February 4, 2023 - Zadar Airport is preparing for Schengen and traffic growth with an investment of 2.2 million euros in the renovation of additional passenger terminal annexes and a runway extension.

As Hina / Poslovni report, the airport will, like other airports, officially enter the Schengen regime on March 26.

This is a capital investment with extensive work at that airport, which in 2022 had more than one million passengers for the first time, 1.1 million to be exact. Since the plans and predictions for 2023 are even higher, they expect this investment will allow accepting intercontinental flights.

"The arrangement of additional annexes of the building, which will house the international arrival/departure of "non-Schengen passengers," will also be arranged, and everything is part of a larger project by which the airport aims to become the first airport in Croatia using solar energy and an electric bus, to strengthen its "green and sustainable business," they emphasize.

From the moment they enter Schengen, they expect an easier flow of passengers, especially since most passengers will be domestic, who do not have to go through passport control, but only a security check.

Part of the passengers who are not in that regime will still go through passport control, but given that this has been the case until now, there will practically be no changes for them.

"We have great announcements for 2023, and we expect 5 to 10 percent more passenger traffic compared to a record 2022 when we recorded a million for the first time. This is an exceptional result, considering that we are the first Croatian airport to exceed pre-pandemic traffic", they say from the Zadar airport.

In accordance with the announced increase in traffic, they say that they will also hire more people, which is why they had a call for seasonal workers in January, for whom the selection process is ongoing.

They believe that they will be able to cover all the needs for seasonal workers, all the more so because they see that there is sufficient interest in working at the airport, and they also state that last year in 2022, they had an average of 248 employees per month, while in 2023 they plan to their increase that number to 254.

Currently, in the winter flight schedule, they (only) have daily domestic flights of Croatia Airlines (to Zagreb and Pula), which, as they announce every year, will change significantly with the summer flight schedule.

"Although it is still too early to discuss the flight schedule, we can already confirm that there will be new lines and airlines. For example, this year, we have S.A.S. with a line to Copenhagen, and three new lines of the Italian carrier Milano Malpensa (MXP), the German Munster, and the Polish Rzeszów have been announced so far," they revealed for Hina.

Their now traditionally largest partner for the summer flight schedule, Ryanair, offers 46 routes.

When asked about the financial results of operations in 2022, they estimate that Zadar Airport will have a profit of around HRK 24.47 million in 2022, which would be 203 percent more than the profit in 2021, but also 262 percent more than in 2019.

This was also driven by a significant increase in income in 2022, but considering that the annual reports on operations for 2022 have not yet been completed, they only amount to the revenue for nine months of 2022, of almost HRK 95 million, while in the whole of 2021, they achieved over HRK 65.5 million in revenue.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

December 4, 2022 - The police officers from the Zadar Police Station have completed a criminal investigation of a 55-year-old Croatian citizen for a crime against public safety. This man from the island of Iz used a laser to interfere with airplanes flying over the island.

As Index writes, it is suspected that on November 30, 2022, around 8:20 p.m. in the Zadar area, he intentionally interfered with the flight of an airplane operated by a 35-year-old pilot using a laser, and with such a dangerous act seriously endangered the safety of the airplane flight and caused danger to people and property, announced PU Zadar.

He faces up to five years in prison.

After a criminal investigation, a criminal complaint was filed against a 55-year-old Croatian citizen at the competent state attorney's office in Zadar on suspicion of having committed the criminal offense of "endangering life and property by means of a generally dangerous act or means."

Yesterday he was taken to the custody unit of the Zadar Police Department. Pursuant to the provisions of Art. 215 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia, according to which a prison sentence of six months to five years is foreseen for the perpetrators of this criminal act.

As further reported by Index, last year, Govorčin did the same, admitting at the time that it was "self-defense" because the islanders constantly suffer from the shaking, noise, and terrible thunder of the planes that fly over the island.

"It was pure self-defense. Last time, because of the noise and the terrible thunder of the planes that flew over the place, almost everyone fell from the olive trees during harvest, and there were mostly elderly people living in the town. It's like that every day," he said then after having interfered with the flight of an airplane in the Zadar area with a laser on two occasions, once in June and once in September.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

October the 17th, 2022 - Zadar Airport has been ranked among the best on an impressive list, which will work to further place Croatia, which relies very heavily on tourism, on the airport quality map.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Zadar Airport has successfully entered the short list of the best in the category of up to five million passengers, and the winner will be revealed later today across the pond in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This nomination is truly excellent recognition for Zadar Airport because it comes from the aviation profession. In addition to Zadar Airport, Nuremberg, Edinburgh and Larnaca in Cyprus were also all nominated in the ''up to five million passengers'' category, according to a report from HRT.

