Croatia Airlines is studying the potential resumption of flights from Zagreb to several markets it suspended following the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which have not yet been restored. The carrier is primarily interested in destinations in the region for the upcoming summer season. Croatia Airlines suspended services to Barcelona, ​​Bucharest, Helsinki, Lisbon, Milan, Mostar, Oslo, Prague, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Tel Aviv, and suspended plans to launch operations to Sofia and Podgorica. So far, the Croatian carrier has only announced his return to Barcelona. Initially, the airline was due to resume flights at the end of March, but has now pushed back its return to Spain’s second city until June.

Several foreign carriers have taken advantage of the absence of Croatia Airlines to launch flights to Zagreb, which were previously operated by the national carrier. TAP Air Portugal launched seasonal services from Lisbon last summer, which will resume at the end of next month with an additional weekly rotation for a total of four weekly flights. Finnair will launch seasonal operations between Helsinki and the Croatian capital from May 1, with up to three weekly flights until September. Aeroflot and its subsidiary Rossiya Airlines now operate between Saint Petersburg and Zagreb, while Ryanair has taken over Croatia Airlines‘ planned services to Podgorica and Sofia.

Croatia Airlines CEO Jasmin Bajić recently said the carrier will adjust its summer network according to demand, with the company expected to remain flexible with its schedule. “Traffic will continue to be dependent on external factors, beyond the company’s control, such as restrictions, bans and other measures, which directly impact people’s ability to travel both domestically and internationally. Therefore, we will focus on flexible planning of our network. Our goal is to achieve optimum load factors with average fares under the existing conditions of reduced capacity. Therefore, in 2022 we will focus on further cost rationalization and the implementation of the post-Covid strategy defined by the company,” Mr. Bajić said.