Lufthansa's subsidiary, Eurowings, is considering launching flights between Stuttgart and Mostar following talks with the local authorities earlier this week. The low cost carrier would run the service twice per week and is shortly to submit a business proposal to Mostar Airport on establishing the route. Eurowings' Manager for Route Development & Airport Relations, Ivan Oreč, discussed the new service with city and county officials, as well as representatives from the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation and local tour operators. Mostar Airport, which has no scheduled year-round flights, has identified Germany as its main market due to its sizable Bosnian diaspora. During talks between the two sides, the Premier of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton said the route would be subsidised.
Eurowings will expand its operations in the former Yugoslavia this summer, with its focus being primarily on the Croatian market. The carrier will commence seasonal flights from Munich to Dubrovnik, Pula and Zadar, from Dusseldorf to Tivat and Pula, from Salzburg to Dubrovnik and Split, as well as from Vienna to Zadar and from Stuttgart to Osijek. The flurry of new routes have been made possible by the lease of Air Berlin jets, which the Lufthansa subsidiary says it has secured at "competitive" rates. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eurowings operates to Sarajevo, where it maintains flights from both Cologne and Stuttgart.
Local authorities in Mostar are looking to reverse the airport's declining passenger numbers by securing a well established carrier to maintain flights throughout the year. Talks with Wizz Air are also set to commence soon. The two sides previously negotiated in 2013 when the budget airline expressed interest in launching services from Dortmund and Malmo to Mostar but in the end opted for Tuzla instead. In 2013, the Federal government of Bosnia and Herzegovina designated both Mostar and Tuzla airports as the country’s low cost hubs, lifting a mandatory ten euro federal tax for each departing passenger for the two. Last month, Mostar Airport's General Manager, Marin Raspudić, said talks with Turkish Airlines had entered their final phase, noting that flights from Istanbul would likely commence this summer season.
Could flights still start this summer?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's only January...
DeleteNo, next winter season.
DeleteWhat's the sudden interest in ex-Yu region from Eurowings
ReplyDeleteA new route manager who comes from Ex-Yu judging by the surname :D
DeleteThey are getting a lot of new planes and need to focus on new markets.
DeleteBosnia&Herzegovina will be in second place after Croatia to have more operational airports vs. the rest of ex-YU. SJJ, TZL, BNX and now OMO.
ReplyDeleteAnd now OMO? OMO has almost 100.000 passengers per year for several years now. And much more than BNX for long period.
DeleteGreat news for Mostar.
ReplyDeleteyeah very intresting, I think it could also work if they open new routes from Dusseldorf and Berlin to Mostar
DeleteBNX management is incapable even at shining shoes or milking cows.
ReplyDeleteThe utter failure of attracting any airline* to Bosnia's second largest city and metropolitan area is unbelievable!
Every village in the ex-Yu region is able to attract European airlines, both full service and low cost but these clowns are unable to.
Or most probably unwilling...
*JU is serving the airport for political, not commercial reasons.
+1
DeleteIt looks like they are trying to sabotage the economy of Republika Srpska but in reality they are not. They really are that incompetent to do their job.
SMFH.
Now just Wizz Air to start Malmo and that would be a great start.
ReplyDeleteHopefully good times are coming for Mostar and Banja Luka will follow its example.
ReplyDeleteWould they have considered this route without subsidies?
ReplyDeleteNaravno da ne bi. Opet pljacka poreskih obaveznika. Samo ce par hiljada Hrvata i Bosnjaka putovati, a pokrivaju racun svi. LCC koncept je pljacka posebno gastoske linije na Istoku Evrope. Subvencioniraju se bogatiji gastosi umesto da se novac ulaze u proizvodnju i konkurenciju.
DeleteLot of Croatian immigrants in this german region between Stuttgart and Munchen so it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteGreat news! Bosnia becoming popular with LCCs
ReplyDeleteThey say they are holding talks with Turkish but wouldn't Pegasus be a better fit for Mostar?
ReplyDeleteThey have been talking with airlines for the past 5 years and it's always the same thing - announcement, promises, proposals... I remember that Turkish Airlines has been starting Mostar flights for the past 3 years. I don't understand these politicians. Just wait until it's a done deal and announce it the day tickets go on sale.
