Croatia Airlines Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Zagreb, 7 August 2014.
Today, Croatia Airlines celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The history of the Croatian national carrier started on August 7th, 1989 when Zagreb Airlines d.d. (Zagal) Airline Company was incepted and registered with the Commercial Court in Zagreb as the first limited company in the Republic of Croatia. In July 1990, the company changed its name into Croatia Airlines d.d., national airline for transport of passengers, freight and mail.
Domestic flight between Zagreb and Split on May 5th, 1991 using a rented MD-82 aircraft, marked the beginning of Croatia Airlines’ commercial services. A year later, on April 5th 1992, the company launched its first international service between Zagreb and Frankfurt and thus started connecting Croatia with Europe and the world.
Since the inaugural commercial flight, the airline’s aircraft have operated a total of 469,000 flights and transported 29,000,000 passengers. Of those, 20,000,000 have flown on international flights and 9,000,000 on flights within Croatia.
Over the past quarter of a century, Croatia Airlines has grown into a medium-sized airline company recognized and valued by its passengers for flying safety, high-quality service and professional staff. The company is a member of the most important air-transport associations such as IATA (the International Air Transport Association), AEA (the Association of European Airlines), and this years it also marks the tenth anniversary as a member of the largest airline association Star Alliance.
As a national flag carrier, Croatia Airlines provides a significant contribution to the development of Croatian tourism. Every year, as many as one third of all airline passengers arrive in Croatia by the company’s aircraft and in 2013, Croatia Airlines was the fifth biggest exporter in the Republic of Croatia.
This season, Croatia Airlines aircraft connect the Republic of Croatia with 32 European destinations in 18 states, whereas the capital Zagreb is connected with six airports in Croatia (Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Pula, Osijek and Bol on Brač).
The Croatia Airlines fleet consists of the following twelve aircraft: four Airbus A319, two Airbus 320 and 6 turboprop aircraft Dash 8-Q400.