Map - Zagreb Airport (Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport)

Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport (Zračna luka Franjo Tuđman Zagreb) or Zagreb Airport (Zračna luka Zagreb) is an international airport serving Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest and busiest airport in Croatia. In 2019 it handled 3.45 million passengers and some 13,000 tons of cargo.

Named after Franjo Tuđman, the first President of Croatia, the airport is located some 10 km southeast of Zagreb Central Station in Velika Gorica. It is the hub of the Croatian flag carrier Croatia Airlines and a focus city for Trade Air. The main base of the Croatian Air Force is also located at the airport's premises. Moreover, the Croatian Air Traffic Control has its administration situated on the grounds of the airport.

The airport was awarded to the ZAIC consortium (Zagreb Airport International Company) in a 30-year concession under the terms of a contract signed by the Government of Croatia with the aforementioned. The contract includes the financing, designing and construction of a new passenger terminal which was opened in March 2017. For the purpose of managing the airport ZAIC registered a company called MZLZ d.d. (Međunarodna zračna luka Zagreb d.d.) that is now the operator of the Airport.

The history of Zagreb civil aviation began in 1909 when the first airfield was built close to the western city neighbourhood (city district) of Črnomerec.

With the creation of the first Yugoslav flag carrier Aeroput in 1927, the airport was relocated to the Borongaj airfield in 1928 which began serving the ever-growing number of passengers on 15 February of that year. Although several European airliners connected the city it was mostly Aeroput which connected Zagreb to major destinations across Europe and thus significantly increased traffic at Zagreb in the period preceding the Second World War.

Following World War II, commercial services were moved to a former military airbase near the village of Lučko south-west of the city in 1947. JAT Yugoslav Airlines took the role of Aeroput and made Zagreb its second hub. At its peak in 1959, Lučko served 167,000 passengers.

The current location of the airport at Pleso in the south-east of Lučko opened in 1962 with a 2500 m long runway and 1000 m2 terminal. By 1966, Zagreb Airport got a new 5000 m2 state-of-the-art passenger terminal. The runway capacity was lengthened to its current 3252 m in 1974.

In the 1980s Zagreb Airport was the second largest in Yugoslavia by passenger and aircraft movements. Yugoslav flag-carrier JAT maintained a hub in Zagreb and connected the city to numerous destinations including New York City, Chicago, Toronto aboard its McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft. These long haul services inevitably had a major impact on air traffic at Zagreb during that period. On 31 August 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, the airport became the scene of fighting between Croatian armed forces and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) when a Boeing 707 chartered by Anton Kikaš carrying weapons for the Croatians was forced to land there by Yugoslav MiGs. Croatian forces attacked the control tower and blocked roads in and out of the airport, but the JNA successfully seized the 707 and flew it out of the airport. The airport later became a UN hub for getting food and medical supplies to war-ridden Croatia and Bosnia. The British 24th Field Ambulance were stationed in a former JNA camp at the airport.

Following an increase in passenger numbers and the necessity to upgrade its infrastructure, the airport installed a CAT-IIIb instrument landing system (ILS) in 2004.

In 2008, a new VIP terminal was added and the terminal was extended to include extra amenities, restaurants and bars. The terminal was expanded to 15500 m2.