Croatia Airlines reshuffles winter operations

Croatia Airlines plans to make minor changes to its winter operations this year, despite the country assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January 1. The carrier will add an additional weekly flight from Zagreb to Brussels this coming winter, for a total of twelve per week, and has partially upgraded its seasonal Dublin service, which will run until January 26, 2020. On the other hand, flights to Lisbon, which were maintained for part of the winter last year, will end in late October and resume during the 2020 summer season. 

The carrier’s international operations from other Croatian cities will remain unchanged this winter. They will include nonstop flights from Split to Frankfurt, Munich and Rome, as well as services from Dubrovnik to Frankfurt and from Rijeka to Munich. Domestic operations will also remain unchanged during the coming winter period. Croatia Airlines has dropped previous plans to extend the wet-lease for one of Air Nostrum's Bombardier CRJ1000 jets into the winter months. This would have enabled the carrier to prolong some of its seasonal services. Currently, the airline maintains twelve routes out of Zagreb exclusively during the summer season.

Croatia Airlines expects to see a 5% increase in passenger numbers by the end of the year and is holding off on any major changes to its route network prior to the conclusion of its ongoing privatisation process. The national carrier handled 960.620 travellers on board its aircraft during the January - June period, representing an increase of 1.2% on 2018. The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, previously said the airline’s privatisation process should be completed by the end of the year. “I believe we will deliver within the set timeframe", the Minister added at the time. A consortium made of the Privredna banka Zagreb and Germany's DVB Bank are acting as advisors in the process.

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EX-YU Aviation News

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