Zagreb to attract low cost airlines

Soon a familiar sight at Zagreb Airport?

Zagreb Airport’s new CEO Tonči Peović has announced that he will cut the cost of airport handling services in a bid to attract more low cost airlines to Croatia’s largest airport. New handling prices, which are a great deterrent for low cost airlines, will be revised within the next 10 days. Peović said that he is negotiating directly with easyJet and Ryanair for them to commence flights to Zagreb and offer a total of 10 new services from Zagreb to their European bases. Yesterday, Peović said that "Clearly, we should be careful not to lower our income through new, lower prices, but we should also encourage discount airlines by sharing with them the risk of new flights. However, at the same time, we should be careful not to harm airlines with which we have been cooperating for years". Peović added that the national carrier Croatia Airlines will not be receiving any pricing privileges from the airport authority.

Zagreb Airport is served by 2 low cost airlines, Wizz Air from London and Lufthansa’s offspring Germanwings from Berlin, Cologne and Stuttgart. This is despite the fact that Croatia is part of the European Union’s open sky program which allows easy access to Zagreb for all European airlines. According to Croatian media, Zagreb Airport has some of the highest airport fees in the region.

Reportedly Ryanair and easyJet are interested in commencing services to Zagreb from British airports.