Split Airport (Saint Jerome)

If you drive along the coastal road toward Trogir in July, you see it immediately: over the Bay of Kaštela, landing lights hang like a string of pearls. Split Saint Jerome Airport is a seasonal airport in its purest form. In winter it is quiet; in summer, leisure and low-cost jets from half of Europe land in dense succession between the sea and the karst mountains. In this profile you’ll learn how SPU came about, how operations work, who lands here – and where it’s best to stand.

From Sinj to the coast

Aviation in central Dalmatia doesn’t begin at the sea but in the hinterland. In 1931, the Yugoslav airline Aeroput connected Split to its route between Zagreb and Belgrade. At the time, the Divulje seaplane station or a simple grass-strip airfield near Sinj was used. For the fast-growing coastal region, that was no long-term solution.

The present airport was therefore built in the 1960s on a flat coastal strip near Resnik, between the towns of Kaštela and the old town of Trogir. It went into operation on November 25, 1966. The facility was modest: a small apron with six parking positions, designed for about 150,000 passengers a year. That figure was outdated by the end of the 1960s, because with tourism on the Adriatic, air traffic grew too.

In 1979, Split got a new, larger terminal for the Mediterranean Games. In 1987, the airport exceeded the mark of one million passengers for the first time – a figure that then remained out of reach for a long time. With the war after the breakup of Yugoslavia, civil traffic collapsed. According to the airport, Split was completely closed from September 1991 to April 1992. Afterward, military, relief and cargo flights shaped everyday life, and thousands of tons of relief supplies and equipment for the peacekeeping missions passed through the airport.

Rebuilding, EU accession and the new terminal

After the war, traffic recovered only slowly, at first at about half a million passengers a year. With tourism, the airport came back too: in 2004 the terminal was expanded and completely renovated, and in 2011 a much larger apron followed.

The real boost came with Croatia’s EU accession in 2013. Low-cost airlines discovered the Dalmatian coast, and within five years traffic doubled to about three million passengers. The old terminal was hopelessly overloaded. The answer was one of Croatia’s biggest infrastructure projects of those years: a major terminal expansion that went into operation in summer 2019. Check-in, domestic departures and all arrivals moved into the new building, and the renovated old building is still used for some of the international departures. A covered bridge leads over the country road to parking lots, the bus station and rental cars.

One detail strikes spotters immediately: even after the expansion, Split has no jet bridges. Passengers walk or take a bus to the aircraft. For you, that means the jets stand free on the apron, with no buildings or bridges in front of them.

According to the airport’s monthly statistics, through the end of September 2026 Split was slightly below the same period of the previous year, with just over 3.37 million passengers. The level remains high anyway, and the exact annual balance is still pending as of October 2026.

One runway along the coast

The layout is quickly explained: there is exactly one runway, 05/23, 2,550 meters long and 45 meters wide. It runs parallel to the coast from southwest to northeast. The southwest end with threshold 05 faces Trogir, the northeast end with threshold 23 faces Kaštela. The terminal and apron lie on the south side of the runway, toward the coast, and at both ends there are turn pads where departing aircraft turn around.

Around the airport lies a densely built coastal landscape with houses, hotels, supermarkets and country roads. To the north the karst mountains rise, to the south the Adriatic glitters. It is exactly this mix that makes the pictures from Split appealing: not a sterile industrial site, but a Mediterranean backdrop with cypresses, stone walls and sea.

Runway direction in use: the wind decides

As everywhere, aircraft in Split land and take off into the wind. The spotter sources name no clear preferred direction like in Corfu – so you should expect both directions. On the Dalmatian coast, two winds play a big role: the cold, gusty bora from the northeast and the humid jugo from the southeast. When the bora blows strongly, that favors takeoffs and landings on 05, so toward the northeast. With strong crosswinds, it gets especially exciting then – more on that in the article Crosswind landings.

For you, this means: check the evening before and in the morning which direction is running before you decide on a spot. How to judge wind and runway direction in advance is explained in the guide Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport. For live checking, the article Flight tracking with ADS-B for spotters helps, and which weather services are suitable for planning is covered in Weather apps for spotters.

Traffic: an airport for summer

Hardly any airport in Europe shows the season as clearly as Split. The official monthly statistics for 2025 speak clearly: in February the airport counted about 36,000 passengers, in July just under 787,000. Between the quietest and the busiest month, there is a factor of more than 20. Peak months are July and August, with June and September close behind; in May and October there is already or still a lot going on.

On summer weekends, traffic is further concentrated: according to common reports, more than 200 flights come together on a summer weekend because many leisure flights and charter chains are aligned to Saturday and Sunday. For you as a spotter, that means a Saturday in July brings many times the movements of a Tuesday in May.

In winter, the picture is shaped mainly by Croatia Airlines connections to Zagreb and a few European hubs. If you travel at this time, you should inform yourself well beforehand so the day at the fence doesn’t become a test of patience. General tips for planning around the season are in the article Plane spotting through the year.

Who lands in Split

The most important Croatian user is Croatia Airlines. The national airline flies year-round to Zagreb and to hubs such as Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich, and builds a broad seasonal network in summer. It is switching its fleet to the Airbus A220-300 and the A220-100, while older types like the Dash 8-400 are being gradually retired. So every sighting of the propeller aircraft is worthwhile. In May 2026, an A220 of the airline veered off the runway on 23 after a rejected takeoff; nobody was injured. The Croatian investigation authority classified the case as a serious incident.

