The 6 Largest Airports in Croatia 

Croatia is a nation on the Balkan Peninsula’s northwest coast. It is a tiny crescent-shaped nation with a very diversified geographic landscape. The northern city of Zagreb serves as its capital.

The historical Croatian regions of Croatia-Slavonia (in the upper arm of the nation), Istria (placed in the centre of the Istrian Peninsula on the northern Adriatic coast), and Dalmatia make up the modern republic (corresponding to the coastal strip). The Latin alphabet, Roman law, and Western European political and economic traditions and institutions were left behind in these countries despite being dominated for centuries by numerous foreign nations. 

Croatia, which was part of Yugoslavia for much of the 20th century, suffered greatly from the breakup of that federation in the early 1990s. Croatia finally achieved its European destiny when it joined the European Union in 2013. According to Croatian Canadian historian Tony Fabijani, Croatia’s turbulent early years as a nation have also clouded its long past. 

Serbia’s Vojvodina area forms the eastern boundary of the upper arm of the Croatian crescent, while Slovenia and Hungary form the northern border. The crescent’s body is a lengthy stretch of coastline that runs beside the Adriatic Sea, and its southern point reaches Montenegro. Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina share a lengthy border within the depression of the crescent; however, this boundary essentially divides south Croatia from the rest of the nation by cutting a slender corridor to the Adriatic.

Largest Airports in Croatia 

Croatia Airports

Zagreb International Airport

Croatia’s main airport, Zagreb International Airport, is a significant entry point for business and tourists, making it a vital part of the national economy. Although the airport could handle two million people annually, the demand for airport services rose. In 2009, the Croatian government decided to construct and run a new terminal under a public-private partnership.

After winning the bid, the Zagreb Airport International Company (ZAIC) assumed control of the airport’s management in December 2013. The new terminal was inaugurated in March 2017.

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Deutsche Bank, and Unicredit Bank Austria financed the project.

In Croatia, tourism is a significant economic factor and a big source of jobs. The 1962-built Zagreb International Airport had undergone several stages of development. But by 2009, it was evident that the passenger terminal, with a two million passenger capacity annually, could not meet rising market demand. After the government launched a competition for its design, a public-private partnership would be used to build and operate the new port.

The project involved building a brand-new, cutting-edge passenger terminal as part of a 30-year concession to expand capacity at Zagreb International Airport, the biggest airport in the county. By the concession, the operator also oversees the maintenance and operation of the whole airport through the year 2042, including runway renovations and upkeep, as well as future property projects, the cargo terminal, and parking lots. The project also involved building a brand-new, 1.8-kilometre access road to link the new 65,000-square-meter terminal with the neighbourhood’s road system. The terminal was supposed to be renovated and rented out to airport customers.

Split Airport

The international airport servicing Split, Croatia, is called Split Airport (Croatian: Zrana Luka Split), sometimes known as Resnik Airport (Croatian: Zrana Luka Resnik). It is located west of Katella Bay, in Split, in the town of Katella, and stretches into Trogir, just next door.

The airport handled 3.3 million passengers in 2019, making it the second busiest in Croatia after Zagreb Airport. During Europe’s peak summer travel season, it is a popular leisure flight destination and a key target location for Croatia Airlines. It operates flights to popular European destinations, including Athens, Frankfurt, London, and Paris.

The first grass airfield was at Sinj, and the Yugoslav airline Aeroput launched the first commercial service there in 1931. It maintained this route up to the outbreak of World War II, connecting Zagreb with Belgrade via Rijeka, Split, and Sarajevo. These flights linked Split to the Sinj airfield or its Divulge seaplane station.

The airport was moved from Sinj to Resnik in the 1960s. On 25 November 1966, the brand-new airport facility, created by architect Darko Stipevski (Tehnika, Zagreb), was officially inaugurated. Only 200 by 112 metres in size, the apron featured 6 parking spaces and a 150,000-passenger capacity. Passenger counts reached 150,737 in 1968 and 235,000 in 1969. The apron was initially enlarged in 1967 to make room for 10 planes.

To handle traffic for the 8th Mediterranean Games, hosted in Split in September of that year, a new, more enormous terminal building, designed by architect Branko Gruica (Projektant, Mostar), was built and inaugurated in 1979. With 1,151,580 passengers and 7,873 landings, 1987 had the highest pre-war passenger figures.

