A traffic recovery path at Zagreb Airport

(Photo credit: Josip Škof)

Zagreb, July 5, 2021 – After several months of decline and stagnation of traffic figures, International Zagreb Airport is recording a trend of gradual recovery. In the summer months, traffic figures growth is expected to accelerate, culminating in the end of the summer season, when the Ryanair base is expected to be open, and the company to launch most of the planned new lines in Zagreb for 2021.

Compared to the second quarter last year, which included the period of the first lock-down from April to June 2020, with the same period this year, the traffic increased 3.5 times (350%). Last year, 63,401 passengers travelled through the airport in the period from April to June, while this year’s figures are at the level of 220,000 passengers, and June alone ended with more than 100,000 passengers.

Croatia Airlines gradually returned the number of frequencies and flights during the spring months. At the beginning of the summer season, i.e. from July, there will be 14 international and 5 domestic lines from Zagreb with more than 150 weekly departures by this airline.

A significant contribution to the recovery of traffic is also expected from the new carrier in Zagreb, Ryanair, which already started operating on 2 lines in June, from Brussels and Milan. In the last week of July, this company will base the first aircraft at Zagreb Airport and open 3 more lines, to Gothenburg, London Stansted and Rome Ciampino, and from August 1, a line to Sofia. In early September, Ryanair plans to base the second aircraft at the airport and open 9 new routes as well as boost frequencies on previously introduced routes. Lines planned for September are Dortmund, Dusseldorf Weeze, Frankfurt Hahn, Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Malmo, Memmingen, Oslo Torp, Paris Beauvais and Podgorica. Ryanair will have a total of 15 new lines with 42 weekly departures after the base opens.

The trend of traffic recovery was followed by the national airline of Portugal, TAP Air Portugal, and the existing German partner Eurowings. After a 5-year absence from the Lisbon route, TAP Air Portugal re-established it in June this year and now connects the capitals 3 times a week. Eurowings has announced the relaunch of its line to Dusseldorf from August 31 and announced a line to Prague from November 6. The routes were stopped after the end of the summer season in 2019. Eurowings operated on the route to Dusseldorf, while the Croatian and Czech national carriers Croatia Airlines and Czech Airlines operated on the route to Prague.

Between other foreign partners, it is worth mentioning the Dutch national airline KLM, which doubled the frequencies and the size of the aircraft on the route from Amsterdam in early February 2021. So now, instead of one flight a day as in the pre-pandemic period, KLM operates twice a day on the same line.

Although the operations of other partners do not follow pre-pandemic levels, significant progress has been made. The Spanish company Iberia has resumed operations, but on a seasonal basis. Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling has also resumed seasonal operations with a lower frequency. Besides, British Airways has started regular weekly flights with a frequency of 4 times a week on the route Zagreb – London, which will be increased to 5 weekly by the second half of July and daily in August.

Turkish Airlines has increased the number of flights to Zagreb. This week, the airline operates 8 flights to Zagreb, while from July 12, the airline will have 7 weekly flights. Flydubai has also announced its Dubai-Zagreb line from the beginning of September.

Given the summer announcements, Zagreb Airport has a reason to hope for a more significant recovery. Intensification of traffic on existing routes, arrival of new airlines and opening of new routes from Zagreb will be a strong incentive for both tourist and business trips of foreign and domestic passengers who have a respectable choice of destinations at their disposal this year 

In the peak period of the season, Zagreb Airport plans to handle between 90 and 100 daily ATMs, connected to a total of 6 domestic and 42 international destinations.