The Ryanair Group, which was to station three Lauda aircraft in Zadar this summer and launch a dozen new routes, has postponed the opening of its base in the Croatian city until 2021 as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. “Ryanair has informed Zadar Airport that, as a result of the ongoing situation with the coronavirus, flights to a number of routes will, unfortunately, be suspended in April. Some 150 flights have been cancelled to a number of destinations. The majority of them are on services to Dublin, London, Brussels and Stockholm. Other routes, such as Vienna, Prague, Gothenburg, Dusseldorf and Karlsruhe will go ahead as planned starting late March and early April”, Zadar Airport’s spokesman, Nikola Barać, said.
It is unclear at this point whether the twelve new routes, which are currently scheduled to launch in May, will go ahead at all, although tickets remain on sale at this point. “Ryanair regrets that the decision to postpone the base opening will result in a number of cancelled flights. All affected passengers will be informed via email and will be able to choose between a full refund or a travel voucher that can be used on any Ryanair flight within a twelve-month period”, the airline said. “The amount of cancelled flights will impact some 25.000 arriving passengers or around 50% of all traffic in April”, Mr Barać noted.
Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, Zadar Airport was on track to handle over a million passengers this year. The Ryanair Group planned to increase its passenger traffic at Zadar Airport by 50% to some 672.000 travellers. Zadar Airport was also expected to begin construction of its new terminal during the year, valued at fifty million euros, as a result of the considerable growth in traffic. However, the project is now in limbo, as the notable decline in traffic and the uncertainty of when the ongoing health crisis will subside, will drive both revenue and profits down.
Shame. Zadar would have handled over 1 million people this year.
ReplyDeleteShame?? They would fly empty aircrafts and burn a fortune...
DeleteI meant the whole situation is unfortunate. Of course they shouldn't fly empty planes.
DeleteIt would be good if the new flights went ahead anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure they will because the destinations they were supposed to fly are not Lauda bases. So it makes it difficult for them to operate these routes without a plane stationed in Zadar.
DeleteMore news like this will be coming in the next days.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be a good start to summer for ZAD. It also losses Trade Air domestic flights because PSO won't be renewed.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be a good start to summer for absolutely anyone.
DeleteIt won't be good for anybody in aviation, not just ZAD.
DeleteTrade Air does not fly PSO to/from ZAD. Well, ZAD airport needs a breather. I cannot imagine how would they handle 1mil, they were bursting at seems last summer. Too bad if they cannot pull the start of the construction of the new terminal, but it is hard to believe it depended on this summer's now lost revenues alone.
DeleteZAD is so far the biggest ex YU victim of Coronavirus
ReplyDeleteI hope they are still around in 2021
ReplyDeleteRyanair will most certainly pull through
DeleteThis sucks
ReplyDeleteThe entire Croatian tourism industry will be badly hit.
ReplyDeleteThe whole world's tourism industry will be hardly hit.
DeleteThis is just crazy
ReplyDeleteIt’s almost impossible to imagine the level of ignorance capable from mankind. Sheer madness
DeleteLet's hope this will all be over soon.
ReplyDeleteHope so. Although I don't think things will get better before easter.
DeleteStart with the date of exponential growth of infections and count to 50 (at least), so, unfortunately not before May.
DeleteEU 261/2004 claims companies will be having a field day.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the EU Reg. 261/2004, an extraordinary circumstance is an event beyond an airline’s control. The Coronavirus outbreak is such an event and has been defined as a pandemic by the W.H.O. These cancellations are made in the interest of public safety, and those affected are not entitled to compensation.
DeleteTrue last anon.
DeleteIf airlines now had to pay delay compensation on top of everything that would be the end of them.
Deleteif the current Corona crisis doesn’t count as unforeseeable circumstances , nothing does…
DeleteAll Croatian coastal airports will be particularly affected as there is little or no local traffic and they all rely on tourists.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you people talking about? Pretty much ALL airports will be affected with this.
DeleteBut all airports in the world are not today's topic!!!!
DeleteAnd neither are all Croatian airports.
DeleteCalm your tits and ease up on the exclamation marks.
He spoke about Croatia which is the topic of today's discussion!!! Please Friski don't try to take this discussion off topic!!
DeleteAnd I made it logical by saying that it will affect pretty much all airports.
DeleteWhy only mentioning Croatian coastal ones?
Because today's topic is on Croatia, duh...
DeleteNo it is not. It's Zadar.
DeleteDuh!
And even if it is, what is exactly to point of singling out one region of the world and saying it will be "particularly affected"?
Because Zadar is in Croatia in case you didn't know. It's more relevant than speaking about Spain, Albania, Greece...also this is an ex YU portal and HR is in that particular region.
DeleteAnd Croatia is in Europe. And Europe on the planet Earth.
DeleteYes but this blog is specifically about our glorious region, ex Yugoslavia!
DeleteJesus! Guy said that costal airports will be particularly affected and he said why he thinks that, as they have almost no local traffic. You may agree or not, but comment is absolutely relevant!
DeleteLet me guess. That guy is you?
Deletewouldn't it be excellent for CRO government's plan for airports to be shareholders of OU to have gone throug. we could all have documentary titled Epic Disaster in live stream.
ReplyDeleteI doubt if Ryanair, Lauda ,or easyJet, will be in business in 2021. The economic damage done will be worse then the virus itself.
ReplyDeleteWhy are Ryanair still selling flights to zadar?
DeleteWhy shouldn't they be selling flights to Zadar since they are still selling fights elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteThe announced cuts to ZAD for the entire year are more drastic than to other RA destinations.
Because croatia have said anyone from uk must quarantine for 24 days on arrival up till dec 20. My daughter has a flight booked with Ryanair on the 19th june and they are still selling it
DeleteYour reply makes no sense. Croatia requires a4 day quarantine for everybody. UK is no exception. What is the source of 24 q days for the UK?
ReplyDeletea 14 day quarantine
Delete