Covid-19 epidemic halves Croatia's airline passenger traffic for March 2020

PIXSELL/Marko Prpić

Passenger traffic in Croatia's airports had expectedly experienced a sharp decline in March due to the coronavirus epidemic, with major airports reporting year-on-year fall of nearly 60 percent or more in passenger volume.

Although sweeping restrictions imposed to contain the outbreak did not include suspending all airline traffic like in neighbouring Slovenia or elsewhere around Europe, passenger volumes fell drastically.

Zagreb Airport reported 97,000 passengers in March a 58 percent year-on-year drop. Flights were cut by about a third, to 2,310 last month, and the amount of cargo handled by Zagreb Airport dropped to 829 tonnes, down from 959 tonnes in March 2019.

Split Airport saw a year-on-year decline of 67 percent in the number of passengers this March, to 16,500. Zadar Airport reported 2,900 passengers – a 51 percent decline – while Rijeka Airport registered a grand total of 292 passengers in March, an 87 percent year-on-year drop.

Dubrovnik Airport has not released monthly figures yet. After one of airport’s employees had tested positive for Covid-19, the airport was closed in the latter half of March, with management saying the airport is likely to lose around 40 million kuna in projected revenues  for this year’s March and April alone.