Qatar Airways launches flights to Croatia

Qatar Airways has inaugurated flights from Doha to Zagreb, marking an important event for the airport as Aviation News reports. Qatar Airways will be the only Middle Eastern airline with scheduled flights to the Croatian capital. Flights will operate every day via Budapest. QR947 took off this morning bound for Zagreb. The return flight will depart Croatia's busiest airport in the afternoon. Services will operate with the single aisle Airbus A320. While Qatar won't be competing with anyone directly, it is bound to take a share of the passengers heading to the Far East and Australia, which have up until now been shared amongst Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa. Qatar Airways has been granted full operating rights between Budapest and Zagreb, allowing it to sell tickets on the sector. It will make Zagreb the only capital city in the former Yugoslavia with a direct air link to Budapest. All of the major airports in the EX-YU region were left without flights to the Hungarian capital following Malev's demise earlier in the year.