope to get jabbed with Johnson & Johnson since only one dose is needed, after which they can receive an EU digital Covid passport to travel freely and avoid self-isolation or quarantine. 

Four Russian airlines, Aeroflot, PegasFly, Nordwind, and Azur Air, are currently operating on scheduled flights between Moscow and Zagreb. However, Azur Air was the last to introduce a route at the end of October this year, reports Croatian Aviation and 24 Sata. 

Russia's national airline, Aeroflot, operates between Zagreb and Moscow three times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Although the announcement included A320 aircraft with a capacity of 158 seats, due to increased demand, larger A321 aircraft with 183 seats mainly operate on this line.

The planes are recording excellent occupancy, and there are only a few vacancies left on the flights in the following days. The question is whether Aeroflot will further increase its capacity to Zagreb by introducing wide-body aircraft. If there is no further increase, Aeroflot will offer almost 3,500 seats between Moscow and Zagreb by the end of the month.

Nordwind and PegasFly also operate between Moscow and Zagreb, twice a week - Nordwind on Mondays and PegasFly on Fridays. By the end of November, the two airlines offer 2,172 seats between Moscow and Zagreb. Flights are operated with E190 and B737-800 aircraft.

The newest carrier between Moscow and Zagreb is Azur Air, which operates to Zagreb from Vnukovo Airport, while other airlines use Sheremetyevo Airport. Azur Air operates to the Croatian capital only once a week, on Sundays, using aircraft type B737-800. By the end of November, this carrier will offer 1,512 seats between Moscow and Zagreb, and the company claims that if there is increased demand, it will react by introducing a B757-200 aircraft with a capacity of 238 seats.

By the end of November, the four mentioned airlines would offer a total of 7,164 seats between Moscow and Zagreb, and flights are available six times a week.

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

April the 24th, 2021 - Following long time mayor Milan Bandic's sudden and premature death a few weeks ago, the City of Zagreb has been being governed by acting mayor Jelena Pavicic Vukicevic, who has spoken out about her desire for more coronavirus vaccination points located across the capital.

The vaccination process across not only Croatia but Europe as a whole, with the exception of the United Kingdom which has been doing excellently, has been problematic and far slower than anyone could have expected previously, but it seems things are finally on the up. With infection and death rates still high in Croatia, it hasn't come a moment too soon.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, acting Zagreb mayor Jelena Pavicic Vukicevic has stated that she would gladly organise everything necessary for the citizens of the Croatian capital to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as soon as possible, and noted that talks with healthcare centres were firmly underway and that they would disperse vaccination points throughout Zagreb.

“We're looking forward to the arrival of all of the doses of the coronavirus vaccines from all manufacturers in the City of Zagreb and indeed across the rest of Croatia. This will enable us all to start living normally again, that is, to return to some of our old habits,'' said Jelena Pavicic Vukicevic on Thursday at the Zagreb Fair (Zagrebacki Velesajam), where there is finally a great response and turnout of invited Zagreb residents for vaccination against the new disease.

She called on her fellow citizens to respond to their invitations to come for their immunisation.

The head of the Zagreb City Office for Education, Ivica Lovric, commented that recently, the employees of Zagreb's schools and kindergartens have been coming to the Zagreb Fair for their vaccinations, he added that more than 40 percent of them want to be vaccinated.

"There are about 6,500 of them on the list who have stated that they want to be vaccinated in this current wave. I hope that over time, that number will increase,'' said Lovric.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including border, travel and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centres and vaccination points throughout the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section.