Croatia’s top airports handle 9.6 million passengers

Croatia’s three busiest airports have registered a strong end to a record year in 2019 with the difference between Zagreb and Split reduced to just 30.282 travellers. Following a sluggish summer, Zagreb Airport’s figures rebounded during the last quarter with Croatia’s capital handling 3.435.531 passengers, representing an increase of 3% year-on-year. Growth was particularly strong in December, with numbers improving 7.6%. Driving the growth in the final three months of the year was the collapse of Adria Airways, which has redirected some travellers away from Ljubljana to Zagreb. A contributing factor was also the lead-up to Croatia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, which is taking place over the next six months.

Month	PAX	Change (%)
JAN	191.197	0
FEB	181.154	▲ 6.2
MAR	232.978	▲ 4.2
APR	280.790	▲ 10.6
MAY	311.368	▲ 3.6
JUN	336.618	▲ 1.5
JUL	366.242	▼ 3.4
AUG	376.026	▲ 0.9
SEP	350.138	▲ 1.3
OCT	330.598	▲ 3.9
NOV	247.277	▲ 5.6
DEC	231.145	▲ 7.6

Split Airport, which opened its new passenger terminal over the summer of 2019, ended the year off with a total of 3.301.930 travellers. The airport had more passengers than the country’s overall busiest - Zagreb - from August until the end of November, the longest it has held such a lead. Its General Manager, Lukša Novak, conceded that extreme seasonality may prevent it from overtaking Croatia's main hub on an annual level, but added it was not an impossible task. "Almost half of our annual traffic is achieved during July and August. During the four summer months we have the most passenger traffic in the country. We are extremely seasonal in character but when looking at it on an annual level, we are in second place”, Mr Novak previously said.

Month	PAX	Change (%)
JAN	36.360	▲ 6.9
FEB	34.825	▲ 13.7
MAR	50.037	▼ 5.9
APR	151.381	▲ 25.8
MAY	310.809	▲ 2.2
JUN	513.706	▲ 8.2
JUL	723.048	▲ 4.0
AUG	672.261	▲ 7.0
SEP	470.102	▲ 3.2
OCT	247.172	▲ 9.7
NOV	45.871	▼ 16.4
DEC	41.357	▼ 6.2

Dubrovnik Airport is expected to welcome over three million passengers this year after handling 2.896.227 travellers in 2019. The figure represents growth of 14.1% on the year before. It added an extra 356.815 passengers on 2018. The highlight for the airport in 2019 was the resumption of transatlantic flights after American Airlines introduced seasonal services from Philadelphia. As previously reported, the carrier will extend its flying season and boost frequencies during the summer of 2020. Driving the growth in the last quarter was Turkey’s Freebird Airlines which has been contracted by a local tour operator to run two daily flights to a number of European airports, primarily in Germany, throughout the winter season. “In the past five years we practically doubled our traffic. Getting close to three million passengers is a significant achievement. In 2019 we targeted growth of 5% but it reached 14%”, the General Manager of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, said. The airport anticipates for its figures to grow around 4% in 2020, although it has continuously exceeded its targets over the past few years.

Month	PAX	Change (%)
JAN	26.323	▲ 18.1
FEB	33.765	▲ 40.3
MAR	57.880	▲ 21.4
APR	210.803	▲ 39.0
MAY	315.037	▲ 8.1
JUN	415.876	▲ 13.8
JUL	514.723	▲ 8.4
AUG	524.615	▲ 8.9
SEP	405.924	▲ 5.1
OCT	299.532	▲ 22.7
NOV	56.924	▲ 113.9
DEC	34.825	▲ 49.9

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EX-YU Aviation News

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