Ryanair expands dominance over Croatia Airlines as country’s largest

Ryanair has cemented its position as the largest carrier in Croatia this year, a title it achieved for the first time in 2023. The low cost airline almost doubled in size on the Croatian market in 2024 compared to last year, adding an additional 1.526.366 seats with 4.324.472 seats available in Croatia overall. Whereas the difference between the budget carrier and Croatia Airlines last year stood at just 124.000 seats, capacity-wise, the difference in 2024 is at over 1.45 million seats. It comes as a result of Ryanair opening a new base in Dubrovnik this summer and expanding its operations in Zagreb and Zadar. This year, Ryanair will account for a significant 27.7% of Croatia’s total capacity, cementing its position as the country’s largest airline. This is in contrast to the pre-pandemic 2019, when it accounted for just 5.7% of Croatia’s total capacity.

Croatia Airlines lost its mantle as the country’s largest carrier last year. Ryanair noted, “Ryanair, Croatia’s largest airline, has delivered low fares, connectivity, and tourism to Croatia for over fifteen years and has single-handedly driven Croatia’s post-Covid traffic recovery. Since the pandemic, Ryanair has invested over 800 million US dollars in Croatia, with the opening of its new Dubrovnik (two aircraft) base and aircraft bases at both Zagreb and Zadar. Ryanair also offers flights to four other Croatian airports - Osijek, Pula, Rijeka and Split. Ryanair has continued to deliver Europe’s lowest fares and greater connectivity for Croatian citizens”. During 2024, Ryanair operated an additional 7.909 Croatia flights compared to last year, for a total of 23.306, some 2.931 fewer than Croatia Airlines.

Apart from having the most capacity, Ryanair also boasts a very high average cabin load factor, which forms an integral part of its business model. During the first three quarters of the year, the airline’s average cabin load factor across its network stood at 93.8%. On the other hand, Croatia Airlines’ average loads for the same period amounted to 64.7%, or 64.2% on international services and 62.9% on domestic flights. At this point, Ryanair will add an additional 196.547 seats on the Croatian market during the first half of next year. This is before the airline schedules new routes from the country and growth in frequencies on existing services. Ryanair is shortly expected to outline its planned expansion from Zagreb and the possibility of an additional aircraft to be based in Dubrovnik. On the other hand, Croatia Airlines has signalled it will be more assertive next year, with the arrival of an additional four new Airbus A220 aircraft by the summer of 2025 and the planned launch of eight new routes.

Biggest markets from Croatia in 2024 by capacity