TUI UK has cancelled all routes from the United Kingdom (UK) to Croatia,for the remainder of the year. Amidst the international Coronavirus outbreak, a severe decline in demand for air travel has arose, leaving many airlines in financial hardship.
A total of 18 routes between the UK and Croatia have been postponed this year. This will be a significant loss for the tourism sector in Croatia. Currently, these routes are only seasonal, so it is still uncertain how many of these will operate again in the summer of 2021.
So, what flights are affected?
Several flights have been affected by the cancellations, including Dubrovnik Airport, TUI’s busiest destination, as well as the following routes:
• London Gatwick-Dubrovnik
• Cardiff-Dubrovnik
• Glasgow-Dubrovnik
• Manchester-Dubrovnik
• Birmingham-Dubrovnik
• Bristol-Dubrovnik
• Doncaster Sheffield-Dubrovnik
• East Midlands-Dubrovnik
Many of these routes were operated by the wide-body B787-8 or larger B787-9 aircraft, and operated on a single/twice-weekly schedule carrying mostly tourists to package holidays and cruises in the country.
TUI UK is not the only airline to halt its route to Dubrovnik this year. American Airlines is no longer operating its Philadelphia-Dubrovnik route, and Qatar Airways has postponed the Doha-Dubrovnik launch due to similar concerns over the Croatian outbreak of Covid-19.
So, what about other destinations in Croatia?
It has also been confirmed that TUI UK will not be operating routes to several other airports in Croatia this year. Here are the other routes affected by this decision:
• London Gatwick-Split
• Birmingham-Split
• Manchester-Split
• London Gatwick-Pula
• Birmingham-Pula
• Bristol-Pula
• Sheffield-Pula
• East Midlands-Pula
• Manchester-Pula
• London Gatwick-Rijeka
Not all TUI flights have been cancelled entirely. These flights affected are only from the routes operated by the UK branch of the carrier, dubbed ‘TUI UK.’ The TUI Group will still operate flights to Croatia as TUI fly Belgium, TUI fly Nordic and TUI fly Netherlands.
In a statement released to Travel Radar, TUI UK said:
“We’re constantly reviewing local and international government guidelines and will be adding new destinations and departure airports to our programme over the coming weeks. As soon as we have an update on Croatia, this will be communicated.”
What do you think? Will TUI continue their UK-Croatia routes next summer? Has your break been affected? Let us know in the comments.
