The government of the autonomous region of Sardinia in Italy has issued a public call to subsidise flights from the island’s three airports - Alghero, Cagliari and Olbia - to 67 destinations, which include Zagreb and Dubrovnik. The local government is targeting flights from Cagliari, which is Sardinia’s capital and largest city, to the two destinations in Croatia. Airlines have until August 22 to submit their interest. According to official documentation, easyJet, Volotea, Wizz Air and Aeroitalia have already expressed interest in participating, although it has not been specified for which routes. There are currently no flights between Sardinia and Croatia.
The objective of the public call is to enhance Sardinia’s connectivity to Europe and beyond, including the United States, by subsidising air routes deemed important for regional development and tourism. Airlines that win the tender will receive financial support covering up to 50% of airport fees at both the departure and arrival airports. The public call includes 33 destinations from Cagliari, nineteen from Alghero and fifteen from Olbia.
Ryanair is currently the largest airline between Croatia and Italy, operating 47% of all flights between the two during the summer. It is followed by easyJet with 19% of the market and Vueling with 14.8%. Other airlines operating between the two countries include Croatia Airlines, Volotea and SkyAlps. Zagreb and Zadar are the most connected airports in Croatia to Italy with each linked to six destinations in the country. These include Bergamo, Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples, Palermo and Pisa from Zagreb, as well as Bergamo, Bologna, Bari, Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Pisa from Zadar. Ryanair boasts a base at Cagliari Airport.
The only airport in the former Yugoslavia currently linked to Sardinia is Belgrade with Air Serbia launching seasonal flights to Alghero earlier this year. The carrier recently said, “Alghero is performing strongly. Ideally, we would prefer to operate into Olbia, and we will continue to pursue that, as Olbia is a significantly better entry point for individual travellers”.
Ryanair makes the most sense for both routes.
ReplyDeleteVolotea has a base in Olbia, they could choose to fly these routes as well.
Delete^ tha subsidy is from Cagliari for Zagreb and Dubrovnik.
Delete^ Thank you, missed that!
Delete"The government of the autonomous region of Sardinia in Italy has issued a public call to subsidise flights from the island’s three airports - Alghero, Cagliari and Olbia - to 67 destinations, which include Zagreb and Dubrovnik."
Delete^ Yes but it later indicates in the text from which of the three airports the Zagreb/Dubrovnik flights will be subsidised.
DeleteAirlines that win the tender will receive financial support covering up to 50% of airport fees at both the departure and arrival airports
ReplyDeleteSame as in Ljubljana, now we will see if it's Ljubljana who's at fault or the tender
Slovenia does not cover 50% of the cost at the other airport as well. Only its own.
DeleteThis is how you do a public tender, Slovenia. You specify EXACTLY which routes you want. So now we have DUS and Riga at LJU, which are pretty useless for most P2P traffic. And still no BER, DUB, EDI or PRG. Those few flights to MAD are a joke, too. I hope they aren’t getting a subsidy for that.
DeleteSlovenia has become such a no-place that Sardinia isn’t even subsidising flights here. Imagine that, that’s our neighbour! Like one guy said on Slovenian RTV the other day, the least flights in Asia are to North Korea, too.
Delete@10:28 The eligible routes have been in every tender so far. @10:31 and Fraport is to blame, yes?
DeleteCroatia Airlines should apply.
ReplyDeleteThey would launch Zagreb-Dubrovnik-Cagliari.
DeleteThey would be unable to generate any demand. Ryanair on the other hand would.
DeleteI would not be surprised if Aeroitalia applies actually. They chase any subsidy they can get.
DeleteVolotea would be a good fit for these routes.
DeleteThey need an airline that can actually seriously see the flights through, so that eliminates OU.
DeleteYou don't need to worry about eliminating OU from anywhere. They are successfully doing that themselves. Except for Vrankvurt and Minken, of course
DeleteWell, Frankfurt and Munchen are good routes in comparison to "feeding" crap like Sarajevo. And Croatia needs to find new routes anyway.
Delete^ If you only knew the fare structure on those routes and how much OU gives to LH through their codeshare, you defdinitely would not be claiming they are good routes. If they were good routes, the airline would be profitable considering the 50+ weekly flights to Germany.
DeleteIs there a list of all the routes that are being subsidised?
ReplyDeleteCagliari Airport: Ajaccio, Berlin, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Brest, Bucharest, Cluj, Cork, Dubai, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Philadelphia, Hannover, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kaunas, Vilnius, Lamezia Terme, Lille, Leipzig, Lisbon, Liverpool, Łodz, Malaga, New York, Nice, Oslo, Riga, Rotterdam, Tallinn, Tirana, Zagreb.
