Airlines outline Croatia long-haul plans for 2025

Croatia welcomed over 75.000 travellers on its three seasonal long-haul routes this year, with the trio set to return in 2025. The busiest of the three in 2024 was Air Transat, which carried more than 34.000 passengers on flights between Toronto and Zagreb from May to early October, marking an increase of over 30% on last year, complemented by a 40.8% growth in frequencies. For 2025, Air Transat plans to maintain the same schedule on the route, utilising its 332-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Operations will resume on May 17. They will run once per week until June 5, after which they will grow to two weekly, then three weekly from June 17 and four weekly from June 29. Until 2020, flights between the two cities were also operated by Air Canada Rouge, which has since retired its wide-body fleet. In a recent company presentation, Air Canada identified Zagreb as a potential target for future international expansion. However, the airline emphasised that no firm decision has been made, and said any new long-haul service would first undergo “a robust operational and financial assessment”.

Slide from Air Canada presentation in December 

South Korea’s T’Way Air, which launched operations between Seoul and the Croatian capital this May using its 347-seat A330-300 aircraft, carried over 33.000 passengers on the route. The airline confirmed to EX-YU Aviation News that it will resume services between the two cities next year, maintaining the same frequencies and retaining the technical stop in Bishkek on the outbound leg. “We plan to maintain the same flight frequencies, and the technical stop in Bishkek will remain unchanged as this year”, the carrier stated. Ticket sales are due to commence shortly. The low cost airline handled more passengers between Seoul and Zagreb than Korean Air in 2019, when the route was last operated.

United Airlines carried 29.444 passengers on flights between Newark and Dubrovnik this year, achieving a high average cabin load factor of 89.8%. The airline plans to increase frequencies from four weekly flights to daily service for most of the upcoming summer season and extend operations by a month until late October. The route will continue to be served by the 231-seat Boeing 767-400 aircraft. “We are the only airport in Croatia with a nonstop service to the US. While we are currently connected to New York, one route is proving insufficient. We need another one, similar to what we had a few years ago”, Dubrovnik Airport's CEO, Viktor Šober, said. He added, “We have already entered into negotiations, which I can say are rather mature, but there are other factors at play that are beyond our control. The primary challenge is the shortage of aircraft and delays in the arrival of new jets due to manufacturing and supply chain issues. It's a complex situation, making it difficult to secure these flights. However, I am confident that within the next year or two, we will have something concrete”.

As previously reported, the United States, Japan, and China hold the most potential for long-haul operations from Croatia based on indirect passenger flow.