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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, which benefited from being the only carrier serving Zagreb for two months, as well as being one of the few to maintain operations throughout the global lockdowns in the spring of 2020.
Zagreb Airport's top transfer airlines in 2019
Zagreb Airport's top transfer airlines in 2020
During the last normal year for the aviation sector, 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.
Lufthansa's top O&D destinations to/from Zagreb in 2019
In 2019, Lufthansa was 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. Qatar Airways was the busiest connecting airline from Asia. Australian and Far East Asian destinations formed part of Qatar Airways’ most popular feeder routes. In 2019, 73.4% of all passengers flying with the Qatari carrier between the two cities were transfers on a single itinerary. The list of destinations did not differ much in 2020 as the bulk of traffic was generated during the first quarter, prior to the global lockdowns. Last year, 81.7% of Qatar Airways’ Zagreb passengers were transfers.
Qatar Airways top O&D destinations to/from Zagreb in 2019
Croatia Airlines’ connecting passengers are primarily to Germany and domestic services within Croatia, benefiting from wide-ranging codeshare agreements with Star Alliance partner airlines, most notably Lufthansa. On the other hand, Turkish Airlines, once one of Zagreb’s top transfer carriers, maintained its 2019 position as the fourth busiest airline in the Croatian capital in terms of connecting passengers in 2020 as well. It held a 10% share of all transfers at the airport over both years. During 2020, a total of 46.1% of Turkish Airlines’ passengers on its Istanbul - Zagreb - Istanbul service were transfers connecting via Turkey’s largest city either to or from the Croatian capital. A mix of points in Turkey, as well as long haul destinations, proved most popular with Zagreb passengers.
Top carriers for Europe transfer to/from Zagreb in 2019
Top carriers for Asia transfers to/from Zagreb in 2019
Top carriers for North America transfers to/from Zagreb in 2019
Top carriers for Australia transfers to/from Zagreb in 2019
Top carriers for Africa transfers to/from Zagreb in 2019
