9th April 2021.
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Flights to Croatia 2021: What you need to know

Flights to Croatia were becoming increasingly popular, and 2019 was the busiest year for Croatian airports. But then things turned around and it is still very unclear what the future will bring.

Flights to Croatia are very seasonal even in the best of times. Come in August, and Split has served over 100 destinations. Come in January and your choice will be much more limited. And there is no way to know what this season will look like. We can only boldly say that it will not start at the end of March - as was the case in the best tourist years. It could, with a little luck, end up lasting longer, if the epidemiological situation allows.

Here is the latest information on flights to Croatia in 2021.



Low-cost airline Transavia

Croatian Aviation reports that well-known low-cost airline Transavia plans to resume traffic to Split Airport from mid-April.

The Dutch low-cost airline, a subsidiary of KLM and Air France, will renew only one route to Croatia in April.Although the company normally operates on as many as 10 international routes to as many as five Croatian airports (Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik), the company will resume traffic on only one route in the middle of this month.

Namely, the Paris - Split - Paris (Orly Airport) will operate from April 16 with two flights a week, every Friday and Sunday. All other lines to Croatia have been postponed for the middle, and most even for the end of May:

- Rotterdam - Split,
- Nantes - Dubrovnik,
- Pariz - Dubrovnik,
- Rotterdam - Dubrovnik,
- Eindhoven - Rijeka,
- Pariz - Zadar,
- Rotterdam - Zadar,
- Pariz - Pula,
- Rotterdam - Pula

Transavia plans to operate on all of these lines in the high season but reduced compared to the number of operations the company had in 2019 before the global pandemic.

Paris and Split will be connected by a direct line again from mid-April. There have been no direct flights between the two cities since the end of October last year, i.e., the end of the summer flight schedule. Orly Airport is a little less than 20 kilometers from the center of Paris. The journey on this route usually takes a little less than 60 minutes.

In addition to Transavia, there should be other airlines between Paris and Split in the peak of the summer season; Air France, Croatia Airlines, and EasyJet.
Split Airport, along with Zagreb, is the only airport in Croatia to which several foreign carriers are returning in April. The traffic is still modest, but according to the announcements, that should change as early as May. According to the mentioned announcements, Split Airport should have a significantly higher number of aircraft operations on regular routes this season than in the summer of 2020, when Split, along with Zagreb, had a significant number of passengers in the crisis, pandemic year.

Low-cost Norwegian Air flights

Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian Air plans to operate 14 routes to three Croatian airports this summer.

Norwegian plans to resume traffic to three Croatian airports from June this year; Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik. Before the outbreak of the global pandemic, the airline operated to Zadar, Rijeka, and Zagreb.

The airline had a minimal number of international lines to Croatia in the summer season of 2020. It is common knowledge that this low-cost carrier was in financial trouble even before the outbreak of the global pandemic. In January, there was news that this carrier would cancel all long-haul lines and focus on those within Europe.

In addition to being a pioneer in low-cost, long-haul lines, Norwegian had an extremely high-quality product, and passengers were delighted with the ratio of paid and received. One of the great marketing moves was the introduction of free internet on all Norwegian lines, but the rapid expansion led almost to its very collapse.

However, Norwegian is trying to consolidate and plans to operate to three Croatian airports, Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik, in this year's summer flight schedule. There has been no line to Rijeka or Zagreb for a long time.
Although in 2019 the number of routes to Croatian airports was significantly higher, given the current global situation, reduced passenger demand, and the state of this airline, 14 planned routes to Croatia for the summer of this year sounds more than good. Of course, given the movement of the global pandemic, there is a possibility that Norwegian will further reduce its flight schedule.

