Ryanair to unveil Zagreb expansion today
Low cost carrier Ryanair is today expected to reveal new expansion plans for its Zagreb base with the company’s group CEO, Michael O'Leary, to host a press conference in the Croatian capital at 14.30 CEST. The airline currently has two Lauda Europe A320 aircraft stationed in the city, with some routes still operated by out-of-base aircraft. From December 1, the carrier will add a third jet in Zagreb. Its existing schedule leaves room for more rotations to be added to the third aircraft. The low cost airline has moved quickly to expand from the Croatian capital since launching operations to the city in June. It will have 24 routes and 124 weekly movements to and from Zagreb by the end of the year.
Ryanair has mostly added busy unserved routes out of Zagreb, as well as airports which serve regions with a high volume of indirect traffic from the Croatian capital. However, it has not shied away from adding longer rotations, such as Dublin and Malta, or destinations relying primarily on leisure traffic, such as Malaga and Paphos. Ryanair bases that remain unserved from Zagreb but have a high volume of indirect traffic include Manchester, Porto, Riga (base opening October 31), Vilnius, Bologna, Krakow and Stockholm (base opening October 31), all of which could be potentially added to its network as it targets to have up to ten jets stationed in the Croatian capital.
Ryanair’s swift and continuous expansion out of Zagreb Airport continues to put pressure on Croatia Airlines. The President of the Air Transport Association at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Tonči Peović, has said that Ryanair’s arrival in Zagreb has brought “great uncertainty” for Croatia Airlines. On the other hand, the low cost carrier said there would be enough room for both to coexist in Zagreb. “It will just mean that everyone will become more efficient, and everyone will be paying less. There is room for everyone”, the company noted. It added that Croatia Airlines had no impact on its decision making in Zagreb and that the carrier should have “done its homework” and expanded its network from the capital on time.
This news item will be updated during the day.
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