The development is expected to have an impact on Rijeka Airport which has struggled to attract new carriers in recent years. It is on course to handle fewer passengers in 2024 than it did last year, which itself was down on 2022, as well as on its pre-pandemic 2019 figures by 23%. Compared to 2019, Rijeka is no longer served by airBaltic, Volotea and Arkia Israeli Airlines. Furthermore, Croatia Airlines, Condor, Transavia and Eurowings significantly reduced their operations from the airport this summer when compared to five years ago. The only new service currently planned for Rijeka next year is to Hahn by Ryanair. While the carrier has scheduled the flights, it is yet to put tickets on sale.

Despite primarily maintaining summer-only operations to Croatia, easyJet is the country’s third-largest carrier by available seat capacity, behind only Ryanair and Croatia Airlines. This year, easyJet operated a total of 8.364 flights on the Croatian market, offering a total of 1.497.224 seats. Its busiest routes are London Gatwick – Dubrovnik, London Gatwick – Split and London Luton – Split. For the upcoming 2025 summer season, easyJet has scheduled a new service between Liverpool and Split, which will run twice per week. It is Split’s largest airline. At this point, easyJet has not scheduled any frequency increases on existing routes out of Croatia for next summer, however, it will bring forward the resumption of its London Gatwick – Dubrovnik service to February, with flights commencing on February 24. The airline’s projected capacity on the Croatian market for 2025 presently stands at 1.451.278 seats, which is 45.946 seats below 2024 levels. Changes to both network and capacity levels remain likely.