IAG Group airlines plan Croatia expansion

Members of the International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), which include Iberia, British Airways and Aer Lingus, plan to increase their operations to several cities across Croatia this summer season.

The growth will be headed by Spain's Iberia, which will strengthen its seasonal operations to Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split. The airline will maintain up to eight weekly flights from Madrid to the Croatian capital, an increase from five weekly last year. It will also bring forward the resumption of the service by a month to early May. Furthermore, Iberia will add four weekly flights to Dubrovnik, resulting in double daily operations during the peak summer season, while Split will also benefit with daily services to be maintained from Madrid this year, up from three per week in 2017. The resumption of its flights to both Dubrovnik and Split will also be brought forward. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said, "We will be offering 48% more seats to Dubrovnik in the summer of 2018 compared to last year. We will resume our flights from Madrid to the Croatian city on Easter and will extend them until October. We will also return flights between Madrid and Zagreb, offering 79% more seats this year than the previous one. The flights will be resumed in May and extended until October. Normally, we operate the route from June to September. Finally, capacity to Split will grow by 189% in 2018".

British Airways will continue to grow its number of flights to Croatia this year after adding Pula as its fourth destination in the country in 2017. The British carrier will operate twelve weekly flights between London Gatwick and Dubrovnik this summer, up from nine last year. Furthermore, the airline will strengthen its services from Heathrow to Split by introducing an extra weekly flight for a total of five. On the other hand, it will retain the same number of operations from London to Pula at two per week. The carrier is also considering adding flights between Heathrow and Zagreb to make up for Croatia Airlines' service reduction on the route. British Airways' leisure unit, British Airways Holidays, has listed Croatia in its top eighteen must-see destinations this summer. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said, "We are pleased with the performance of our routes from Croatia to London, which has resulted in additional flights and capacity this year. Our customers on these routes range from passengers travelling point-to-point to those taking advantage of our extensive international network which serves 199 destinations".

Aer Lingus will follow its partners and increase frequencies on all three of its destinations in Croatia. The Irish carrier will add an extra flight from Dublin to Dubrovnik, resulting in daily operations, while services to both Split and Pula will also be increased by one additional service for a total of three and four per week respectively. "We are delighted to announce the further strengthening of our network to Croatia with these additional flights. The extra frequencies to Dubrovnik, Split and Pula will allow us to continue offering the choice, service and value that delivered our Skytrax four-star accreditation and we look forward to welcoming guests on board these services to Croatia in 2018", the airline said. Asked whether it could add Zagreb to its network in the foreseeable future, the Irish carrier noted, "Flights could be introduced if we determine that this route matches our customers’ needs, is economically viable and makes a positive financial contribution to our business as a whole".