Ukraine's Windrose Airlines will commence scheduled services from Kiev to Zagreb in November after cancelling plans to introduce the route this June due to the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. The carrier initially shelved flights between the two cities altogether, before rescheduling its launch for November 10. Tickets are yet to go on sale. Operations will be maintained three times per week, each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with the fifty-seat Embraer E145 jet, operated by Dniproavia, which was absorbed by Windrose in 2017. It will mark the first scheduled nonstop service between Kiev and Zagreb since the 1980s. Aeroflot last flew between the two cities prior to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Croatia Airlines considered introducing services from Zagreb to Ukraine in 2009, however, it ultimately decided against the move. In 2018, Ukraine International Airlines announced its intention to inaugurate flights from Kiev to the Croatian capital in 2020, but the airline never scheduled the route. Based on traffic flow prior to the coronavirus pandemic, unserved European destinations which have been identified by Zagreb Airport as having the potential to sustain direct flights include Kiev, Basel, Geneva, Riga and Sofia. Ukrainian carriers have so far maintained seasonal summer flights from Kiev to the Croatian coast. Windrose itself will commence operations to Pula on July 4. This will be followed by services to Split starting July 5. Both routes will run twice per week.

Windrose is also set to commence operations between Kiev and Ljubljana next Thursday following several delays. The Kiev-based airline operates a fleet of eleven aircraft. In addition to flying to popular summer holiday destinations, the carrier introduced an extensive domestic network this year, linking the nation’s six largest cities - Kiev, Lviv, Odesa, Nikolayev, Dnipro and Kharkiv. To support its expansion, the airline is adding eight ATR 72-600 turboprops to its fleet, the first of which arrived this month. The company also cooperates with the country’s largest carrier Ukraine International Airlines, offering transfer options to various destinations. It carried 1.44 million passengers in 2019.