July 5, 2019 - It’s another busy year for Croatian airports, which saw the busiest June in history. 

Rijeka Airport continues to grow each year and saw a record increase in passengers and operations compared to June 2018, reports Novi List. 

"After the successful 2018, when Rijeka Airport broke all records, achieving a total turnover of 183,606 passengers and a growth in traffic of almost 30%, this summer season also opened with great news.

Namely, Rijeka Airport can boast the busiest June to date and has increased passenger traffic by 37% as compared to June 2018, while traffic operations accounted for 40% higher turnover compared to the previous year,” the airport said. 

These excellent achievements are an excellent introduction to the season, in which they expect 200,000 passengers. 

The reason for the increase is the introduction of new lines for Belgrade, Munich, and Marseille, but also an increase in the number of existing carriers, in particular, Transavia for Eindhoven, which increased by 350% compared to last season's number of operations,” they added.

Avio Radar reports that Dubrovnik Airport also recorded a stellar June, which saw 415,876 passengers, which is 50,528 more passengers than last year. Thus, Dubrovnik Airport welcomed a passenger growth of 13.83% last month. 

The first direct line from the United States to Croatia operated by American Airlines has significantly contributed to Dubrovnik’s success. 

Dubrovnik Airport has recorded an increase in traffic in each month this year. In the first half of the year, 1,059,564 passengers traveled through the airport, which is 157,184 more passengers than last year, or a growth of 17.42%. 

Split Airport welcomed 513,706 passengers or an increase of 8.2% for a record June, and in the first six months of 2019, they welcomed 1,102,118 passengers, which is up 8%. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that Zagreb Airport saw 336,618 passengers in June, which is an increase of 1.5% compared to last year. In the first half of the year, Zagreb Airport handled 1,534,105 passengers, which is up 4.2%, or an additional 62,477 compared to 2018.

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In the upcoming summer flight schedule, which is from March 31 to October 27, 81 new routes will operate to Croatian airports, including regular, low-cost and charter lines, from 24 world markets, reports Dalmatinski Portal on April 15, 2019. 

Additionally, the first week of the summer flight began with a record 252 flights, which displayed a 30 percent increase compared to the first week of the summer flight schedule last year. Most of the flights in the first week were recorded at the airports in Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik.

“New airlines and increasing the number of rotations are, among other things, the result of the activities of the Croatian Tourist Board. We collaborate with airline companies through strategic promotional campaigns in important markets, aiming to position Croatia as an attractive and well-connected year-round destination. We are particularly pleased with the new intercontinental line between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik, which joins Croatia and the United States market for the first time in 30 years,” said Croatian Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić, adding that this year he has strategic marketing partnerships with tour operators and over 40 million kuna was provided to airlines.

Looking at the markets, most of the new lines, or 14 of them, are from German cities, followed by 12 new lines from the UK market, 8 lines from France, 5 lines from Italy, and 4 lines from the Netherlands. Analyzing the summer flight schedule by the number of rotations, most rotations are planned between Croatia and Germany, the UK, France, Austria, and Switzerland. Most new lines will fly to airports in Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Rijeka. Most Croatian airports this year also recorded an increase in the number of rotations when looking at the previous season, and according to the absolute number of new rotations, the Zadar airport has a 25 percent increase, while Pula follows with a 7 percent increase and Dubrovnik with 4 percent.

When looking at airlines, most new routes were launched by Ryanair, namely 15 of them, followed by eight new lines from Volotea, six new lines from TUI and five new easyJet lines.

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It’ll be another busy year for Croatian airports as some 11 million passengers are expected to travel through them in 2019. Recall, this is quite an increase from last year’s 10.5 million. But who’s counting. 

Here’s a breakdown of what Croatia’s nine commercial airports expect this year, courtesy of Ex-Yu Aviation on March 21, 2019. 

Zagreb Airport: The airport in Croatia’s capital expects a 5% increase in passengers in 2019, with a 3% growth in operations. This is thanks to several carriers boosting capacities this summer, including Iberia, Vueling, LOT Polish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Eurowings. Many other airlines, however, will expand operations. 

Split Airport: It’ll be an exciting year for Split airport, which will open their new terminal in June. As works are still aggressively underway to meet the summer deadline, Pero Bilas, Deputy General Manager of Split Airport, announced the usual 5 to 10% increase in passengers this year. Split airport will also see 50 airlines this summer, with many new carriers including Air France, British Airways, Luxair, Ryanair and Laudamotion.

