Turkish marks milestone with record passenger surge on Zagreb route

Turkish Airlines has seen its passenger numbers on flights between Istanbul and Zagreb exceed those prior to the pandemic during the first half of the year, as the airline marks 25 years of operations to the Croatian capital. This year the carrier has deployed wide-body aircraft to Zagreb on a regular basis for the first time, with its Sunday morning service on the route operated by A330 jets since August 8 up until October 22. The airline is utilising the twin-aisle jet on two more occasions this week as a one-off, with yesterday morning’s flight, as well as this evening’s service (October 12 and October 13) maintained with the A330-300 aircraft.

During the first half of the year, Turkish Airlines handled a record 92.235 passengers on its Zagreb service representing an increase of 23.3% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Its average cabin load factor during the six-month period stood at a high 83.7%. The majority of travellers flying between Istanbul and Zagreb are foreigners, with the rate of Turkish passengers being relatively low. Up until the pandemic, 60% of customers on the route were transfers from the Far East. However, this changed in the proceeding years due to the closure of many Asian markets. These are now bouncing back but the US market is also providing significant feed, particularly flights to/from Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Turkish Airlines has also benefited from reduced competition by Gulf carriers, with Qatar Airways still operating fewer flights to Zagreb than prior to the pandemic, while Emirates has relegated its service onto Flydubai.

Turkish Airlines Zagreb performance, H1 2023

Turkish Airlines commenced operations to Zagreb on October 27, 1998. At a celebration marking the occasion, Croatia’s Minister for Tourism and Sports, Nikolina Brnjac, said, "I congratulate Turkish Airlines on its great anniversary, but above all on its great service and reputation. In the context of the development of year-round tourism, good air connectivity is extremely important for Croatia, which is why we are very glad that we have a quality partner in Turkish Airlines that connects Turkey directly with Zagreb and Dubrovnik, and with a codeshare partnership with Croatia Airlines further connects Pula, Split and Zadar. I hope that this partnership will expand to other destinations, and I wish Turkish Airlines many more successful years".

EX-YU Aviation News

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