Zadar defies trend

Zadar – Croatia’s most successful airport in 2009

As Croatian airports begin reporting their May passenger figures, most of which continue the negative decline trend, one airport in Croatia has defied the negative drift. Zadar Airport, in May this year, reported a growth of around 20% compared to the same month last year. A total of 19.161 passengers passed through Zadar this May while last year the figure stood at 15.850. The most responsible for this sharp rise is the low cost airline Ryanair which began seasonal services from Edinburg and Stockholm to Zadar this summer season. The May growth is not as impressive as April’s figures when the airport reported a 64% increase in passengers. The airport’s management said that the growth in May was lower than in April due to the fact that charter services to Lyon have ceased. In the first five months of this year Zadar is reporting growth of 28% compared to the same period last year with some 42.255 passengers passing through its terminal.

June and July are looking good for the airport as well. Ryanair will commence services from Pisa, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf during the summer months while the Slovakian low cost carrier Danube Wings will also begin new services from Bratislava to Zadar. For the first time since World War Two services between Ancona and Zadar are scheduled to resume his year. Ryanair is now the dominant airline at the airport accounting for over 30% of all traffic. Airport authorities believe that there is significant interest on behalf of passengers for direct services to begin between Zadar and Paris, Barcelona, Oslo, Milan and Marseille. Zadar Airport is currently also home to one of Lufthansa’s pilot schools.