Zadar Airport

"ZAD" redirects here. For places known by the French acronym "ZAD" (zone à défendre), see Zone to Defend.

Zadar Airport (Croatian: Zračna luka Zadar; IATA: ZAD, ICAO: LDZD) is an international airport serving Zadar, Croatia. It is located in Zemunik Donji, 8 km (5 mi) from the centre of Zadar.^[1] With over 70 destinations on offer the airport handled around 1,6 million passengers in 2024.^[2] It is the fourth busiest airport in Croatia.

Zadar Airport Zračna luka Zadar/Zemunik
IATA: ZAD ICAO: LDZD
Summary
Airport type	Public / Military
Operator	Zadar Airport Ltd.
Serves	Zadar
Location	Zemunik Donji, Croatia
Hub for	Ryanair
Focus city for	Croatia Airlines
Elevation AMSL	289 ft / 88 m
Coordinates	44°06′30″N 015°20′48″E
Website	www.zadar-airport.hr/en/
Map
ZAD Location of the airport in Croatia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 13/31 2,500 8,202 Concrete 04/22 2,000 6,562 Asphalt
Statistics (2024)
Passengers 1,593,413 29.46%
Croatian Aeronautical Information Publication[1]

History

As early as 1936, Zadar (then part of the Italian Province of Zara) had regular commercial flights, initially provided by Ala Littoria.^[3] Over time the airport has grown to become Croatia's fourth largest international airport. It used to be one of a few airports in the world where the taxiway crossed a public road. The road was closed on 7 April 2010 due to terms negotiated with the European Union during Croatian accession negotiations.^[4] In 2020, an underpass was built and the road was reopened.

In April 2013, Zadar Airport became a Ryanair base with a stationed Boeing 737-800. In December 2019, Lauda announced the stationing of three Airbus A320 aircraft during the summer 2020 timetable period. A set of 11 new routes was announced by the airline for summer 2020.^[5] Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the airline postponed the opening of the base to July 2021, where it will station two Airbus A320-200 and serve 37 destinations.^[6]

Facilities

The airport also is a Croatian Air Force main training base. It used to be a base for Lufthansa's InterCockpit flight school.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Zadar Airport:

Waiting area

Airlines	Destinations
Air Serbia	Seasonal: Belgrade[7][8]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna[9][10]
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels[11][12]
Croatia Airlines	Munich,[13] Pula,[14] Zagreb[14]
Discover Airlines	Seasonal: Frankfurt[15]
easyJet	Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse,[16] Berlin, London–Gatwick, Lyon (begins 23 June 2025),[17] Milan–Malpensa
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich (begins 28 June 2025)[18][19]
Eurowings	Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn,[20] Düsseldorf,[21] Hamburg, Stuttgart[22]
FLYYO	Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv[23]
LOT Polish Airlines	Seasonal: Zielona Góra[24]
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Frankfurt,[25] Munich[26]
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg[27][28]
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen,[29] Oslo[29]
People's	Seasonal: St. Gallen/Altenrhein[30]
Ryanair[31][32]	Seasonal: Aarhus, Barcelona,[33] Bari (begins 2 May 2025),[34] Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham,[35] Bologna,[36] Bournemouth,[37] Bratislava (begins 2 June 2025),[38] Bremen, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen,[39] Cork,[40] Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gdańsk, Gothenburg, Hahn,[41] Hamburg, Helsinki,[38] Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Katowice,[42] Kaunas,[43] Košice,[44] Kraków, Leeds/Bradford,[45] Liverpool,[37] London–Stansted, Maastricht/Aachen, Manchester, Marseille, Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa,[46] Münster/Osnabrück,[47] Newcastle upon Tyne, Nuremberg,[48] Pisa,[49] Poznań, Prague, Rome–Fiumicino (begins 3 May 2025),[50] Rzeszów,[51] Sofia,[38] Stockholm–Arlanda, Växjö, Vienna,[52] Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze, Wrocław
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Copenhagen[53]
Sky Alps	Seasonal: Verona[54]
Trade Air	Osijek,[14] Rijeka[14]
Transavia	Seasonal: Paris–Orly[55][better source needed], Rotterdam/The Hague[56]

Statistics

Traffic at Zadar Airport ^[57]

Year	Passengers	Cargo (kg)
1976	146,000	N/A
2014	496,697	7,275
2015	487,652	12,791
2016	520,226	26,450
2017	589,468	5,925
2018	604,039	19,953
2019	801,347	2,517
2020	120,747	50
2021	513,093	274
2022	1,102,381	1,045
2023	1,230,835	80
2024	1,593,413	150