Mihaela Kadija, the director of the Tourist Board of Zadar County, said that this weekend 15,000 passengers passed through Zadar Airport and she expects to end 2022's tourist season with 1.1 million passengers, which is the most so far.

"This speaks of the importance of Zadar Airport for all kinds of tourism, especially for the off-season and for more distant markets," she said.

In October this year, she added, guests from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland "jumped" into the top five markets with an increase of 77 percent. Several more events still await this Dalmatian city, such as the Biograd Boat Show, the Zadar regatta, a bicycle race, and they also have hopes for Advent in Zadar this year.

For more, make sure to keep up with our dedicated news section.

July 4, 2022 - Zadar Airport traffic is expected to increase by 20% this year compared to the record-breaking 2019!

The increase in the number of passengers at Zadar Airport in June continued on the first weekend of July, reports HRT.

Namely, the airport has estimated that the season will end with 20% more traffic than the record 2019, before the pandemic. The terminal was crowded rom early Sunday morning. Ivan Skelin, head of the traffic and operational sector of Zadar Airport, said that traffic in June was better than ever, that is, the record 2019.

Zadar Airport expected around 7,500 passengers on 28 scheduled planes on Sunday, Ivan Skelin, manager of the transport and operational sector of Zadar Airport, told HRT. He adds that about 20 smaller aircraft are also expected.

"From Friday to Sunday, there are 95 airliners, and the total number of passengers could be around 22,000 or 23,000," Skelin said.

For now, traffic at Zadar Airport in June, with 173,000 passengers, is better than the record 2019 at the same time.

"In July and August, we expect 30% more passengers than in June, which means around 220,000 passengers in July and the same number in August. This year will surely be a record year, about 15-20 percent more than 2019," Skelin pointed out.

When asked if there were flight cancellations considering that some airlines have problems due to a lack of workforce, Skelin said that Zadar Airport does not have such problems.

"All over Europe, there is a labor shortage problem due to the fact that they laid off several people. It's hard to get them back. Schooling lasts quite a long time, 2-4 months," Skelin said and spoke about when there could be problems during the summer, and when a better situation is expected.

"Our main carrier is Ryanair with 75% of the total business and it has no cancellations for now," he added.

He confirmed that tenders for seasonal jobs at the airport are still open.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

June the 20th, 2022 - Zadar Airport is recording impressive pre-pandemic results in terms of air traffic so far this year, as it seems that the horrendous coronavirus-dominated era is well and truly behind us.

The beautiful City of Zadar and its surrounding islands are highly popular destinations for foreign and domestic visitors, and now all epidemiological restrictions in Croatia and across Europe are now a thing of the past, Zadar Airport's numbers are finally climbing to excellent heights following two years of nail-biting stagnancy and depression.

As Morski writes, ever since the summer season officially opened, Zadar Airport's traffic has finally been at pre-pandemic levels. New airlines are also being introduced, and record numbers continue to be expected.

Over this past weekend, about 20,000 passengers will pass through the airport, both in departures and arrivals.

Zadar Airport had one of the best recoveries after the COVID-19 crisis last year and back in 2020, and this year the situation seems to be even better. There are four new airlines, charter flights have started, there are as many as sixteen new destinations and there is almost no European city with which Zadar is not currently connected.

This Dalmatian airport's traffic could exceed the record figures seen back during the pre-pandemic year of 2019 this year, and due to the growing number of passengers, the passenger terminal is also being expanded. This is a multi-year project, in the first phase a temporary building will be built for the reception and departure of passengers while the existing one is being expanded, writes HRT.

Most passengers are carried to and from Zadar Airport by the wildly popular Irish carrier Ryanair, which holds more than 60 percent of the routes, and it has opened its third base in Zadar.

''This is extremely important to us, given that Ryanair opens bases only at airports where it has many years of cooperation and trust. This year, there are fourteen new lines as far as Ryanair is concerned, which would mean ten to fifteen lines a day from Zadar Airport to all European destinations,'' said Nikola Barac, a spokesman for Zadar Airport.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

May 18, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as 14 easyJet Zadar and Pula flights will operate this summer. 

