PREMIUM
Lufthansa maintained its position as Zagreb Airport’s busiest foreign carrier for transfer passengers in 2020 despite significantly reducing its operations to the Croatian capital as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the suspension of its Munich service, leaving Frankfurt as its sole route. However, the German carrier is no longer the busiest transfer airline overall, a title it held in 2019. It was overtaken by Croatia Airlines last year. Lufthansa is one of Croatia’s and Zagreb’s busiest airlines. This summer, the carrier will operate 807 flights (return service included) between Frankfurt and Zagreb with 72.650 seats on sale. It will be the third largest carrier by frequency following Croatia Airlines and KLM but only the sixth by capacity.
Zagreb Airport's top transfer airlines in 2019
Zagreb Airport's transfer airlines in 2020
During the last normal year for commercial aviation in 2019, Lufthansa was primarily used by passengers to reach points across Europe, despite some of them having either year-round or seasonal nonstop connectivity to Zagreb. Madrid was the busiest destination passengers either transferred to or from. Overall, Lufthansa was used by a notable number of travellers between Zagreb and points in Spain. Within the top ten, New York was the only non-European city, while in the top twenty it was joined by Chicago. Notably, Lufthansa is no longer used to a large extent by travellers transferring to or from Asia. With the arrival of Emirates and Korean Air on the market, both of which have since terminated their Zagreb operations, the German carrier saw a significant decline in transfer traffic to Zagreb from the continent. Seoul was Lufthansa's busiest Asian destination to and from Zagreb, ranking 32nd with 2.687 passengers.
Lufthansa's top O&D destinations to/from Zagreb in 2019
Lufthansa has been present on the Croatian market for almost 54 years. It commenced operations from Frankfurt to Zagreb via Munich on August 25, 1967 with a Boeing 727 jet. The service continued on to Bucharest. Commenting on its operations in Croatia, Lufthansa told EX-YU Aviation News, “We are delighted to have many happy customers in Croatia, which has resulted in our excellent reputation. We connect Croatia to the world via our main hub airports and contribute to its development”. Lufthansa does not plan to restore flights between Munich and Zagreb until the start of the 2021/2022 winter season, which begins on October 31.The airline has tried to shift focus onto Frankfurt as its main transfer hub, particularly during the ongoing pandemic, which has resulted in the temporary suspension of a number of routes from Munich.