References

1. AIP from the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
2. "Record traffic in 2024". 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
3. Ala Littoria, Timetableimages.com
4. "Zatvorena cesta Zadar-Zemunik koja presijeca zračnu pistu - Jutarnji.hr". Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
5. "Ryanair brings back the base and introduces 11 new lines". Zadar-airport.hr. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
6. "Malta-registered airline Lauda Europe to set up new base in Croatia". Times of Malta. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
7. Liu, Jim. "Air Serbia outlines S19 network expansion". Routesonline.com. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
8. "Air Serbia NS24 Systemwide Flight Number Changes".
9. Liu, Jim. "Eurowings transfers selected Vienna service to Austrian from Jan 2020". Routesonline.com. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
10. Liu, Jim. "Austrian adds Zadar service from July 2020". Routesonline.com. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
11. "BRUSSELS AIRLINES GROWS AGAIN". 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
12. "Brussels Airlines Destinations". 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
13. "Croatia Airlines najavila zimski red letenja!". 16 August 2023.
14. "LIST OF PUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATIONS" (PDF). Aeroroutes.com. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
15. "EUROWINGS DISCOVER ASSUMES ADDITIONAL LUFTHANSA CROATIA SERVICE IN NS24".
16. Liu, Jim (31 December 2019). "easyJet S20 new routes as of 27DEC19". Routesonline.com.
17. "EasyJet uvodi šestu liniju prema Zadru". 20 December 2024.
18. "Edelweiss bringt für Sommer 2025 fünf neue saisonale Ziele". Aerotelegraph. 30 October 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
19. "Edelweiss with five new holiday destinations in summer 2025". Edelweiss Air. 30 October 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
20. Liu, Jim (13 March 2024). "Eurowings NS24 Leased Smartwings 737-800 Operating Routes". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
21. Liu, Jim (14 February 2023). "Eurowings NS23 Network Update – 12FEB23". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
22. Liu, Jim (14 February 2023). "Eurowings NS23 Network Update – 12FEB23". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
23. "FLYYO Launches Charter Operations to 26 Destinations from Tel Aviv! — Flyyo". flyyo.com. FLYYO by Aerro Direkt. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
24. "LOT returning to Zadar". 23 May 2023.
25. Liu, Jim. "Lufthansa expands Croatia/Poland routes in S18". Routesonline.com. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
26. Liu, Jim (22 January 2024). "Lufthansa / Air Dolomiti NS24 European Network/Frequency Changes – 21JAN24". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
27. Liu, Jim. "Luxair Adds New Leisure Routes in S16 :: Routesonline". Airlineroute.net. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
28. "Luxair NS24 Croatia Service Increases". Aeroroutes.
29. "Norwegian NS24 Network Additions – 14NOV23". AeroRoutes.
30. "EKSKLUZIVNO: People's pokreće letove za Zadar – zamaaero".
31. "Ryanair opens a new Zadar base for summer '21". Zadar-airport.hr. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
32. "Ryanair NS23 A320 Network Additions – 05FEB23". Aeroroutes.
33. "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
34. "Najavljena nova linija Ryanaira iz Zadra, objavljena statistika za studeni". croatianaviation.com. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
35. "Ryanair unveils 24 new routes for summer 2022". Travelweekly.co.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
36. "Ryanair to launch new Zagreb service". 3 February 2023.
37. "12 Ryanair Zadar Summer Flights Postponed Until Beginning of June". Total-croatia-news.com. 4 January 2022. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
38. "Nova linija Ryanaira: letovi za Bratislavu od lipnja!". Croatianaviation.com. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
39. "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
40. "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
41. "Ryanair to close Frankfurt airport base". Businesstraveller.com. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
42. "Ryanair najavio još jednu novu liniju za Zadar". 5 March 2024.
43. "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
44. "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
45. "Ryanair's summer schedule at Leeds Bradford Airport to include new flights to Barcelona, Paris and Zadar". Yorkshirepost.co.uk. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
46. "RYANAIR NS23 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 05DEC22". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
47. "RYANAIR NS23 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 05DEC22". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
48. "Ryanair: Ninth route from Zadar to Germany". Avioradar.hr. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
49. "Ryanair to add new Italy - Zadar routes". Exyuaviation.com. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
50. "Ryanair NS25 Network Additions – 01DEC24". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
51. "RYANAIR NS23 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 05DEC22". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
52. "Wien: Ryanair bedient Suceava und Zadar nicht im Winter 2022/23". 15 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
53. "SAS NS23 EUROPEAN NETWORK ADDITIONS". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
54. "SkyAlps najavio dvije linije iz Italije prema Hrvatskoj". croatianaviation.com. 2 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
55. "Fly to Zadar (Croatia)". Transavia.com. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
56. "Transavia offers new summer destinations in 2019". Worldairlinenews.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
57. "Zadar Airport Statistics".

External links

Media related to Zadar Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website