In July, 770,152 passengers passed through the terminal, nearly 17,000 fewer than in the same month last year, marking the first significant drop after several years of continuous growth.
Split Airport recorded its first significant decline in passenger numbers in July, at the height of the tourist season, after several years of steady growth. According to data from the DalmacijaDanas portal, 770,152 people passed through the passenger terminal during the seventh month, which is nearly 17,000 fewer compared to July 2025, when there were 786,945.
This year's result also lags behind that of July 2024. The number of operations remained high, but the reduced passenger count suggests poorer aircraft occupancy in both directions. Increasingly, questions are being raised about whether Split Airport, given existing infrastructural constraints, has reached the upper limit of organic growth.
Despite the July decline, Split Airport welcomed its second millionth passenger of the year by the end of that month. In the period from January to the end of July, a total of 2,099,324 passengers passed through the terminal, which is only about eight thousand fewer than in the same period last year.
By the end of the year, there is still a possibility for Split Airport to make up the shortfall and set a new annual record, but this year's data indicate that growth is no longer as strong as in previous seasons.
The news of the passenger decline comes at a time when southern Croatia is grappling with serious traffic difficulties. Just two days earlier, on August 1, the Karasovići border crossing experienced a complete traffic collapse. Dubrovački dnevnik reports that the situation was so dramatic that locals commented it was "good that no one died." Although today, August 3, the situation at Karasovići is considerably calmer, litter and exhaustion remain along the road, and the question that repeats every summer hangs in the air: how much longer can southern Croatia endure this kind of traffic?
