Croatia Airlines has been in the media for all the wrong reasons over the past year or so. Struggling with financial issues and various problems in finding a strategic partner, the domestic carrier continuously posted losses and was a cause for concern for the state. Finally, something a little different for the air company as it flies to China for the very first time.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 17th of July, 2020, although it is not a regular line service, it remains worth noting that the Croatian national airline, Croatia Airlines, took off from Zagreb Airport, heading for the Chinese Tianjin Binhai Airport. This is the first flight in the history of Croatia Airlines to land in China.
As Avioradar.hr learned, the Airbus A320 aircraft took off on July the 17th, 2020, 1 hour and 9 minutes after midnight from Zagreb Airport, carrying with it 122 passengers firstly to Nursultan Nazarbayev Airport in Kazakhstan, where it had a technical stop considering that the distance between Zagreb and Tianjin is too great for this type of aircraft to complete without stopping.
The Croatia Airlines plane landed in Kazakhstan after flying for five hours, from where it continued its journey to China after an hour and 10 minutes spent on the ground (for a crew change and for refueling). The 9A-CTK landed in China at 12 noon local time.
The Croatia Airlines plane's departure from China is scheduled for Saturday, July the 18th, with its descent and landing back in Zagreb scheduled for 14:30 local time.
117 student passengers were transported on the flight to China, while 74 diplomatic passengers will be on the flight's return to Croatia. A total of 10 crew members will perform this honorary flight, and will switch when the aircraft lands once again in Kazakhstan.
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