British low-cost carrier easyJet will operate to five Croatian airports this summer. While it has already announced several routes to Pula, the carrier will soon increase the number of operations and resume flights to Zadar Airport, reports Croatian Aviation.

This summer, easyJet will operate 5 international routes to Zadar Airport and 9 routes to Pula Airport. 

Namely, easyJet will operate on 9 international routes to Pula Airport this summer from:

Berlin (already in traffic), three to four times a week,

Bristol (already in circulation), twice a week,

London (already in traffic), three to seven times a week,

Amsterdam, from 29.06., twice a week,

Basel, from 28.06., three times a week,

Geneva, from 29.06., twice a week,

Glasgow, from 27.06., twice a week,

Luton, from 04.06., twice a week, and

Paris, from 27.06., three times a week.

From mid-May to the end of the summer flight schedule, easyJet will offer more than 125,000 seats to and from Pula Airport on the 9 listed routes.

easyJet is announcing fewer flights to Zadar Airport, or a total of 5 international routes, all of which will start operating at the end of June. easyJet will thus operate from Zadar to:

Amsterdam, from 28.06., twice a week,

Basel, from 27.06, three to four times a week,

Berlin, from 28.06., twice a week,

London, from 28.06., twice a week, and

Milan, from 28.06., four times a week.

Due to the smaller number of routes and weekly rotations, easyJet will offer almost 50,000 seats to and from Zadar Airport this summer, but passengers to and from Zadar are not a problem given that Ryanair has a large base at this airport. For the airport itself, it would certainly be better if the number of routes was diversified across multiple airlines.

In the peak summer season, easyJet will have several lines to Split and Dubrovnik, while only two lines have been announced to Rijeka.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

April 28, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Ryanair Zadar winter flights are in the plans this year, with Vienna-Zadar currently available to book this winter on the low-cost airline's website. 

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair released tickets for this year's winter flight schedule, which will take effect at the end of October. While there are no major operational changes in Zagreb (only two existing lines will not be in traffic), it is interesting to announce regular flights to Zadar Airport this winter, reports Croatian Aviation. 

Following the opening of sales for this year's winter flight schedule, a line between Zadar and Vienna is now available to book this winter on the Ryanair website.  

Last fall, the CEO of Ryanair announced regular flights to Zadar in the winter, which ultimately did not happen as Ryanair winter flights did not take place from the Zadar Airport.

The airline now announces regular flights in the winter on the mentioned line between Vienna and Zadar, twice a week, on Fridays and Sundays. The question is whether the airline will stay with this plan and really fly to Zadar in the winter. However, given that we are only in April and November is still very far away, we must be careful to say that the flights will actually take place.

Croatian Aviation adds that we should be happy that the Irish carrier is planning this option, which would be extremely important for the airport and tourism in the region. We can only hope that the flights will run this winter and that in the coming weeks and months, Ryanair will announce more winter routes to Zadar Airport. 

This also falls in line with the Split winter tourism initiative, which is pushing for flights to be extended into the winter schedule. You can read more about that here. 

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, check out our dedicated travel section.

March 21, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as the Ryanair Zadar summer flight schedule is delayed, and several changes have been announced from Zagreb.

Ryanair has changed the summer flight schedule for its two bases in Croatia, reports Croatian Aviation.

The start of traffic on several lines from Zadar has been postponed to June. As for Zagreb's Ryanair base, several routes have received an additional weekly flight, and several lines will operate with a reduced number of flights.

Namely, lines from Zagreb to Brussels Charleroi, Milan Bergamo, Malta, Memmingen, Malmö, Paphos, Rome Fiumicino, and Düsseldorf Weeze have been strengthened with an additional weekly rotation. Also, the number of flights on the new route to Bratislava has been increased from the original two to three flights a week. 

On the other hand, Ryanair will reduce the frequency of flights to Dublin to three-weekly flights, and from the planned initially two-weekly flights to one weekly flight to Corfu.

The summer flight schedule was also revised from the Zadar base. Namely, the starting date for several flights has been postponed.

Below is an overview of all Ryanair flight schedules from Zadar and their start dates.

