The first plane of the low-cost airline Flydubai on a direct flight from Dubai landed at Dubrovnik Airport on Tuesday afternoon, in what is the first intercontinental route connecting Asia and Europe through the southern Croatian city.

CEO of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, said the scheduled flight is of great importance for southern Croatia, and the country’s entire tourist industry.

“This intercontinental flight will connect Europe with Asia, i.e. the Persian Gulf and the wider Dubrovnik area. We hope this will bring us more transfer passengers, as Dubai is a huge airline hub connecting Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa,” Luetić said.

The state-owned low-cost carrier Flydubai will initially introduce three flights per week on the Dubai-Dubrovnik route, which will be increased to four between June and October. The six-hour flight will be served with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Luetić added that Dubrovnik Airport had excellent business results the first three months of 2018, receiving 20 percent more passengers than in the same period of 2017. He said March was especially strong, posting a 40 percent increase in arrivals.

“We hope this trend will continue, and we expect to have another record-breaking season, with a 10 percent increase compared to 2017,” Luetić said, and added that new flights to Dubrovnik operated by LOT Polish Airlines, Edelweiss Air and Adria Airways have already been announced.

Since 2000, Dubrovnik Airport has seen a steady rise in passenger numbers every year, with a record high of 2.3 million travellers passing through in 2017, making it the third busiest airport in the country after Zagreb and Split.