Empty leg flights to and from Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik stands at the southern tip of Croatia, a walled city of pale stone on the Adriatic that once governed the Republic of Ragusa and has been on UNESCO's World Heritage list since 1979. Its walls run for nearly two kilometres around the Old Town, the Stradun and the old harbour, and beyond them lie the island of Lokrum, the Elaphiti Islands, the Pelješac peninsula with its oysters and red wine, and the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. Britain is the airport's largest market, with almost one passenger in four in 2025 flying to or from the UK. Croatia keeps Central European Time, an hour ahead of London, and a light or midsize jet makes the trip in about two and three quarter hours.

Private flights use Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport, code DBV, near Čilipi in the Konavle valley, about 15 kilometres south east of the Old Town in a straight line.

Dubrovnik sectors available today

The first list shows every sector currently offered into or out of Dubrovnik, and when few are on offer it adds those at Tivat and Podgorica in Montenegro and at Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the airports within a few hours by road. Beneath it, full charter prices for the same aircraft types give a benchmark for every empty leg.

Why jets fly empty in and out of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a leisure airport with a short, intense season, and that pattern is exactly what produces empty flights.

On our list, Dubrovnik sectors appear mostly from May to October, bunch around Saturdays, when villa rentals and yacht charters change over, and head towards Britain more often than away from it.

Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport in detail

The airport near Čilipi opened in May 1962, replacing the airfield at Gruda that had served Dubrovnik since 1936. It was occupied and closed to civil traffic in 1991 and left devastated and looted when the occupying forces withdrew in 1992; flights resumed that year from a former warehouse, and the restored terminal reopened in 1995. Its present shape comes from a development programme worth more than 220 million euros, most of it from EU funds, which built Terminal C for departures, opened in 2017, rebuilt the runway in three phases finished in April 2019, and added the general aviation terminal and a hangar. On 2 November 2023 the airport took the name of Ruđer Bošković, the physicist and astronomer born in Dubrovnik in 1711. In 2025 it handled a record 3,090,245 passengers and 26,682 aircraft movements, and July 2026, with 558,528 passengers, was its busiest month so far.

For crews, the runway is long and the procedures are familiar, and the constraints lie elsewhere. The airport shuts at 23:00 in summer and 22:00 in winter, no overtime was offered at the general aviation terminal from 1 June 2026, overnight parking needs the airport's approval, and stands run short in summer. Every late arrival and every long stay therefore has to be planned in advance. The weather can intervene too: the bura, the cold north easterly wind, blows across the runway and its gusts can exceed the limits for landing. In 2026 it disrupted traffic on 1 and 2 April and again on the morning of 24 July, when most arrivals diverted to airports in Italy, Montenegro and Serbia.

The GAT, the VIP lounge and the private side of Dubrovnik Airport

A private passenger at Dubrovnik does not need to set foot in Terminal B or C. The airport runs a separate general aviation terminal, the GAT, on the eastern side of the field, and its handling team looks after passengers from the aircraft to the car.

The GAT keeps private passengers apart from the airline terminals, which matters most in July and August, when those terminals are at their busiest.

From the steps to the car at Dubrovnik

Once the passenger list has reached the handler, landing at Dubrovnik is a short, private affair. Leaving is the same sequence backwards.

Delays on a Dubrovnik trip rarely come from the formalities. They come from the closing time, summer parking, the bura and traffic on the coast road, and we plan around all of them when you book.

Five points to settle before a Dubrovnik trip

From the airport to the Old Town, Cavtat and Montenegro

The airport lies south east of the city, between Cavtat and the Montenegrin border, so Cavtat is minutes away while the Old Town is half an hour up the coast road. The times assume a driver at the GAT at a quiet hour; on summer evenings the road into Dubrovnik can double them.

The airport shuttle bus leaves about 30 minutes after each flight lands, reaching the Ploče gate in about half an hour and Gruž in about 35 minutes for 10 euros, and a taxi into the Old Town costs roughly 35 to 55 euros. Since the Pelješac Bridge opened in July 2022, the road north to Split no longer has to cross the Bosnian corridor at Neum. A private passenger is still better served by a driver waiting at the GAT.

Charges on a Dubrovnik trip

Beyond the aircraft price, a Dubrovnik trip involves British duty on the way out, the airport's handling and any VIP charges, Croatian VAT on those services and the tourist tax on each night.

Dubrovnik Airport publishes its handling prices for general and business aviation. The basic charge rises with the aircraft's weight, from 150 euros for the lightest aircraft to 1,450 euros for one of 21 to 30 tonnes, and the airport adds 25 per cent for work between 22:00 and 06:00 and 50 per cent on public holidays. Commercial empty legs and positioning flights get 75 per cent off, Croatian VAT is added to every item, and operators without a contract pay before take off; all of this is built into the operator's quote.