Lines starting in March:

Zadar - Berlin Brandenburg - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of October

Zadar - Bremen - Zadar, from March 30, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) until the end of October

Zadar - Brussels Charleroi - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, three times a week (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays) until the end of October

Zadar - Budapest - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays), until the end of October

Zadar - Cologne - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of October

Zadar - Dublin - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays), until the end of October

Zadar - Düsseldorf Weeze - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, four times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) until the end of October

Zadar - Frankfurt Hahn - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of October

Zadar - Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, three times a week (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays) until the end of October

Zadar - London Stansted - Zadar, from March 29, 2022, twice a week through April (Tuesdays and Fridays) and May (Tuesdays and Saturdays), five times a week through June, July, August, and September (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays), and again twice a week until the end of October (Tuesdays and Saturdays)

Zadar - Marseille - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays), three times a week through May, June, July, August, September, and October (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays)

Zadar - Memmingen - Zadar, from March 29, 2022, twice a week through April and May (Tuesdays and Saturdays), three times a week through June, July, August, September (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), and again twice a week until the end of October (Tuesdays and Saturdays)

Zadar - Newcastle - Zadar, from March 30, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays), until the end of October

Zadar - Paris Beauvais - Zadar, from March 30, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays), until the end of October

Zadar - Poznan - Zadar, from March 29, 2022, twice a week through April (Tuesdays and Saturdays), four times a week from May to the end of October (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays)

Zadar - Rome Fiumicino - Zadar, from March 28, 2022, three times a week through April (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays), four times a week from May to the end of October (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays)

Zadar - Stockholm Arlanda - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays), until the end of October

Zadar - Vienna - Zadar, from March 27, 2022, three times a week in April and May (Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays), four times a week in June, July, August, and September (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays), and again three times a week until the end of October (Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays)

Lines starting in April:

Zadar - Krakow - Zadar, from April 2, 2022, once a week through April (Saturday), three times a week through May (Monday, Friday, and Saturday), four times a week through June, July, August, and September (Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and Saturdays), and again three times a week until the end of October (Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays)

Lines starting in May:

Zadar - Birmingham - Zadar, from May 4, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays), until the end of October

Zadar - Bordeaux - Zadar, from May 2, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of October

Zadar - Bucharest - Zadar, from May 4, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) until the end of October

Zadar - Gothenburg Landvetter - Zadar, from 3 May 2022, twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays), until the end of October

Zadar - Hamburg - Zadar, from May 2, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of October

Zadar - Leeds Bradford - Zadar, from 3 May 2022, twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays), until the end of October

Zadar - Pisa - Zadar, from May 4, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) until the end of August

Zadar - Prague - Zadar, from May 3, 2022, three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) until the end of October

Zadar - Sofia - Zadar, from May 1, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays) until the end of October

Zadar - Warsaw Modlin - Zadar, from May 1, 2022, twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays), until the end of October

Zadar - Wroclaw - Zadar, from May 2, 2022, three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) until the end of October

Lines starting in June:

Zadar - Aarhus - Zadar, from June 3, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of September

Zadar - Bari - Zadar, from June 2, 2022, twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays), until the end of September

Zadar - Bologna - Zadar, from June 2, 2022, twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays), until the end of September

Zadar - Bournemouth - Zadar, from June 4, 2022, twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays), until the end of September

Zadar - Gdansk - Zadar, from June 4, 2022, twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays), until the end of September

Zadar - Helsinki - Zadar, from June 3, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of September

Zadar - Liverpool - Zadar, from June 2, 2022, twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays), until the end of September

Zadar - Maastricht - Zadar, from June 3, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of September

Zadar - Manchester - Zadar, from June 4, 2022, twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays), until the end of September

Zadar - Milan Bergamo - Zadar, from June 2, 2022, three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays) until the end of August

Zadar - Naples - Zadar, from June 3, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of September

Zadar - Nuremberg - Zadar, from June 2, 2022, four times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) until the end of October

Zadar - Turin - Zadar, from June 3, 2022, twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), until the end of September

Zadar - Växjö Småland - Zadar, from June 1, 2022, twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays), until the end of September

The flight schedule is always subject to change.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, check out our dedicated travel section.

March 10, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as four Ryanair Pula summer flights have been announced, and Brussels Airlines returns to Zadar Airport. 