DeleteAlghero Airport: Hamburg, Basel, Berlin, Bilbao, Bristol, Cagliari, Cologne, Eindhoven, Geneva, Lyon, Manchester, Oslo, Porto, Prague, Sofia, Stuttgart, Stockholm, Valencia, Warsaw.
Olbia Airport: Cagliari, Dortmund, Helsinki, Istanbul, Lisbon, Malaga, Liverpool, New York, Newcastle, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Reykjavik, Rotterdam, Seville, Vilnius.
Thank you!
DeleteToo bad. BEG could help Cagliari’s connections on a year long basis
DeleteWeird there's no Sarajevo, people would be keen to holiday there especially after the influencer boom on social media
DeleteSardinians would be keen to holiday in Sarajevo? 🤔
DeleteI believe he meant the other way around.
DeleteYeah Alghero via Belgrade is quite popular
DeleteSardinia is pretty expensive for Bosnians. On the other hand, situation in Sarajevo is changing. In June 2025 we have YoY 44% less tourists from Gulf countries while we have generally 10% less. Meanwhile, the structure is changing and Ryanair is successfully bringing tourists from Western Europea. I flew BGY-SJJ and FCO-SJJ, half of the aircrafts were Italian tourists.
DeleteHow they selected exactly these locations? Which were the criteria used?
DeleteThe airlines most likely gave the list of routes they were interested in launching.
Delete@09:48 What influencer boom? Most Europeans don't even know where Sarajevo is.
DeleteItalian routes to Sarajevo are full... I'm living in Cagliari and Sarajevo is very popular amongst locals. I know many people catching connections with wizzair from Fiumicino.
DeleteI'm living in Nuuk, Greenland, and Tuzla is very popular amongst locals. They usually catching connections from Reykyavik
DeleteI'm living in Kathmandu Mongolia and Sarajevo is a dream destination among everybody here!
DeletePeople are begging for direct flights to launch!
I don't understand these comments against Sarajevo i thought this is EX YU aviation and that includes Sarajevo and B&H
DeleteSarajevo is a booming destination and I personally know several people that holidayed in Sardinia. Also B&H had 7% more tourists officially, if you add the unofficial private accomodations it's even higher
DeleteI think Emirates should apply for Sarajevo-Cagliari. With all this crazy demand daily A380 would work easily
Deletebelieve everything related to Sarajevo is being impacted by the same individual who consistently opposes it with negative comments. This person is also writing negative comments on other articles about Sarajevo. I think the administration should investigate this situation more closely and consider banning them for their persistent negativity. There is no place for repeated comments like this on this website, and we should promote a more positive and respectful dialogue.
DeleteFrom Cagliari to Zagreb, only Ryanair is able to launch flights. However, they are not listed as interested airline...
ReplyDeleteWhy? OU can launch it too.
DeleteAny EU airline can launch it.
DeleteCroatia Airlines can't even fly to Athens or Rome from Zagreb.
Delete09.05
DeleteAre you for real?
Honestly, if I were an airline I'd apply for these juicy subsidies.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe subsidies are tiny. 50% discount on fees is around 12 euros per passenger I think.
Delete^ Exactly! That's why so many concerned commenters want OU to launch these clearly loss making routes.
DeleteAnd Croatia Airlines and Zagreb Airport are unable to generate absolutely any demand to make these flights profitable?
DeleteFor OU you already know they are not. They are cutting frequnecies on new routes like Stockholm and even not operating them for weeks in peak summer season. Let alone have any succsess on a route like Cagliari.
DeleteSubsidies like these make risky routes possible.
Delete@10:18 What do you think Zagreb Airport can do? Pay people smugglers to bring a million people to the city so that some of them go on holiday to Sardinia? What do you think the airport should do?
Delete10.15
DeleteYes, it will spoil their huge profits. Which they make feeding LHG for peanuts
Conspiracy theories as always.
Delete10:20
DeleteStop lying, OU is not reducing Stockholm!
You are right. it is only Prague, Bucharest and Tirana
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/06/croatia-airlines-reduces-operations-on.html
13.45
DeleteHeavy losses and debts OU makes for decades are not conspiracy theories but sad and painful reality. Repeating 100 times your lie on conspiracy will not make your lie becoming truth. It just shows state of your mind stuck in 1950's where every constructive criticism is conspiracy and/or work of internal and external enemy, while you, good Party soldier, advocate Central Comitee/Središnjica wrong and loss making decisions by any means, including lies on conspiracies
Why we never saw any proof?
DeleteWe never saw any proof? For heaven's sake, their losses are higher and higher year by year. And they announce it themselves. What other proof do you need? Sworn statement of two "witnesses"?
