The scenes from Split on February 3, 2012, look a bit different than today...

February 2, 2019 - The new Split airport, namely, the new terminal, is four times bigger than the previous one, and worth 450 million kuna. To everyone’s excitement, its doors will open just before the tourist season, most likely in June. 

After we looked at the plans for Split Airport after the terminal is completed, T.portal met with Split Airport's assistant director Pero Bilas to check out the interior of the new building, which is currently the most significant investment in Dalmatia after the Pelješac Bridge.

Last year, 3.12 million passengers traveled through Split Airport, which is only 200,000 fewer than Zagreb. While Split’s numbers continue to catch Zagreb each season, it is realistic to expect that they will soon be equal. 

At Split Airport, however, the statistical race is not as important. What is important is that the project of the decade, the new terminal, is almost finished. Only the walls and the furniture remain. 

The most impressive is, of course, the main hall which is a circular shape and boasts a radius of almost fifty meters. From the hall, passengers will have a view of one-on-one check-in counters, a collection of catering facilities, and the observation deck on the upper floor. 

According to the idea of the architect Ivo Vulić, above the passengers is a dome with a wooden structure and, by its complexity, can be regarded as a sculpture. 

Although spacious, the new Split terminal will be very compact and logical, and from the observation deck, passengers will be able to view takeoffs and landings.

Split Airport has significantly higher profits than its competitors, which last year amounted to roughly 150 million kuna, allowing it to fund its expansion after several years of excellent business. Along with the old terminal, which is about 11,000 square meters, the new one will be around 36,000 square meters. After this summer, the old terminal will also get an upgrade, and the buildings will be connected in a complex that will meet the needs of passengers for at least ten to fifteen years. For this investment, a loan from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) has been partially taken, but only to ensure payment for contractors. It will be repaid very soon, however, and the airport will again become one of the few without debt. 

As we’ve already mentioned, the passenger experience at the ’new’ airport will include a large parking lot with a capacity of 900 vehicles and a bus terminal with 49 spaces. Rental car agencies will make up the interior, along with various offices and catering facilities, and a 120-meter-long closed bridge will connect the buildings, with traffic in both directions. 

At the other end of the bridge (or tunnel), passengers will enter the main area where all the roads cross - on the right for check-in, up for departures, left for arrivals. Thirty counters are already fully equipped; they only need to be dressed up. 

“In general, all terminal equipment is set, tested and ready to use, and only a final dust cleaning should be performed. Our capacity will be around 3,000 passengers per hour so that we will serve at least five million a year without any problems,” said Pero Bilas.

The most important part of the entire facility - the baggage handling system, is the heart of each airport. Split Airport invested 55 million kuna in this part of the project, which they have bought from reputable Dutch companies, with two powerful X-rays produced by the United States. 

The trip of a single suitcase is impressive. As Bilas points out, the whole process is automated, with a few extra points to check the baggage that X-rays mark as suspicious. From the check-in, the luggage will travel for a kilometer and is automatically deployed to the location of the aircraft, and in the opposite direction, the luggage automatically meets five large carousels for passengers. 

"Passengers talk, but suitcases do not, so it was imperative for us to know where and where to find them," explains Bilas.

On the top floor for departures, there are seven new lines for security, also automated with many cool details that should make the process move much faster and easier.

"And here, in the main area along the gates to the airplanes, there should no longer be those crowds, even in the heart of the summer,” Bilas adds. 

Namely, there will be a total of 1,200 seating spaces with six exits, and with another five hundred in various catering facilities, which will be more than enough for the hordes of passengers traveling through Split every year. Duty-free stores will be exactly four times bigger than in the past and will be filled with at least 50% Croatian products. 

“The current growth rates of 15 or 20 percent a year are not realistic, and we should expect them to return to the usual five to ten percent in the coming years. We will be ready for all options, and in our plans, we will look to the business's viability first,” explains Bilas.

Over fifty airlines will fly to Split this summer on regular routes to over a hundred destinations. 

To read more about Split, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Museum Night was held on Friday, February 1, 2019, across Croatia. 

Have you tried the Barba Imperial IPA yet?

The Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom, with the support of the Croatian Tourist Board in London, organized the ceremony titled "110 Years of Kaštela Tourism" at the Croatian Embassy in London, reports the City of Kaštela on January 31, 2019. 

The presentation in London was organized on the initiative of Davorka Žanić Dražić, economic advisor at the Embassy in London. 

“In today’s world, there is a growing trend of branding countries through wine and cultural tourism, so I thought that the cultural and historical heritage of Kaštela and the story of the Kaštela Zinfandel certainly draws attention outside the borders of Croatia, especially considering that London is the seat of the most prestigious wine fair in the world,” Dražić said.