However, they have confirmed that they plan to operate on the routes below:

Oslo - Pula from June 2, 2 times a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays,Bergen - Split from June 19, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays,Copenhagen - Split from June 1, 2 times a week, daily from June 28,Helsinki - Split on June 2, 3 times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,Oslo - Split from June 1, 3 times a week, daily from June 25, Stavanger - Split from June 22, 2 times a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays,Stockholm - Split from June 2, 2 times a week, 5 times a week from June 21,Trondheim - Split from June 19, once a week, on Saturdays,Bergen - Dubrovnik from June 19, once a week, on Saturdays, Copenhagen - Dubrovnik from June 26, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays,Helsinki - Dubrovnik from June 1, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays,Oslo - Dubrovnik from June 1, 2 times a week, daily from June 25,Stavanger - Dubrovnik from June 19, once a week, on Saturdays,
Stockholm - Dubrovnik from June 12, 3 times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

Given the problems that Norwegian has found itself in the past few years, it is quite difficult to expect that they will really operate on all of these lines. In the summer of 2020, Norwegian had only three routes to Croatia, two to Split, and one to Dubrovnik. With the current epidemiological situation in Europe, we can hardly expect a sharp increase in passenger demand in June. There are less than two months left until its first flight to Croatia.

Condopr Airlines

German leisure airline, Condor Airlines, will operate only to Split Airport this summer.Before the pandemic, Condor Airlines operated to four Croatian airports: Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik. In the summer of 2020, Condor operated only to Split, and although there were flights to Zadar in the announcements for only a month, this will no longer happen.

Condor previously announced the Zurich - Split line for this summer season, but tickets have been withdrawn from sale. This year, the company will not fly to Rijeka, Zadar, and Dubrovnik

In the summer season, from mid-May, Condor will launch three routes to Split Airport:

Munich - Split will be in traffic once a week, on Saturdays,Dusseldorf - Split will be in traffic three times a week, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays,Frankfurt - Split line will be open three times a week, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Previously, Condor offered tickets on the line from Frankfurt to Zadar, and in 2019 it operated on the line from Frankfurt to Rijeka. However, low demand has forced this carrier to reduce the flight schedule to Croatia, and Condor Airlines will only fly to Split.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that the Russian national airline Aeroflot will introduce a line to Pula in June this year and renew the line between Moscow and Dubrovnik!

The Moscow - Pula - Moscow line will run from June 1 to September 30, every day! The airline will perform 122 return flights between Pula and Moscow this summer with B737-800 aircraft with a capacity of 158 seats in the Aeroflot fleet. Almost 40,000 seats will be available in both directions!

The Moscow - Dubrovnik - Moscow line will operate in the same period as the line to Pula, with the same type of aircraft, so almost 40 thousand additional seats will be available here.

The company has withdrawn the Moscow-Split-Moscow line from sale, and it is not yet clear whether it will operate on this line in the upcoming summer season. In the summer of 2020, this Russian airline did not operate in Croatia. 

The number of weekly flights to Zagreb has been reduced. Aeroflot currently operates once a week between Moscow and Zagreb. And from May 1, a second weekly flight is available (Thursdays and Saturdays).

From June 7, the line between Moscow and Zagreb will operate three times a week (Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), which will continue throughout the summer (July, August, and September). This is a significantly smaller number of weekly operations, given that Aeroflot announced daily flights in the peak of the summer season until a few days ago. Still, the reduction is logical given that the company will operate directly to Dubrovnik and Pula. On the route to Zagreb, Aeroflot will use A320 aircraft.

The company was in Zagreb only once in 2020, on a charter flight from Moscow with a B777-300ER aircraft, transporting medical equipment from Shanghai.


Low-cost Ryanair

Ryanair held two press conferences yesterday, both virtual, for Zagreb and Zadar airports. 

At the press conference, Europe's largest airline announced the reopening of its base at Zadar Airport. With two base aircraft, on as many as 78 weekly flights, it will connect Zadar with 37 destinations, of which as many as 17 are new, giving passengers the opportunity to choose from a number of European destinations from July 2021.

Ryanair's new destinations from Zadar Airport announced for this summer season are:

Aarhus, Bari,Bologna,Bremen,Bucharest,Budapest,Edinburgh,Gdańsk,Liverpool,Maastricht,Naples,
Newcastle,Paris,Rome,Vaxjo,Warsaw,Wroclaw.

In addition to the 17 new lines, Ryanair will operate from Zadar on 20 more previously introduced lines, bringing a total of 37 international destinations to Zadar!Given the number of announced routes, Ryanair will open a base at Zadar Airport this summer and base 2 of its aircraft there. In total, on a weekly basis, the Irish carrier will have as many as 78 return flights to 15 European countries.

