November the 6th, 2026 – Eurowings will keep Split connected to give German cities this winter. The airline is otherwise one of the airport’s most important airlines.
Eurowings will keep Split connected with five German cities even during the winter months. As Slobodna Dalmacija reports, Eurowings is one of the most important airlines at Split Airport. According to the announced winter flight schedule for the 2026/2027 season, the German carrier plans a total of 130 rotations on the routes between Split and Germany, with an estimated capacity of more than 45,300 seats, reported the specialised portal Croatia aviation.
This is important news not only for Split Airport, but also for the entire Dalmatian tourism sector, which in recent years has been trying to reduce the pronounced seasonality and extend the period of operations outside the main summer months. Maintaining direct air links with Germany opens additional possibilities for the arrival of guests in the period when Split traditionally sinks into winter sleep, and the city centre becomes almost ghostly empty, with the exception during Advent. One of the main problems of the high seasonality of tourism is the lack of flights in the winter period, so this announcement from Eurowings also opens the possibility of the arrival of a larger number of guests from Germany, which is particularly dear to Croatians, from where a large number of tourists traditionally come to us, but still most often in the heart of the summer season. This is an opportunity to show them that we have something to offer even during winter.
stuttgart as the most important connection
Eurowings will during the winter operate on five routes from Germany, to Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Berlin and Hamburg. Nevertheless, the traffic will not be evenly distributed throughout the entire winter period. The largest number of rotations is planned on the Split – Stuttgart route, 60 of them, which makes up 46.2 percent of the total number. Düsseldorf follows with 28 rotations and Cologne with 26. These three routes together make up as much as 88 percent of the total planned traffic.
The routes from Berlin and Hamburg will have a significantly shorter period of operation. From Berlin ten rotations are planned, and from Hamburg six are planned. What’s particularly significant is the fact that the route to Stuttgart will operate continuously throughout the entire winter, while Düsseldorf and Cologne will have certain interruptions. Thereby Split is ensured at least one stable direct connection with the German market even in the period of the lowest tourist demand. How significant the German market is for Split is shown by the data of Split Airport. During 2025, passengers from Germany achieved 796,707 passenger arrivals and departures, that is, they made up 20.5 percent of the total traffic of the airport. Eurowings was in the same year the third largest carrier in Split, with approximately 355 thousand passengers transported, almost 55 thousand more than the year before.
Germany is at the same time one of the most important source markets of Croatian tourism. According to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, German tourists during 2025 achieved 21 million overnight stays in Croatia, that is, almost a quarter of all overnight stays of foreign guests.
For Dalmatia as whole, it’s particularly important that the interest of German guests does not have to stop with the end of summer. A city like Split has the potential to attract visitors throughout the whole year thanks to Diocletian’s Palace, cultural and historical contents, gastronomy, excursions, active holidays and the proximity of islands and other Dalmatian destinations.
a prerequisite for extending the season
The announced capacity of more than 45,000 seats doesn’t mean that so many passengers will actually arrive in Split, but it is an important prerequisite for maintaining tourist traffic outside the summer months. Direct flights, namely, reduce the time and costs of travel and facilitate the organisation of shorter holidays and weekend visits, which in the time of a hectic lifestyle is very important. This is also important for Split hoteliers, private renters, restaurants, tourist guides and excursion organisers. Every additional guest in the winter months contributes to the filling of accommodation capacities and the maintenance of business, which without such demand would be concentrated almost exclusively on a few summer months.
How pronounced this problem is is also shown by the Eurostat data according to which Croatia in 2025 was among the most seasonal tourist destinations of the European Union: as many as 54.5 percent of all overnight stays were achieved during July and August. Precisely because of that the development of air connections during winter has a wider meaning than the mere number of flights. Nevertheless, air routes by themselves cannot extend the season. Open hotels, year-round offer of restaurants and cultural contents, quality excursions and coordinated promotion of the destination on source markets are needed.
Eurowings’ winter schedule is therefore a positive signal for Split tourism, but also a reminder of how important it is to develop contents because of which guests will come to Split also in November, January or February, and not only during the months of July and August.
