Brac airport about to close down

The airport on the island of Brac will close down before the start of this year's tourist season, and the company will go bankrupt. The decision has been justified by years of losses the island airport has been accumulating...

   The largest individual owners of Brac airport, the majority owner Jako Andabak and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure which on behalf of the state has a 36 percent stake in the company have agreed that the airport on the island will close down before the start of this year's tourist season and that the company will go bankrupt. The decision has been justified by years of losses the island airport has been accumulating, reports the Croatian business daily Poslovni dnevnik.

  "Since Split Airport is overbooked during high season Brac was the ideal combination for our charters during the summer, where we have had an average of a hundred flights per year, and managed to fill hotel and other facilities including luxury hotels owned by Jako Andabak. Till now we have sold arrangements for this season for 3,500 people who should land on Brac and we don't know what will happen if the airport closes", said Franz Benze, the procurator of Gruber Reisen, an Austrian tour operator that has already sold 3500 arrangement involving flights to the Brac airport this summer.

   However, Gruber is the only tour operator which brings its guests to Brac airport which has dropped from an average of 35 thousand passengers to barely 10 thousand a year. The airport has an annual loss of about half a million kuna.

   Andabak says that no creditors will lose their claims, including 18 airport workers who will lose their jobs because a small portion of workers will be offered a job at the Split Airport or in his hotels. Andabak also says that he will take over the outstanding bank debts.

  One option under consideration is to turn the airport into a sports airport, which would mean lower costs but also that it will no longer be able to receive commercial airplanes or charters, writes Poslovni dnevnik.