DeleteMaybe "feeding" routes are heavily money losing and not these towards LH hubs?
DeleteYour last post is wooden stove. Feeding routes are money losing. Feeding routes are to LH hubs. Capisci?
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteThese flights would be great!
ReplyDeleteHope it happens
ReplyDeleteAre these PSO routes?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteFingers crossed for Cagliari to Dubrovnik. Two amazing coastal cities that would benefit from easier access.
ReplyDeleteDubrovnik is amazing.
DeleteBut Cagliari? Never heard of it.
Zagreb really needs more southern European connections. A seasonal link to Sardinia would be a perfect addition for holidaymakers.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Croatia Airlines say how they would launch southern routes as they fet A220s? So much for that.
DeleteIt's too early
DeleteWhy would they go for Olbia instead of direct flights to places such as FCO, NAP, MXP, ATH, TLV?
DeleteThey have launched MXP
DeleteCroatia Airlines doesn't even fly to Rome from Zagreb non-stop and you want it to launch Cagliari? Jasmin Bajić doesn't even know what Cagliari is.
Deletelol true
DeleteCroatia Airlines should really look at opportunities like this if they want to remain competitive. Can’t always rely on Frankfurt and Munich.
DeleteRemain competitive? LOL. Re-phrase, please 🙂
Delete09.22
DeleteČeka se da Jasmin ispije kahvu
This is an odd one
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteYou would say Cagliari is the most likely new route from ZAG? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, just came out of the blue.
DeleteThis would be a cool route to have.
ReplyDeleteespecially with subsidies covering airport fees low cost airlines have little to lose.
DeleteZagreb’s Italian connections are solid, but a Sardinian link would fill a gap in the network.
DeleteGood luck
ReplyDeleteIf we had a serious flag carrier, Croatia Airlines would apply and launch these.
ReplyDeleteIf we had a serious flag carrier, we would have had at least New York, Chicago, Delhi and Beijing so far. And many many more closer.
DeleteWe wouldn't. Having such network would cost too much and airline would be even in bigger shit than now.
DeleteWith this type of management, it is questionable if Split-Zagreb is profitable, let alone anything else. So yes, you are right. This management would be unable to make high yielding routes like New York profitable.Thankfully, there is United to take that money.
DeleteExactly. Instead of having strategy, vision, and use potentials of croatian market, with professional management taking care of it, we leave not only United but Qatar, flydubai, Transat, T'way taking that money, plus we feed LHG for peanuts, causing heavy losses, instead having our own network which we could feed from the coast, ex-yu, Balkans, even wider, and earn money on it. Instead, we have aparatchiks placed by Party on managerial positions to execute Mafia orders on how to keep feeder status quo, and advocate such status quo on internet blogs and forums
Delete15.34 would be me, PIR, in case someone can't recognize it
DeleteAnon 14:46
DeleteI'm not talking about this management. That scenario would happen with any management.
Not necesserily at all. But I wouldn'y trust this management to take care of sheep.
DeleteWell of course, me neither would trust them.
DeleteIs this for year round or seasonal summer service?
ReplyDeleteI doubt Zagreb can sustain year-round demand for Cagliari, but summer flights could attract tourists from both countries.
DeleteWho goes to Sardinia in winter anyway?
DeleteThere's no point in this route operating in January. Even April is probably unnecessary. June to October would be perfect.
DeleteSardinia is an underrated gem and this could work well both ways with proper promotion.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the airline that gets it commits for more than just a season.
ReplyDeleteZagreb–Cagliari might not have massive VFR demand, but for tourists this is an excellent addition to the summer schedule.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea but there is no demand outside of peak summer.
ReplyDeleteObviously not. Sardinia is cold and windy in the winter. Even in the summer the inland can be very cloudy.
DeleteJust pure data about clouds and staff: https://www.holiday-weather.com/sardinia/averages/
DeleteI'm assuming these subsidies start next summer?
ReplyDeleteThis could open doors for cruise tourism too
ReplyDeleteWhat are the types of passengers they're aiming for? I don't know much about Sardinia but I'd imagine it sees primarily inbound tourists. Similarly Croatia is where people go for holiday, so I have a hard time imagining who'd be flying on a route like Alghero - Dubrovnik?
ReplyDeleteLong-haul tourists would love Alghero-Dubrovnik.
DeleteThose flying in with Croatia Airlines? Hahahahahaha...
DeleteItalian routes to Sarajevo are full... I'm living in Cagliari and Sarajevo is very popular amongst locals. I know many people catching connections with wizzair from Fiumicino.
ReplyDeleteDo the other airlines that fly from Ex Yu to Sardinia get subsidies?
ReplyDeleteI guess they do.