Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport () or Zagreb Airport () () 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 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. History 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 long runway and terminal. By 1966, Zagreb Airport got a new state-of-the-art passenger terminal. The runway capacity was lengthened to its current 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