Croatia Airlines will take delivery of its first 149-seat Airbus A220-300 aircraft in July. The aircraft, originally scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of the year, will now arrive in Zagreb next month.
It will be named « Zagreb » and will receive a new livery. After all bureaucratic procedures have been completed, the aircraft is expected to be used on the Zagreb-Frankfurt route shortly after delivery. This symbolically commemorates the airline’s first international flight in 1992.
Croatian State Secretary for Infrastructure Tomislav Mihotić recently visited the jet’s production facility in Canada and confirmed that the aircraft is now being painted and will subsequently be fitted with additional equipment, including WiFi access. Croatia Airlines plans to lease a total of twelve A220-300 and three A220-100 aircraft for twelve years, with the option to extend the contracts or return the aircraft to their owners. The second A220-300, expected at the end of the year, will be named « Split ». A total of 18 units are to be delivered by 2027, making Croatia Airlines a single-type operator.
Currently, the airline has to reduce frequencies on some routes due to fleet shortages and is using wet leasing of three aircraft: an A320 from Trade Air, an A319 from Fly41 Airways and a Boeing 737-800 from Albastar. In addition, a short-term wet lease agreement has been concluded for a fifteen-year-old A320 from Malta MedAir.