ReplyDeleteI must commend Zagreb on this. I don't think anyone even had an inkling Emirates would start flights. I can imagine anywhere else that we would have known about it years in advance since everyone from the airport to the political establishment would have bragged about it.
DeleteOT: Why was ASL800 BEG-AUH diverted back to BEG last night? https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/yu-apb/#c4a936f
ReplyDeleteAircraft in question YU-APB, replacement aircraft YU-APA.
DeleteExcellent news for Mostar.
ReplyDeleteGood. Can't wait to finally see some serious airlines that can serve the local population and not just tourists from Italy going to Medjugorje. You can't do much with flights to Bergamo sold by Italian tour agencies.
ReplyDeleteSome 30 years ago JAT used to operate charter flights from the UK to Mostar for people going to Medjugorje. The flights were really packed. I wonder if there is still a market for this.
ReplyDeleteWell, back in 1981 "the miracle" happend, so I would guess that demand was higher back then, than now...
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteEmirates sales ticket with very low price from Zagreb during summer! For example, Zagreb-Dubai for 360€, Beijing via Dubai for 330€! Extremely cheap!!
Talk about dumping prices
DeleteJust did a check for a June RT fare from BEG to DXB - €274 tax incl on EY! That's insane! EK's arrival to ZAG is having wider effects...
DeleteBEG-DXB was already that low, on some days about 220 Eur. with Qatar.
DeleteI guess it's already obvious that sales aren't going as planned. 300 Eur. for a 12 hour trip both ways makes simply no economical sense.
Deleteand people wonder why the US Airlines are screaming that these middle east carriers are subsidised ! with fares like this, it only confirms their claims
DeleteCause Zagreb airport isn't subsidised?
DeleteBEG-DXB/AUH has been cheap for many years now, it's nothing new. I remember FZ had commercials in BEG for €270 return and they even offered children to fly for free.
Delete"Just did a check for a June RT fare from BEG to DXB - €274 tax incl on EY!
DeleteThat is on the expensive side considering ZAG-PEK is 330-360 euros in August. I am sure EK will do fine in Y, but the real question is how will they fill the 48 C seats.
It is important to note that most tourists have yet to make travel arrangements and same goes with the diaspora.
Return ticket BEG-DXB 240e, but with Pegasus
DeleteMost make them in Feb-March so we are not so far behind the booking season.
DeleteBoring...
DeleteEmirates na letovima DXB - BUD neretko ima ispod 100 putnika. To je katastrofalan LF za B777. Cene su niske a popunjenost mala linija u startu pravi gubitke, no njihova politika je takva da je ne ukidaju. Imaju novca može im se.
DeletePurger kaze da su retko ispod 80% u BUD?
DeleteYes but unlike BUD, ZAG has 1.5 million Asian tourists which is why EK will do fine here.
DeleteMolim admina da izbriše ove debilne postove i podsmjehivanja od strane "komšija" koji nisu dobili EK iako su to jako, jako htjeli! Imate Etihad, ne davite!
DeleteKo je hteo EK? Niko ovde nije spominjao nihov dolazak, mi smo vise nego zadovoljni sa FZ jer smo pre svega realni.
DeleteTo sto tebi smetaju neke stvari to je vec druga prica.
Drugarica mi je stjuardesa (Purser) u Emiratima. Pre 10 dana je radila DXB-BUD-DXB. LF je bio 71/49. Avion 777-300 non ER. U Biznisu 2/9. Ovo vam je bukvalno iz prve ruke.
DeleteHvala na info ali sta znaci ovo 71/49?
Delete71 iz DXBa za BUD, 49 iz BUD za DXB
DeleteHvala... ovo je jako slabo. Posebno ovih 49 iz BUD sto su leteli. Ipak se nadam da im bolje ide leti.
DeleteJa sam isto cuo u par navrata da im ne ide bas najbolje ali nadam se da je ipak bolje od ovog.
pa 71 u jednom smeru, 49 u drugom.
DeleteNenade to je covek i napisao gore.
