



The Croatian Ministry for Tourism is in search for a carrier willing to launch flights between the country and the United States. Airlines from both the US and Europe, including leisure carriers, are all in consideration, with the government determined for services to begin next year on a seasonal summer basis, before being upgraded into year-round operations in 2019. Recently, Tourism Minister, Gari Cappelli, said, "We are in serious negotiations over the introduction of year-long flights from Croatia to New York, most likely from Zagreb and Dubrovnik, even from Split. All signs point towards the introduction of seasonal flights during the high season in 2018 and year-long services in 2019". He noted that the Croatian embassy in Washington has taken upon itself to seek out potential operators and that talks regarding the introduction of flights should continue during his upcoming visit to the States.





Several US-based airlines have ruled out operations to the former Yugoslavia at this point. The world’s second busiest carrier, Delta Air Lines, told EX-YU Aviation News it is satisfied with its presence in the region, noting that it codeshares with Air France and KLM between Paris, Amsterdam and Zagreb, as well as with CSA Czech Airlines between Prague and the Croatian capital. “Codeshares are an important part of Delta’s network strategy as they allow us to reach parts of the globe that we do not operate to ourselves. We have many partnerships of this nature around the world”, a spokesperson for the airline said. They added, “Although we continually evaluate our markets and make adjustments to our network when required, we are happy with our current network footprint in the former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe in general and at this stage do not have any plans to update this”.





American Airlines, the US' largest airline by fleet size, noted, "American constantly evaluates our network to ensure we are maximising our fleet and profitability while matching customer demand. While no airline can serve every destination, our joint businesses and alliances with airlines like British Airways and membership in Oneworld allows our customers to seamlessly connect to Croatia". On the other hand, Star Alliance member United, which has a wide-ranging codeshare agreement in place with Croatia Airlines, said it has no plans to serve the country for the time being but added, "While we have not announced anything about this market [Croatia], we’re always looking for new opportunities". Despite the reluctance from the big three US airlines, it should be noted that any European Union registered carrier can operate services from any point in the block to the United States if it holds a valid foreign air carrier permit with the United States Department of Transportation. For its part, Croatia Airlines' CEO, Krešimir Kučko, said, "We have the general goal of starting transatlantic flights. Maybe not within the next five years, but we all have dreams".





The General Manager of Zagreb Airport, Jacques Feron, previously said it would be "fantastic" for the Croatian capital to offer direct flights to the United States. "In the US, New York would be an excellent destination, although it is true that this metropolis is well connected to all major European airports", Mr Feron said. His words echoed that of Sani Sener, the CEO and founder of TAV Airports Holding and TAV Construction, which forms part of the consortium running Zagreb Airport. He noted that the most desired route from the Croatian capital would be New York. The last time Croatia had scheduled flights to the United States was during the summer of 1991, when Pan Am maintained four weekly nonstop roundtrips from New York to Zagreb with its Airbus A310 aircraft. Prior to that, JAT Yugoslav Airlines ran services from Zagreb to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.