Mali Lošinj Airport with big ambitions


Croatia's smallest commercial airport is expected to register another busy year, with the Czech carrier Silver Air resuming flights from Lošinj to Zagreb and Lugano next month. In addition, the airline will inaugurate new services to Venice on July 1. Both the airport's operator, Jadranka, which manages several hotels and villas in the area, as well as the local municipality, have plans to commence work on the airport's much-delayed expansion project. "The resumption of flights to Lošinj is a natural progression of our activities as we pursue plans to develop this unique island and position it as a tourist destination", Goran Filipović, a member of the Jadranka Management Board, said. He added, "Improved connectivity with the mainland is one of our strategic goals which we are actively working on in recent years in order to position Lošinj on the tourist map in this part of the Mediterranean".

The Jadranka Group noted that the planned overhaul and expansion of Lošinj Airport will contribute to both increasing the number of incoming flights and boosting the number of visitors to the entire Cres - Lošinj archipelago. A multi million euro upgrade of the airport and its facilities, which includes the construction of a new terminal building and the extension of the runway, could begin next year. The project entails the lengthening of the runway from the current 900 to 1.800 metres, which would enable the airport to cater for larger aircraft with the capacity to seat up to 180 passengers, as well as the expansion of the apron, the construction of a fire fighting services building, new access roads and parking. Upon completion, the airport aims to attract flights primarily from the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.

The Croatian Ministry for Tourism previously noted, "The Lošinj Airport project will significantly increase capacity for tourist arrivals and give a new perspective for the future development of the town of Mali Lošinj, the islands of Lošinj and Cres, and the Croatian tourism industry in this part of the Adriatic". The project was initially due to commence in 2016 but has been delayed year after year due to bureaucratic issues involving nearby land ownership, as well as a lack of funds. Lošinj Airport, opened in 1985 for general aviation purposes, has no scheduled traffic for most of the year, with Silver Air being its only commercial customer. It welcomed 6.939 passengers in 2018, up 14.8% on the year before.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Ugh seems like the area will be destroyed by mass tourism. How about preserving at least one part in its original form?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    The Silver Air flights are really expensive. 235 EUR return flight from Zagreb :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      How long is the flight?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      Scheduled flight time in 50 minutes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      Monopoly means higher prices. Very typical in ex-Yu.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:36

      They could have gotten much more international flights if they had already lengthened the tiny runway.

      Delete
    5. Like monopoly is invented and only practiced in exYU. Please...

      Delete

    6. Znaš kako se kaže kume? Plati pa se rugaj. Autobusom Autotransa ti dođe 200kn. Pa još popust na index. Eeeee...

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:13

      It does seem expensive for others too. They have reduced the planned Venice flights from 2 to 1 weekly.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:41

      These flights are for rich tourists who are spending their holiday in Losinj and want to make a day trip to Zagreb. That's why the return flights are expensive.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    The area looks beautiful. Could it be impacted by more traffic?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:49

      Hardly. Unless there'd be a very large influx of tourists at once.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    Why should it be preserved? Let's take the money!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      Idiot!

      Delete
    2. Anon 10.47: odlična, stručna argumentacija. Jel si ti jedan od onih s diplomom prometnog faxa?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:47

      You can protect islands and their nature with establishment of sustainable tourism but a few flights a week that relieve ferry services and better utilizes existing accommodation capacities, offering jobs to locals is not a contradiction necessarily.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Good news. The airport is at a very beautiful location. Nice approach.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      It is in a nice location. But so are SPU, DBV, BWK - and partially ZAD, RJK :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      ZAG too :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:16

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tu8OWzwHvY

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:49

      Here is a great video from JU's BEG-SPU. Landing video is pretty nice and you can see how interesting the approach is...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIdKgTYzOHI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2FOc3m_1w4fUAVDeiHALzzvgWHS7s7jgzbRRns6IywK7A1XGN0yP_8kVQ

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:09

    They have been talking about this project for years so I hope they finally build it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      They will mention it again when the next elections come along.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:17

    The major problem for places like Lošinj and Brač is that they can only have traffic during the summer making major expansions unnecessary really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      Sure it is a problem. And no-one expects these two airports to ever become commercially profitable on its own. But the wider range and effects need to be taken into account. Which is the boost of the tourist industries in the areas and general development of the island infrastructure. In a long term perspective this might well be the right step.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      I was always against small airports on small islands as thy're hardly worth a while, but if they bring benefit to the whole community they're relatively cheap to maintain, then why not.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:18

