In late 2022, Croatia Airlines announced plans to refresh and simplify its fleet in a pretty exciting way. There’s a major update, as the airline has just taken delivery of its first new aircraft. To complement this, the airline has also revealed a new brand identity.
In this post:
Croatia Airlines will exclusively fly Airbus A220s
Croatia Airlines plans to fly up to 15 Airbus A220s, with the first plane expected to enter service with the Star Alliance airline in the coming days, as the airline has just taken delivery of the first jet. Specifically:
- Croatia Airlines has ordered six Airbus A220-300s directly from Airbus
- Croatia Airlines has an agreement to lease nine Airbus A220s, including seven A220-300s and two A220-100s
- Croatia Airlines will equip its A220-300s with 148 seats, and will equip its A220-100s with 127 seats
- By 2026, Croatia Airlines intends to exclusively fly Airbus A220s, representing a complete fleet renewal
The first aircraft is expected to enter service in the near future, with the first route being between Zagreb (ZAG) and Frankfurt (FRA). Currently I see the first passenger flight scheduled for August 14, 2024, though I imagine that remains subject to change.
For context, Croatia Airlines previously had a fleet of 12 aircraft with an average fleet age of 18 years, including:
- Five Airbus A319s, which are an average of ~23 years old, and can seat 144 people
- One Airbus A320, which is ~22 years old, and can seat 174 people
- Six De Havilland Dash 8-Q400s, which are an average of ~18 years old, and can seat 76 people
At this point, a fleet refresh seems appropriate, both in terms of the cost of maintaining old aircraft, as well as in terms of fuel efficiency. Croatia Airlines claims that both fuel burn and CO2 emissions will be reduced by 25% compared to previous generation aircraft.
The A220 is Airbus’ awesome jet that’s a bit smaller than the Airbus A320-family of aircraft. The plane is fuel efficient and long range. From a passenger experience standpoint, this is probably the most comfortable narrow body aircraft, given the 2-3 layout, the huge windows, and the wide seats.
Croatia Airlines Airbus A220s have inflight Wi-Fi
The Airbus A220s are exciting for Croatia Airlines for another reason. For the first time in the company’s history, the airline is offering inflight connectivity. Specifically, the airline will offer Panasonic Avionics’ Ku-band satellite connectivity.
In order to be sure people can actually use their devices onboard, A220s will all feature power outlets (USB-A and USB-C plugs at every seats), as well as smartphone and tablet holders.
It remains to be seen what Wi-Fi pricing will be like. I imagine there will also be streaming entertainment available via the Wi-Fi portal.
Croatia Airlines unveils new visual brand identity
To coincide with the introduction of the Airbus A220 plus the carrier’s 35th anniversary, Croatia Airlines has also introduced a new brand identity. This is definitely more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. For example, below is a picture of Croatia Airlines’ initial planned A220 livery, and then below that is Croatia Airlines’ A220 livery with the refreshed branding.
As you can see, the tail more or less remains the same. What has changed is that there design of the logo has been brought closer to the design of the tail of the aircraft. So you can now see the same squares you’ll find on the tail both written next to the carrier’s name, and on the wingtips.
The airline claims that the new branding highlights the company’s commitment to quality, safety, and Croatian pride.
Below is a video about Croatia Airlines’ new visual identity.
These changes are fairly minor, so the average traveler probably won’t even notice that anything has changed.
What a cool and bold fleet renewal!
Personally I love the concept of an airline having a fleet with just one type of plane. It’s great in terms of knowing what to expect (there won’t be a last minute aircraft swap), and it’s great in terms of operational reliability (swapping planes is easier, you have a bigger pool of reserve pilots, etc.).
There’s something to be said for this type of efficiency, and it’s something that airBaltic has done quite well with in Europe, as a major all-A220 operator (though the airline takes simplicity to the next level, with just a single variant of the A220).
Admittedly this is a bit of a gamble, though. Currently Croatia Airlines has planes with capacity from 76 to 174 seats, so that’s quite a range. Meanwhile in the future, all Croatia Airlines planes will have a capacity of 127-148 seats.
For most markets that will probably work, though there are certainly situations where the A220 may not offer enough capacity, while there are other situations where the A220 may offer too much capacity. I’d think the synergies of having a single aircraft type will largely make up for that.
I do wonder if Croatia Airlines will be forced to cut any destinations because of this change, as the A220 isn’t necessarily able to operate to some of the smaller airports that the Q400 can operate to. Quickly glancing at the list of Croatia Airlines destinations, I don’t see any obvious airports where this should be an issue, but it’s possible I’m missing something.
Bottom line
Croatia Airlines plans to acquire up to 15 Airbus A220s, including a direct order for six planes, plus plans to lease nine additional planes. The first plane has just been delivered, and by 2026, the airline plans to exclusively operate the A220, meaning that all existing A320-family and Dash 8 Q400 aircraft will be retired.
Croatia Airlines’ fleet is getting old, so it’s nice to see that the airline has chosen such a capable jet for its fleet renewal. Furthermore, we’ll finally see the airline introduce USB-A and USB-C outlets, plus Wi-Fi.
Since this coincides with Croatia Airlines’ 35th anniversary, we’re also seeing the airline introduce a new visual identity.
What do you make of Croatia Airlines’ Airbus A220 plans, plus updated visual identity?
The tail and logo are not particularly well thought out from a graphic POV. It won't translate well when it is shrunk, or in black and white. But an A220 fleet is pretty cool.
Happy to see that they will refurbish their fleet ! Their planes are old and slowly falling apart in the cabin. I hope they would replace their boxed Business Class meals with a proper plates (like LX). It would also nice to have their own lounge in ZAG or maybe have a Lufthansa Lounge in ZAG since their is a lot *A and Lufthansa Group flights to ZAG.
There must be more to the 'brand refresh' not visible to the eye, right?
Looking forward to a review of this curious airline.
As far as I’m aware, Croatia Airlines hasn’t actually taken delivery yet as stated at the beginning. I also agree with others who pointed out that the ‘brand refresh’ is seriously lacking.
It was delivered yesterday.
The A220 is garbage. 2-3 should have died out with the 717. At least that plane came by the layout honestly as the end of the line for the DC-9. And those planes weren't designed by Canadians drunk on fermented maple syrup and constipated courtesy of poutine.
You sound like a demented loser.
If you ask me, I’m not at all impressed with the so-called brand refresh, as absolutely nothing has changed as far as I can see. I’m not asking for a big transformation like Aegean did, but rather something fun like KLM. But here it’s just a repositioning of some squares to other places. There’s no corporate font, and the logo is essentially the same. The website uses Nunito, the same free font as Star Alliance...
If you ask me, I’m not at all impressed with the so-called brand refresh, as absolutely nothing has changed as far as I can see. I’m not asking for a big transformation like Aegean did, but rather something fun like KLM. But here it’s just a repositioning of some squares to other places. There’s no corporate font, and the logo is essentially the same. The website uses Nunito, the same free font as Star Alliance partner Air India, but the latter has a fantastic custom font. A massive THUMBS DOWN for Croatia Airlines from new.
This airline has been run by incompetent party apparatchiks for three decades now and is a glorified Lufthansa feeder. Their "Head of Corporate Design" is a ruling party appointee who has been at the same position since 1997. I would've been shocked if the brand refresh had been any more extensive.