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| Mostar Airport eyes Turkish Airlines flights in 2016 |
Mostar Airport has held talks with Turkish Airlines and will continue negotiations with the carrier over the potential launch of flights from Istanbul. The airport's Executive Director, Ibrica Berberović, says scheduled flights between the two cities could launch during the 2016 summer season. Furthermore, Mr Berberović hopes Turkish Airlines could use Mostar as an alternative to Sarajevo Airport during the winter months in case of poor weather conditions, with the two sides set to address this issue during future talks. The Turkish Consulate in Mostar has given its support for the potential new route. "This airport has the capacity to handle Turkish Airlines aircraft. Therefore, there are no obstacles to broaden our cooperation and finally link Mostar with Istanbul", the Turkish Consul General in Mostar, Ayse Selcan Sinli, says. She adds, "Mostar Airport, Turkish Airlines and the Consulate are all prepared to work on this matter".
In July, Mostar Airport said it would enter talks with several Star Alliance-member airlines including Turkish Airlines. Mostar has struggled to attract scheduled services but sees a significant number of charters throughout the year, carrying religious pilgrims visiting the nearby Medjugorje sight. “We are interested in talks with Germanwings, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, as well as Turkish Airlines. We are confident there is a significant number of people from our diaspora who would fly to Mostar”, the airport’s Managing Director, Marin Raspudić, said recently. He added that the airport is interested in direct links to Munich, Vienna and Istanbul. “Our main objective is to see the return of those passengers who left us during the war and post-war period. They are now using Dubrovnik and Split for charters to Medjugorje and Sarajevo Airport for scheduled services”, he noted.
Mostar Airport handled 66.151 passengers during the first three quarters of the year, an improvement of 16.2% compared to the same period in 2014, making it Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third busiest airport behind Sarajevo and Tuzla but ahead of Banja Luka. Mostar estimates it will handle some 85.000 passengers by the end of the year, up from 68.000 in 2014. It handled a record 86.000 travellers in a single year prior to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia but has since been unable to surpass that figure. This winter, Turkish Airlines maintains double daily flights between Istanbul and Sarajevo, making it Sarajevo Airport's busiest airline.
Nice news but I was first expecting they would establish flights to western Europe.
ReplyDeleteIt would make make more sense if OU started flying from Mostar to Zagreb and shuttled passengers onward. I'm surprised hey are not even considering these flights.
ReplyDeleteMostar Airport was trying to attract scheduled service from BEG last two years, but JU decided to ignore such offer. Today we can only speculate for reasons, lack of demand, lack of planes or something else.
ReplyDeleteBNX fails again to attract a carrier.
ReplyDeleteIt is not the Bosnian market that is the problem, it is BNX's management.
What to atract the airlines with if nothing's at its place there.
DeleteManagement of Banja Luka airport should be fired
DeleteThose guys worth, a fuckall.
DeleteTHY is aggressive in expanding in the region but overall impact is limited. If main traffic patterns in the region are broken down, potential for TK influence is:
ReplyDelete1: travel within the region: non existent or marginal
2: from the region to western Europe: marginal
3: from the region to North America: marginal
4: from the region to Middle and Far East, Africa etc: significant
First three carry majority of the passengers in the ex yu region. Except the fourth one, TK has a small marketshare and limited opportunity to grow.
Out of those airline I thought Turkish Airlines was the least likeliest to start flights but seems I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteSomehow this route seems a bit more suited for Pegasus to me but anyway good to see.
DeleteI read somewhere the Turkish ambassador said that 2-3 million Turks visit Bosnia each year. Is that true? That just seems impossible. How can Bosnia have 3 million tourists per year (and just from Turkey)?
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSvakako najbolja opcija u iz Star Alijanse bi bio SK ali se on ni ne razmatra takodje mislim da bi odlicno bilo da je doveden DY .
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
I agree. Turkish seems to be a bit of a weird choice. But then again maybe Scandinavian market is just too well served by Dubrovnik.
DeleteTurkish wanted to fly to Dubrovnik a few years back. They even confirmed it but I don't know why they gave up on the idea. Maybe this could be a good alternative.
ReplyDeleteMabybit was too expansive for them at the time???
DeleteOT : October is another positive month for AirSerbia : flights +7%, passengers +4% yoy.
ReplyDeleteCould it be the other way around, where flights grew +4% and passengers +7%? That would be impressive.
DeleteBut if it's true that flights grew at 7 points and passengers only at 4, it would indicate CLF is getting lower than last October, and that's not the direction company wants. Can someone double check please?
Anon 3:47 is right.
DeleteReducing the already low load factor is not good.
Mostar -Osijek -Zagreb
ReplyDeletewith Sea Air, operated by Aerojet Ukraine
Who is flying on this route with this airline?
I don't think this route-operator is popular.
Loading anyone?
Mine friend flied with them
DeleteThe airport's Executive Director, Ibrica Berberović... turkish airlines is in holding over Sarajevo for one hour in this moment! You said THY wil use Mostar Airport, whats happening? Do something helpful for Mostar Airport
ReplyDelete