It’s The End Of The Airbus A319

Croatia Airlines is ending service with the Airbus A319, with preparations underway to withdraw the type from scheduled passenger service this month.

The A319, the smallest member of the airline’s A320 family fleet, began flying in 1998 and has since been sidelined as the airline transitions to a fleet occupied solely by the A220.

According to the latest schedule data by AeroRoutes, the airline has filed limited flights on select routes through late October, with no further flying scheduled beyond 24 October 2026.

Retirements of workhorses, including single-aisle aircraft such as the A319, are sensitive, and axing dates can change, with the possibility of an extension or an earlier date.

Final A319 flights in October

The latest filing, however, shows that Croatia Airlines is moving forward with the phase-out of its Airbus A319. The changes will begin quickly, with Zagreb (ZAG) – Munich (MUC) listed until 2 October; one-day-late service to Zurich (ZRH) will also see the A319 disappear, continuing with Amsterdam (AMS) on 3 October 2026.

Croatia Airlines has filed the A319 service to Berlin (BER) until 4 October. Meanwhile, its Frankfurt (FRA) services are scheduled until 7 October 2026. Its flights between Zagreb and Skopje (SKP) are then scheduled to cease with the A319 on the same day.

Throughout the month, the airline will continue phasing out the A319 across European destinations, with Milan Malpensa from Split and Vienna set to end in the coming days. The last remaining changes will be Zagreb to Brussels on 22 October 2026, followed by Zagreb to Rome Fiumicino via Split on 23 October 2026.

Croatia Airlines’ retirement of the Airbus A319 has long been planned, and with preparations seemingly ramping up, further schedule changes are possible but will not alter its fate, which has already been finalised.

Croatia Airlines’ Airbus A319 fleet only gets older

At the heart of the rationale for the decision to end operations with the Airbus A319 at Croatia Airlines is the circle of life that all airframes and certainly series go through, that being age catches up amidst ongoing operational cost pressure and the delivery of newer and more efficient types.

Croatia Airlines has seen its Airbus A319 fleet dwindle to a handful over the years, with fleet data showing four units remain active and each configured with 144 seats. The fleet near at three decades, which for the averge airline and especially this European customer is pushing the limit of feasibility.

9A-CTG is the airline’s oldest A319 and, critically, the oldest aircraft in the fleet today at 28.7 years. The age of the A319s is felt widely, as they are the oldest jet-powered aircraft in the business by decades and represent the three oldest aircraft in the business before the Bombardier Dash 8-400s appeared.

9A-CTH is the second A319-100 delivered to the airline, delivered in June 1998 and, at 28.4 years of age, followed by 9A-CTL, delivered in June 2000, at 26.3 years of age. The last A319-100, delivered in June 2020 on a lease, is 14.6 years old but still part of an era now departing.

Therefore, not just with the A319s but the Dash 8s in the business, the gap between the current plan for scheduled flights and the previous era couldn’t be bigger, with an ATR 72, 9A-CTN, sitting at 14.6 years and the next youngest jet, an A220-300, at just 2.2 years of age.

These Airbus A319s were part of a renewal of the business in the 1990s, when it replaced Boeing jets with a more streamlined approach focusing on the A319 and A320, the former the last left of this strategic shift.

Airbus A319 replaced by the A220

Croatia Airlines is transitioning to a streamlined, efficient fleet, with the Airbus A220 family vital to removing jets like the A319. The renewal focused on bringing the A220-300 and A220-100 into the business, with 12 jets already delivered and 11 active.

The renewal programme has called for double digits of the A220, with deliveries continuing to bring down costs, improve fuel burn, and create a common operational platform that benefits from flexibility and efficiency.

Consolidating to one aircraft type in the A220 for a modest airline like Croatia Airlines has been important, with the type not just bringing cheaper flights but, critically, less complexity on the maintenance floor in the future and more seamless crew training measures.

The type’s economics also enable the network built around Zagreb to keep growing, with service through other regional airports also possible thanks to the jet’s flexibility. The A220 fleet averages just 1 year of age.