Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines has discontinued all ticket sales to Croatia, where it previously served Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, and Zadar, and it has even discontinued its code-share agreement with Air Serbia to Rijeka and Pula as well. Because no tickets have been put on sale for next year either, this could mean that the current circumstances in the aviation industry have forced Aegean Airlines to exit the markets. This likely also means that Aegean will not be buying Croatia Airlines.
A blow for Croatia
Aegean’s evident decision to pull out of Croatia is a strong blow for the tourism industry in the country, because the market for air travel between Greece and Croatia was set for strong growth this year. Both Croatia Airlines and Aegean Airlines normally fly to Athens from various Croatian airports, but Aegean Airlines offers more capacity between the two countries.
Furthermore, Aegean Airlines was strongly interested in purchasing Croatia Airlines, which is currently owned by the state of Croatia. Aegean was on a major expansion in Croatia last year, and it was scheduled to have strong double-digit growth in seat capacity offered to Croatia from Athens this year as well. All of Aegean’s flights to Croatia have now been removed from the Greek airline’s booking systems. The expression of interest for the acquisition of Croatia Airlines is presumably off the table too, though this is not yet officially confirmed.
The news comes as a particularly negative development for the airport serving Zagreb, the Croatian capital. A whole range of airlines left Zagreb Airport last year, or reduced frequencies of their services there, or cut capacity to it, even before COVID-19. Aegean was one of only a few airlines planning to expand capacity in Zagreb Airport.
Greece-Croatia market was set to boom this year
Before COVID-19 broke out, Aegean had planned the following schedule for its services to Croatia:
- Athens – Zagreb, three times weekly with Airbus A319 and Airbus A320 aircraft. Last year, the route was operated by Olympic’s Dash-8 Q400 turbopops.
- Athens-Split, four times weekly with A319 aircraft, also up from last year’s Dash-8 Q400.
- Athens-Dubrovnik, five times weekly with an A320, also up from last year’s Dash-8 Q400.
All three have been completely discontinued, indefinitely.
Even code-share agreements are canceled
At the same time, Aegean Airlines had an extensive code-share agreement to Croatia planned for this year, and already in place for a few years. This code-share agreement was not with its Star Alliance partner Croatia Airlines, even despite Aegean expressing an interest to buy Croatia Airlines. Instead, Aegean Airlines code-shared with Air Serbia on dozens of weekly year-round and seasonal routes from Belgrade to six Croatian airports: Zagreb, Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik.
This whole code-share agreement has now also been shelved, except for Air Serbia’s flights from Belgrade to Zagreb. Therefore, passengers wishing to reach Croatia on an Aegean Airlines ticket can still do so, but only to Zagreb, and via Belgrade.
Only Croatia Airlines remains in the market
At the same time, Croatia Airlines continues to operate flights to Athens from Zagreb, but these make a stop in Dubrovnik. Thus, the only direct flight currently operating between Croatia and Greece is the Croatia Airlines service from Dubrovnik to Athens, three times weekly on a Dash-8 Q400 aircraft. This is a considerable decrease in frequency compared to what was planned for 2020 in the Greece-Croatia market.
With Aegean pulling all ticket sales for its flight to Croatia indefinitely, this low level of capacity might be the new normal for the aviation market between the two countries, especially since Aegean is likely not to buy Croatia Airlines after all.
Do you think that Aegean Airlines pulling out of Croatia is also a sign that Greece’s flag carrier is no longer interested in acquiring Croatia Airlines? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.
