Ryanair grows Croatia operations

Ryanair will expand its operations in Croatia this coming summer season by introducing a total of five new routes in an attempt to catch up to its low cost rivals on the market. The budget airline, which last year held a 5% capacity share in Croatia and was well behind easyJet and Eurowings, will strengthen its seasonal base in Zadar by launching flights to Frankfurt, Memmingen and Bremen, while also adding services from Frankfurt to Pula and Rijeka. In addition, it will boost frequencies on its existing services to the country. As a result of its new Frankfurt flights, the carrier plans to discontinue operations between Hahn and Zadar. "Our Zadar summer 2018 schedule, offers fourteen routes in total, including three new routes to Bremen, Frankfurt and Memmingen and we look forward to further growing our Croatian routes, traffic and tourism in the coming years", Ryanair said.

Overall, during the peak summer months, Ryanair will offer over 12.000 seats per week from Croatia. However, despite adding new routes to the market, the airline still has no flights to the country's two biggest tourist hotspots - Dubrovnik and Split. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News recently, Dubrovnik Airport's General Manager, Frano Luetić, said, "We have been in talks with Ryanair for over a decade, however, our stance remains unchanged. Ryanair is more than welcome in Dubrovnik but under the same conditions as the other sixty airlines operating here. We are strong and united in this regard, hence, we would not want to destroy the excellent relations we have with other carriers in order to post big numbers". Ryanair has requested for Dubrovnik Airport to reduce its fees and sign a multi-year agreement prior to it starting operations.

Similarly, Split Airport has said it cannot reduce its fees to accommodate Ryanair. General Manager, Lukša Novak, noted, "In Croatia, they [Ryanair] still operate exclusively from airports which provide support for their flights. We have held meetings with them and established contacts, however, for now, they will not come to Split as we have not changed our policy. Neither Split, nor Dubrovnik, need to stimulate carriers during the season as traffic continues to grow. That would only create a mess on the market. We are always open for talks, but we do not intend on changing our business policy". Ryanair operates flights to Croatia exclusively during the summer and currently plans to maintain twenty routes from the country this year.