    Stunning location.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:32

      Indeed. It is beautifully situated.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:27

    Croatia never, ever fails to impress us.
    A couple of weeks ago, Slavko Kalezić promoted Montenegro's Riviera when he was in Tel Aviv. I think Croatia can do more advertisment too because the bigger cities are already famous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you saying that Croatia isn't promoted and well known as of now?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:23

      No, I was referring to Lošinj itself as well as BWK.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:40

      Agree to last anon. Way too few people in Europe know about many of Croatia's impressively beautiful islands such as Brac and Mali Losinj.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:39

    Future Lufthansa destination :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:41

    Expanding the runway does not guarantee you more traffic. For example Brac has more traffic then before it extended the runway but it didn't really burst with new airlines and routes as was predicted by the airport itself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:34

      I hope that with these expansions Losinj and Brac will be able to lure some LCC.

      Delete
    3. Ma nego što. Pijani Englezi i Skandinavci koji spavaju na plažama su baš ono što treba Lošinju

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10:32

    Has anyone ever used this airport?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous10:33

    Nice

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous10:34

    Well with this at least I hope they give up on plans to build an airport on Rab.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:37

      There are plans to build an airport on Rab?

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:37

    It will really be a great year for all Croatia airports.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:36

      Silver Air has suspended the flights to Pula and Split this year? They had terrible times last summer I remember with no option of proper day trips from the mainland to Losinj, so they were not catering to the tourists on the coast who would be their best and most numerous customers.
      It seems to me they have no or the wrong strategy. Also way too little marketing.

      Their prices of often more than 200 or even up to 300 euros for these short flights per person seem to not help, too. Such a shame.

      ECA did much, much better, had more potential and the right strategy plus a lot more passengers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:07

      +1000
      A comeback of ECA or similar operator is needed

      Delete
  16. Moja mama ponekad kaže: dobro što u Jugi nismo imali previše love, uništili bi prirodu kao što su Španjolci. Iskreno se nadam da do ekspanzije aerodroma neće doći. Ne zbog onog km ili koliko već staze, nego jer će povećanje aerodroma sa sobom sigurno povući betonizaciju, apartmanizaciju itd. A kod nas je sve to jednostavno kad imaš prijatelja ili kuma u ZNA SE kojoj partiji. Sadašnja prometna povezanost savršeno dobro odgovara postojećim turističkim kapacitetima. Nadam se da se netko ne zavarava da bi povećanje aerodroma moglo produžiti sezonu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:55

      +1000000

      Delete
    2. this is just insane! Cres and Losinj are beatiful, wild islands. Mass turism will destroy them. Why not rather organise good public transport from Rijeka, the airport is located on Krk island! One hour away, ferry ride included! Besides, Losinj is loved by community of private pilots, just like Portoroz. They are niche destinations and people fly there because it is small, beatiful place. Now they will destroy everything for few weekly charters during 3 months summer season! Athos- ja i supruga na Jadran dolazimo i zimi, i ljeti, i u proljece i jesen. Jer nam je ljepo. U petom mjesecu skoro sve je zatvoreno, a mogli bi imati turiste od treceg do jedanajstog, komotno. bez produzene staze.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:33

      You are just envy to all who can invest in tourism and earn money. If you don't like it don't go there, there are others who are willing to pay.

      Delete
    4. @Bor
      + 1000000
      RJK Airport less than 100 km away, empty most of the time, including summer season, and making losses. PUY airport little bit more distant, same as ZAD. And instead of using existing airports which are all far from reaching their limits, for tourists coming from more distant places, Scandinavia and Russia in the first place, they will throw away millions of euros to make an airport for mass tourism charters, declaring at the same time Losinj supposed to be high - class niche destination.
      Bravo majstori! Bravo Capelli! VJERODOSTOJNO ! !!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:55

      So is there someone (read politician) who has special interest to develop Losinj airport? Who is pushing for this? It can't be just the airport.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:10

      Are you forgetting this is a privately owned airport and that private money is to be spent to extend it and run it? Contrary to RJK, ZAD, SPU and other failures.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:29

      Yes, it's beautiful. But you think the local working population can live from the beauty or wilderness or that they'd prefer jobs and good income at least 5 or 6 months per year with the opportunity to lengthen the season over the next decade plus chance for development of businesses and domestic PSO services?

