easyJet will discontinue four of its Croatian routes, with Zadar and Dubrovnik the most affected, it has been reported. The low-cost airline will not resume its seasonal services from Zadar to Milan Malpensa, Berlin and Lyon, while flights from Dubrovnik to Berlin will also be cut.
In total, the carrier’s decision will see the loss of 11 weekly flights and reduce its seat capacity on the Croatian market by almost 4,000 per week. In the 2025 summer season, easyJet has been in direct competition with Ryanair on the Berlin connections to both Zadar and the iconic Game of Thrones city, Dubrovnik.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the second-largest airline in Croatia, behind flag carrier Croatia Airlines. Since then, its overall capacity has grown only modestly, while Ryanair has expanded rapidly, particularly in Zadar and the capital, Zagreb, where it has established year-round operations. This year, easyJet took third place, also outperformed by Ryanair.
Over the past two decades, easyJet has focused almost exclusively on leisure-driven routes, targeting inbound demand from Western Europe’s largest source markets to Croatia’s coastal airports.
Last year, Croatia recorded 20.2 million tourist arrivals and 93.7 million tourist nights – a 3.9% and 1.4% increase, respectively, compared to 2023, according to dodaci.dza.hr. Of these figures, foreign tourists realised 17.4 million arrivals – accounting for 86% of arrivals.
While passengers may be losing several routes to Croatia, earlier this summer easyJet did announce it was expanding its flight offerings to five new destinations from Manchester Airport.
Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK country manager, said: “It’s fantastic to be celebrating five new routes from Manchester taking off for the first time this week supported by the arrival of an extra aircraft. All the new routes offer something for everyone, from shorter city breaks to some real beach holiday favourites and package getaways available via easyJet holidays.”
Among the routes are Izmir, Turkey, Kalamata in Greece, Larnaca in Cyprus, Madrid in Spain and Rennes in France. easyJet’s first flights from Manchester Airport to Izmir in Turkey and Madrid took flight on Monday, June 23.
More recently, Virgin Atlantic announced the relaunch of flights to a “beautiful” holiday destination after six years. Direct flights between Heathrow Airport and Cancun, Mexico, are set to begin operations in October. Passengers will be carried on Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and flights are expected to run three times per week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
