Today's football game between Croatia and Spain was great for Croatia Airlines, which catered for the demand by operating four charter flights to Copenhagen from Zagreb in addition to the scheduled morning service on the same route. The Croatia Airlines aircraft are now stationed in Malmö, Sweden, awaiting their return to Zagreb later tonight.
Five Croatia Airlines flights from Zagreb to Copenhagen today
Croatia Airlines operated five flights between Zagreb and Copenhagen today to transport Croatian football fans to the Spain-Croatia game that is taking place in Denmark right now as part of the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament.
Four of the flights were charters, and one was a scheduled morning service. In addition to the Croatia Airlines flights, other airlines sent aircraft from Croatia to Denmark today and yesterday as well, transporting as many as 10,000 fans to Copenhagen.
Croatia Airlines itself made use of a third of its whole fleet for today's endeavor. The following aircraft were used in the operation:
- 9A-CTH, an Airbus A319, left Zagreb at 07:15 and arrived in Copenhagen at 09:10
- 9A-CTH then returned to Zagreb at 11:30 and operated another rotation to Copenhagen, leaving Zagreb at 12:30 and arriving in Copenhagen at 14:20
- 9A-CTG, an Airbus A319, left Zagreb at 07:45 and arrived in Copenhagen at 09:40
- 9A-CTJ, an Airbus A320, left Zagreb at 08:00 and arrived in Copenhagen at 09:50
Aircraft 9A-CQA operated its scheduled rotation from Zagreb to Copenhagen, leaving Croatia at 08:00 and returning at 13:45 before then continuing to operate a scheduled flight to Dubrovnik.
The aircraft are parked in Sweden
Out of the four Croatia Airlines aircraft that flew to Copenhagen, only one has returned to Zagreb. That was the aircraft that operated the scheduled Zagreb-Copenhagen-Zagreb rotation.
The other three are temporarily parked in Malmö, in Sweden, which is an airport just over 15 minutes of flying away from Copenhagen. The three aircraft will return to Zagreb tonight after the football game finishes.
At the same time, Croatia Airlines has upgraded the capacity of its scheduled Zagreb-Copenhagen-Zagreb service tomorrow morning from a Dash 8 400 aircraft to an Airbus A320 to provide capacity for those football fans who chose to spend the night in Denmark rather than fly back right after the game.
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Foreign airlines upgraded capacity too
In addition to Croatia Airlines, others also offered seat capacity for Croatian fans to come to Copenhagen. Croatia's start-up charter airline ETF Airways sent its Boeing 737-800 to Copenhagen from Zagreb at 07:45 this morning.
From Pula, a coastal airport, SAS Scandinavian Airlines operated an Airbus A320neo flight to Copenhagen yesterday, and it will also operate one tomorrow. Yesterday's flight was the first Copenhagen-Pula service of the entire year.
From Split, Croatia's second-largest city, Norwegian Air flew its first service from Copenhagen to Split of the year this morning, sending a Boeing 737-800. Norwegian will also send a 737 from Copenhagen to Split tomorrow. SAS operated an Airbus flight to Copenhagen today, two days ago, and yesterday, and it will operate another one tomorrow.
What do you think of Croatia Airlines making use of its entire fleet today thanks to the football game? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.