Ryanair will discontinue flights between Zagreb and Thessaloniki on the finish of the summer time season attributable to excessive charges on the Greek airport. The provider confirmed the route from the Croatian capital might be amongst 9 casualties this winter following the closure of its three-aircraft base in Thessaloniki. The funds airline has maintained year-round operations between the 2 cities, providing as much as six weekly flights this summer time. “This devastating loss in off-peak winter connectivity is the direct results of the hopelessly uncompetitive prices charged on the German-run Fraport Greece monopoly and Athens Airport”, Ryanair stated in a press release. Different routes that might be discontinued embrace Berlin, Chania, Hahn, Gothenburg, Heraklion, Weeze, Poznan, Stockholm and Treviso. The airline can also be ending flights from Athens to Milan Malpensa and from Chania to Paphos.
Commenting on its choice additional, Ryanair famous, “The Greek authorities made the clever choice to scale back the Airport Improvement Price (ADF) by 75% (from twelve to 3 euros per passenger) from November 2024, which ought to have straight stimulated year-round connectivity and tourism throughout Greece. Nevertheless, most Greek airports, notably these run by Fraport Greece, refused to move the tax minimize onto passengers and as an alternative have pocketed the tax minimize for themselves. Since then, Fraport Greece have continued to extend costs, which at the moment are +66% above their pre-Covid ranges. Likewise, Athens Airport will hike costs this winter”.
For its half, Fraport Greece responded, “Any claims linking this choice to airport costs or the Airport Improvement Price (ADF) imposed by the Greek state are completely unfounded. The choice to scale back winter operations at Thessaloniki Airport “Makedonia” is completely associated to Ryanair’s business technique, enterprise mannequin and profitability concerns”. It added, “Fraport Greece respects Ryanair’s enterprise choices. Ryanair stays an necessary companion, alongside greater than forty different airways at the moment working at Thessaloniki Airport, which connects the town and the broader area of Macedonia with over 33 nations and 93 locations”. There is no such thing as a different operator between Zagreb and Thessaloniki. Previous to its launch, the service was one in every of Zagreb’s busiest unserved routes in Europe.
