Ryanair to reinstate entire Zagreb network, plans further growth

Low cost carrier Ryanair will restore all destinations within its Zagreb network after a dozen routes were suspended in January and February due to plummeting demand as a result of surging coronavirus rates and travel restrictions across the continent. The CEO of Ryanair subsidiaries Malta Air and Lauda Europe, David O’Brien, spoke to the media in Zagreb last week, noting the carrier would maintain 27 routes out of the Croatian capital this coming summer season, 24 of which were launched last year, and a further three which will commence in the coming months, including Bratislava, Lviv and Corfu. "We are pleased to announce our largest summer flight schedule ever in Zagreb, where Ryanair will operate more than seventy weekly flights to 27 destinations, giving incoming tourism a much-needed boost, and Croatian consumers the widest choice of great destinations, both for leisure and for business travel. Ryanair is investing in Croatia to help the tourism industry recover from the coronavirus pandemic and strengthen ties with the rest of Europe, while Ryanair itself continues to grow and air traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels”, Mr O’Brien said.

Noting that the overwhelming majority of its Zagreb passengers are inbound rather than outbound travellers, Mr O’Brien said the carrier would work to even out the trend. "Zagreb is a metropolis of one million inhabitants within its surroundings, and so many more people gravitate to it. Based on our experience, I can say with certainty that the 3.5 million passengers per year we plan to handle from the city is a conservative estimate. It will probably grow even more in the coming period”, He added, “We've opened more than eighty Croatian routes and created 180 direct jobs over the past few years. This is a total Ryanair investment of 600 million US dollars into Croatia, and all this without a single euro of any state subsidies from the government, unlike the twelve million euros that Croatia Airlines receives annually”.

The Ryanair executive pointed out the airline had been studying operations out of Zagreb for some time. "We've long viewed Zagreb as Lufthansa's backyard because the fact is that, although there are other carriers, you actually have to use Lufthansa and its partners to get to anywhere in Europe. Ryanair wants to change that and be a competitive alternative that will give Croatia's residents and passengers coming to Zagreb a much better and more affordable service”, Mr O’Brien said. He added, “Governments across the world are subsidising their national carriers and I must admit we don’t like the way the Croatian government is literally handing over money to Croatia Airlines, without any knowledge of what it will bring to Croatia and its citizens. However, we are not here to attack Croatia Airlines, even though we serve as a good excuse for them as to why they are losing money”.

In addition to adding three new routes to its Zagreb network and operating its first full summer out of the Croatian capital, the airline will also increase frequencies on existing destinations including Charleroi, Bergamo. Gothenburg, Hahn, Basel, Malta, Memmingen, Paphos and Weeze. Mr O’Brian previously noted that as many as ten Ryanair aircraft could be based in Zagreb. Currently, three Airbus A320s are stationed in the city.