Dubrovnik AirportHigh European demand

Duborvnik Airport

Every other week European carriers are announcing that they are including Dubrovnik, located on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, in their destinations network. Tourism is the most obvious reason for flight operations with people, particularly from the European Union, wanting to travel direct from their city to Dubrovnik. However with careful planning and management even a long haul service could be profitable on a seasonal basis.

There is no direct air service to Milan and Nice. This, in spite of the increased number of tourists from the region. The number of people arriving by cars from these cities is significant and when translated into figures could become a profitable air service. There are many charter flights during the summer season flying from Dubrovnik to Paris. According to passenger figures, there is high demand for direct morning flights. These passengers use time-consuming intermediate airports to reach Paris. Lisbon, in Portugal, could become a profitable summer destination. Figures show that there are a large number of Portuguese visitors. Since there is no direct connection, they use indirect flights to reach Dubrovnik and the rest of the region. Slovenians are ranked very high on the list of visitors to Dubrovnik according to figures submitted by the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, but with no air service, the only option is to arrive by road. Other destinations inside Europe that can be proved profitable due to high demand include Moscow, St. Petersburg, Salzburg, Venice, Hamburg, Warsaw, Berlin, Athens, Istanbul and Budapest.
More than 3.000 passengers travelled to Dubrovnik from New York in 2008. In the 1980s there was daily direct service between the two cities and this has not resumed despite demand evidence. Due to the fact that the situation in the 80s was much different, today this service could be made profitable with scheduled charter flights during the summer.

Dubrovnik Airport offers an airport charge incentive programme for airlines interested in taking up new routes, additional frequencies, or year-round traffic. Besides financial support, the airport offers assisted advertising as well.

In January you can read more airport analysis that will be published on the blog.