      Croatia has much more potential for tourism away from mainland's coast but it seriously lacks airports/air traffic infrastructure on several islands. Most importantly two things (top priorities):

      1. Brač airport could be much more busy and successful if they promoted themselves as Brač-Hvar airport! Hvar has a massive potential but it's hard to reach and particularly during summer ferries are full, Split harbour sometimes is chaos and visitors often don't want to take ferries and have the hassle SPU- transfer to town-harbour-wait for ferry- hope that there's a spot on the next ferry if u have a (rented) car- ferry ride- go/drive from port to hotel. However, with little investment from Bol to Hvar island it would be just a very short ferry ride and not too busy. They need to open a little line from Bol to Jelsa or Stari Grad with schedule adjusted to plane arrivals in BWK.
      Peović needs to wake up!

      2. Airport on Korčula is needed to serve Korčula, Pelješac probably also Mljet and Lastovo. No tourist in his right mind arriving by plane will agree to the current transfer times of 4 hours from DBV to parts of Korčula/Vela Luka or even longer to Lastovo or 4 hours to Mljet.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous12:41

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous12:42

    I guess Losinj could have around 8,000-9,000 passengers this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:20

      More than MBX.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous14:41

    They simply don't have the money. This project has been talked about for almost ten years. Until the airport is fully privatized I doubt anything will happen. Remember Zagreb's expansion? It was announced every single year for 15 years until they finally gave it up for concession.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous14:55

    Many opportunities 4 charter or scheduled seasonal commercial traffic if they gave some subsidies or promotions now already before lengthening the runway. Basically a Q400 should be able to do it if is not operating at max. weight.
    Austrian could serve it from VIE and Eurwings from STR, MUC. DUS and LUX could be too far away weightwise.
    Not sure for an AT7 e.g. from BEG - didn't JU have some troubles sometimes at Portorož?

    ReplyDelete
  21. I flew from RJK today to TXL. Tgere are 6..repeat 6 flights today Saturday late May from RJK. Awful. Probably max 10 on a Saturday in August.

    When they say UK they may be looking at succesz of Greek islands with theid oen airport..Mykknos. Zante...Kefalonia and many more.

    But they are barking up tge wrong tree for UK and Mali Losinj. UK is a mess and is IN a mess ( i am from UK). Brexit has hit hard ..people are not travelling so much this year or are choosing better value destinations. Thomas Cook may not survive and TUI was selling its first LGW.RJK retirn flight for 59 gbp 2 weeks before departure. Croatia is too expensive for Brits when 5 nights in Opatija/Hvar/dubrovnik on BB is more expensive than 7nights in mexico..maldives etc on HB.
    The numbers will show at e x of the year.
    Easyjet is offering return SEN to PUY for 50..60 gbp because Croatia not selling.

    So forget flights from UK to mali losinj!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:21

      Cheap tourism from UK is not focus for Mali Losinj anyhow. It's for better paying Russians.

      Delete
  22. @ 25 May 2019 at 13:33: I'm not envious at all. But this croatian craze for pouring concrete all over beatiful coast is not way forward. Even if Losinj extends runway, where are they planning to settle all the tourists? Mali and Veliki Losinj are not Dubrovnik or Split...So f...ing what if it is private airport? The island belongs to everyone. With this mentality you are going to repeat spanish scenario. Ask them how they love their mass tourism and brutalist looking hotel chains. Its not just sea and sun you are selling. It is the whole experience. Mali Losinj not habitable in peak of the season. Too many people already. And anon who is comparing Croatia with Greece...you must be joking! Greek islands are separated by hunderds of kilometers and all over Aegen sea. Korcula airport? You must be INSANE! Just look what happend last year with Blue Cave! Pure rape! Yes, destroy nature and then you can all just relocate to Germany or whever is current diaspora target country. You have nothing left but tourism....and instead making mony of it throghout whole year, it lasts only 3 months or even less. Have you been to Split and Dubrovnik lately?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      No one can take you seriously here. I think you are on the wrong forum. This is not the extremist Greenpeace forum. We want Croatia to develop and invest in its infrastructure!

      Delete
  23. Samo da još jednom repliciram svima jednom objavom, a ne svakom pojedinačno.

