History
The first airfield in Zagreb was built in 1909 near the western city neighbourhood of Črnomerec. It was used by Slavoljub Eduard Penkala for the airplanes he designed. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made a landing in Borongaj Airfield (east of Zagreb) after his successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The airfield began serving passenger traffic on 15 February 1928. On 1 April 1947, commercial services were moved to a former airbase near the village of Lučko, southwest of the city. At its peak in 1959, Lučko served 167,000 passengers.
On 20 April 1962, flight services were once again moved, this time to the current location near the suburb of Pleso in the southeast. It first opened with a 2,500 m (8,200 ft) long runway and 1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft) terminal. A new 5,000 m2 (54,000 sq ft) terminal was built in 1966, as well as the apron expansion. In 1974, the runway was extended to its current 3,252 m (10,669 ft), and the terminal expanded to its current 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft).
The airport's peak level of traffic was in 2011, with 2.3 million passengers. In 2004, the airport installed a CAT-IIIb instrument landing system (ILS). The VIP terminal was completed in 2008 and is located just south-west of the old terminal, which is also going to be refurbished.
The terminal is being extended by an additional 5,600 m2 (60,000 sq ft), and the interior and exterior are being refurbished. The project is due for completion by the end of 2012. The main terminal building will also extended by additional 45 m (148 ft) allowing for greater passenger traffic, but this is only an intermediate measure as by late 2015, a new 67,700 m2 (729,000 sq ft) terminal should be completed. Zagreb Airport is expected to reach 3.5 million passengers by 2015 and 5.5 million by 2020.
Read more about this topic: Zagreb Airport
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