Croatia Airlines, the national airline of Croatia, is preparing for a major fleet renewal and plans to introduce fifteen Airbus A220 aircraft. The decision to operate a unified Airbus fleet in the long term was made to realize significant savings in operating and maintenance costs for the modernized fleet.
The company has confirmed delivery of its first A220 for June 2024, while the second aircraft is expected to join the fleet in November of the same year. A total of fifteen aircraft are leased, sourced from three different aircraft leasing companies. Of these, three will be leased through an agreement with Azzora, six will come from Griffin Global Asset Management and the remaining six will be provided by Air Lease Corporation.
In the first quarter of 2024, the airline worked intensively on comprehensive preparations. This includes recruiting additional flight crew members as well as aircraft technicians, operations personnel and maintenance personnel to strengthen their team. The company has also already made a down payment on a replacement Pratt & Whitney GTF engine to provide its upcoming fleet with sufficient readiness to meet any operational requirements.
In addition, Croatia Airlines has already announced its plans to equip its new fleet aircraft with Wi-Fi capabilities by having Ku-band satellite connectivity installed by Panasonic Avionics.
According to the airline’s CEO Jasmin Bajić, the decision to introduce a homogeneous fleet of a single aircraft type was made in order to realize significant savings in operation and maintenance costs for the modernized fleet.
