First Commercial Seaplane Service Lands in Jelsa, Hvar

Croatian tourism was revolutionised on Tuesday when the first commercial seaplane flight landed in Jelsa on the island of Hvar just after 9:15am…

The 13-minute flight from Split was more than a decade in the making after bureaucracy stalled European Coastal Airlines plans, but they finally were off the ground on Tuesday after getting Croatian Civil Aviation approval to fly on Monday. The DHC-6 Twin Otter had ECA staff, reporters and two passengers on board its first flight to Jelsa, and were greeted by the town’s Mayor on arrival, as well as by well-known Jelsa wine producer Andro Tomić bearing a gift of one his fine wines.

ECA’s seaplanes will fly between Resnik and Jelsa four times a day, leaving Split at 9:00, 11:26, 14:52 and 17:18, and returning from Jelsa at 10:13, 12:39, 16:05 and 18:31. The seaplanes can carry up to 19 passengers. ECA plan to fly to Rab and Pula in the next phase, before connecting all Croatian islands with the mainland, including Zadar, Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Italian cities such as Brindisi, Bari, Foggia, Ancona, Rimini, Ravenna, Bologna, Padova, Trst and Venice in the future. Booking information can be found on ECA’s website here. (pic: ECA)