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]
Arkia	Seasonal: Tel Aviv (begins 1 June 2025)[9]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna[10][11]
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels[12][13]
Croatia Airlines	Munich,[14] Pula,[15] Zagreb[15]
Discover Airlines	Seasonal: Frankfurt[16]
EasyJet	Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse,[17] Berlin, London–Gatwick, Lyon (begins 23 June 2025),[18] Milan–Malpensa
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich (begins 28 June 2025)[19][20]
Eurowings	Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn,[21] Düsseldorf,[22] Hamburg, Stuttgart[23]
FLYYO	Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv[24]
LOT Polish Airlines	Seasonal: Zielona Góra[25]
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Frankfurt,[26] Munich[27]
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg[28][29]
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen[30]
People's	Seasonal: St. Gallen/Altenrhein[31]
Ryanair[32][33]	Seasonal: Aarhus, Barcelona,[34] Bari (begins 2 May 2025),[35] Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham,[36] Bologna,[37] Bournemouth,[38] Bratislava (begins 2 June 2025),[39] Bremen, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen,[40] Cork,[41] Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gdańsk, Gothenburg, Hahn,[42] Hamburg, Helsinki,[39] Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Katowice,[43] Kaunas,[44] Košice,[45] Kraków, Leeds/Bradford,[46] Liverpool,[38] London–Stansted, Maastricht/Aachen, Manchester, Marseille, Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa,[47] Münster/Osnabrück,[48] Newcastle upon Tyne, Nuremberg,[49] Pisa,[50] Poznań, Prague, Rome–Fiumicino (begins 3 May 2025),[51] Rzeszów,[52] Sofia,[39] Stockholm–Arlanda, Växjö, Vienna,[53] Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze, Wrocław
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Copenhagen[54]
Sky Alps	Seasonal: Verona[55]
Trade Air	Osijek,[15] Rijeka[15]
Transavia	Seasonal: Paris–Orly[56][better source needed], Rotterdam/The Hague[57]

Statistics

Traffic at Zadar Airport ^[58]

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