Croatia Airlines will expand operations at its Zagreb Airport (ZAG) hub by commencing five new routes from the gateway for the northern summer of 2025. The new routes will see the carrier return to cities that it previously served before the COVID-19 pandemic but dropped as passenger numbers dwindled due to the global health crisis taking hold. The new destinations will include direct, nonstop flights from Zagreb to Prague (PRG), Bucharest (OTP), Madrid (MAD), Milan Malpensa (MXP), and Hamburg (HAM).
Flights to Milan and Prague will start on June 2, 2025, with both routes operating three times a week. Meanwhile, the new services to Hamburg, Bucharest, and Madrid will begin in July 2025. Services to Hamburg and Bucharest will launch on July 1, 2025, while flights to Madrid will follow the following day, on July 3, 2025. These three routes will also operate three times weekly. All flights will be operated with Croatia Airlines’ Airbus A220-300 aircraft which accommodate 149 passengers in a single class layout.
Croatia Airlines last served Milan, Prague, and Bucharest from Zagreb in 2019, and had plans to resume these routes in 2020. However, the plans were shelved due to the onset of the pandemic. The airline last flew to Hamburg in 2012, although German carrier Eurowings has served the route more recently. Zagreb was linked to Hamburg in 2019 by Eurowings although the route currently remains unserved.
The airline will be going head-to-head with another carrier on just one of the new routes, with Iberia already an incumbent on the Madrid to Zagreb route. Ryanair indirectly competes on the Milan route, albeit operating five times per week between Zagreb and Bergamo Airport (BGO) during the peak summer travel season. While Croatia Airlines had also hoped to begin flights in 2025 between Zagreb and Lisbon (LIS), it is understood that the carrier was unable to secure appropriate slots at the Portuguese airport.
This expansion of the carrier’s network to key European destinations such as those above aligns with Croatia Airlines’ strategy to grow operations with the introduction of its new fleet of Airbus A220 aircraft of which the carrier currently has two with a further 11 on order, in addition to two smaller A220-100s.
Croatia Airlines’ fleet will therefore total 15 new A220 aircraft once all the jets are delivered. The next six are expected to be delivered in 2025, four in 2026, and three aircraft in 2027. The new aircraft all join Croatia Airlines through lease agreements signed with Griffin Global Asset Management, Air Lease Corporation, and Azorra. The six aircraft arriving in 2025 will include five more A220-300s and one of the two ordered A220-100s.
In June 2024, Croatia Airlines launched a new aircraft livery and company logo to coincide with the introduction of the A220 fleet and to mark its 35th anniversary year in 2024. The new logo took its inspiration from the previous Croatia Airlines tail design by adopting the same colors, shapes, and positional style.
“The rebranding of Croatia’s flag carrier will increase the company’s visibility and recognition. It also highlights the importance of Croatia’s national identity and the role that Croatia Airlines has in the state of Croatia, while Croatia Airlines remains, according to renowned experts, one of the best brands in world aviation,” said Jasmin Bajić, President of the Management Board and CEO of Croatia Airlines at the unveiling in June 2024.
Alongside its Airbus A220 fleet, the carrier also operates two A319s, two A320s, and five De Havilland Canada DHC-8-Q400s turboprops.
