Croatia Airlines CEO Jasmin Bajić said Zagreb Airport’s plan to reopen its old terminal for low-cost airlines is an attempt to keep Ryanair operating. According to the CEO, this move comes as the incentives offered to Ryanair when it opened its base in the Croatian capital three years ago will expire in the coming period. Speaking to the Lider Media portal, Bajić said: “In order to keep Ryanair under favorable conditions, the concessionaire of Zagreb Airport is now trying to launch an initiative to convert the old terminal into a low-cost terminal. In capital cities, it is common to have such solutions at secondary airports rather than main airports. For us, that would be Rijeka, for example. However, we would like to hand over our main airport to a low-cost airline on more favorable terms. On the other hand, there is also Ryanair in Split, but on the same terms as other airlines.”
Mr Bajić noted that Croatia Airlines would have been profitable if it had received the same incentives as Ryanair when it opened its base. “There is no problem with competition if it operates under the same conditions. However, this is often not the case. In Zagreb, Ryanair uses big incentives for new routes. However, these will soon expire, so the conditions should be different. Of course, if it does not replace these routes with new ones. The fact is that, for example, with the same benefits as Ryanair, Croatia Airlines would have recorded a profit of ten million euros in 2019 instead of a loss of ten million euros, which shows how big these benefits can be. Unfortunately, that’s how it works, and Zagreb Airport is not an isolated case,” said Mr Bajić.
Zagreb Airport’s old terminal building, closed to passenger traffic since March 28, 2017, may be given a new lease of life as the government considers reopening the facility to low-cost airlines. Ryanair is Zagreb’s second-largest airline in terms of available seat capacity. According to the Croatian government, an analysis has been launched to reopen the building. The state is ready to extend Zagreb Airport’s concession to its operator, Zagreb Airport International Company (ZAIC), for three years and nine months if the consortium running the airport returns the old terminal to a functional state. Zagreb Airport’s existing concession runs until 2042. The process is still at an early stage, but informal talks have taken place between the relevant authorities and the European Commission. The Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure aims to reopen the terminal for commercial use in 2026. The ZAIC consortium has not yet commented publicly on the matter.
