Passenger traffic through Croatia’s airports climbed to nearly 14 million in 2025, marking a strong year for the country’s aviation sector and underscoring the continued recovery and growth of travel demand, according to new figures from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
The data show that total passenger numbers rose by seven percent compared with 2024, while aircraft operations — landings and take-offs — increased by 4.4 percent, reaching almost 145,000 movements nationwide. Growth was recorded at eight of Croatia’s airports, with the strongest performance once again centred on the capital.
Zagreb Airport handled the largest number of passengers in 2025, welcoming almost 4.7 million travellers, a rise of 9.2 percent year on year. It was followed by Split Airport, which recorded 3.8 million passengers, up 7.5 percent.
In third place was Dubrovnik Airport, which saw nearly 3.1 million passengers, representing an increase of 4.4 percent compared with the previous year. The figures confirm Dubrovnik’s position as one of the country’s key international gateways, particularly for leisure and tourism travel.
More than one million passengers also passed through Zadar Airport, which handled 1.6 million travellers in 2025, a modest but solid increase of three percent.
Smaller regional airports recorded mixed results. Pula Airport and Rijeka Airport both posted growth of around nine percent, with 542,000 and 153,000 passengers respectively. Osijek Airport, however, was the only larger airport to record a decline, handling 42,000 passengers, down 4.7 percent from 2024.
On the islands, Brač Airport saw passenger numbers fall by 11.3 percent, to around 17,500 travellers, while the small airfield on Mali Lošinj Airport recorded a sharp increase of 28.3 percent, albeit from a low base, with just over 1,900 passengers.
While passenger numbers rose, cargo traffic declined, falling by 12 percent over the year to just over 9,600 tonnes. The downward trend continued in December, when cargo volumes were 8.7 percent lower than in the same month of 2024. Passenger traffic, however, remained resilient at the end of the year: Croatian airports handled 419,000 passengers in December, a rise of 6.6 percent, with the majority — more than 330,000 travellers — passing through Zagreb.
Taken together, the figures paint a picture of a busy and increasingly centralised aviation network, driven by strong demand for travel to and through Croatia. While regional disparities remain, the overall trend points to continued momentum for Croatian airports as tourism, connectivity and year-round travel continue to expand.