Transport of passengers in Croatian airports rose sharply for the third consecutive month in June 2021, by 285.4 percent, but due to a marked decline in the first three months, the cumulative data for the January-June period indicate a drop of 10.8 percent, state agency Hina reported on Thursday, citing figures released by the state statistics bureau DZS.

In June 2021, Croatian airports handled 320,000 passengers, up 285.4 percent from June 2020, when they handled only 83,000 passengers due to the continent-wide Covid-19 lockdowns.

In June 2019, the year before the pandemic, 1.55 million passengers passed through Croatia’s airports, which means that this year’s June saw about a 80 percent drop in passengers handled.

According to the DZS, Split Airport accounted for the largest number of passengers in June, at 115,000, or 360.1 percent up from June 2020, when only 25,000 passengers were registered. It was followed by Zagreb Airport with 100,000 passengers (up by 130.1 percent) and Dubrovnik Airport with 59,000 passengers ( up by 482 percent).

By country of origin or destination, German airports were in the lead, with 72,000 passengers carried to and from that country, an increase of 161.6 percent year-on-year.

After passenger traffic in Croatian airports dropped by 77.2 percent year-on-year in Q1 2021, it has been rebounding strongly since April. According to the DZS, in the first six months of 2021, passenger traffic in Croatian airports totaled 668,000, which is a decline of 10.8 percent year-on-year.

Cargo traffic in June 2021 amounted to 708 tons, or 63.9 percent up year-on-year, while the first six months of 2021 overall saw a more modest increase from the same period in the pandemic-hit 2020, of only 4.5 percent, to 3,954 tons.