Year In Review: Croatia Had 69 Brand New Route Launches In 2021

The aviation boom in Croatia has continued in 2021, driven primarily by Ryanair's arrival in Zagreb Airport and its massive expansion in Zadar Airport, but also by Russian citizens coming to Zagreb and Pula to get vaccinated. A total of 69 brand new routes were launched across Croatia's airports in 2021.

69 brand new routes launched

There were an incredible 69 brand new routes launched out of Croatia's airports in 2021, on top of numerous other route resumptions. The country's aviation industry has been growing extensively ever since Croatia joined the European Union, which kick-started a boom in demand and capacity.

This boom is driven by foreign carriers because the flag carrier, Croatia Airlines, has been extremely cautious to expand over the last decade. The airline is sticking to its strategy of linking Croatia's cities with European hub airports, primarily feeding Lufthansa Group airlines via Frankfurt.

1. 24 new routes: Ryanair opens a Lauda Europe base in Zagreb

Between 2nd June and 16th December, Ryanair launched an incredible 24 new routes from Zagreb Airport after it opened a base there. They are:

2nd June: Brussels Charleroi (CRL) to Zagreb
17th June: Milan Bergamo (BGY) to Zagreb
23rd July: Zagreb to London Stansted (STN)
23rd July: Zagreb to Gothenburg (GOT)
23rd July: Zagreb to Rome Ciampino (CIA) (now swapped to Fiumicino FCO)
3rd August: Zagreb to Sofia (SOF)
2nd September: Zagreb to Oslo Torp (Sandefjord) (TRF)
2nd September: Zagreb to Karlsruhe / Baden Baden (FKB)
2nd September: Zagreb to Paris Beauvais (BVA)
3rd September: Zagreb to Frankfurt Hahn (HHN)
3rd September: Zagreb to Memmingen (FMM)
3rd September: Zagreb to Dortmund (DTM)
4th September: Zagreb to Weeze (NRN)
4th September: Zagreb to Podgorica (TGD)
4th September: Zagreb to Malmö (MMX)
1st December: Zagreb to Malaga (AGP)
2nd December: Zagreb to Manchester (MAN)
2nd December: Zagreb to Thessaloniki (SKG)
2nd December: Zagreb to Dublin (DUB)
3rd December: Zagreb to Paphos (PFO)
3rd December: Zagreb to Eindhoven (EIN)
3rd December: Zagreb to Basel (Mulhouse-Freiburg) (BSL)
4th December: Zagreb to Malta (MLA)
17th December: Zagreb to Naples (NAP)

Ryanair announces new routes in Zagreb every few months. Photo: Zagreb Airport

2. 14 brand new routes in Zadar: Ryanair re-opens its old base

On top of this, Ryanair launched a massive expansion in Zadar with the following brand new routes for the airport:

In July:

Budapest (BUD) - Zadar
Zadar - Eindhoven (EIN)
Zadar - Warsaw Modlin (WMI)
Zadar - Rome Ciampino (CIA)
Zadar - Aarhus (AAR)
Zadar - Wroclaw (WRO)
Zadar - Bucharest (OTP)
Zadar - Gdansk (GDN)
Zadar - Paris Beauvais (BVA)
Zadar - Maastricht (MST)
Zadar - Bremen (BRE)

In August:

Zadar - Bologna (BLQ)
Zadar - Bari (BRI)

Finally, in September, after the UK added Croatia to its Green List:

Zadar - Edinburgh (EDI)

Ryanair Lauda — Ryanair's bases in Zagreb and Zadar are Lauda Europe bases. Photo: Getty Images

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3. 7 new routes for Russians coming to get vaccinated

As Simple Flying revealed earlier this year, 2021 has seen more demand than usual for travel to Croatia by Russian citizens who were coming to get vaccinated for free with EU-approved vaccines, particularly the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The brand new routes with their launch dates were:

30th April: Nordwind Airlines, Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) - Zagreb (ZAG)
1st June: Aeroflot, Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) - Dubrovnik (DBV)
3rd June: Aeroflot, Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) - Pula (PUY)
25th June: Ural Airlines, Moscow Zhukovsky (ZIA) - Pula (PUY)
31st October: Azur Air, Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) - Zagreb (ZAG)
15th November: Croatia Airlines, Osijek (OSI) - Munich (MUC)
15th December: MyWings (via Croatia Airlines and Trade Air), Zagreb (ZAG) - Pristina (PRN)