Low-cost carrier Ryanair is to open a new base in Zagreb this summer as part of expansion plans for Croatia announced today which will also see it reopen its Zadar base.
The budget carrier will base two aircraft at Zagreb to operate 36 weekly flights from the Croatian capital, including a dozen new routes.
The 12 new routes include a daily flight to London Stansted, four weekly services to Bergamo near Milan, and thrice-weekly routes to Brussels Charleroi, Frankfurt Hahn, Gothenburg Landvetter, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and Rome Ciampino.
Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson says: ”We are delighted to launch a new Croatian base which represents a $200 million investment at Zagreb. This development will create over 60 direct jobs and offer our Croatian customers a host of European hotspots to choose from this summer,”
The Irish carrier will also reopen a Zadar base this July. Ryanair will base two aircraft at the Croatian airport covering 37 routes. Seventeen of the routes are new, including links from Liverpool and Newcastle in the UK.
Ryanair director of commercial, Jason McGuinness, says: “As vaccination rollout programmes continue in the coming months, air traffic is set to soar this summer and we are delighted to announce the opening of a base in Zadar this July.”
Citing the impact of vaccination programmes, the Irish carrier has struck an optimistic note of a rebound in intra-European travel during the second half of the year. It hopes to operate at around 80% of its pre-crisis capacity in the June-September period. But the airline is offering passengers the chance to change or postpone flights with no charge until October.
