CROATIA: Croatia Airlines Starts Flights From Zagreb To Pulkovo St. Petersburg Airport

Croatia Airlines has started regular air service from Zagreb (Croatia) to Saint Petersburg (Russia). The route will be launched for the first time in the recent history of Pulkovo airport. The carrier will operate the flights from 2 June to 23 October.

Travelers will be able to fly from the Northern capital of Russia to the capital of Croatia twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. Comfortable Airbus A319s with a capacity of 144 passengers will be operated on the route.

Before 2015, Pulkovo airport only had direct air service with Croatian resorts Pula and Split. In 2010-2014, over 62,000 passengers used direct flights between the two cities and St Petersburg. In addition, more than 21,000 travelers flew from Pulkovo to Zagreb and back via transfers in other airports, in 2010-2014.

“Every year many Russians choose Croatia, the country of rich history, magnificent nature and landscape, as their vacation spot. With the new route opening travelers will now be able to visit other points in Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina using convenient connecting flights via Zagreb. At the same time, St Petersburg remains one of the most visited cities in Europe, with cheap Russian ruble making traveling to Russia even more attractive. It is our strong belief that the new Croatia Airlines service to St Petersburg will be in demand both among Russian and Croatian tourists, say Evgeniy Ilyin, chief commercial officer at Northern Capital Gateway LLC, the operator of Pulkovo Airport.

The tickets are already available with promo rates starting from €199 for the round trip.

Other new routes planned for launching from Pulkovo in the summer season 2016 include Shanghai (China), Corfu, Zakynthos (Greece), and Batumi (Georgia). In addition, flights to Naples (Italy), Brussels (Belgium) and several other European cities will be renewed.

Croatia Airlines is the flag carrier of Croatia and a Star Alliance member. In the summer season 2016 the airline’s route network will include 34 points in 20 European countries.

CROATIA: Croatian Tourism Board Says Business Is Better Than 2015

Croatia has recorded more tourist overnight stays than it did in all of 2015, the Croatian Tourism Board has said in a statement…

From 1 January to 9 September 2016 Croatia has recorded 13.63 million tourist arrivals and 80.24 million overnight stays, more than what was recorded in the whole of last year, according to data from eVisitor and eCrew check-in and check-out information systems.

“Since the start of the year we have generated over 80 million tourist nights, surpassing the results achieved in all 12 months of 2015. These results would not have been possible without cooperation between the public and private sectors, the innovativeness and commitment to work of all our tourist workers,” Tourism Minister Anton Kliman said, adding that this year’s revenues from tourism would be above expectations.

Istria welcomed the most tourists so far this year with 20 million overnight stays, followed by the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (14 million), Split-Dalmatia (12.6 million), Zadar (9 million), Dubrovnik-Neretva (5.6 million) and Šibenik-Knin (4.9 million).

The Germans once again were Croatia’s largest group of tourists (13.2 million overnights), followed by tourists from Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Poland.

SERBIA: Air Serbia Reintroduces Belgrade-Zagreb Sector

Zagreb Airport welcomed with a special event the resumption of Air Serbia’s flights from Belgrade following a 23-year hiatus.

While the sector will be served twice-daily utilising the airline’s ATR 72s, the inaugural flight was operated by Air Serbia’s A319 “Novak Đoković” aircraft, named after Serbia’s most famous tennis player and piloted by Air Serbia’s COO, Davor Mišeljić, while the First Officer was Biljana Savić, one of Air Serbia’s three female pilots.

Air Serbia, formerly known as JAT Airways, increased its European offering with the addition of a new destination on 12 December – Zagreb (ZAG), from its Belgrade (BEG) hub.

The 348-kilometre sector to the Croatian capital was resumed following a 23-year hiatus, and will be served twice-daily utilising the airline’s 62-seat ATR 72s.

No other carrier serves this airport pair. Commenting on the route launch, Dane Kondić, CEO, Air Serbia, said: “Zagreb is Air Serbia’s fourth destination in Croatia, after Dubrovnik, Split and Pula, which have thus far operated as seasonal routes. Just this past summer, we were pleased to have carried close to 50,000 guests to these attractive summer destinations. With the introduction of Zagreb, our intention is to further develop year round inbound tourism, by offering our guests all of these destinations in Croatia, especially through our equity partner Etihad Airways.”