Ryanair Group postpones Zadar base until 2021

The Ryanair Group, which was to station three Lauda aircraft in Zadar this summer and launch a dozen new routes, has postponed the opening of its base in the Croatian city until 2021 as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. “Ryanair has informed Zadar Airport that, as a result of the ongoing situation with the coronavirus, flights to a number of routes will, unfortunately, be suspended in April. Some 150 flights have been cancelled to a number of destinations. The majority of them are on services to Dublin, London, Brussels and Stockholm. Other routes, such as Vienna, Prague, Gothenburg, Dusseldorf and Karlsruhe will go ahead as planned starting late March and early April”, Zadar Airport’s spokesman, Nikola Barać, said.

It is unclear at this point whether the twelve new routes, which are currently scheduled to launch in May, will go ahead at all, although tickets remain on sale at this point. “Ryanair regrets that the decision to postpone the base opening will result in a number of cancelled flights. All affected passengers will be informed via email and will be able to choose between a full refund or a travel voucher that can be used on any Ryanair flight within a twelve-month period”, the airline said. “The amount of cancelled flights will impact some 25.000 arriving passengers or around 50% of all traffic in April”, Mr Barać noted.

Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, Zadar Airport was on track to handle over a million passengers this year. The Ryanair Group planned to increase its passenger traffic at Zadar Airport by 50% to some 672.000 travellers. Zadar Airport was also expected to begin construction of its new terminal during the year, valued at fifty million euros, as a result of the considerable growth in traffic. However, the project is now in limbo, as the notable decline in traffic and the uncertainty of when the ongoing health crisis will subside, will drive both revenue and profits down.

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EX-YU Aviation News

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