September the 12th, 2025 – easyJet is cancelling some flights with the popular Croatian destinations of Zadar and Dubrovnik affected.
As Sinisa Malus/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, easyJet will cut some of its flights from Croatia starting next summer, with Zadar and Dubrovnik being the most affected. Together, these routes operated eleven weekly departures, and the move reduces the low-cost carrier’s capacity on the Croatian market by almost 4,000 seats per week. This season, easyJet and Ryanair competed directly on the Berlin-Zadar and Berlin-Dubrovnik routes, according to Ex-Yu Aviation News.
a decline in numbers for easyjet
The popular easyJet has been among the most visible low-cost carriers on the Croatian coast for the past two decades, focusing almost exclusively on tourist routes with demand from Western Europe. Unlike Ryanair, which is aggressively developing year-round routes and bases across Croatia, easyJet’s “operations” remain seasonal, with only a few routes running until November. It mostly connected Croatia with markets such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Despite the decline in passenger numbers, easyJet remains one of the largest carriers in the entire country. In 2023, the airline offered 1.44 million seats to and from Croatia, making it the third-largest carrier, behind Ryanair and Croatia Airlines. In the pre-pandemic year of 2019, easyJet was the second-largest airline in Croatia. Since then, its total capacity has only grown slightly, from 1.42 million seats six years ago. In contrast, Ryanair has expanded very rapidly, especially in Zadar and Zagreb. easyJet however does continue to have a strong presence along the Adriatic coast.
ryanair’s croatian domination
Ryanair’s year-round model and higher capital expenditure is in stark contrast with easyJet’s lighter, seasonal approach. Based on this year’s capacity levels alone, easyJet is the second largest carrier in Split and Pula, the third largest in Dubrovnik and the fourth largest in Zadar.
croatian airports record increases
Airports across Croatia served 7.3 percent more passengers in both June and the first half of this year than at the same time last year, with 1.9 million passengers contributing to such increases in June this year and 5.4 million in the first half of the year, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
The increase in the number of passengers at airports in June this year was accompanied by an increase in aircraft operations, by six percent, to more than 18.7 thousand. With the arrival of many seasonal airlines, Split Airport was once again positioned first among all airports, as 578.1 thousand passengers passed through, equal to 8.2 percent more than in the same month last year. All other airports also saw increases in the number of passengers in June, except for the one on the island of Brač, which is the smallest Croatian airport and where there were 16.1 percent fewer passengers than in June last year, or around 3,500.
In terms of the number of passengers in June, Split was closely followed by Dubrovnik Airport, with 447.2 thousand or four percent more than last year, with Zagreb Airport ranking third with 435.1 thousand passengers or 7.6 percent more. Zadar Airport, with 294 thousand passengers recorded back in June, has been up nine percent compared to last year, while Pula Airport saw 94.6 thousand passengers, or 12.4 percent more, pass through it.
