easyJet terminates handful of EX-YU routes

Low cost carrier easyJet will terminate four routes to Croatia and a planned new service to Ljubljana as the airline is due to announce a loss of over a billion dollars for the previous financial year at the end of the month. The budget carrier has now terminated its seasonal flights from London Luton, Milan Malpensa and Toulouse to Dubrovnik, while services from Belfast to Split have also been cut. This is on top of the routes that were discontinued earlier this year, which included services from Venice and London Stansted to both Dubrovnik and Split, as well as from Southend to Dubrovnik and Newcastle to Split.

In the pre-pandemic era, the budget airline was Croatia’s largest during the peak summer month of August, eclipsing Croatia Airlines. Overall, in 2019, it was the second largest airline in the country in terms of offered seat capacity, behind only the national carrier. However, this year it has fallen to third place, behind both Croatia Airlines and Ryanair, while in the peak month of August it was the second largest carrier in the country, behind the national airline. Despite the cancellations, easyJet will still boast a large network out of Croatia next summer, from Split, Dubrovnik, Pula and Zadar.

easyJet has also cancelled plans to introduce flights from London Luton to Ljubljana. Services were initially scheduled to commence last year but have been constantly delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, easyJet’s sole remaining service to Ljubljana will be from London Gatwick. This represents a significant retreat from the Slovenian market for the airline, which, prior to the pandemic and following the collapse of Adria Airways in September 2019, was Slovenia’s largest carrier. Last year, easyJet terminated its flights from both London Stansted and Berlin to Ljubljana.