Soon in Pescara
B&H Airlines will begin seasonal summer flights from Mostar Airport to Pescara in Italy. The exact date of the service launch will be known soon when the local authorities from Mostar meet with their counterparts in Italy. There they will agree on a date for the first promotional flight between the two cities and the actual date commercial flights should begin. The airline is hoping to attract Christian pilgrims from Italy visiting Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. B&H Airlines should make good money from the service as all seats on the aircraft will be pre-booked by a tour operator. Pescara is located on Italy's eastern coast, some 180 kilometres from Rome.The flights are expected to operate once per week with an ATR72. B&H’s ATR currently flies only to Zurich and fills in on other routes from time to time in case of a technical fault with the Airbus A319. Last year, B&H Airlines operated many charter flights, in particular to Turkey, even having an aircraft entirely dedicated for charter services. However, this year B&H is not operating virtually any charters. All of them have been taken over by the Turkish based Corendon Airlines and Tailwind Airlines operating charters to Antalya.
The new flights will come as good news for Mostar Airport which has seen a bounty of charter flights this summer season. Last month the airport handled 4.029 passengers making it Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest airport in terms of passenger numbers after Sarajevo and ahead of Banja Luka and Tuzla.
I think something as simple as changing the name of Mostar airport to Medjugoria airport could have a huge positive impact on the number of passengers using the airport.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or...
ReplyDelete1.
I am really glad to have a break from the Chicago non-flights. May this silence continue for a long time!
2.
There is something seriously wrong with not knowing the exact date of the service launch for "summer flights" to a destination on June 22nd. I am not blaming B&H Airlines if these flights are being organised by a tour operator and they will sell all seats on these flights but still... "they will agree on a date for the first promotional flight" stinks of a non-professional tour operator and I would not want to be associated with one.
I don't know many people who whilst having their morning coffee think 'hmm, maybe I should go to Medjugorje this evening' but then I don't get the religous bunch and their 'calls from God.'
@Q400
This is Balkans. Any such name change would offend just about everyone and I cannot see it happening. After all, Mostar is Mostar, come on. That does not prevent airlines advertising the route as Mostar/Medjugoria though.
God, is that really you?
ReplyDeleteI'm, not the overly religious type either but that another story. I just think it would make good business sense from the airport operator point of view. I mean people are flying to both Split and Dubrovnik then catching buses which take at least 4 hours to get there. You can still keep Mostar and maybe call it Mostar / Medjugorja or MnM's even :)
I also think if OU for example ever starts to fly to Mostar again then they should market the route as Mostar / Medjugorja. I mean really, how many people in the big wide world know that Mostar is down the road from Medjugorja?
Can we ay lest call MedjugorjE as it is should be called MEDJUGORJE
ReplyDeleteIf this is successful, perhaps they will reconsider getting rid of one of their planes?
ReplyDeleteBTW I think the people going to Medjugorje will go there no matter what. I know quite a few Americans that went there in 1994 to see the apparitions. Certainly advertising the route as Mostar/Medjugorje would be a plus. I am not sure how willing they would be to rename the airport because it is a pride thing and Mostar in general is a more important city than Medjugorje. I agree that adding Medjugorje to the name would boost passenger numbers though.
ReplyDeleteAny news on the Zurich route? I just booked a ticket the other day to fly SJJ-ZRH in late July.
ReplyDelete^The Zurich route will definitely stay during the summer. Although come winter… Turkish is running bh air to the ground
ReplyDeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteCroatia's flight from Belgrade to Dubrovnik was packed tonight.
There is a Slot Allocation list for Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Winter '11-'12
ReplyDeleteBH will remain 3x/weekly AMS-SJJ
BUT: some of the flights are to operate 138 seat A319, and others 144 seat A319. Is this just a mix-up, or will BH receive a second 319 soon?
Pozz,
Bo
Btw do you know that there will be no expansion of Turkish Airlines flights to Belgrade, most probably our directorate didn't allow them, who knows why. But I saw that they have withdrawn a notification on their website. Too bad.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the directorate sees this a good pay back opportunity for them turning down the Jat offer?
ReplyDeleteWell, if they had any knowledge of aviation they would be happy since we can see what they have done with Air B&H.
@ PRAGuc & Nemjee
ReplyDeleteThe Directorate had nothing to do with TK not operating additional flights. It was TK's decision not to add more flights. Although they were listed on beg.aero they never showed in any of the GDS's.
a another canceling for BEG... Hm hm hm...
ReplyDeletePurger,
ReplyDeleteIt's not cancelling at all, Turkish Airlines was just considering adding two additional frequencies but changed their mind.
They have more than enough passengers on the route with 6,506 last month (up from 5,901 in 2010).
They will keep on flying daily. Currently there are almost two daily flights between the two cities with Jat flying the route 5 times per week.