Zagreb overtook traffic before Covid, Frankfurt remains the busiest route
Zagreb Airport recorded the busiest November on record with 253,666 passengers, which is an increase of 8.9% compared to pre-pandemic 2019. This is the first time since February 2020 that the Airport recorded a better result compared to 2019. The number of aircraft movements in in the penultimate month of the year, it was 3,408, which is 1.9% more than three years ago. During the period January – November, Zagreb Airport received 2,876,869 passengers through its doors, which is still a decrease of 10.2% compared to 2019. The airport is on track to achieve its planned goal of three million passengers this year and likely to accommodate approximately 90% of pre-pandemic passenger levels.
Generating growth in November were the strong results of Ryanair, the solid loads of Croatia Airlines, as well as the wide-body operations of Qatar Airways. With Croatia progressing to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in Doha, the airport will receive more charters for the Gulf state in the coming days, as well as additional wide-body operations. Compared to the original plan, Qatar Airways has now expanded the use of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to the Croatian metropolis. It will be used on December 12 and 14, while the Airbus A320 is currently scheduled for December 13, Croatia will play its semi-final match on December 13. Further equipment changes remain possible.
In the first seven months of this year, when the data has been processed so far, Frankfurt retained the position of the busiest traffic line to and from the Croatian capital. Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa served a total of 145,272 passengers between the two cities. Amsterdam was followed by Croatia Airlines and KLM. Istanbul was the busiest route operated by a single carrier, with Turkish Airlines serving 97,152 passengers. Dubrovnik was the busiest domestic route, ahead of Split, while London Stansted is Ryanair’s most popular route from Zagreb.
The ten busiest routes in Zagreb, January – July 2022