• Ryanair Boeing 737
    Ryanair
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    FR/RYR
    Airline Type:
    Low-Cost Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Dublin Airport, London Stansted Airport, Milan Bergamo Airport
    Year Founded:
    1985
    Airline Group:
    Ryanair Group
    CEO:
    Eddie Wilson
    Country:
    Ireland

Ryanair will turn Zagreb Airport into a weekend base this winter, and this will be the first such case for the airline. On Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, Ryanair will continue to use its three Zagreb-based aircraft. However, all flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays will be operated by Ryanair’s aircraft from other bases, including through w-rotations. Let’s take a look at the full scheduling details.

Zagreb has three Lauda Europe aircraft

Ryanair only operated its first ever flight to Zagreb Airport last year, in June 2021. Since then, it has opened a base in Zagreb, launched a staggering 27 new routes, and based three Lauda Europe Airbus A320 aircraft there.

This winter, it will operate a highly unusual schedule. On the face of it, nothing is strange: all routes that were launched as year-round routes remain on sale, and flights take place throughout the week. The busiest route, between London Stansted and Zagreb, remains a daily route.

However, the booking schedules reveal that there is one major change compared to Ryanair’s current operations in Zagreb.

Namely, the base will become a weekend base only. It will still have three Lauda Europe Airbus A320 aircraft, but these will only operate flights to and from the city on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Ryanair will operate flights to and from Zagreb with Boeing aircraft from its other bases across Europe.

Here is an example of how Ryanair’s operations are performed in Zagreb at the moment. This is the scheduling for Mondays that will remain in place until the end of the summer timetable in late October.

Aircraft 1 currently flies as follows on Mondays:

  • Zagreb to Gothenburg
  • Gothenburg to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Memmingen
  • Memmingen to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Eindhoven
  • Eindhoven to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Naples
  • Naples to Zagreb

Aircraft 2 currently flies as follows on Mondays:

  • Zagreb to London Stansted
  • London Stansted to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Rome Fiumicino
  • Rome Fiumicino to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Dortmund
  • Dortmund to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Frankfurt Hahn
  • Frankfurt Hahn to Zagreb

Aircraft 3 currently flies as follows on Mondays:

  • Zagreb to Paphos
  • Paphos to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Basel
  • Basel to Zagreb
  • Zagreb to Brussels Charleroi
  • Brussels Charleroi to Zagreb

Like above, the three Lauda Europe A320s in Zagreb operate a full day of flights all week. This will change at the end of October.

Lauda A320
Zagreb Airport has three Lauda Europe A320s based there. Photo: Getty Images

Zagreb to become a weekend base

With the start of the winter schedule, Ryanair will make one very interesting change to its Zagreb operations. It will not reduce the number of aircraft based there, but it will reduce the number of days it operates flights with Zagreb-based aircraft.

Currently, Bratislava, Milan Bergamo, and Malta are the only routes that see aircraft from other bases. From the end of October, almost all routes will be at least partially operated by aircraft from other bases.

This does not actually amount to a significant capacity decrease because most flights will now be operated by Boeing aircraft, which offer more seats than the Lauda Europe Airbus A320s do. Nevertheless, a handful of routes will see a decrease in frequencies compared to the summer timetable, so there will still be fewer seats on sale overall.

Most interestingly, even aircraft that connect Zagreb Airport to airports that are not Ryanair’s bases will see non-Zagreb-based aircraft there.

This will be done with the help of a w-rotation, whereby an aircraft from one base will operate four flight segments on two rotations on two different routes from Zagreb Airport.

For example, on Tuesdays, an aircraft based in London Stansted will fly as follows:

  • London Stansted (06:00) to Zagreb (09:10)
  • Zagreb (09:35) to Podgorica (10:45)
  • Podgorica (11:10) to Zagreb (12:20)
  • Zagreb (12:45) to London Stansted (14:20)

At the same time, every Tuesday, an aircraft based in Milan Bergamo will fly:

  • Milan Bergamo (06:50) to Zagreb (08:05)
  • Zagreb (08:30) to Malmo (10:30)
  • Malmo (10:55) to Zagreb (12:45)
  • Zagreb (13:10) to Milan Bergamo (14:25)

On Wednesdays, an aircraft based in Milan Bergamo will fly:

  • Milan Bergamo (07:20) to Zagreb (08:35)
  • Zagreb (09:00) to Oslo Torp (11:35)
  • Oslo Torp (12:00) to Zagreb (14:35)
  • Zagreb (15:00) to Milan Bergamo (16:15)

Thursdays will see the longest w-rotation in the Zagreb Airport base:

  • Dublin (06:50) to Zagreb (10:35)
  • Zagreb (11:00) to Basel (12:30)
  • Basel (12:55) to Zagreb (14:25)
  • Zagreb (14:50) to Dublin (17:05)

Along with Milan Bergamo and London Stansted, flights to and from Malta, Sofia, Podgorica, Dortmund, Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden, Brussels Charleroi, and Dublin will be operated by aircraft from those bases on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The Eindhoven flights to and from Zagreb will be operated as a w-rotation with an aircraft based in Porto.

To accommodate this, most frequencies on almost all of Ryanair’s routes to Zagreb have been moved to Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and/or Mondays.

For example, Zagreb-Paphos-Zagreb currently operates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In the winter schedule, the Wednesday flight has been dropped. Zagreb-Bratislava-Zagreb will lose the Wednesday rotation too, while the Friday and Sunday flights will stay.

Zagreb-Thessaloniki-Zagreb currently operates on Thursdays and Sundays, but it will move to Mondays and Fridays in the winter. Zagreb-Gothenburg-Zagreb is moving from Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. Zagreb-Manchester-Zagreb is moving from Thursdays and Sundays to Mondays and Fridays.

Boeing, 737 MAX, Malta Air
Boeing 737 aircraft from other bases will fly to Zagreb from Tuesdays to Thursdays. Photo: Getty Images

Ryanair is fierce competition for Croatia Airlines

Ryanair’s expansion of as many as 27 new routes in Zagreb Airport happened in an incredibly short amount of time, considering the small size of the Zagreb market.

The airline is exerting heavy pressure on Lufthansa Group and its Star Alliance, Croatia Airlines. As we analyzed, Ryanair uses secondary airports across Europe to compete with Croatia Airlines by making use of Zagreb Airport’s incentives program.

We have reached out to Ryanair for a comment on this interesting scheduling for winter 2022/2023 in Zagreb.

What do you think of Zagreb Airport becoming a weekend base for Ryanair? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.