Zagreb Airport wants its growth spurt back, and Wizz Air is the big name it keeps circling. Negotiations between the two are ongoing, with the Hungarian low-cost carrier repeating that airport charges in the Croatian capital are simply too high to justify setting up a base there. No deal yet — but Wizz hasn't walked away either.

The timing matters. September saw 455,530 passengers pass through Zagreb, a 3.3 percent drop and the third consecutive monthly decline. Growth for the first nine months of 2026 has slowed to just 1.1 percent, a sharp contrast with last year's record of nearly 4.7 million passengers and 9.2 percent annual growth. Rising fuel prices, Croatia Airlines trimming capacity during its fleet renewal, and across-the-board increases in airport fees have all conspired to cool things down.

New routes tell the same story. The airport landed four this year — Warsaw Modlin, Tel Aviv and Beijing via Bucharest among them — compared with six in 2025 and ten in 2024. It also lost four routes, three of them Croatia Airlines'.

The airport's answer is a revamped incentive scheme, open for applications until 31 December. It's a lot more forgiving than the old model, which only Ryanair ever qualified for thanks to a 35,000-passenger annual threshold. Now smaller carriers and thinner routes can get support, the scheme runs four years instead of five, and airlines that hit 100,000 or 150,000 passengers early can lock in continued incentives without annual targets. Some already well-served destinations are being excluded to focus the money where it counts.

Whether that's enough to tempt Wizz remains to be seen, but the airline has confirmed talks are live and hasn't ruled out Zagreb flights. In the meantime, November capacity is set to grow 1.8 percent, thanks mainly to Ryanair adding over 17,000 extra seats, plus Air China's new route and boosts from Austrian, KLM and Air Serbia. December looks flat, with Croatia Airlines, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways cutting back.

For travellers, this is worth watching. A Wizz base in Zagreb would likely mean cheaper fares and more direct routes from European cities into Croatia's inland capital — handy for anyone who prefers flying into Zagreb over the summer crush of the coast. Even without it, the new incentive scheme should gradually widen the airport's route map, and Ryanair's expanded presence already points to more low-fare options this winter.