May the 4th, 2025 – Croatia Airlines kicked off 2025 with even greater losses than it did in the same period in 2024, totalling a concerning 15.9 million euros.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, the transition to a new fleet marked the last business year for the national airline. It did so even more than the management of Croatia Airlines had predicted, and as the acceptance of the new Airbus A220s follows this year, the level of challenges and risks is expected to be even higher.
The final consolidated financial report for 2024 shows that last year’s total revenue reached 269 million euros, and although it increased by two percent, costs grew faster, at a rate of 10 percent, reaching 288 million euros. For Croatia Airlines that meant continued losses totalling 19.4 million euros.
croatia airlines and its history of losses and new route introductions
The very beginning of the year was marked by an increase in passengers compared to last year, by about two percent (329.5,000 were transported), with the number of passengers in Croatian scheduled traffic growing more quickly.
Depreciation costs contributed to an increase in operating costs in the first quarter by seven percent, but this was also contributed by an increase in employee income. This was the result of the collective agreement concluded with the unions last year, and the hiring of additional pilots and other staff for the needs of the new Airbus fleet.
Croatia Airlines had 951 employees at the end of March, 30 more than a year ago. The increase in costs was also contributed to by investments in training pilots and flight crews to fly the new Airbuses, and the biggest obstacle and burden on business, according to the management, has been the delay in the delivery of aircraft.
Last year, the first two of the 15 planes ordered arrived. This year, the fleet should be strengthened with five more aircraft. The delay that the company faced last year also entails the creation of new costs and rearrangements in operations. According to the airline’s management, they had already received announcements of new delays in delivery deadlines from aircraft manufacturers at the beginning of 2025.
“Uncertain situations like these significantly complicate the planning of operational activities and represent a significant cost exposure,” Bajić revealed in the report. The first of this year’s series should arrive in May, and Croatia Airlines currently has 14 aircraft in its fleet. During the first quarter of 2025, the state-owned airline had flights to 13 international and five Croatian destinations. During the height of the tourist season and the summer schedule, it will connect Croatia with a total of 29 international airports.
Additionally, the company recently announced plans to expand their network of international destinations with new routes to Milan, Prague, Bucharest, Madrid and Hamburg, adding that the number of flights on existing routes from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik will also be increased.
capital is required…. still
The flights on the new routes are all planned to be operated on the new Airbus A220. The plan is to increase the number of routes by eight percent during the summer season compared to last year’s summer season, to 18,800 flights.
For Croatia Airlines, the heavy losses incurred during the first quarter of 2025 also led to a negative balance of capital and reserves, which amounts to an astounding -14.4 million euros (yes, that’s a minus sign!)
“Experience gained during the transitional year of 2024 indicates that the challenges and risks facing the company will continue throughout 2025. It’s expected that the company will record a negative financial result with positive EBITDA,” Bajić pointed out in the aforementioned report.
He concluded that Croatia Airlines will continue to incur losses and that expects continued support from its owner, the state. It needs this in order to successfully overcome the very financially demanding transitional period of aircraft fleet replacement through the planned recapitalisation.
