Croatian Aviation reports that Polish airline LOT stopped traffic on the Warsaw-Zagreb route in January this year but has announced it is re-introducing a direct line between the two cities after just over 2 months.
Namely, due to weak demand and passenger restrictions, LOT briefly suspended traffic on the line between Warsaw and Zagreb, the only year-round line to Croatia.
The airline introduced a regular line between the two cities back in 1994, and traffic on it was interrupted three times, as the airline went through a restructuring process following the introduction of a complete lockdown in Europe. This winter, the line was interrupted due to weak demand.
The airline will resume traffic on this route from Sunday, March 28 (with the first day of the summer flight schedule). Four flights a week have been announced, every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
The Embraer E170 and 175 aircraft were announced on the route in April, with the E170 having a capacity of 70 passengers, while the E175 can accommodate 82 passengers.
Lines from Warsaw to Split and Dubrovnik are currently announced from the end of April, and lines to Zadar from the beginning of June. Last year’s new line between Warsaw and Rijeka is currently not on sale for this summer season.
LOT aircraft landed on Krk from the beginning of July to the middle of September 2020.
Although introducing this line in the 2020 summer flight schedule was a bold move by the airline, it is not clear why LOT decided not to continue operating to Rijeka in the summer of 2021. Namely, whatever result the airline achieved on this route last summer cannot be relevant given that at the time of the global pandemic, the occupancy of aircraft on almost all routes was extremely low.
The loss is not great considering that LOT to Rijeka operated briefly and only once a week. Still, even such a minimum frequency enabled direct air connections between Kvarner and the Polish capital.
For the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia, CLICK HERE.