Zagreb Airport is expected to see the addition of new routes as Croatia Airlines begins its refleeting drive this month with the arrival of the first Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The carrier has made no secrete it wants to launch new routes, noting that destinations south of Croatia, primarily serving leisure travellers, are being considered. The new strategy would help the company reduce seasonality. Furthermore, the carrier can also make use of Zagreb Airport’s Connecting Capital Cities Incentive Model. In order for it to utilise the incentives on offer, it must launch at least two weekly year-round flights to at least three of sixteen pre-selected destinations. They include Prague, Tallinn, Berlin, Budapest, Riga, Vilnius, Luxembourg, Stockholm (Arlanda or Skavsta airports), Tirana, Pristina, Reykjavik, Tbilisi, Kiev (upon the reopening of Ukrainian airspace), Chisinau and Yerevan. This year, Croatia Airlines commenced operations from Zagreb to Stockholm, Berlin, and Tirana.Over the past two years, Ryanair has been successful in launching new leisure-oriented routes from Zagreb and operating them on a year-round basis. The budget carrier simply followed the list of busiest unserved destinations from the Croatian capital, commencing flights either directly to those cities or their nearby alternatives. This has reduced the number of underserved destinations in demand from Zagreb for Croatia Airlines, especially those in southern Europe. However, there are still a number of opportunities available on the continent. Based on indirect traffic flow, the busiest unserved destinations from Zagreb in Europe include Lisbon, Geneva, Porto, Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Bologna, Krakow, Hannover, Nice, Bilbao and Luxembourg. Regionally, Budapest and Pristina have the most indirect traffic, while Cairo leads in North Africa.Commenting on the carrier’s potential network expansion, Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said, “The fifteen new A220 aircraft that will gradually enter Croatia Airlines’ fleet by the end of 2027 will open up additional business opportunities in terms of gradually expanding our network of flights to new destinations, and in terms of increasing frequencies on existing routes. Our flight network analysts don’t just monitor the desires and needs of our passengers and current trends in the aviation industry, they also continuously analyse some twenty or so new potential routes. Some are year-round from Zagreb, and some seasonal from the Adriatic coast”. Mr Bajić added, “All new potential destinations are primarily European and Mediterranean. It’s worth pointing out that Croatia Airlines is the only carrier that serves all eight airports in Croatia. This year we expanded our network of international services from Zagreb by introducing new nonstop flights to Berlin, Stockholm, and Tirana, as well as from Split to Istanbul”.