Turkish sees Zagreb growth but Lufthansa Group yet to recover
Several destinations within Zagreb Airport’s top ten busiest surpassed their pre-Covid passenger performance during the first quarter of the year, data provided by the European Statistical Office shows. During the first three months, Frankfurt remained the airport’s busiest route, with 56.348 passengers handled jointly by Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa, although figures were still down 20.3% on the same period in 2019. Notably, the Lufthansa Group’s hubs within the top ten busiest - Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna - all failed to reach their pre-pandemic passenger figures. Zurich, which was the eleventh busiest, was also below pre-Covid levels. However, during this time, both Frankfurt and Munich were hit by industrial action, forcing the cancellation of a number of flights from Zagreb to the two German cities in February.
Zagreb Airport's busiest routes, Q1 2023
Turkish Airlines performed strongly during the first quarter, establishing Istanbul as Zagreb’s second busiest route and improving its performance by a notable 33.4% on four years ago. The only other destination within Zagreb Airport’s top ten busiest to have surpassed its pre-Covid passenger performance during the first three months of the year was Amsterdam, operated by Croatia Airlines and KLM. Ryanair outperformed both Croatia Airlines and British Airways on flights to London. The budget carrier handled 28.837 travellers between the Croatian capital and Stansted Airport, while the two national airlines welcomed a joint total of 25.350 passengers on board their aircraft to and from Heathrow. Stansted is also Ryanair’s busiest Zagreb route with the carrier maintaining daily flights between the two.
During the first quarter, Zagreb Airport handled 694.956 travellers through its doors, representing its busiest start to the year on record. Much of the growth was fuelled by Ryanair, which opened a base in the city in 2021. The budget carrier said it handled 330.580 travellers to/from Zagreb Airport between January and April of this year, accounting for 33% of all passengers. It recently criticised Zagreb Airport for increasing airline fees by 12.4%, branding the development as “ridiculous”. “These increases only punish passengers and will have a detrimental impact on Zagreb and Croatia’s connectivity, tourism, traffic, jobs, and overall post-Covid recovery”, Ryanair noted.
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