    1) Glupo je očekivati da će aerodrom produžiti sezonu? Koja je to logika? U glavnoj sezoni ljudi putuju autom/brodom, a u niskoj sezoni avionom? DBV ima velik, obnovljen aerodorm, a jedno 80% hotela je studeni-ožujak zatvoreno.
    2) Cres ima jedan hotel - Kimen. U Lošinju ih ima nešto više. Ali to je sve još uvijek (prema mojoj procjeni) max. 1000 ležajeva. Ako oduzmeš ljude koji već ionako dolaze koliko ti uopće ostane mjesta za aviogoste? 200?
    3) Sjećam se, dok sam još studirao u Opatiji. Jedom me puklo, pa sam rekao ajde idem ja na jedan dan na Cres. Mogu i tamo na plaži učit. Bio negdje početak 6.mj. Milina. Na plaži nije bilo dragog boga. A na ručak sam morao natrag u grad, jer je restaurant u Kovačinama bio zatvoren. Onaj tko zna Cres, razumije o čemu govorim. Ajde vi prvo sredite lokalnu ponudu i marketing, pa onda maštajte o aerodromima.
    4) Na Cresu i Lošinju se kao u cijeloj PGŽ i Istri relativno dobro živi. Pogotovo u usporedbi sa Slavonijom. Ima i manje iseljavanja. Nije ovo 1910., pa da narod zbog peronospore odlazi u Ameriku. Glavni problem je izoliranost. Nemaš kazalište, nemaš zimi što. A to aerodrom neće promijeniti. Jer kad ti ne plovi Valbiska-Merag, kad ti je Titov most zatvoren, neće ni avion sletat. A neće zbog toga biti više cjelogodišnjih radnih mjesta, nego će biti samo više sezonaca iz Bosne.
    5) Što bi stvarno trebalo srediti (ako se još nije) su ceste. Tu treba biti Costa Smeralda. Ceste su im u stanju kao u sjevernoj Italiji, jer naravno. Nitko neće razbijati svoj Ferrari na seoskim puteljcima. U tom slučaju bio bi transfer s Krka puno brži i udobniji nego što jest.
    6) Glavni problem su naravno gosti u smještaju 5*. Ali bome ima i Capri bogatih gostiju, pa nemaju aerodrom. Ako tamo nije problem doć brodom zašto je kod nas? Treba biti malo maštovit, pa ne ić na prvu loptu. Zašto ne ponuditi transfer is RJK privatnim speedboatom, helikopterom, hidroplanom?
    7) Ja ne kažem da Cresko-lošinjski arhipelag nema potencijala za povećanje smještajnih kapaciteta. Trebalo bi to napraviti opet sa Costa Smeraldom kao primjerom. Niske zgrade, inkorporirane u lokalni pejzaž, striktno poštivanje pomorskog dobra itd. Ali znajući naše prilike doći će tamo neki pajdo i njegov rođo s bagerima, s pola tone dinamita će isplanirati plažu, sagraditi 5 katova, posjeći šume radi parkinga i evo ti. Radite vi na vašem kamenjaru što vas volja, ali Kvarner i Istru mi ne dirajte!
    8) A na kraju za onog što kaže da smo zavidni, jer kao nemamo love. E pa da. Pogodio si. Baš sam zavidan što ja ne mogu uništit jednu uvalu kao što su uništili Lapad ili kao što na Babinom Kuku navodno planiraju izgraditi aquapark. Umirem od zavisti. Kako bi rekao moj uvaženi kolega diskutatnt iz Rijeke: VJERODOSTOJNO.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous13:21

    Well dude, investments are going to happen. Like it or not concrete is coming. There are plenty of preserved natural spots in Croatia. We need money to live.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Znaš ti ono - stoputa ništa je ubilo magarca? Plitvice su već uništene, čak su im zaprijetili izbaciti ih sa liste UNESCOa. Što je slijedeće?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:38

      Time to take the money is now. F**k the nature which is worthless, plenty of it in Croatia.

      Delete
  25. The report said that UK was targeted gof poss flights to mali losinj. I am saying that it wont happen because no uk airlines would fly there. There is VERY poor service from UK to RJK and Ryanair can/will drop it the moment they dont get paid enough to fly it (StN..june-sept only). PUY..ZAD..SPU..DBV..lots of flights from UK but ALL now at much reduced price because of financial crisis in uk. Forget UK for mali Losinj. Brits simlly cannot afford it ..even if there were a direct flight uk to mali losinj

    ReplyDelete
  26. The new Airport at Losinj will be opened simultaniously with the opening of the new Berlin airport.....

    ReplyDelete

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