Croatia's flag carrier Croatia Airlines (CA) is "adjusting its flight schedule to market demand and the epidemiological situation, and comparing it to the pre-pandemic period is not realistic," the company told state agency Hina on Tuesday, when asked to comment on media reports that the airline has dropped 10 destinations which were once included in its 2019 summer schedule.

CA noted that the coronavirus pandemic has drastically reduced demand for flight services, adding that its passenger volume dropped by 72 percent in 2020 compared with the previous year, Hina said.

“That’s why any comparison of the flight schedule in 2019 with that in 2020 and this year is not realistic and does not make sense,” unidentified person at Croatia Airlines told state agency Hina.

The company said that it is gradually restoring routes, constantly monitoring the epidemiological situation and market demand.

“The company is focused on the markets on which there is demand and is continually optimizing the flight schedule, which means that it is ready to restore individual routes and introduce additional flights on the existing routes if there is increased demand for flight services,” Hina reported that Croatia Airlines said.

It said that this month its aircraft fly to 13 foreign destinations, and that the flight schedule has been determined for this year, under which CA will fly to 18 European destinations from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik and Rijeka.