March the 5th, 2026 – A large project could end up resulting in a brand new Croatian airport. It’s actually an old idea, but in typical Croatian fashion, many obstacles proved too much… until now.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, an expensive project could finally result in a long-anticipated new Croatian airport just a few dozen kilometres from Zadar Airport in Zemunik. The potential future facility will also not be far from the planned future Šibenik Airport in Pokrovnik. Should all go to plan, it will be constructed in Stankovci, reports N1.
a brand new croatian airport – the revival of an old idea
As touched on above, the idea for the construction of a brand new Croatian Airport is actually a fairly old ambition that Zadar County has never given up on. Obstacles caused issues, but now the county is selling the land off for the fifth time. Unlike previous tenders when there was no interest, one offer has already arrived.
The construction of the future brand new Croatian Airport in Stankovci is currently the closest to realisation in the last two decades than ever before. The decision to sell off almost a million square metres of land to the only interested bidder is now before the County Assembly. The project has been slowly developed for the past fifteen or so years by a company aptly called Aerodrom Stankovci. That company’s ownership was taken over a year ago by the Šibenik-based company owned by a Zagreb doctor.
“The Aerodrom Stankovci company has invested several million euros in the development of the project so far and has a clear interest in developing it further. This tender plans to develop the project in accordance with the existing and adopted spatial plans of the Municipality and County, which is completely acceptable to us, which is why we applied for the Tender,” revealed Miljenko Bura, the owner and director of Bura Group doo, in a statement.
the ideal environmental conditions
Immediately in the hinterland of coastal tourist centres and marinas from Šibenik to Zadar, in the Stankovci region, the terrain structure and meteorological conditions are favourable for a runway. They’re also perfect for the construction of accompanying hangars for servicing, maintaining and storing various types of small aircraft.
“This will be a small airport suitable for private aircraft, and it’s being built for sports and business purposes. As such, it will in no way be in conflict with the nearby airport in Zemunik or with any other commercial airport,” assured Nikica Miletić, head of the Zadar County Board of Public Procurement and Asset Management.
In previous periods, businessmen from Hong Kong, Germany, Turkey and the USA were also all interested in investing in the future Stankovci Airport. Although the Municipality of Stankovci has been pushing this project of a small airport for decades, the Mayor of the Municipality told us that he wasn’t actually made aware of this specific, latest offer and that he couldn’t comment on it as yet.
will a new croatian airport be in operation within 8 years?
The state has unsuccessfully announced a tender for the sale of land three times so far, and now Zadar County is selling it off for the second time for 769,100 euros.
“This time, we put in the tender that the airport must be put into operation within eight years. If the airport is not put into operation within that period, Zadar County, or rather Croatia as the state, reserves the right to repurchase it,” added Mayor Miletić. A small airport would mean a new perspective in development for the municipality of only 2,000 inhabitants, as well as for the entire region.
