September 19, 2023 – Of the nine Croatian airports, only the one in Rijeka had fewer passengers in July than in July 2022. The highest number of passengers passed through Split airport, 742.8 thousand, which is 37 percent in total of all airports in July. Data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) also show that in seven months, there were 20 percent more passengers than last year in all airports.
The total number of passengers in all airports in Croatia in July was almost two million, writes Index. That is 12.7 percent more than in the same month last year 2022. The Split airport, with the most passengers among all, achieved an increase of 16.2 percent. Dubrovnik airport follows with 444.8 thousand passengers or 4.7 percent more, Zagreb airport with 366.4 thousand passengers counted 12 percent more than in July last year.
Highest Increase Among Croatian Airports: Zadar
The most significant increase among all Croatian airports in July this year of 23.1 percent was recorded by Zadar airport with 283.3 thousand passengers. Pula airport had 7.3 percent more passengers or 107.8 thousand.
Rijeka airport, on the other hand, with a little more than 37 thousand passengers, is down 7.6 percent compared to July last year. Osijek airport, with a small base of a little more than 5,700 passengers, is up by a whopping 182 percent.
And the two only island airports, on Brač and Mali Lošinj, had more passengers in July than in the same month last year. Brač had nearly 4,500 passengers or 28 percent more, while Lošinj had 367 passengers or 1.4 percent more. In July, there were 6.4 percent more aircraft operations at Croatian airports than last year – 19,430, while cargo traffic was 11 percent lower at 805 tons.
20 Percent More Passengers in 7 Months
Cargo traffic in airports is also lower at the seven-month level by five percent, with this year’s 5,342 tons. Passenger traffic, however, with a total of 6.1 million, is 20.3 percent higher than in the same period in 2022.
The number of aircraft operations increased by 6.7 percent, to 69,415, in the seven months of this year compared to last year.