According to Croatian Aviation, there will also be 12 Ryanair flights to Zagreb from eight countries. Thus, the Croatian metropolis will be connected with Paris, Brussels, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Memmingen, Milan, Rome, Podgorica, Oslo, Gothenburg, and London.

Already this autumn, Ryanair will perform as many as 36 weekly flights from Zagreb Airport to the following destinations:

Brussels Charleroi, from June 2, 3 times a week,

Dortmund, from September 3, 2 times a week,

Frankfurt-Hahn, from September 3, 3 times a week,

Gothenburg, from September 3, 3 times a week,

Karlsruhe, from September 2, 2 times a week,

London, from September 1, daily,

Memmingen, from September 3, 2 times a week,

Milan, from July 1, 4 times a week,

Paris, from September 2, 2 times a week,

Podgorica, from September 4, 2 times a week,

Rome, from September 3, 3 times a week,

Torp Sandefjord, from September 1, 2 times a week.

Croatia Airlines dropped 10 International Seasonal Lines

Croatian national airline will no longer sell 10 international routes on which the company operated from Zagreb in the summer of 2019, before the outbreak of the global pandemic.

These are international routes from Zagreb Airport that the airline has gradually introduced since the summer of 2016 and on which it operated seasonally in the summer flight schedule. Most of the lines were in operation from April to October, but certain lines started operations earlier, in March, and continued until December.
The airline will likely not resume traffic on as many as 10 international routes from Zagreb Airport in the upcoming summer flight schedule:Barcelona, Prague,Oslo,Stockholm,Helsinki,Bucharest,Lisbon,Mostar

Vueling and TAP Portugal should operate on the routes from Barcelona and Lisbon, Ryanair will operate to Milan, and Zagreb Airport will not have direct flights to other destinations (Bucharest, Mostar, Prague, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg).

Only flights from Zagreb to Dublin and Athens are on sale (with a stop in Dubrovnik). Still, the question is whether Croatia Airlines will withdraw the route to Dublin in the coming weeks, which the airline briefly introduced around the Easter holidays.

In the summer flight schedule, the Croatian national airline will continue to operate to several European destinations from Zagreb, mainly to major European hubs (such as Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, London, etc.). Still, the question arises as to why the airline did not choose to operate on certain routes on which there is no competition, at least with a minimum of two flights a week in the peak season.

Low-cost Dubai Flights no fly

The low-cost company from the United Arab Emirates will not resume traffic between Zagreb Airport and Dubai this summer.

FlyDubai had initially announced that it would resume traffic between Dubai and Zagreb in the summer flight schedule in 2021, as a replacement for Emirates, which has permanently withdrawn from the same route due to the pandemic.

The airline originally planned to resume traffic beginning the year, and flights were then delayed from month to month. The last announcement from the airline was that the traffic on this line would be resumed from the end of May, but as of today, all flights have been canceled until September 1 this year. 

The airline was to offer 57,000 seats between Dubai and Zagreb in the summer of 2021, however, significantly less than in 2019 when Emirates operated on this route with a B777-300ER wide-body aircraft and an average capacity of 358 seats per flight. Recall, in 2019, more than 152 thousand seats were available on this line.

Apart from the smaller capacity, the Dubai - Zagreb line will also no longer have a first-class seat offer for which Emirates is world-famous. The number of offered seats in business and economy class is also drastically reduced. 

But Zagreb isn't the only victim this summer, as all planned flights between Dubai and Dubrovnik for this year have also been canceled. Recall, Flydubai planned on operating the Dubai - Dubrovnik route from May 13, twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. From June 25, the airline was to add a third weekly flight (Fridays), with scheduled flights until the end of September. 

FlyDubai's return to Zagreb on September 1 is not yet certain. If the airline is not able to fill its capacity on narrow-body aircraft in the summer months, then the occupancy of this line is even riskier after September 1, when demand is usually lower. 

As a reminder, in the summer months of 2019, Emirates connected Zagreb and Dubai daily with wide-body aircraft type B777-300ER, while FlyDubai operated on the same route in the winter months.
Nevertheless, the return of Flydubai to Zagreb will eventually enable Emirates passengers to continue their journey to Zagreb with a partner company.  (total-croatia.com )

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