As the war in the former Yugoslavia broke out in 1991, the passenger numbers decreased almost to nil. Most of the traffic in the following years was carried by NATO and UN cargo aircraft, including the C-5 Galaxy, MD-11, Boeing 747, and C-130 Hercules. After 1995, civilian traffic numbers increased again, eventually breaking the mark set in 1987 and 2008.

In 2005, architect Ivan Vuli (VV-Projekt, Split) significantly redesigned the terminal, adding a new gate, a glass façade, and the acclaimed airport entry structure made of steel and fabric “trees” lighted by multicoloured LEDs.

The new apron, created by Ivan Vuli, Ivan Radeljak, and Mate Aja, was built in 2011 and has a slightly higher capacity than the previous one while offering improved security. This upgrade, which cost €13 million, added 34,000 m2 of extra aircraft parking space and room for upcoming administrative projects underneath the apron. 

Warehouses, workshops, offices, and other facilities are located on the lower level, supporting the adjacent 34,500 m2 HRK 455 million terminal structure. The new apron has an innovative sound barrier on the south side that can be closed when an aircraft is nearby and opened at all other times to provide a terminal building with a somewhat uninterrupted view of the Adriatic Sea.

June, July, and August are the busiest months at the airport due to a significant inflow of travellers during the European summer vacation season. The busiest time of the week is on the weekends when there are over 200 flights and over 50,000 people. There are a thousand olive trees on the airport grounds.

A project to expand the terminal building was finished in the summer of 2019, adding more than three times the floor space of the original terminal building and raising the capacity to 5 million passengers annually. This was done because there had been a significant increase in the number of passengers, especially during the summer months. While the new sections house check-in, all domestic departures, international and domestic arrivals, and baggage claim, the original terminal has been renovated and is still used for select foreign departures.

As part of the extension project, an enclosed bridge that crosses State Road D409 will transport visitors to newly constructed parking lots, bus terminals, and rental car facilities. Due to limited apron space and the fact that low-cost airlines make up most of the airport’s airlines, it was decided not to incorporate jet bridges in the current extension.

Dubrovnik Airport

The international airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia, is called Ilipi Airport. The distance between the airport and the heart of Dubrovnik is around 15.5 kilometres (9.5 mi). In terms of passenger throughput, it was Croatia’s third busiest airport in 2019, behind Split Airport and Zagreb Airport. Additionally, it boasts the longest runway in the nation, enabling it to take big long-haul aircraft. 

During the peak of the European summer vacation season, the airport is a popular stop for leisure flights. In 1936, the first route to the city was established using a seaplane station in Dubrovnik by the flag carrier of Yugoslavia, Aeroput. Sarajevo connected Belgrade, the national capital, with Dubrovnik. A route to Zagreb was launched the following year. However, it wasn’t until 1938 that Dubrovnik had a notable uptick in air travel, thanks to Aeroput’s frequent flights to Vienna, Brno, and Prague with stops in Sarajevo and Zagreb as well as the start of a route between Belgrade and Tirana that also made a stop in Dubrovnik.

The Gruda Airfield opened for commercial traffic in 1936. It was only used in the summer and was the city’s first service airfield. However, because of World War II, Aeroput activities were halted in the early 1940s. In 1962, the modern Dubrovnik Airport was inaugurated. In 1987, the most significant year in Yugoslav aviation, the airport served 835,818 passengers on foreign flights and 586,742 on domestic flights. After Yugoslavia’s dissolution, the airport’s passenger volume topped one million in 2005.

Today, Dubrovnik is home to the nation’s most cutting-edge passenger terminal. The previous airport building, constructed in 1962, has been dismantled to make room for a new contemporary facility, and a new terminal has been installed. 

The project will cost 70 million euros and be paid using a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A new terminal with a floor area of 13,700 square metres opened in May 2010. The Dubrovnik Airport can accommodate two million people annually.

A, B, and C are the three terminal sections at the airport in Dubrovnik. Having replaced Terminal A for all passenger departures, including check-in and security screening, the new roomy Terminal C was inaugurated in February 2017 and was fully operational in April 2017. The new terminal has about 1,000 square metres of check-in and commercial space, eight security lanes, a departure lounge with shops and catering services, a premium lounge, and restaurants. 

