Brač island houses the youngest Croatian airport, that is currently carrying out their big plans on how to bring as many visitors as possible directly to the island. The airport runway has recently been extended from 1.440 to 1.760 metres in length, now allowing for landing jet aircraft that carries more than 100 passengers. The extension was financed by the owner of BlueSun Hotels Jako Andabak, who invested 5.5 million kuna in the project after realising the modernisation of the airport would work in favour of his hotel business.
In May 2017, the new runway was first visited by an Embraer 190 that took 112 passengers from Brussels to Brač. The representatives of the airport called the event the beginning of connecting their island with the Belgian destination by the TUI fleet.
The last remaining obstacle for the airport to enter the news successful phase of its operation is the final international permit for the expanded part of the runway. The complicated administrative procedure might prolong obtaining of the permit until the beginning of August, thus making them to miss almost half of the high season.
“This is a historic event for our airport and the island tourism, as we can finally land bigger aircraft such as Airbuses 318 and 319. Apart from the tourists being able to travel directly to Brač, we’re taking pressure off the Split Airport. We’re expecting the official permit for the expanded runway at the end of this week, and we’re hoping for a quick reaction of the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency in order to speed up the process of obtaining the international permit”, said Tonči Peović, director of Brač Airport. He added it’s common to wait 72 days for all the parties participating in international air traffic to be informed about the new conditions, which would mean an additional month of waiting.
Peović said he hopes for understanding on the Agency’s part, as they already closed a business deal with TUI for the line Brussels-Brač all the way to September. Flights from Deauville in France are also supposed to bring 30.000 new passengers to Brač – a 50% increase compared with the last year’s record number of arrivals.
After the expansion, Brač Airport can now welcome the mentioned Airbuses 318 and 319, Fokker 70 and 100, Ebrier 170 and 190, and the bombardier C100 and C300.
Source: Morski.hr