On the British side, duty is due only when the flight leaves the UK, and Croatia falls in Band A. Passengers on jets of 5.7 to 20 tonnes pay 32 GBP each and those on heavier jets 142 GBP, until the end of March 2027. After that the higher rate, 146.63 GBP, applies to every private jet of 5.7 tonnes or more, and only aircraft under 5.7 tonnes, such as the Citation M2 and CJ2 in our table, escape it.

Tivat, Mostar, Brač and the other airports near Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is the natural airport for the city and Konavle, but several others nearby take business jets and are worth knowing when Dubrovnik is full, when the trip continues to Montenegro or when the destination is an island further north.

Dubrovnik routes from Britain and Ireland, and which way they fly empty

The prices below are for the whole aircraft rather than per seat, and the times run from take off to touchdown. At about 1,730 kilometres from London, Dubrovnik is within nonstop range of every jet in the table, from a six seat Citation M2 back to Biggin Hill to a Gulfstream G450 for a large family heading home to Dublin. For fixed travel dates, compare these figures with the full charter prices in the second list at the start.

Dubrovnik sectors to and from Britain appear from May to October and cluster around Saturdays, and those flying home to Britain are released most often, sometimes only a day ahead.

Online calculator

If you want to see what your route would cost as a standard charter, so you have something to measure an empty leg against, use the calculator below. Fill in the airports, the dates and the number of passengers, add any preference on aircraft type, and we will send a written calculation by email or messenger. Please check your contact details carefully so that we can reply quickly.

The figure the calculator returns is an estimate for planning. The firm quote comes back from our consultants with the cost broken out line by line, and the price agreed there is the price written into the contract.

If you would rather skip the arithmetic, send us the route and the dates instead and a consultant will come back with both numbers, the charter price and any empty leg that fits.

Entering Croatia at Dubrovnik: passports, customs and goods

Croatia has been in both the euro area and the Schengen area since 1 January 2023, so a flight from Britain crosses an external Schengen border, with passports and customs checked on arrival at the airport.

• Passport. Check the issue date as well as the expiry: Croatia, like the rest of Schengen, refuses British passports issued more than ten years before arrival or expiring less than three months after you leave.
• Length of stay. Schengen allows 90 days in any 180 without a visa; time spent in Montenegro or Bosnia and Herzegovina is not counted.
• Entry/Exit System. The EU's digital border record has run at Croatian borders since October 2025 and in full since April 2026: a photograph at the first crossing and, for travellers aged twelve and over, fingerprints, with the record kept for three years.
• ETIAS. The travel permit still has no launch date, since the EU took down its target of late 2026 in July, so for now there is nothing to apply for.
• Customs. The EU limits apply: 430 euros of goods per adult, plus 200 cigarettes and either 1 litre of spirits or 2 of fortified or sparkling wine, with 4 litres of still wine and 16 of beer on top; 10,000 euros or more in cash must be declared.
• Food from home. Sandwiches with ham or cheese, and any other meat or dairy food from Great Britain, must be finished or left on board.
• Joining a yacht. The charter company will ask for every guest's passport details for the crew list, so send them before you fly.
• Coming home. The British allowance per adult is 18 litres of still wine and 42 of beer, along with 4 litres of spirits or 9 of fortified wine, 200 cigarettes and other goods worth 270 GBP; a few bottles of Dingač from Pelješac fit easily within the wine limit, and from 1 October 2026 so does sparkling wine, while cider counts as beer.

Empty leg calendar for Dubrovnik, month by month

Dubrovnik's year is short and intense: quiet winters, a spring that builds steadily, a packed July and August and a long, warm September.

Empty sectors are most plentiful from June to September, when aircraft drop families and return for them a week or two later; from November to March they are rare.

Three situations in Dubrovnik, three answers

Taking a dog or a cat to Dubrovnik

Croatia follows the EU rules for pets arriving from Britain. Each dog, cat or ferret must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies at least 21 days before the trip and travel with an animal health certificate that an official vet has issued within ten days of arrival. No tapeworm treatment is needed on the way in.

The return needs more planning. Only approved operators may fly pets into Britain, and dogs need a tapeworm treatment from a vet 24 to 120 hours before landing, so book a vet in Dubrovnik or Cavtat for the day before departure and mention the animal when you first contact us.

Private flights to Dubrovnik: what clients ask

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Give us the travel day and the head count, say whether you will be in the Old Town, in a Konavle villa or aboard a yacht, and mention any onward plans for Montenegro. We send back the matching sectors and a full charter price, with the GAT, the handling and the drive already worked out.