easyJet to terminate Zagreb service

Low cost airline easyJet will discontinue its flights from London Gatwick to Zagreb at the end of the 2014 summer season. The airline announced its 2014/15 winter schedule earlier in the week with more than eleven million seats on sale on 324 routes. easyJet has confirmed there will be 100.000 more seats in 2014/15 compared to last year's winter schedule. However, the carrier has omitted Zagreb from its future network. The airline will operate its final service to the Croatian capital on October 24. Ticket sales for later dates have also been discontinued. This summer the airline is maintaining five weekly flights between London and Zagreb, as it faces direct competition from both Croatia Airlines and British Airways, though both operate their services to Heathrow Airport.

easyJet has been steadily reducing its operations to Zagreb since it first launched flights to the city in November 2010. It debuted with flights from London and shortly after launched services from Dortmund and Paris as well. However, they were short lived with both Dortmund and Paris cancelled in 2012. The news will be warmly welcomed by Croatia Airlines which launched a scathing attack on Zagreb Airport in 2010 for allowing easyJet to inaugurate flights from the British capital. At the time, the airline went as far as threatening to suspend some of its own flights if easyJet was issued permits. On the other hand, the news is a setback for Zagreb Airport’s operators which are looking to attract as many new carriers as possible. There is still a slight chance the management could persuade easyJet to maintain its flights.

Other airports in the former Yugoslavia will continue to be served by easyJet during the winter. The low cost airline will maintain all of its services from London Stansted to Ljubljana, from Basel and Geneva to Pristina and from Rome, Milan and Geneva to Belgrade. "With over eleven million seats available, we're offering an even wider choice of destinations on our easy and affordable flights spanning the UK, Europe and beyond”, the no frills airline said in a statement.