Croatia Airlines posted its first annual profit in six years by ending 2023 2.3 million euros in the black. It represents a notable improvement on the 18.2-million-euro loss the carrier generated in 2022. Croatia’s entry into the Schengen Area and switch to the euro currency are believed to have benefited the airline’s business. Furthermore, the recent sale of Croatia Airlines’ five Airbus A320-family aircraft to World Star Aviation are included in the company’s overall cash flow. The airline also yielded 12.5 million euros from the state. Overall, Croatia Airlines has 79.1 million euros on its bank accounts. Operational profit grew 20% year-on-year to reach 4.1 million euros. The carrier’s cash outflow increased considerably due to the pre-delivery payment of two instalments for the financial lease of Airbus A220 aircraft, as well as a 10% pre-delivery payment for an engine for the aircraft type.
Commenting on its performance, Croatia Airlines said, “2023 was characterised by the growth in demand for air travel following the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, Croatia Airlines continued to grow its frequencies and add new routes, which led to an increase in the number of operated flights and an increase in passengers carried. During the 2023 summer season, Croatia Airlines expanded its international network by adding flights from Split to Oslo and Skopje, from Dubrovnik to Prague, from Brač to Munich, as well as from Zagreb to Mostar. During the winter season, new flights were introduced between Zadar and Munich while a number of summer seasonal services have been extended”.
Croatia Airlines handled 1.733.529 passengers in 2023, representing an improvement of 19% on the previous year, However, the figure is still down 20% on the pre-pandemic 2019, or by 435.334 passengers. The carrier’s market share in Croatia last year stood at 15%. Its average cabin load factor, a measure of seat capacity utilisation, stood at 65.3%, up three points on the previous year but down 8.2 points on 2019. The airline operated a total of 25.977 flights during the year, up 11% on 2022. “Based on these results, the continued recovery and normalisation of traffic following the pandemic period is visible”, Croatia Airlines concluded.