The exhibition presented the story of the beginnings of tourism in Kaštela, related to the launch of the railway line in 1877 and the establishment of steamships with Split, Rijeka, and Trieste, as well as the beginnings of organized tourism in 1909 and the first board for foreigners opened by Czech doctor Henrik Šoulavy. In the tourist offer at the time, visitors had the opportunity to enjoy various activities and medical services, as well as excursions, Dalmatian specialties, and wine.

On this occasion, the history of Kaštela wines and viticulture was presented with a focus on the story of the Kaštela Zinfandel (Crljenak) a genetically identical variety to the well-known American sort of Zinfandel. Professor Braća Radić and Živko Skračić prepared a video and gave a lecture about this Kaštela variety.

The event was also attended by the television crew of popular British television Channel 4, which generates millions of viewers, reports Dalmacija Danas. 

HTZ

The filming’s goal was to show the wine tourism and culture of Kaštela and thus position Croatia as a desirable tourist destination on the British market. A special guest at the presentation was the award-winning British artist Aggy Dadan who was inspired by her visit to Kaštela and everything she had the chance to see in the area. Thus, Dadan presented the chocolate relief "From Split to Trogir", where she used the Kaštela Zinfandel. The artist also made a chocolate sculpture of a Kaštela woman in folk costume which will be featured on the Channel 4 show "Extreme Cake Makers".

HTZ

The Channel 4 broadcast is of great importance for the development not only of Kaštela but also of the unique tourist offers in Croatia, which are increasingly sought by the British market. The episode is scheduled to air mid-April 2019, which is excellent given that it is in the peak period of the pre-season. 

The overall presentation, hosted by Ambassador Igor Pokaz, was attended by representatives of many prominent media houses, some of them being CNBC, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, The Mail on Sunday, The Telegraph, The Financial Times and The Independent, representatives of travel agencies, including IKB Travel, Prestige Holidays and Angela Shanley Associates Ltd, distributors specializing in undiscovered wines, Novel Wines, wine investors and various businessmen and wine lovers, representatives of British-Croatian Associations and Academic Communities of University College London, Cambridge and Oxford and others. The story of Kaštela also interested representatives of British Airways, which has introduced direct flights to Kaštela and Split from London City Airport for the first time this summer.

The Kaštela delegation at this event was represented by Deputy Mayor of Kaštela, Jadranka Matok-Bosančić, Tourist Board Director Nada Maršić, and others. 

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

Did you know that the Split Museum Night will be held in 25 locations on Friday?

Hajduk has confirmed the news that 18-year-old Ante Palaversa signed for English Premier League club Manchester City. 

January 31, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Pula, Rijeka Zadar, and Split. 

Flights to Croatia: Volotea adds reinforcements to Croatia

Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea announced they were boosting operations on selected routes to Croatia this summer. Reinforcements have been announced to all four airports in Croatia where Volotea operates, AvioRadar reports. 

For starters, the airline has extended the seasonal line between Dubrovnik and Bari, which will now run two weeks earlier and five weeks later - from June 5 to October 2. On the new service between Dubrovnik and Lyon, Volotea has launched a second weekly flight, which will take off on Saturdays. On the Dubrovnik-Nantes service, the third weekly flight will run on Mondays instead of Tuesdays as it did last year. 

Volotea has also significantly extended their season on the Pula-Nantes line, which will run seven weeks earlier and five weeks later, from April 10 to October 30. This year’s new service between Pula and Bordeaux will operate five weeks into the post-season, from June 5 to October 2, as will the new service between Rijeka and Marseille. 

On the line between Split and Marseille, the third weekly flight will run on Tuesdays in the heart of the peak season. Last year’s new service between Split and Nice will see another weekly trip on Wednesdays. And last but not least, the seasonal service between Split and Palermo will be significantly extended, and operate a month earlier and later than usual - from April 10 to October 30. 

Flights to Croatia: Iberia moves focus to Croatia 

The national carrier of Spain will increase capacity to Croatia by 44.6% this summer - and better yet, this is the first year the airline continued flights from Madrid to Zagreb and Dubrovnik over winter, EX-YU Aviation News reports.

"Currently, both destinations are offered twice a week from Madrid, though we will increase our services to both cities during the summer season. On the route from Madrid to Dubrovnik we will offer two additional flights a week in April, May, June, September and October 2019 compared to last year,” the airline said for EX-YU Aviation News.

Thus, Iberia will operate thirteen flights a week to Zagreb. They will also fly from Madrid to Split in July and August five times a week. 

"Most of our passengers fly point to point, but we also have connecting traffic. Among the cities that feed more passengers to our flights from/to Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb last year were New York, Lisbon, Bilbao, Porto, Chicago, Boston and Miami,” Iberia added. The airline also saw passenger a 105% passenger increase on services to and from Croatia in 2018. 

