From this September, Croatia's capital will be connected to South Korea's capital by Korean Air.
The news of a potential Korean Air flight connecting the Croatian capital to South Korea’s capital seemed likely after Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport granted the airline approval to operate five weekly flights to Croatia in 2018, which was announced earlier this month. Zagreb Airport finally confirmed that this would indeed be the case with a social media announcement to their thousands of followers.
“We are proud to announce that from September 2018, Croatia and the Far East will be closer than ever. Korean Air, the largest air carrier from South Korea which serves 123 cities in 43 countries, will connect the capital of South Korea, Seoul and Zagreb three times a week year-around. The town on the Han River is an important political, cultural, social and economic center of South Korea, one of the centers of international business, and in the last three years South Koreans are also the most numerous guests in Zagreb, and almost half a million tourists visited Croatia last year. Korean Air will be the third new airline this year in Zagreb following Aegean Airlines and Air Canada Rouge, to contribute to the growth of passenger traffic, which Franjo Tuđman Airport continuously records. Tickets will be available soon – for more information visit https://www.koreanair.com/global/en.html,” announced the Zagreb Airport Facebook page.
With that said, from September 1, 2018, Korean Air will begin year-round flights between Seoul and Zagreb which will operate three times per week on the 218-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, reports Ex-Yu Aviation on May 30, 2018.
The Airbus boasts six seats in first class, 24 in business class, and 248 seats in economy. Korean Air is keeping their charter flights between Seoul and Zagreb this May and June, as it has for the last few years. From October 28, the official start of the 2018/19 winter season, Korean Air will maintain a three-weekly service from Seoul - Zagreb - Zurich - Seoul, operated on the 269-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The arrival of Korean Air to Zagreb is yet another boost to the busy airport who announced year-round flights from Dubai on Emirates last year and a seasonal Air Canada Rouge line from Toronto which will begin this weekend.
Jacques Feron, the General Manager of Zagreb Airport, hopes to develop Croatia’s busiest airport into a regional hub.
"I believe I would not exaggerate in saying that Zagreb Airport's future looks promising. Of course, we are benefiting from the continuous economic and tourism sector development in Zagreb. It is important to bear in mind that an airport like Zagreb cannot develop independently into a hub. We cannot simply decide on it alone. This process has to take place in close cooperation with other airlines, which results in transforming an airport into a hub. It is clear that this cannot happen overnight, but we are heading in the right direction. We are planning new destinations, and our future development is linked to Croatia Airlines' growth, which remains our most important partner and has the largest share in overall traffic,” reported Ex-Yu Aviation.
In 2017, 444,132 Korean’s visited Croatia, which is a 20.2% increase on 2017. Kristjan Staničić of the Croatian Tourist Board emphasized that the number of arrivals from South Korea will only grow increase this year and that increasing the promotional activities on this market will help to extend the tourist season.
