Airports in preparation for entry into Schengen

On Wednesday, the EU Council proposed to abolish border controls on Croatian land and sea borders with the 
countries of the Schengen area from January 1, 2023, and at airports from March 26 of the following year. 
Croatia should thus become a member of the Schengen area at the beginning of the new year, which will simplify 
travel from and to Croatian airports.

If everything goes well, border controls will be abolished on January 1st at seaports and road border crossings, 
while the same  should come into force on March 26th at all Croatian airports.

Namely, with the mentioned date, the summer flight schedule comes into force, so it is logically simpler to 
make the change right then, and at the same time, the airports are given enough time to prepare.

It is necessary to change the current flow of passengers in Croatian airports, considering that there are currently 
fewer exits for flights within the Republic of Croatia, while now flights to and from all member states of the 
Schengen area will be treated as "domestic".

This means that passengers traveling from Croatia on direct flights to destinations in member countries of this 
area (these are 26 European countries),  after registering for the flight and security checks, will go to the exit 
for their flight without crossing the border or police control.

All Croatian airports must have the infrastructural possibility of separating passengers arriving or departing
towards destinations in the Schengen area, as well as towards destinations outside it.

This means that, for example, when you travel from Zagreb to Split, Osijek, Vienna, Amsterdam, Frankfurt 
or any other destination located in the member  countries of the Schengen area, you will leave without checking 
your personal document at the exit to the plane, but the border will control will continue to exist when traveling 
to Istanbul, London, Doha, Dubai, Sarajevo, Belgrade or other non-Schengen destinations. 
The same of course applies to all other Croatian airports.

Croatian airports have enough time to prepare and change passenger flows until the spring of 2023, when we 
will finally feel another advantage of membership in the European Union, preparations have been underway for months.


Source: Croatian aviation

Published on 01.07.2022.