Low cost carrier Ryanair is expected to announce another set of new routes from its new base in Zagreb by the end of the month, which are to be launched next year. The low cost carrier has just based a second aircraft from its Lauda Europe subsidiary in the Croatian capital and introduced nine new routes. A third Airbus A320 will be stationed in Zagreb from December 1 when an additional eight routes will be added to its network. The budget carrier has previously said it already has new destinations planned for the summer of 2022 and aims to offer between thirty and forty destinations from the city next year. Following its December expansion, Ryanair will already have 24 routes on offer from Zagreb. “The key for Zagreb is going to be the number of airports we have on offer in Europe”, Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, said back in March.

The low cost airline ultimately plans to have up to ten aircraft stationed in the Croatian capital, handling between two and three million passengers per year. “Zagreb is the capital city … and remember, when we arrive in certain cities, they become passenger destinations. Ryanair will bring dozens of new routes to Zagreb this year, and Croatia Airlines has brought three in the past four years”, Lauda CEO, David O’Brien, said. Once it launches its remaining destinations planned for this year in December, Ryanair will have 94.923 seats on offer in January and 526 flights (return services included).

This year Zagreb Airport will be connected with 42 international destinations and six domestic services, marking the largest number of routes in its history, thanks primarily to Ryanair, which has made up for the handful of destinations terminated by Croatia Airlines over the past year including Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Milan and Prague. By the end of the year, Zagreb Airport will have managed to cover four of its top twenty unserved destinations from the pre-pandemic 2019. If secondary airports are considered, its coverage of top unserved routes is further extended.