Daylight saving time clock change is a sign of the beginning of summer IATA flight season. The summer season at Rijeka Airport will officially open on April 1 with Ryanair’s flight from Stockholm, which represents the number 1 destination from Rijeka Airport in the last 2 years.
After the record year of 2018, in which Rijeka Airport broke all historical records, achieving a total turnover of 183,606 passengers (2006 record number of 169,250 passengers), 4,655,866 tons of cargo and 5,460 operations, Rijeka Airport has also excellent announcements for the upcoming summer season. There are 3 new regular air carriers: Volotea, Lufthansa and Air Serbia, that will fly to 2 new destinations: Marseille and Belgrade. Also, one of the world’s largest charter carriers – TUI Group arrives at Rijeka.
The TUI Group is the world’s most significant tourism business, with 6 air carriers and 9 tour operators flying to over 150 destinations worldwide. TUI will connect Rijeka with London Gatwick with a B737-800 aircraft (189 seats), in the period from 23.5.2019. until 17.10.2019. every Thursday.
Volotea is one of the most significant low-cost airline companies which will also fly to Rijeka in 2019, connecting it with Marseille in the period from 5.6.2019. until 2.10.2019. on Wednesdays. This scheduled route is of outmost importance for our region. It represents a sort of a precedent for Rijeka Airport as it is the first regular line for France in recent history, after last year’s charter route to Paris.
Besides the above mentioned 2 new air carriers, it is certainly of great significance to confirm the arrival of the renowned Lufthansa to Rijeka Airport in the summer season of 2019. Lufthansa is the largest and the most important European air carrier with over 200 destinations worldwide, operating one of the largest fleets in the world. Lufthansa will fly on a regular basis to Munich, every Saturday, in the period from 25.5.2019 untill the end of October 2019.
Along with the mentioned air carriers, the arrival of the fourth new air carrier, Air Serbia, is also confirmed. Air Serbia is a Serbian national airline flying to a total of 49 destinations in Europe and the Mediterranean, has direct flights to the Middle East and North America, and offers Etihad Airways direct flights to international destinations in Asia, Australia and Africa. Rijeka is also on their destination map for this season. Non-stop Rijeka-Belgrade route will be operated with ATR aircrafts, with the capacity of 66 seats, and the A319 with the capacity of 144 seats. The flights are scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays, in the period from 04.06. until 25.10.2019. It is also confirmed that this route will continue to operate in the winter, meaning that there will be a direct air link between Rijeka and Belgrade throughout the whole year. The introduction of the regular Rijeka-Belgrade line represents a very significant step forward for our region, since it was introduced after almost 30 years, when it was operated in the former country twice a day.
Two new airlines from last year are also returning this summer: Condor with its flight to Frankfurt and Transavia to Eindhoven. In 2018. those two airlines significantly increased the number of flights at Rijeka Airport, by as much as 350% compared to the year before. Their flights are expected to start in April 2019, during the high summer season in July and August with 4 flights a week.
In accordance with the above mentioned increase in traffic, Rijeka Airport expects further rise in passenger numbers by approximately 10% compared to 2018, and the final turnover of over 200,000 passengers!