Low-cost and leisure airlines carry the lion’s share of summer traffic. easyJet, Volotea and Wizz Air have Split as a focus, and Jet2 brings vacationers from several British airports. Add Ryanair, Transavia, Norwegian, Smartwings and others. Typical for the aircraft picture are the A320neo, A321neo and Boeing 737-800.

From the German-speaking region, Eurowings, Condor, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Edelweiss fly in summer. Europe’s network airlines are represented by KLM, Air France, British Airways, SAS and LOT, and Air Serbia connects Split with Belgrade. Lufthansa, Austrian and LOT belong, like Croatia Airlines, to the Star Alliance.

The big news in 2026 was long-haul: United Airlines flew nonstop between Newark and Split for the first time from the end of April, three times a week with the Boeing 767-300ER. The connection was designed as seasonal. Whether it returns in 2027 is best checked in the current schedule.

Spotting in Split: the most important vantage points

There is no official spotting place with infrastructure in Split. The vantage points described by spotter guides and travel reports are on fence roads, dirt tracks and a hill. A car makes things much easier. Here is the overview:

Fence at runway end 05 (terminal side): One vantage point is only a few minutes’ walk from the terminal. A small side street takes you to the fence, from where you see approaches, aircraft lining up for takeoff and aircraft backtracking on the runway. In the morning you have the sun behind you here. A two-step ladder helps at the fence – but security doesn’t always like steps right at the fence.

Turn pad 05: Via a side road off the roundabout at the southwest end, you reach another vantage point overlooking the turn pad. It works mainly in the afternoon until sunset. Nearby there are supermarkets for drinks and snacks.

Dirt track to runway end 23: Opposite a hotel on the main road, a gravel track branches off toward the northeast end. At the fence there, you have good morning light on landings and departing aircraft. If you follow the track around the runway end, you reach the other side with light from the early afternoon and a view of the short final approach to 23.

Hill above the coast: West of the airport, a rough gravel track leads up a hill. From there you see landings on 05, aircraft backtracking for takeoff and takeoffs on 23. The backdrop of coast and sea is most beautiful here, but the focal length has to be longer, up to about 450 millimeters for more distant subjects. There are no facilities there.

Viewing area in the terminal: On the upper floor of the new terminal, before security, there is a signposted area with a view through the glass of taxiways and the runway. For photos it is second choice, but for a break in the shade with a view of operations it is practical.

Light, heat and gear

Because the runway runs from southwest to northeast, the light moves from one side to the other over the course of the day. The rule of thumb from the spotter guides: in the morning until about 1 p.m. you stand on the terminal side, from the early afternoon on the opposite side or on the hill. You plan the exact sun position for your travel day with the article Planning the sun position at your photo spot; general tips are given in The best time of day for plane spotting.

In the Dalmatian high summer, temperatures well above 30 degrees are normal. The air shimmers above the runway asphalt as early as the morning, and the further toward the middle of the runway you shoot, the softer the pictures become. Tips against it are under Avoiding heat haze. Shade is scarce at the fences – pack water, sunscreen and a hat. More in the guide Plane spotting in summer.

For the fence spots, a 70–200 mm telephoto zoom is usually enough; on the hill and for aircraft on the runway you need significantly more. Which lens suits you is covered in Which lens for plane spotting?, and why a small ladder in the trunk often makes the difference is explained in The ladder as a spotter’s tool.

Getting there and where to stay

The airport lies on the coastal road between Split and Trogir. City buses of the Promet transit company shuttle between Split, the airport and Trogir, and in peak season a catamaran also connects the airport with Split harbor. Schedules change by season, so check them before your trip. For most spots, a rental car is still the most convenient choice, because dirt tracks and the hill are hardly reachable by bus.

For overnight stays, the towns of Kaštela and Trogir are good options, and there are many small hotels and apartments near the airport. With some luck, you can even watch the approaches from your balcony. More ideas for accommodations with aircraft views are collected in Hotels with runway views in Europe. How to combine spotting and a family vacation is in Plane spotting on vacation, and what applies legally abroad is summarized in Spotting abroad.

Split compared with other Adriatic and island airports

Within Croatia, Split is the second-largest airport after Zagreb, though the capital’s airport is much more evenly utilized all year. Further south lies Dubrovnik, also a seasonal airport with a coastal backdrop and strong summer traffic. If you’re planning an Adriatic round trip, you can combine Split with Ljubljana or Venice.

As a Mediterranean leisure airport, Split is reminiscent of Greek island airports like Corfu with its famous Kanoni hill or the runway end in Skiathos. The spots in Split aren’t as spectacular as those, but the airport offers much more traffic and a greater variety of airlines. More destinations for your travel list are collected in The best spotting spots in Europe.

Verdict

Split Airport is not a hub but a gateway to the Dalmatian coast – and that is exactly what makes it interesting for spotters. One runway between sea and karst mountains, a terminal without jet bridges and a summer schedule ranging from Croatia Airlines through British leisure airlines to low-cost jets from Eastern Europe provide variety. In 2026, United’s Boeing 767 even added a long-haul aircraft in scheduled service for the first time.

If you travel in summer, keep an eye on the runway direction in use, stand on the terminal side in the morning and opposite or on the hill in the afternoon, and respect the proximity to the military base, you’ll take a packed sightings list home from Split. And between two landings, the old town of Trogir and the sea are only a few minutes away.