CROATIA. Split Airport opened its new €60 million terminal on Saturday, featuring much-expanded commercial areas, notably for retail and dining. The terminal was inaugurated by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković, among other dignitaries.
The airport’s duty free space has increased by around three-fold compared to the previous facility, to around 1,030sq m. The retail business is run by Split Airport with Gebr Heinemann as exclusive supply partner for all but local products.
The food & beverage offer has been greatly enhanced too, with a 500sq m restaurant on a mezzanine level, plus two café/bar options on the ground floor in around 500sq m combined. These, like the retail stores, are managed in-house.
The terminal has a footprint of around 50,000sq m, around three times the previous size. It features 30 check-in desks, seven semi-automated security lanes, a premium lounge and an automated baggage sorting area. A new car park has 900 spaces.
The facility takes capacity to 5 million passengers per year. Split Airport will handle around 3.3 million passengers in 2019, from around 3 million last year. As a seasonal airport, it struggled to cope at peak times with large passenger volumes in the former terminal.
Following the opening, the previous passenger building will be overhauled and the two structures will be combined to form a single entity.
Split Airport said: “The extension coordinates capacity with expected traffic demand, meets high levels of security and service quality, as well as ensuring the preconditions to become Schengen-ready.”
Croatia is due to join the Schengen Area in the coming years, which will mean a reconfiguration of the airside space, splitting Schengen and non-Schengen departure areas and (once it happens) a new shop layout.
