Croatia Airlines

Early years

The airline was established on 20 July 1989, trading with the name Zagal (formally, Zagreb Airlines), and started operations using a single Cessna 402 aircraft on cargo services for UPS. After the first democratic elections held in Croatia, Zagal changed its name to Croatia Airlines on 23 July 1990.

In 1991 Croatia Airlines signed an agreement with Adria Airways which allowed it to lease a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 to commence domestic jet services between Zagreb and Split. Due to the Croatian War of Independence and the closure of the airspace over Croatia, the airline was soon forced to suspend operations. As soon as flights restarted, Croatia Airlines acquired three Boeing 737s from Lufthansa and became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). As the flag carrier of newly-independent Croatia, the airline launched its first international service on April 5, 1992, from Zagreb to Frankfurt.

In 1993, two new ATR 42s and two more 737s joined the fleet and representative offices were opened in several European cities and the company bought the travel agency Obzor to organize travel packages for groups and individuals. By 1994, Croatia Airlines had welcomed its one millionth passenger. Later that year, Pope John Paul II flew the airline on a trip to Croatia.

In 1995, another ATR 42 was welcomed, as was the two millionth passenger. In 1996, Croatia Airlines became the first airline to fly to Sarajevo after the Bosnian War. In 1997 the airline's first Airbus A320 arrived and was named Rijeka. In 1998, another first plane of a new type arrived when the airline's first Airbus A319 joined the fleet. This airplane was named Zadar. In the same year, Croatia Airlines became a member of the Association of European Airlines (AEA). By 1999, two more Airbus jets had arrived and Croatia Airlines started selling the Boeing part of their fleet. The airline flew its five millionth passenger.

Development since 2000

In 2000 two more Airbus planes arrived and an automated ticketing system was inaugurated. In 2001 the airline received maintenance and technical performing certificates from the German aviation authority Luftfahrt-Bundesamt. On 18 November 2004, Croatia Airlines joined Star Alliance.

By March 2009, the airline retired its fleet of three ATR 42 short-haul aircraft, after operating the type since 1993, and replaced it with a fleet of six Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s, the first of which was delivered in May 2008.

Airbus and Croatia Airlines announced on 22 October 2008 the order of four additional 132-seat A319 aircraft, to be delivered from 2013.

The airline carried its 20,000,000th passenger in July 2009, and has carried well over 1 million passengers annually from 2000.

Croatia Airlines and maintenance partner Lufthansa announced on 23 May 2011 the introduction of new slim-line Recaro economy seats to be retrofitted into certain A320 Family aircraft from Summer 2012, increasing seating capacity by two rows.

Losses have been made for several years; in November 2012 the government announced that it would provide HRK 800m ($ 136m) for Croatia Airline to become cost-effective from 2013 on. The government is seeking to restructure the airline, which includes plans to cut its workforce by ten percent within two years and it is also looking for a strategic investor.

In 2015 the airline confirmed plans to lease 2 Embraer 190 aircraft from Montenegro Airlines and to acquire up to 6 new aircraft by 2018.

Ownership

The largest shareholder of the airline is the Government Asset Management Agency for the Republic of Croatia, with 97.02% of the issued capital. Zagreb airport LLC holds 1.72%, The State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Bank Rehabilitation owns 0.76% of the airline and 0.50% is publicly held.

Subsidiaries

In addition to its main operation, Croatia Airlines maintains several aviation related subsidiaries:

Business trends

The key trends for Croatia Airlines group over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 December):

Codeshare agreements

Adria Airways has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Current fleet

The Croatia Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November 2016):