US carriers outline 2022 Croatia operations
The United States’ “Big 3” carriers - American Airlines, Delta and United - have outlined their plans for the upcoming 2022 summer season and the future development of their operations to Dubrovnik. American, which launched seasonal flights from Philadelphia to the Croatian coastal city in 2019, was set to return in 2020 with additional flights and capacity. However, the coronavirus pandemic has seen the airline indefinitely delay the route. Brian Znotins, American Airlines’ Vice President for Network and Schedule Planning, said the company will “take a holistic evaluation” of its Dubrovnik route in the coming years to determine whether to potentially restore flights depending on how demand and competition has changed in the market by that time. “There's nothing to say that we won't necessarily restart flights again”, Mr Znotins said, adding that Philadelphia is “the natural draw” for utilising new aircraft as they come in to ramp up service to Europe.
Delta introduced seasonal flights from New York’s JFK Airport to Dubrovnik during the summer of 2022, but at this point does not plan to restore flights next year. As Europe has reopened for American travellers, Delta is looking to increase operations to traditional markets frequented by US tourists and destinations that can attract even more high-yielding passengers. Croatia was one of the few countries within the European Union to permit entry to US citizens and residents both this year and last year, with Delta noting it was one of the major factors for the introduction of its flights to Dubrovnik.
United Airlines has confirmed the resumption of flights between New York’s Newark Airport and the Croatian coastal city next summer following a successful debut this year. The carrier will restore operations on May 27, 2022 with four weekly rotations, departing Newark each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Furthermore, the US carrier has extended its flight program to Dubrovnik with services to be run until the end of the 2022 summer season, on October 26 of next year. All flights will be maintained by the Boeing 767-300 aircraft. United’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Nocella, has said the Dubrovnik service was launched in response to Croatia maintaining open borders for American citizens and residents throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and has performed strongly as a result. “We feel really bullish about Europe for next summer. We had a look of that this summer. We started in a few new markets. In fact, we loaded those for sale very late. And those new markets are actually some of our top performing city fares because Croatia and Greece, in particular, made it clear to the world that they were open for business. And in fact, our customers responded to it immediately, and our new flights did incredibly well”, Mr Nocella said.
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