Ryanair plans to significantly grow in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Balkans, over the coming decade with low cost carriers (LCCs) commanding over 50% of total seat capacity in four out of seven markets in the former Yugoslavia. “Ryanair is the only major European airline to significantly grow traffic post-Covid, particularly in the Balkans, where other airlines have stopped growing, are cutting routes, and reducing traffic. Next year, Ryanair will grow to eleven million annual passengers in the region (a +260% increase in traffic vs. pre-Covid). This traffic growth complements Ryanair’s plans to grow to 300 million annual passengers by 2034, as it takes delivery of a further 400 aircraft”, the budget carrier said. It added, “We want to focus very much on this region. We see that this is going to be a large part of our upcoming expansion”.

Ryanair operates in four out of seven markets in the former Yugoslavia, the exceptions being Slovenia, Macedonia and Kosovo. Wizz Air is currently the largest low cost carrier in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia, with Ryanair having the upper hand in Croatia and Montenegro. This will change next year, as Ryanair will overtake Wizz Air in Bosnia and Herzegovina to become the country’s largest airline after it announced the launch of five new routes to Sarajevo. It will have close to 400.000 seats on the Bosnian market in 2024, ahead of second-placed Turkish Airlines and third-placed Pegasus Airlines.

Ryanair has significantly increased its presence in Croatia over the past few years with the opening of its base in Zagreb, as well as its seasonal base in Zadar. This will be further cemented with the opening of its base in Dubrovnik next summer. Next year, Ryanair will maintain its position as the largest airline in Croatia, growing its offer to 4.5 million seats, almost double that of second-placed Croatia Airlines. However, it faces greater headwinds on other markets. Almost a decade ago, Ryanair announced it would launch flights to Skopje in a direct challenge to Wizz, however, these plans were scrapped for unspecified reasons. The airline has also stagnated in Serbia with its operations out of Niš, while it does not operate to Pristina where Wizz Air became the airport’s largest carrier by passengers handled last year. Despite talks between Ryanair and the Slovenian government, it has not found a solution to enter the market, the only in the European Union it still does not serve.

Ryanair says it will “catch up to Wizz Air” in the region. "We see that Central and Eastern Europe was a little bit left behind over the last years. So, we want to catch up in this region to catch it up with our most developed markets like Spain, Italy or Poland. We plan to do it with delivering more routes and better fares and more travelling choices for our passengers”, Ryanair said.