November 30, 2023 – Good news for all regular travellers, expats and those looking to visit Croatia. A new Ryanair Dubrovnik base with plenty of connections is coming soon. The low-cost carrier is about to introduce sixteen new routes from the southern pearl of the Adriatic. In addition to the two already existing lines to Vienna and Dublin (with an increased number of flights), Ryanair will connect the city with a total of 18 European destinations in 2024.
As Du List writes, great emphasis has been put on the three new year-round connections for 2024 and 2025. In addition to the aforementioned Vienna and Dublin, Dubrovnik will also be connected to London throughout the year.
Ryanair’s base in Dubrovnik is coming with two ‘Gamechanger’ Boeing 8-200 planes, as confirmed by the director of the Ruđer Bošković Airport, Viktor Šober. This makes Ryanair Dubrovnik the third base in Croatia, along with Zagreb and Zadar.
The connections include Dublin, London (Stansted), Rome (Fiumicino), Vienna, Stockholm (Arlanda), Helsinki, Berlin, Milan, Paris, Brussels (Charleroi), Baden-Baden, Memmingen, Krakow, Manchester, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Poznan, Oslo (Torp), and Wroclaw.
“It is my pleasure to be able to announce something that we have been preparing for the last few months. Ryanair is coming to Dubrovnik with their new base. To begin with, they will have two new planes based there. There will be 40 percent less noise. This is our and Ryanair’s contribution to the sustainability of air transport. I think that our fellow citizens who live near the airport will also see the advantages of that”, said Šober, pointing out that their main goal was to cover the winter period and they ensured that.
“We have made the first step forward, I hope that the service sector will follow the agreements we reached and that the city will come alive in a much better way during the winter. With this agreement, Dubrovnik makes an additional step forward in the tourist segment and makes itself stand out as a city break destination”, he added.
Ryanair’s commercial director Jason McGuinness said they are pleased to announce that Dubrovnik will be their summer base in 2024.
“As the largest and fastest-growing airline in Europe and Croatia, Ryanair is pleased to announce our new summer base in Dubrovnik with two ‘Gamechanger’ Boeing 8-200 aircraft, which complements our existing bases in Zagreb and Zadar. This represents a further investment of millions of dollars (a total of 800 million USD in 3 bases) in Croatia, creating more than 60 high-paying jobs for pilots and crew members, while at the same time supporting 500 local jobs in Dubovnik”, he said.
He emphasized that the Ryanair Dubrovnik ‘Gamechanger’ Boeing 8-200 base will significantly improve Croatia’s connectivity in an environmentally sustainable way, expanding their current two connections to/from Dubrovnik to 18 routes, including new connections to some of the largest European cities such as Berlin, Brussels, Helsinki, London, Milan, Paris, Rome, Stockholm and Wroclaw.
Viktor Šober, answering questions from journalists, pointed out that next winter will be quite interesting, considering Ryanair’s three year-round connections.
“I expect that these flights will be quite popular, not only for tourists coming from those destinations but also for the people of Dubrovnik. In a way, this is a Christmas present for our fellow citizens and for all residents of the county. For the first time, we will have a rather interesting winter, with interesting destinations”, he said and added that in addition to Ryanair, they are still working on an agreement with Croatia Airlines, but also with destinations outside the EU.
“We are preparing that in silence, so when something happens, we will announce it”, he concluded.
To celebrate the opening of Ryanair’s new summer base in Dubrovnik, the airline is offering fares from €29.99 one way, only available for booking on the Ryanair app/website.
Mayor Mato Franković also commented on this important news for Dubrovnik.
“After several months of negotiations, thanks primarily to the management of the Ruđer Bošković Airport, specifically Viktor Šober and Ivan Maslać, today we can say that with the introduction of Ryanair, Dubrovnik will receive a new air bridge to European destinations and primarily our fellow citizens will be able to travel at significantly cheaper rates. A greater number of connections, especially those that will be available during the winter months as a quality link between the City and European destinations, will enable us to further develop winter tourism in our city.
I congratulate everyone who contributed to the realization of this extremely important project for the city, and once again a big congratulations goes to Mr. Šober and Mr. Maslać, who also proved with this move that their election to the leading positions at Ruđer Bošković Airport was fully justified”, the mayor wrote on Facebook.