DeleteThat's a 16% LF in economy class. lol
DeleteSta vas bre ljudi cudi, iz Barse na 380 su imali oko 100 putnika u sve tri klase.
DeleteNije ovo samo problem Budimspeste niti ce biti Zagreba koji ce isto biti slabije trziste, vec njihov mentalitet grandizonih aviona na dnevnoj bazi u trzista koja imaju izrazito sezonalna kretanja. Isto bi bilo i sa Beogradom da se ne lazemo. Taj njihov biznis model jednostavno ne stima na svim trzistima. Wide-body all the way je bilo nekada, vise ne, i Cathay je to shvatio i uzeo Dragon pod svoje upravo iz tih razloga. Nisu bas toliko ludi u Dohi i Abu dabiju sa A320.
Katar je tu ipak najtrezveniji... oni su jako brzo odustali od dodatnih A380.
DeleteIskren da budem, mislim da meni kao i kod vecine putnika ono sta je vazno je fleksibilnost a ne velicina aviona.
AnonymousJanuary 28, 2017 at 7:09 PM
DeleteTačno, imamo Etihad koji na svojim letovima do Beograda ima LF oko 93% (A320). Niko ovde ne kuka što nije dobio Emirates već sam napisao da im je popunjenost slaba. Budimpeštu sam naveo kao primer i to je tačno, ponoviću opet. Često imaju ispod 100 putnika. Što se Zagreba tiče niko ne zna kako će raditi linija ali dosadašnja iskustva iz nekih gradova nisu na strani velikog LF, što naravno ne znači da će liniju ukidati. Meni Emirates lično ne treba, sasvim mi je dovoljan Etihad sa korektnim cenama. Da li će doći u Beograd ili ne nije mi važno, kada bude bilo potrebe neka dođe, put im je otvoren.
Prosječna popunjenost Emiratesa je 79,6%. To je bitno više nego Air Serbie ili Croatie. Mislim da to sve govori.
DeleteE sad, naravno da će linija u početku imati loš LF i niske cijene.
No već za 11 mjesec, Zagreb-Seoul
Emirates 553 EUR
Qatar 588 EUR
Turkish 594 EUR
Lufthansa 620 EUR
Aeroflot 642 EUR
Niko ne prica o generalnoj popunjenosti Emirata kao kompanije vec jedne njihove linije, to jest DXB-BUD.
DeleteNe shvatam kave veze ima 79.6% sa bilo cim.
A sto se tice cena za Seul, tu ce najvise da strada OU-LH. No pitam se koliko putnika (a da nisu turisticka grupa) leti na ovoj liniji.
Emirates ima najaču popunjenost na tržištima Azije i Afrike, sledi Amerika dok je u Evropi nešto drugačije. Standarno dobro popunjene su London, Pariz, Rim, Frankfurt, Madrid... Ali linije tipa Budimpešta, Larnaka, Malta...su prave gubitke.
Delete@YYZ - We're still talking about an airport handling 2.7 million pax a year. Filling Y won't be easy as well on a daily basis, let alone year-round. For that to happen, they'll have to keep their prices artificially low and ALL the passengers should stop flying on SU, QR, TK, JU, LO for that to happen. I guess the competition is not gonna sit idle.
DeleteI'm wondering if OMO could end up like TZL? Subsidize Wizz for a few years, for lets say 5-6 bi-weekly routes, and then stop the subsidies and have those routes self sustainable. SKP did it, and INI is in the process of doing it.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great and logical strategy that only BNX is unable to follow.
DeleteApparently SKP does not subsidize Wizz anymore, but I wonder how much per seat or flight they did pay.
DeleteLet's not forget that INI doesn't either.
DeleteTo repeat my comment from the other article:
ReplyDeleteIf anybody involved in scheduling this line is reading this - Would you please be so kind (read: don't be stupid), to schedule the flights in 6AM, or 11PM - because none of the connecting passengers will be able to catch the connecting flight.
I am writing this because it is a major issue with those flights from Italy to OMO....and that is driving me to insanity :-)
Thank you.
*would you please be so kind NOT to
Delete