Pula Airport eyes transatlantic flights

Pula Airport is considering lengthening its runway in order to be able to handle long haul flights, with a focus on transatlantic services. Pula Airport’s General Manager, Nina Vojnić Žagar, told the “Glas Istre” regional daily, “Pula Airport has commissioned an analysis of a study to move the runway threshold. This means we are exploring the possibility of extending the runway to 3.200 metres to accommodate long haul flights, that is, flights to the East Cost of North America. The current runway is 2.954 metres long and lacks another 250 metres for this purpose”. Ms Vojnić Žagar added, “We have space both to the East and West to extend the runway, but slopes must be taken into account”. The General Manager noted the runway extension is still some way off, but the first steps have been taken to make it a reality.

Croatia transatlantic flight performance, 2022 

Croatia currently boasts two nonstop transatlantic flights on a seasonal summer basis, one each from Zagreb and Dubrovnik. Air Transat maintains operations between Toronto and the Croatian capital with its Airbus A330-200 aircraft, having restored operations between the two cities last year following a two-year hiatus resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The Canadian airline handled 21.597 passengers between the two cities during its six months of operations last year. On the other hand, United Airlines links its New York Newark Airport hub with Dubrovnik utilising Boeing 767-300 aircraft on the route. Last year it welcomed 28.445 passengers on board between the two cities over its four-month operating period.

In 2019, Air Transat planned to commence a one weekly seasonal summer service between Toronto and Split, however, ticket sales were suspended months before the launch for “commercial reasons”. Split Airport has previously said it has no interest in long haul flights. Ms Vojnić Žagar notes that Pula passengers are well connected to the North American continent through various European hubs, including Frankfurt, Munich, London Heathrow and Belgrade. However, the General Manager concedes that current schedules are not ideal for transfer passengers as most airlines are targeting point-to-point travellers on their Pula flights. Based on indirect traffic flows to and from North America, Pula sees the most passengers to New York, followed by Toronto.