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Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport, better known to many as Čilipi Airport, sits on a plateau above the Adriatic coast southeast of Dubrovnik and is Croatia's busiest gateway for summer leisure traffic. It boasts the country's longest runway, an ILS approach, and a dramatic setting between the sea and the karst hills of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, making it a rewarding destination for the simulator pilot. The field is operated by Dubrovnik Airport Ltd. and serves as a Croatia Airlines hub and a Ryanair base.
Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport, ICAO code LDDU and IATA code DBV, is the international airport serving the historic city of Dubrovnik on Croatia's Dalmatian coast. Also known by its older name of Čilipi Airport after the nearby village, it is operated by Dubrovnik Airport Ltd. and lies within Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The airport is a hub for Croatia Airlines and an operating base for Ryanair, and it holds the distinction of having the longest runway in Croatia, which allows it to handle heavy long-haul aircraft as well as the seasonal charter and low-cost traffic that dominates its summer schedule. For a visiting sim pilot, the appeal lies in the combination of a long instrument-equipped runway, a coastal approach, and the scenic backdrop of the Dalmatian hinterland and Adriatic Sea.
The airport is located near the village of Čilipi, close to Močići, approximately 15.5 kilometres from Dubrovnik city centre. It sits at an elevation of 502 feet above mean sea level. As Croatia's third-busiest airport, it is served by an approach control frequency and handles both domestic and international scheduled and charter traffic, requiring pilots to coordinate with the relevant air traffic services when operating in the vicinity.
Dubrovnik has a single physical runway, 11/29, with a hard surface and runway lighting, extending to roughly 10,800 feet in length, making it the longest runway in Croatia. An instrument landing system serves runway 11, supporting instrument approaches to that threshold.
Approach control can be reached on 123.6 MHz, with the tower operating on 129.5 MHz. Runway 11 is equipped with an ILS, providing an instrument approach for pilots arriving from the northwest.
Dubrovnik's aviation story began in 1936, when the Yugoslav flag carrier Aeroput used a seaplane station in the city to open a route to Belgrade via Sarajevo, followed a year later by a service to Zagreb. For some years the city was primarily served by an airfield at Gruda, about five kilometres southeast of the present airport, which opened for commercial traffic in 1936 and initially operated only in the summer months. Traffic grew significantly from 1938 with Aeroput services to Vienna, Brno and Prague via Sarajevo and Zagreb, and a Belgrade-Tirana route calling at Dubrovnik, before operations were suspended in the early 1940s due to the Second World War. Gruda Airfield continued in use after the war until the present Dubrovnik Airport opened in 1962. During 1987, the busiest year of Yugoslav aviation, the airport handled 835,818 international passengers and a further 586,742 on domestic services. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, passenger numbers passed one million in 2005 and two million in September 2023. A new terminal opened in May 2010, and a further expansion, Terminal C, opened in February 2017 and became fully operational that April, raising the airport's annual capacity. In 2023 the airport was renamed to honour the astronomer and polymath Ruđer Josip Bošković (1711-1787).
Today Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport is a major public international airport, ranked third busiest in Croatia by passenger throughput after Zagreb and Split. It functions as a hub for Croatia Airlines and an operating base for Ryanair, with a wide range of scheduled and seasonal charter carriers operating from its modern terminal complex, which has an annual capacity of around 3.5 million passengers. The airport is a significant destination for European leisure traffic, particularly during the summer holiday season.
