ZAGREB (Croatia), November 12 (SeeNews) - Passenger numbers at Croatia's airports rose 7.9% year-on-year to 9.703 million in the first nine months of 2019, the country's statistical office said on Tuesday.

The total number of landings and take-offs increased by 4.2% to 108,538 in January-September, while cargo volumes fell 6.7% to 8,510 tonnes, the statistical office said in a statement.

In September alone, the airports in the Adriatic country handled 1.494 million passengers, up 4.2% on the year, while the overall number of airplane landings and take-offs fell by 1.3% to 15,272. The cargo traffic at the airports declined by 21.4% year-on-year to 957 tonnes in September.

In September, the airport in Split recorded the largest number of passengers in Croatia - 467,544 (up 3.2% on the year), followed by Dubrovnik airport with 402,827 passengers (up 5.1%) and Zagreb airport with 347,811 (up 1.3%).

Residents of Germany led the list of international passengers at Croatian airports in September as they totalled 318,588 (up 8.4% on the year), followed by the United Kingdom (291,049, up 1.6%), France (95,216, up 4%), Sweden (57,592, a 0.4% decrease) and the Netherlands (51,200, up 7.7%).