October 4, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as flydubai cancels Zagreb for October, November, and most of December... for now.

Croatian Aviation reports that just a few hours after Emirates canceled the Dubai - Zagreb service for all of 2021, its partner company flydubai made changes to its Zagreb route, too.

Recall, Emirates flew to Zagreb in the summer, and flydubai in the winter. The same schedule was announced for this year as well. 

However, Emirates canceled the Dubai - Zagreb route for this year, but the possibility of flydubai returning on the same route at the beginning of the winter flight schedule was still in the works. Airline tickets on this route could be bought literally until Friday, and while we were skeptical about if these flights would return at all, we now have our answer.

flydubai has canceled all flights to Zagreb for October, November, and almost the whole of December. There are currently departures on sale from December 27, with 3 flights announced per week through January, February and March, but the probability that they will be realized is very small.

Given that Emirates has completely canceled the Dubai - Zagreb route for next year, the question arises whether flydubai will operate on it at all. According to the available flight schedule, it will not, but there is enough time left for this low-cost company to include Zagreb in its network of destinations for the 2021 summer flight schedule.

Zagreb does not currently have an announced direct air connection with Dubai for 2021. The line has been operating regularly since 2014, it was launched by flydubai.

Recall, TCN reported on Saturday that Emirates canceled all flights to Zagreb for the next year, closed its office at Zagreb Airport, and fired its employees. The large B777-300ER aircraft in Zagreb every day will not return to the Croatian capital any time soon, which is certainly a financial blow to the airport, given the revenue it generated from the daily landings of this company's aircraft.

The arrival of this airline in Zagreb was truly a success for the management of Zagreb Airport, but its complete withdrawal can certainly be considered a failure. Emirates connected Zagreb with the rest of the world on a daily basis, offering excellent service to passengers on its flights on which it operated modernly equipped aircraft. The departure of this airline is a step backward for Zagreb Airport. 

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 3, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Emirates cancels Zagreb for 2021.

Croatian Aviation reports that Emirates, a world-famous airline based in Dubai, has canceled the Dubai-Zagreb route for all of 2021!

The company planned to operate on the Dubai-Zagreb route in this year's summer flight schedule. Still, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the start of operations on this route was first postponed, and then it was completely canceled for this year.

Emirates then left daily flights on this route on sale for the 2021 summer flight schedule, but that too has now changed. Namely, the company canceled all flights to Zagreb for the next year, closed its office at Zagreb Airport, and fired its employees. The large B777-300ER aircraft in Zagreb every day will not return to the Croatian capital any time soon, which is certainly a financial blow to the airport, given the revenue it generated from the daily landings of this company's aircraft.

The arrival of this airline in Zagreb was truly a success for the management of Zagreb Airport, but its complete withdrawal can certainly be considered a failure. Emirates connected Zagreb with the rest of the world on a daily basis, offering excellent service to passengers on its flights on which it operated modernly equipped aircraft. The departure of this airline is a step backward for Zagreb Airport. The management had to do everything in their power to keep this company on schedule for 2021 but unfortunately failed to do so.

In addition to the Dubai-Zagreb line for 2021, Emirates also canceled the following lines:

Dubai - Edinburgh,

Dubai - Porto,

Dubai - St. Petersburg.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

April 13, 2020 - Emirates has delayed its seasonal service between Zagreb and Dubai until July 2020. 

After Ex Yu Aviation announced that American Airlines and Qatar Airways would suspend their seasonal services to Dubrovnik until 2021 due to the current coronavirus pandemic, our hope of a 2020 tourism season was dwindling. 

However, is the recent announcement from Emirates reassuring?

Namely, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Emirates has delayed the start date of its daily seasonal service between Dubai and Zagreb from May 1 to July 1, 2020, instead of suspending the service for an entire year, like the others have thus far. 

“Emirates has published a tentative schedule outlining its operations for the coming months. The airline is expected to resume the majority of its services, albeit at a reduced frequency, from late May and early June. Starting July, flights to Zagreb will be maintained on a daily basis with the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which has the capacity to seat 354 passengers. Further changes remain possible,” writes Ex Yu Aviation on its website. 

Flydubai, Emirates partner, which runs to Dubrovnik, will resume regular services “when the time is right”, but until then, it will fly for repatriation purposes. Flydubai has been operating repatriation flights to Zagreb over the last few weeks for travelers to continue to their destinations via Croatia Airlines flights.

"We look forward to resuming our operations when the time is right and we are working closely with the authorities,” said Chief Commercial Officer, Hamad Obaidalla.

In other flight news, Air Canada Rouge has postponed its seasonal service between Toronto and Zagreb by a month, or moved the start date to July 1, instead of June 4, 2020. Croatia Airlines has suspended operations to London Heathrow until at least April 19, though the national carrier is still operating flights to Frankfurt and Brussels

Lufthansa Group confirmed the Germanwings closure last week, which is another important player in the Croatian low-cost market, and AirBaltic has canceled the newly announced flights between Lithuania and Croatia. 

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

As we announced back in January, Emirates will directly connect Zagreb and Dubai every day, year-round, from June 1, 2017.