October the 2nd, 2025 – Ryanair is strengthening its already wildly successful Zagreb base, and increasing the level of the frequency on which it operates its busiest routes.
As Sinisa Malus/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, low-cost carrier Ryanair plans to increase the frequency of flights on several key routes from its base in Zagreb during the 2026 summer season. That starts on March the 29th, 2026. Some of these routes will approach double daily rotations.
london calling
One of the most successful routes for Ryanair and its Zagreb base has been its cheap flights between the Croatian capital and London Stansted. As such, their frequency will increase from ten weekly this summer to twelve weekly next year, with double daily flights running on all days except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Similarly, flights to Malta will also increase to twelve weekly, adding two additional flights compared to this summer season. Two daily flights along that route are planned during the working week, from Monday to Friday, according to a report from Ex-Yu Aviation News.
more increases for ryanair
The popular Irish carrier will also increase its service to Dublin from five weekly flights to daily, while operations to Palma de Mallorca will increase from four to six weekly, and to Paphos from three to five weekly. Several other routes are set to receive an additional weekly rotation compared to this year’s summer schedule, including Basel (up to daily), Malaga (six weekly) and Palermo (four weekly). Ryanair is still finalising its summer network for next year from Zagreb, with some more new routes yet to be announced.
Among those currently unavailable are Pisa and Marseille, which recorded some of the lowest average load factors in the airline’s Zagreb operations. The routes that will increase in frequency next summer are among Ryanair’s strongest flights from Zagreb. During the first half of this year, the airline carried 79,587 passengers on the London Stansted route, with an average load factor of 93 per cent over the six-month period.
The Malta route received 67,805 passengers, with an average load factor of 90.8 per cent. Dublin recorded 36,262 passengers, achieving an average load factor of 97.8 percent. The Paphos route carried 20,574 passengers with an average load factor of 88.9 percent, while 17,663 passengers flew between Zagreb and Palma de Mallorca, with an average load factor of 91.8 percent.
ryanair bringing huge benefits to croatia
Zagreb and Croatia are benefiting from Ryanair’s recent decision to reduce the number of flights from Spain. A hint of good news for Croatia lies in the announcement that Ryanair will cut a million seats on the Spanish market this winter in response to what it calls “shameless” fee increases announced by airport operator Aena.
Aena’s CEO, Mauricio Lucena, responded by accusing Ryanair of “selfishness,” “rudeness,” “blackmail,” and “greed,” and the long-running conflict between Spain’s largest airline by passenger numbers and the operator of most of the country’s commercial airports has further deteriorated this summer.
continued growth for zagreb!
Next year, Ryanair will enter the fifth and final year of the growth incentive model it has benefited from at its Zagreb base. To retain its incentives, the airline must add at least 75,000 departing passengers during the year, with further discounts available if it exceeds 150,000 additional departing passengers per year. This is a strong incentive for Ryanair to increase traffic from the Croatian capital each year.
Aside from Zagreb, Ryanair brings the most flights to Croatia’s southernmost airport of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik Airport handled and disembarked 543,733 passengers in August this year, almost 13,000 more than in the same month last year and almost 3,000 more than back in July this year. Ryanair was the second largest carrier in Dubrovnik last summer with 54 flights operating on nine routes, but this year it has taken the top spot with 62 flights on 21 routes.
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