In mid-December last year, Russian S7 Airlines announced a new route between Moscow and Zagreb. The first flight was announced for January 23, 2022, reports Croatian Aviation.
Although the airline exclusively confirmed this news to Croatian Aviation, the flights did not operate. Namely, only 6 days ago, the airline withdrew regular flights between Moscow and Zagreb, justifying the move with demand below expectations.
Flights were announced from January 23 until the end of the winter flight schedule, i.e., until the end of March this year, with the possibility of continuing operations in the summer flight schedule. However, this will not happen, and this Russian airline will continue to operate on seasonal flights from Moscow to Pula, Zadar, and Split.
Russian Azur Air announced regular operations to Zagreb, at one point, even with wide-body aircraft, but the line was canceled after only a few rotations.
On the other hand, on Friday, January 21, the new regular Aeroflot and Rossiya Airlines line between Zagreb and St. Petersburg was launched. The first flight from St. Petersburg carried 97 passengers to Zagreb (Load Factor 61%), and flights take place according to the announced flight schedule, twice a week, on Fridays and Sundays.
Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that German low-cost airline, Eurowings, has drastically cut the number of flights to Zagreb Airport since the beginning of this year due to reduced demand. January and February are traditionally the two worst months of the year regarding air traffic in Croatia and the region. Still, this year, just like the previous ones, demand is adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and the world.
For this reason, Eurowings has canceled numerous departures to and from Zagreb International Airport.
On the Stuttgart – Zagreb – Stuttgart line, Eurowings made its last flight on January 9 this year, and there are no regular flights between the two cities until February 7. Furthermore, 14 return flights were canceled in the mentioned period, which is 4,368 fewer seats to and from Zagreb.
On the Cologne – Zagreb – Cologne route, Eurowings operates regularly, twice a week, but some weekly flights have been canceled, as many as 10, which is 3,120 seats less than planned!
The Dusseldorf – Zagreb line last operated on December 28, 2021, as all flights for January and February were canceled. The next flight is announced for March 1. Zagreb lost an additional 6,120 seats from 17 canceled rotations.
The Prague – Zagreb line was supposed to start operating in the winter flight schedule this year, but it did not happen. Eurowings has already extended the start of operations on this line several times, and the first flight has been announced for March 8. A total of 6 rotations planned for January and February were canceled, which is an additional 1,872 fewer seats.
From the beginning of the year to March, Eurowings canceled 47 return flights on four international routes, which caused Zagreb to lose 15,480 seats.
The number of lost seats is relatively small compared to Ryanair’s canceled flights, of which there are significantly more. Namely, from the beginning of January to the end of February, Ryanair withdrew more than 45,000 seats to and from Zagreb International Airport!
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