Dubrovnik Airport will end 2018 with a record-breaking 2.54 million passengers, which is 9.5 percent more than last year. Next year, the airport expects to increase the number of passengers by 4.6 percent, said Frano Luetić, Dubrovnik Airport Managing Director, reports Poslovni.hr on December 15, 2018.
At a press conference on Friday, Luetić said that this year’s revenue is expected to be 415.3 million kuna or 16.3 percent more than last year, and it is estimated that the net profit will amount to 72 million kuna and is in line with the gain for the past year. The expected operating profit is 170 million kuna, which is an increase of 14 percent compared to last year.
“The year was a bit intense and turbulent, but our plan to grow by 10 percent has almost come to fruition. We have always had double-digit growth, and this year it is above the international average, and we are proud of that,” Luetić said.
Luetić recalled that this year, as part of the “Dubrovnik Airport Development” project, worth 225 million euro (of which 158.3 million euro came from EU funds), a new passenger terminal was built, enabling “the comfortable travel of passengers through the airport, and the reconstruction of maneuvering areas”.
He also highlighted works on the reconstruction of the runway tracks, which saw 1200 meters completed by the tourist season. The central part of the runway was reconstructed after the season and traffic normalized on December 10th. Work on the track will continue and is expected to be completed by March 15, 2019.
According to the announcements, Dubrovnik Airport expects the most significant growth from Western and Central Europe, especially the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
However, as the most crucial event, Luetić pointed out the arrival of the world’s largest carrier – American Airlines.
“After 28 years, Croatia and the US – Dubrovnik and Philadelphia will be connected for the first time. American Airlines is the largest company in the world, employs more than 150,000 people, has 950 aircraft, and will connect Dubrovnik three times a week from June to the end of September with the Boeing 767 aircraft which has business and economy class,” Luetić said.
Among others, he stressed that the FlyDubai aircraft would continue to fly to Dubrovnik Airport, and the arrival of the largest European low-cost carrier Ryanair will be announced, which will connect Dubrovnik twice a week to Dublin.
In 2019, Dubrovnik Airport will see between 65 and 70 active airlines.
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