Eurowings announces Croatia plans

Lufthansa’s low cost subsidiary Eurowings has announced plans to expand its operations in Croatia in 2018 and handle over one million passengers on flights to and from the country. The airline’s Senior Manager for Network Development and Airport Relations, Ivan Oreč, noted that Eurowings will increase frequencies on six routes in 2018 and is in talks with the Croatian National Tourist Board over incentives for next year, based on which it will add new routes. Mr Oreč said, “We are in the final phase of talks with Brač Airport over the introduction of flights. Services are expected to launch next year. We also plan to add a new route to Osijek and increase the existing two weekly service from Stuttgart to three per week”.

Commenting on its operations to Zagreb, to which it will launch flights from Dusseldorf today, the airline said it is cautious about future expansion in the city. “Zagreb Airport’s costs are above average so we are being careful. This year we will handle 170.000 passengers on flights to the Croatian capital, which will grow to over 200.000 in 2018. We see a good mix of business and leisure passengers to Zagreb with average loads of between 80% and 90%”, Mr Oreč said. Today’s inaugural service from Dusseldorf, as well as the return flight, both have a cabin load factor of 100%. The head of the Zagreb Tourist Board, Martina Bienenfeld, said the organisation will continue cooperating with Eurowings through joint advertising and will look into expanding their partnership in the future.

Eurowings noted it will continue to put an emphasis on Rijeka, with the airline  recently extending its seasonal service from Cologne into the winter. “Bookings for the winter months have been improving. As with any new route, it takes time to develop. We are working on diversifying Rijeka’s offer in order for it to become a city-break destination”, the airline’s Network Development Manager concluded. The Croatian government had previously said Eurowings could open a base in the sea side city. Meanwhile, Zadar is also expected to benefit from the airline's winter operations during the 2018/19 season with seasonal flights to be extended.

The low cost airline has become Croatia’s second largest, behind Croatia Airlines, with a passenger share of 10%. It has overtaken eaasyJet which was the previous title holder. Eurowings is currently Croatia’s fastest growing airline, handling over 900.000 travellers to the market this year, and the only foreign carrier serving seven cities in the country, which should increase to eight next year. Furthermore, Croatia has become one of the airline’s top ten markets. Eurowings noted today it has “major expansion plans for Croatia over the next three years”.