easyJet will discontinue four of its routes to Croatia, affecting Zadar and Dubrovnik. The carrier does not plan to resume its seasonal operations next summer from Zadar to Milan Malpensa, Berlin and Lyon, while services from Dubrovnik to Berlin will also be terminated. Together, the four routes accounted for eleven weekly flights. The move will reduce the low cost carrier’s capacity on the Croatian market by 3.928 seats per week. This summer, easyJet competed directly with Ryanair on the Berlin – Zadar and Berlin – Dubrovnik services.
easyJet has been one of the most prominent low cost carriers operating in Croatia over the past two decades, steadily building a significant presence in the country’s coastal markets. The airline has focused almost exclusively on leisure-driven routes, targeting inbound demand from Western Europe’s largest source markets to Croatia’s coastal airports. Unlike Ryanair, which has made efforts to develop year-round services from Croatia, easyJet’s operations remain strongly seasonal, with a select number of routes extending into November. The airline has served Croatia almost exclusively from Western European origin markets with strong demand for holiday travel such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
This year, easyJet has 1.440.428 seats on the Croatian market, making it the third-largest carrier in the country based on available capacity, outperformed only by Ryanair and Croatia Airlines. The figure is down 3.8% year-on-year. Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, it was the second-largest carrier after Croatia Airlines, while its overall capacity has grown modestly since, having stood at 1.42 million six years ago. easyJet has faced growing competition in Croatia, particularly from Ryanair, which has expanded aggressively in Zadar and Zagreb. Ryanair’s year-round model and deeper base investments have contrasted with easyJet’s lighter, seasonal approach. Based on this year’s capacity levels, easyJet is the second-largest carrier in Split and Pula, third-largest in Dubrovnik and fourth-largest in Zadar.
