April 29, 2019 – The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb and Rijeka airports.
Russian company iFly Airlines received a license last week from the Russian Federation for flights from Sochi to Zagreb, Belgrade, and Sarajevo, reports HRTurizam on April 29, 2019.
The airline has applied for four weeks of flights from the Olympic and summer resort to the major cities of Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the Russian Federation has approved the flights, the company must now get permission from the appropriate regulatory bodies of these three countries.
Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are increasingly popular among Russian tourists. Last year, more than 135,000 Russian tourists visited Croatia, with more than 932,000 overnight stays were recorded. This year, the numbers are expected to increase by about 20 percent. These data indicate that Russia is a significant market for Croatia.
The daily consumption of Russian tourists is about 50 percent higher than the average tourist. It is important to continue good tourism cooperation and strengthen our recognizability in this market, “ said Tonči Glavina, State Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism. “Russian tourists in Croatia spend most of their nights in Istria, Split-Dalmatia County, and Kvarner. Our goal is, besides the growth of tourist traffic, to approach and position the Croatian continental offer on this large and powerful market,” concluded Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board.
Serbia was visited by some 50,000 Russian tourists last year. The Serbian government recently approved funding for subsidizing tour operators that bring Russian tourists to the country. Namely, the total is 20 euro per guest, or 30 euro for stays longer than five nights. Tour groups must have at least 15 people to meet the conditions. On the other hand, the number of Russian tourists who visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 amounted to only 6,000. It is also interesting to note that neither Podgorica nor Tivat are included in this service.
Zagreb, Belgrade, and Sarajevo do not have direct flights to Sochi, but the company Aeroflot offers flights between Moscow and Zagreb.
iFly Airlines is a private charter airline which operates flights for several tourist agencies. It was founded in 2009 and co-owned by Alexander Burtin, also director of the tour company Tez Tour. In 2018, the company carried 1.1 million passengers, and its fleet consists of nine Airbus aircraft.
The Zagreb-Sochi service should increase an already good number of visits and overnights by Russian tourists to Croatia.
In other news, AvioRadar reports that the new service between Manchester and Rijeka announced several months ago has been canceled. The new service was meant to run once a week, on Thursdays.
However, TUI will operate the London Gatwick service to Rijeka, which will run once a week, on Thursdays. The service between London and Rijeka will begin operations on May 23 and work until October 17, 2019.
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