June the 10th, 2025 – Following the recent incident in which a private jet flying into Zagreb from Milan skidded off the runway and into the grass verge, Zagreb Airport has had to cope with numerous delays and flight cancellations.
On June the 8th, a private jet flying into Zagreb from Milan Linate private jet skidded off the runway and saw the airport close down. The aircraft veered off the runway during landing and came to a stop on a grassy area at the runway’s edge. Zagreb Airport’s emergency services responded immediately, however, the aircraft’s removal took hours.
zagreb airport is dogged by flight cancellations
The airport opened up around ten hours later, but Zagreb Airport has put in a much less than favourable situation in the face of delays and mass flight cancellations.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Zagreb Airport is back up and running after a Cessna 525 CitationJet aircraft owned by Croatian charter carrier Air Pannonia skidded off the runway on June the 8th.
Franjo Tuđman Airport reported on Monday that it had closed to all traffic from 15:21 on June the 8th to 00:51 on June the 9th due to an Air Pannonia aircraft, Cessna 525, registration 9A-JIM, skidding onto the grassy area along the edge of the runway. As a result of the accident, 59 flights were cancelled.
an airport shutdown of 10 hours
The 27-year-old aircraft, registered 9A-JIM, arrived from Milan Linate Airport into Zagreb. During landing, it veered off the runway and came to rest on a grassy area at the edge of the runway. The airport’s emergency services responded immediately, but it took hours to remove the aircraft.
As part of standard procedures following such events, Zagreb Airport was temporarily closed to all incoming and outgoing flights. Franjo Tuđman Airport noted that they are equipped with the necessary technical equipment to deal with such incidents, which was used in this case. In such situations, they act according to the prescribed procedure, which includes assistance and coordination with external services, and therefore the airport managers would like to thank the Velika Gorica Public Fire Department for their coordination and assistance.
quite a different claim from air pannonia’s founder
On the other hand, the founder of Air Pannonia, Miroslav Vlašić, claimed that he provided his own private equipment to help remove the aircraft from the runway. “One of the tyres burst, which made it impossible to tow the aircraft, and Zagreb Airport doesn’t even have the necessary equipment for such a situation. In fact, they even contacted the Civil Protection, but they also lacked the necessary tools,” Vlašić claimed.
In any case, it was necessary to wait for the Air, Maritime and Railway Accident Investigation Agency, authorised to conduct an on-site inspection and investigation, to arrive at the scene. They did so during the afternoon and reported that the landing gear was damaged, nobody was injured, and a full investigation will be conducted. Earlier, it was unofficially circulated by several sources that the cause of the skid was a burst left tyre during landing and that the aircraft didn’t suffer any major damage.
extremely bad press for zagreb airport owing to delays and cancellations
“No emergency was declared at the airport, and in accordance with the procedure in such events, it was necessary to first conduct an on-site inspection and investigation. Then we needed to proceed with the process of towing the aircraft. Given that the damaged aircraft came to a final halt on dirt terrain along the edge of the runway, the towing procedure was complex and required the use of special equipment and additional time to prevent additional damage to the aircraft,” a statement from Zagreb Airport said.
Many passengers were also affected, some of whom spent the night at various European airports. Social media was full of posts and videos about their discontent, dealing a blow to Zagreb Airport. Croatia Airlines and Ryanair, which have bases there and operate the most flights, were the most affected by the closure of Zagreb Airport. The costs and damage caused by the delays are being measured in tens of thousands of euros.
plenty of diverted flights
Several Sunday afternoon flights that were due to land at Zagreb Airport were diverted due to the incident, alongside all of the delays and cancellations. A KLM flight from Amsterdam and an Air Serbia flight from Belgrade were both diverted to Ljubljana, while a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt and a Ryanair flight from Rome were diverted to Vienna. A Croatia Airlines flight from Skopje landed in Zadar, as were Ryanair flights from Alicante and Weeze. Almost 40 departures were cancelled entirely.
A Croatia Airlines flight from Barcelona, which took off two hours late on Sunday, was diverted to Pula just after midnight on Monday. Croatia Airlines, the airport’s main operator, has not commented on the incident or the status of its flights.