Madrid and Zadar will even be connected two times a week this summer,  from July 2 to August 31. 

"These new additions to our program will reinforce our presence in Croatia, not only for point-to-point flights but for long haul connections as well," Iberia concluded for EX-YU Aviation News. 

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

January 30, 2019 - As most of you are probably aware, the ‘Long Night of Museums’, also known as Museum Night, returns this Friday, February 1, 2019. The 14th edition of this favorite event will be held throughout Croatia under the theme "Museums - Innovations and Digital Future”.

“Croatian museums use state-of-the-art technologies in their everyday practices, which involves an innovative and creative view of the museum’s possibilities and greater availability of museum content to new segments of museum audiences, through various digital platforms, mobile applications, tools, VR (Virtual Reality, AE (Augmented Reality), and many other technological innovations," reads the Museum Night website. 

The Croatian Museum Association (HMD) called on museums, galleries and similar institutions to propose their programmes on this topic by  January 11. 

Many establishments in Split signed up to participate in this Friday’s event, including the Archaeological Museum, Ethnographic Museum, Meštrović Gallery, Škola Gallery, HGK County Chamber Split, the Croatian-French Association, City Museum of Split, Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments, the Split University Library, Poljud Stadium, the Starry Village Mosor, and others.

You can find the full program of each participating location on the Museum Night’s official website. 

Last year, Museum Night was held in over 200 museums and similar institutions in about 100 cities and towns across Croatia under the title "Museums and Sports - Faster, Higher, Stronger".

Fourteen years ago, when this event was organized in Croatia for the first time, only six museums in Zagreb joined the campaign.

The initiative was launched in Germany in 1997, followed by France. As of 2005, it became a Europe-wide cultural event in which museums and cultural institutions in an area cooperate to remain open late into the night to attract visitors.

In Croatia, admission to all Museum Night venues is free. The event lasts from 6 pm to 1 am. 

To read more about Croatian lifestyle, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

Due to record numbers that continue to emphasize the importance of Split Airport's development, works on the construction and reconstruction of Split Airport officially began two years ago. 

The Split Airport project is currently one of the most critical construction projects in the county. Upon completion of the works, the passenger terminal will boast 35,000 square meters, thus increasing the total capacity of the terminal to 3,000 passengers during the peak hours. 3.5 million passengers will be able to pass through Split Airport annually.

Drivers rumored the news that the 900-car parking lot was already built, along with a station for a dozen buses, and a bridge over the Kaštela road which is 120-meters long, connecting the car park and the new terminal.

Dalmacija Danas interviewed Split Airport’s assistant director, Pero Bilas, on January 30, 2019, to find out more. 

“The long-term development of the airport depends on the dynamics of further growth in passenger traffic, and it implies the need to purchase land outside the border of the airport. This moment would not be opportune to go to the public with the details of that plan,” said Bilas, who then gave an overview of the further development plan for the airport.

When will the runway be renovated?

“The renovation of the runway is the next project after the reconstruction and extension of the passenger terminal is completed. 

Does the renovation and reconstruction include lighting?

“Yes, the reconstruction of the take-off runway includes lighting on the runway.”

When does the construction of parallel runways begin?

“After the reconstruction of the take-off and landing runway.”

Are there plans to expand the apron?

“Yes, after the reconstruction of the take-off and landing runway, and as part of the construction phase for the parallel track.

What stage would you say you are at for purchasing the required land for the construction of the above items? 

“Purchasing more land is a continuous activity of the Split Airport in the past twenty years. The lack of parcels and the unresolved property and legal relations make this process difficult.”

Is there a theoretical possibility of upgrading the air-bridges to the new terminal, provided that in the future the apron is expanded sufficiently and with its capacity can enable push-back operations?

“The theoretical possibility of upgrading the air-bridges exists. Its realization will depend on the nature of traffic and the needs of air carriers and the possibilities of expanding operational areas.”

How much will these procedures increase the capacity of the airport and what is the value of the investment? 

After the reconstruction and extension project of the passenger terminal is completed, the capacity of the airport will increase to 3,000 passengers in the peak hours. The total value of the investment is 450 million kuna. 

Within the Split agglomeration, there is a lot of talk about a railway connection between the Split airport and the ferry port. How much would that mean to the airport and its passengers? 

“Establishing another mode of transport at the airport is certainly a useful initiative that would significantly contribute to the quality and diversity of land transport, at the same time, it would relieve the roads to the City of Split.”

Recall, some of the new terminal's perks include 30 check-in desks, five new baggage carousels and a modern baggage handling system, an observation deck, a car park, observation deck and business class lounge for the elite travelers. 

To read more about Split Airport, follow TCN's dedicated page.