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair will operate on four international routes from Pula Airport this summer. Namely, these are direct flights to destinations in Austria, Belgium, Poland, and the United Kingdom, reports Croatian Aviation.

The first line to London (Stansted Airport) will run from March 27, twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. From June 2, the third weekly flight is added, on Tuesdays, with this flight schedule remaining in force until the end of September. Two-weekly flights have been re-announced for October, with the last Ryanair flight to London on October 27. 

B937-800 aircraft with a capacity of 189 seats have been announced to London. A total of 29,862 seats are available between London and Pula on this Ryanair line.

The very next day, March 28, the line for Brussels Charleroi will start operating, with Ryanair announcing three weekly flights, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, until October 28. B737-800 aircraft have also been announced on this route, with a total of 35,154 seats between Charleroi and Pula.

From June 1, the new Ryanair line between Pula and Vienna will start operating twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, until September 28. A320 aircraft have been announced on this route.

On June 3, the last, fourth line to Pula, from Poznan, Poland, will start operating. Flights have also been announced twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, until September 30. Between Pula, Poznan, and Vienna, the Irish airline is offering a total of 25,200 seats this summer.

On the four announced routes to Pula Airport, Ryanair offers a total of more than 90,000 seats (90,216), and with an average passenger cabin occupancy of 86% (data for February 2022), this airline could bring over 80,000 passengers to Pula this summer.

Belgian airline Brussels Airlines is introducing a scheduled flight between Brussels and Zadar in the upcoming summer flight schedule, reports Croatian Aviation.

The seasonal route between Zadar and Brussels was introduced by the Belgian national airline in the 2018 summer flight schedule, but the line was not in operation during the last two seasons due to the pandemic.

Although it did not announce the line in its initial summer announcement, Brussels Airlines subsequently released tickets for this line, which will start operating on May 7.

The flights will run once a week, every Saturday, and are currently scheduled until the end of the summer flight schedule (October 29). The A319 aircraft with a capacity of 141 seats will operate on the route. 

With the return of Brussels Airlines to Zadar Airport, Zagreb Airport remains the only destination in the country to which this airline has not returned after the lockdown in Europe. Zadar Airport, in addition to the Brussels Airlines line, also has a flight to Charleroi in the summer schedule, operated by Ryanair.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

February 18, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as British Airways Zagreb flights return at the end of the month, and new Norwegian low-cost passenger airline Flyr announced its second route to Zadar. 

British national airline British Airways will resume regular flights between London (Heathrow Airport) and Zagreb from the last day of February, reports Croatian Aviation.

Namely, as of February 28, British Airways has announced it will resume traffic between Zagreb and London. Since the beginning of the pandemic, this airline has very often changed its schedule to Zagreb, continuously canceling a number of flights.

The last time this happened was at the very end of 2021, and now, after less than two months, the airline will resume traffic to the Croatian capital.

Croatia Airlines, which currently operates between the two cities four times a week, and Ryanair, which has reduced the number of flights from seven to five in the first two months of this year, have maintained regular operations on this line.

British Airways planned to return to Zagreb at the beginning of February, but not long after all flights were canceled until February 28. After that, five flights a week were announced for March, and then all flights were canceled on Fridays. Thus, there should be four flights a week in traffic next month, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Unlike the line between London and Zagreb, where there were significant reductions in last year's summer flight schedule, British Airways did not have such problems with flights to the coast (Dubrovnik, Split, and Pula), so larger reductions of announced flights to the coast are not expected in the upcoming summer season.

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, in the summer of 2019, British Airways had a very high demand on the line between Zagreb and London, prices were often quite high and there were as many as 13 flights a week run by the British carrier. 

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that the new Norwegian airline Flyr will introduce another new route to Zadar Airport this summer.

After announcing a regular seasonal line between Zadar and Oslo, Flyr will operate between Zadar and Bergen once a week from June 11, every Saturday. The route has been announced until mid-August, i.e., August 13, and the flights are already on sale on the airline's official website.

This carrier has six B737-800 aircraft in the fleet with a capacity of up to 189 seats. Along with Zadar, Flyr will release tickets on another new line to Croatia on February 22 this year. Namely, Croatian Aviation reveals that in the upcoming summer flight schedule, Flyr will operate on a regular route between Oslo and Dubrovnik. 

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.