Croatia expects to register a strong summer season this year despite worries over the ongoing war in Ukraine and a potential resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 66 airlines will maintain flights between Croatia and other international destinations with Ryanair, Croatia Airlines, easyJet, Lufthansa and Eurowings having the greatest capacity share on the market. Carriers will link the country with 131 cities, which is just slightly less than in the pre-pandemic 2019, when services were maintained to 134 points. Zagreb and Split will boast the largest number of flights, some 10.000 rotations, while Zadar will see the biggest increase in operations, fuelled by the expansion of Ryanair’s base in the city, with the number of flights growing 63% on 2019.
Commenting on the upcoming peak summer travel period, the head of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, said, “During the past two years, which were marked by the Covid pandemic, there was a significant decline in air traffic, and tourists primarily used their own mode of transport to reach Croatia. However, this year, the recovery of air traffic has continued as we are witnessing a significant increase in the number of flights. Therefore, more than 460 airline routes with more than 34.000 rotations will operate towards our country during the summer, which is almost equal to the number of flights and rotations from the record breaking 2019”.
The largest number of flights from Croatia this summer will be maintained to Germany, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the Netherlands. This year, Rijeka Airport also anticipates having more flights than it did in 2019. An increase of 8% is expected this year. This will come on the back of increased frequencies, as well as the return of easyJet, which this week restored operations to the coastal city after fifteen years with flights from London Gatwick. They will be complemented by services from Berlin from June 28. “As we already announced, after fifteen long years, one of the main airlines responsible for Rijeka Airport's record traffic in 2006 and 2007, has finally returned. Back then, Rijeka was the first in Croatia to be served by easyJet”, the airport said.