Croatian airports report sharp declines in activity in January-November 2020

ZAGREB, Dec 13 (Hina) – Croatian airports have reported sharp declines in the numbers of passengers and flights and the amounts of cargo handled in the first 11 months of 2020 as a result of the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, related travel restrictions, and lower demand for air travel.

Statistics posted on the airports’ websites show that all the airports have been in the red since March, with slightly higher turnovers from June to the end of September, but still considerably lower than in the same months of 2019.

The country’s largest airport, Zagreb’s Franjo Tudjman Airport, registered 883,300 passengers in the first 11 months of 2020, compared with 3.4 million in the same period of 2019, and operated 20,100 flights, against 45,000 last year.

In November 2020 alone, Zagreb Airport was used by 42,700 passengers, or 83% fewer than in November 2019, the number of flights was halved, to slightly over 1,500, and 857 tonnes of cargo was handled, compared with 1,000 tonnes in November 2019.

Split Airport recorded 665,700 passengers in the January-November period of this year, compared with 3.3 million in the corresponding period of last year. In November alone, slightly over 8,000 passengers used this airport, a decrease of 82% in relation to the same month of 2019.

Split Airport’s website, as well as that of Dubrovnik Airport, did not provide data on flights and cargo. Dubrovnik Airport served 325,800 passengers in the first 11 months of this year, down from 2.9 million in the same period of last year. In November alone, it registered slightly over 4,000 passengers, compared with 57,000 in November 2019.

Zadar Airport logged 119,800 passengers in January-November 2020, compared with 798,700 in the same period of 2019. In November alone, it recorded 417 passengers, or 89.2% fewer than in November last year. Just like in November 2019, this November the airport did not handle any cargo and operated 79 aircraft, a decrease of 65.3%.

Rijeka Airport stood out from other airports in that it operated 53.8% more aircraft this November than last year or 200 against 130 in November 2019. In the 11 months of this year, their number was 3,200, or 1,700 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2019.

The three remaining airports – Osijek, Pula and Brac – did not provide relevant data on their websites.