It also has sixteen gates, two of which are used for local flights and the other fourteen for international ones. The airport’s yearly capacity has expanded to 3.5 million passengers and has a space of 24,181 square metres. The Terminal A building, which is permanently closed to passenger operations, is currently only used as a baggage sorting facility. The present Terminal B building welcomes passengers and is just next to the new Terminal C. 

The two have been integrated to form one cohesive system. Long-term plans for the airport include calling for a new runway and converting the current runway into a taxiway. Plans also include an expansive commercial zone and a four-star airport hotel.

Zadar Airport

is a global airport that serves Zadar, Croatia. It is situated in the heart of Zadar, in Zemunik Donji. Ala Littoria began offering regular commercial flights to Zadar as early as 1936. With an annual passenger volume of 801,347, the airport has expanded to Croatia’s fourth-largest international airport. 

It once belonged to a select group of airports where a taxiway spanned a public road. However, on April 7, 2010, the route was shut down due to conditions established with the European Union during Croatia’s admission talks. Beginning in April 2013, Zadar Airport housed a stationed Boeing 737-800 as part of Ryanair’s facility there. 

It travels to eight European locations, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Poland. Lauda said in December 2019 that three Airbus A320 aircraft will be stationed during the summer 2020 schedule. The airline has announced a package of 11 new flights for the 2020 summer season. The airline delayed the base’s debut until July 2021 because of the COVID-19 epidemic, where it would station two Airbus A320-200s and provide 37 routes.

Pula Airport

is 6 kilometres from the city centre and serves Pula, Croatia. It is designated as the backup airport for several cities in eastern Italy and some areas of Slovenia. It is an essential gateway to Pula and much of Istria, including the Brijuni National Park.

The current location of Pula Airport was formerly primarily utilised for military functions, but as of 1 May 1967, it was converted to a civil airport and welcomed 701,370 passengers in 1987. Beginning the same year, construction on a new terminal building that could accommodate 1 million people annually was started. 

The Croatian War of Independence has resulted in a significant decrease in traveller volume. Over the subsequent three decades, airport passenger traffic increased steadily, breaking the previous record in 2018. Flight numbers have a vital seasonal component because vacationers make up the majority of passengers travelling to and from Pula airport. 

One terminal building at Pula Airport can accommodate one million passengers annually. The airport deals with international and domestic flights. The terminal has a few café/snack bars and a duty-free shop. The passengers either walk from the terminal building to the aircraft or use a bus because none of the gates has jet bridges. It is commonly utilised by European carriers for training flights because of its location, generally favourable weather throughout the year, and reduced flight volumes during the winter.

Rijeka Airport

is the primary airport serving Rijeka, Croatia. It is 17 kilometres from the Rijeka train station, on the island of Krk, close to Omialj. Several European low-cost airlines that transport visitors to the northern Croatian coast utilise the airport during the summer when most traffic to and from it happens. In May 1970, the airport in Rijeka opened.

Josip Broz Tito and his wife were on the first flight out. Before World War II, Rijeka was split between Yugoslavia and Italy. The Sauk airstrip provided service to the Yugoslavian section of the city. In 1930, Aeroput established a route connecting Sauk with Zagreb; a year later, a line connecting Zagreb with Belgrade through Sauk, Split, and Sarajevo was established. 

In 1936, Aeroput connected the city to Belgrade, Borovo, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Split, and Zagreb. Regular flights operated by the Italian airline Ala Littoria connected the city’s Italian section to other Italian cities. The Grobnik airport had trouble handling bigger aircraft since its runways were near the city’s eastern hills. The decision to locate on Krk was made after evaluating places near Opatija and Urinj, which would have necessitated shifting some hills as larger airliners began to take flight.

The single terminal building at Rijeka Airport was constructed for the airport’s initial operation in 1970. Minor improvements have been made over the years. There are 7 gates in the terminal, 1 domestic and 6 foreign. No gates have jet bridges; thus, passengers board the aircraft by walking from the terminal straight to the gate. There is just one luggage belt in the arrivals area.

A modest duty-free shop focusing on locally created goods may be found on the upper floor along with a café bar. A second bar with a small range of food is situated in the entry hall prior. After the security check, there are no facilities for domestic departures. Several automobile rental companies have open offices in the summer. The airport has a 2500 m long, 45 m wide runway. Since there are no taxiways, an aircraft must turn at the end of the runway and return to the terminal by taxiing down the runway. CAT I ILS landing aids are present on Runway 14.