February 13 (SeeNews) - Croatia is holding 'serious negotiations' over the introduction of flights from the capital Zagreb and the coastal city Dubrovnik to New York, news portal EX-YU aviation has reported.
Seasonal flights between Croatia and New York could be launched during the high season in 2018, with year-long services to come in 2019, the news portal quoted Croatia's tourism minister, Gari Cappelli, as saying on Sunday.
Flight to the U.S. metropolis might also be available from Croatia's Split, Cappelli added.
In October last year, Croatian media reported that Zagreb airport was in talks with a European air carrier on the relaunch of flights to New York in the summer of 2017 after a 22-year pause. Also last year, the Croatian ambassador to the United States announced that the embassy had resumed discussions with various stakeholders in order to explore all possibilities for the establishment of direct flights to Croatia.
"We will do all we can to spearhead and facilitate this effort, and set up direct flights as soon as it is economically possible," the diplomat said at the time.
Croatia last offered a flight connection to the United States in summer 1991. It was serviced by Pan Am with four flights a week.
Prior to that, JAT Yugoslav Airlines maintained services from Zagreb to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
In mid-2016, Air Serbia launched a regular service between the capital of Belgrade and New York, the first direct flight connection between Serbia and the U.S. in 24 years. The route is serviced five times a week by a 254-seat Airbus A330 wide-body twin-engine jet airliner.