Dubrovnik Airport: It’ll be another solid year for Dubrovnik airport, which expects passenger growth of 4.59% in 2019. Most travelers are expected from the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Nearly 70 airlines will operate to the city this year, and most exciting is the launch of the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia, which will connect the US to Croatia for the first time in 28 years. Also impressive is that Flydubai will continue with trips this summer and Ryanair will launch flights to Dubrovnik. A significant increase in traffic should be seen from London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Dublin said Dubrovnik airport general manager Frano Luetić.

Pula Airport: After a record 2018, Pula airport projects growth of 7% this year and expects to handle 750,000 travelers. Eleven thousand flights will operate out of the airport in 2019, with airlines EasyJet, Laudamotion, TUI Airways, Jet2, and Condor all introducing new services. Brexit, however, could affect the airport this year, as 32% of passengers traveling through Pula are British. 

Zadar Airport: It’ll be a big year for Zadar airport as Ryanair introduces eight new routes from the city. Easyjet will add two new lines, while Iberia Express, Air Serbia, Transavia, Laudamotion and Condor will launch seasonal flights this summer. Zadar airport will count 16 airlines and 51 trips to 31 destinations in Europe this year and should count an additional 100,000 passengers to last year’s 603,819. 

Rijeka Airport: Lufthansa, Air Serbia, TUI Airways and Volotea will launch operations at Rijeka airport this year, which should see a 16% increase in passengers. Operations at Rijeka airport should also increase by 6%. Many airlines will also boost activities to Rijeka, such as Transavia, who will increase flights by 300% compared to last year. 

Osijek Airport: A growth of 11% and 74,300 travelers are expected at Osijek airport this year. While Wizz Air will boost operations on its Basel service, Eurowings will begin their service from Cologne forty days earlier. 

Brač Airport: Dalmatia’s island airport should see around 31,000 travelers in 2019, which is the same as last year. Recall, the airport is currently in the process of expanding its runway and terminal, which is the primary focus. Works should begin in 2020. 

Lošinj Airport: To conclude, the seasonal Lošinj airport will maintain flights from Zagreb and Lugano on Silver Air this summer, while the Czech carrier will introduce a new operation to Venice twice a week, replacing their Pula route. 

You can read the full report on Ex-Yu Aviation. 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Croatian airports did not slow down even in February when they continued recording stellar results.

February 28, 2019 - TCN continues looking at the plans and expectations for Croatian airports in 2019, with updates from Brač airport. 

TCN continues looking at the plans and expectations of Croatian airports in 2019, with updates from Dubrovnik, Split, and Zadar, thanks to AvioRadar. 

February 26, 2019 - TCN continues looking at the plans and expectations for Croatian airports in 2019, with updates from Pula, Rijeka, and Osijek, thanks to AvioRadar. 

TCN looks at the plans and expectations for Croatian airports in 2019, beginning with Zagreb. 

An increase for Croatian airports up and down the country in terms of both passengers and cargo.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of December, 2018, during the first ten months of 2018, nearly 9.9 million passengers and 10.257 tons of goods were transported to nine Croatian airports.

Croatian airports have been passed through by a massive 9.9 million passengers, which is equal to a significant 10.5 percent increase when compared to the numbers recorded during the same period last year, and in October 2018 alone, a huge 905,000 passengers were recorded, which is 11.7 percent more than in October 2017, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics statistics (CBS).

Of the total number of passengers in October in all nine Croatian airports, 317,000 passed through Zagreb's Franjo Tuđman Airport, which marks a considerable 6.7 percent increase when compared to the same time period last year. Below that figure lies the seemingly eternally busy Dubrovnik Airport with 243,000 passengers (a 12.9 percent increase), while Split Airport comes in third place with 223,000 passengers (a 13.9 percent increase compared to the same period in 2017).

With a very impressive 35.6 percent increase, Pula Airport can be praised for welcoming 41,822 passengers in October this year, while down in Dalmatia, Zadar Airport recorded 3.2 percent more (57,402 passengers).

The number of passengers increased by 64.9 percent overall during the first ten months of this year, with less frequented airports such as Rijeka Airport recording 15,467 passengers, followed by Osijek Airport with 6,419 passengers, marking a welcome 14.2 percent increase. The foreign markets bringing the largest number of passengers to Croatia were all European countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, and the Netherlands.

The increase in the number of passengers at Croatian airports in October and the first ten months of 2018 was accompanied by an increase in the number of aircraft operations in general. In October this year alone, there were 10,525 operations registered (representing a 4.8 percent increase) and in the first ten months of 2018 as a whole, 114,645 or 7.4 percent more were registered.

A cargo increase has also been recorded for Croatian airports. Back in October 2018, 1,138 tonnes (a 1.5 percent increase) passed through, and in the first ten months of this year, 10,257 tonnes were transposed, which is a more than significant 28.7 percent more than last year.

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Croatian airports expect an even better year than 2017 when they welcomed 9.6 million passengers.