Noting that Eurowings was the only airline flying to all Croatian airports, Orec said that this year the company had opened 11 new routes to Croatia connecting Dubrovnik, Pula, Zadar, Split, Osijek and Rijeka with Salzburg, Vienna, Munich, Duesseldorf, Stuttgart and Hannover.
"Last year we flew most passengers to Spain, Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. Croatia is also among our top ten countries. It is a traditionally important market and among those with the highest growth rates," Orec said.
Much is expected from the new 11 routes, especially from winter routes to Split the aim of which is to extend the season. This year Eurowings will operate four winter routes out of Split, the existing ones to Cologne and Stuttgart and the new ones to Munich and Duesseldorf.
Eurowings operates most flights to Split and Zagreb, and Orec says that Zagreb's upgraded Franjo Tudjman Airport has higher costs than other European capitals which is not attractive to low-cost companies.
"In the last several years we have seen high growth rates in Croatia, which is expected to continue in the future, so we plan to continue our cooperation with the Croatian Tourism Board in joint advertising, as well as with all Croatian airports. Since costs at some of the airports in Croatia are still pretty high, we are very cautious about further investment in them. On the other hand, we expect support from the Ministry of Tourism and local communities so that we can continue growing at the same pace in the coming years," Orec said.