Similarly to potential of nautical tourism, which was unexplored until the construction of ACI marinas in the 80s, aviation tourism is insufficiently exploited branch of tourism in Croatia. The potential for aviation tourism development lies in the existing market potential of the European Union with about 100 000 registered private sport aircrafts (general aviation) and 300 000 pilots and potential of annual indirect income of approx. 40 mill. €. Great potential for development of aviation tourism in Croatia lies also in already available infrastructure. Namely, there are 20 airfields in the Republic of Croatia among which some are only insufficiently exploited, while others are abandoned and undeveloped. In this paper, project “FLY Croatia” will be presented, project with the of enhancing the development of aviation tourism in Croatia. The main emphasis in the paper will be given to an overview of the current state of Croatian airfields. Studies assessing the state of three existing airfields: Osijek-Čepin, Pokrovnik and Vis as the potential for its reconstruction will be also presented.

FLY Croatia; airfield; airfield study; general aviation; tourism