Local authorities in Mostar have held talks with Air Dolomiti and Wizz Air over the potential introduction of flights this summer. An agreement in principle is believed to have been reached with the two carriers, which would result in their arrival if the city provides subsidies. The Herzegovina - Neretva Canton, of which Mostar is a part of, has granted just over four million euros for the development of Mostar Airport, with an initial half a million euro payment made this week. The funds will enable the city to incentivise the two carriers. The Canton will make a further half a million euro payment later this year, with another million euros to be provided in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
Air Dolomiti is an Italian regional carrier and a Lufthansa subsidiary with its main hubs being Frankfurt and Munich. The airline had previously expressed interest in serving the region through Ljubljana and boasts a fleet of fifteen Embraer jets. On the other hand, Wizz Air has bases in Sarajevo and Tuzla, and also maintains operations from Banja Luka. Local authorities in Mostar have already concluded an agreement with Eurowings to restore seasonal operations from Dusseldorf on June 30, which will run until the end of August. The carrier will be compensated for the flights as well.
Mostar Airport has struggled to attract customers over the past years and has been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Its main source of traffic - European charters serving religious pilgrims - have been all but wiped out. In 2021 the airport handled just 1.940 passengers. “A fully operational airport is of strategic interest. Over the past six months, we have been working hard negotiating new routes that are needed to link Mostar to European destinations. A functional airport will enable us to fully utilise the benefits of our geographic location”, the Mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordić, said recently.
You know your management is shit when Mostar strikes a deal with a carrier and you couldn't
ReplyDeleteThis was the airline Slovenia didn't want to engage with... crazy
DeleteWell they obviously only want to fly if they get paid ;)
DeleteThey wanted LH and they got it, but they just said NO. Banana cpuntry we are :)
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DeleteAir Dolomiti`s offer was a scam. A total scam. However, the offer of JU and OU was much much better. But it was not politically accepted. Now you know where are we.
DeleteWould be nice if Mostar was Air Dolomiti's first dedicating in ex-Yu :D
ReplyDelete*destination
DeleteAir Dolomiti technically flies to Belgrade from Munich, though, but marketed by Lufthansa.
DeleteSometimes I wonder about the sustainability of some airports in the region. Mostar, Osijek, Kraljevo, Maribor... What is the point of these airports if the only way they can have any traffic is if you pay airlines to fly there?
ReplyDeletePublic interest? Medjugorje is nice money maker, I'm sure the benefits surprass 1mil per year. Medjugorje (together with Mostar area) also creates significant number of jobs and people fom that area are moving abroad promptly without the jobs. This is peanuts money for the benefits it brings to Mostar and area. I'm not taking about other airports from your list though.
DeleteMaribor should have been closed 15 years ago. Graz is just over the imaginary border (Schengen) and there is no need for the airport anymore.
DeleteSame goes for Osijek. Completely useless. Used to be a busy cargo airport in Yugo times.
DeleteWhat happened with Croatia Airlines and their flights to Mostae? Will they ever come back?
ReplyDeleteThere were barely any passengers on those flights.
DeleteBecause they timed it poorly and missed many connections from Zagreb.
DeleteThey had one job...
DeleteReally odd. JU does the same thing with BNX. Doesen't really connect onto anything.
DeleteThe biggest question is OMO or OHD with more demand? Hehe
ReplyDeleteSomeone should organise flights between the two so pilgrims can get two in one :D
DeleteHahaha the 2 Pilgrim capitals :D :D
DeleteYou cheeky anon 10:03 hahaha
Fingers crossed the airport finally sees some decent traffic this year.
ReplyDeleteIf the deal with Wizz goes through, it will mean they will serve all of Bosnia and Herzegovina's airports!
ReplyDeletethey will rule the BiH market.
DeleteThey already do.
DeleteAnd they get money from all 3 (soon 4) airports.
DeleteWell it helped all 3. Well worth the investment.
DeleteHopefully better days are to come for OMO.
ReplyDeleteI will believe it when I see it.
ReplyDeleteyes they have said so many times that they are in talks with someone but nothing ever materialised
DeleteEurowings materialized
DeleteThey should try to get charter flights, especially pilgrims for Medjugorje from Poland, Italy, Spain, Ireland and some from Muslim countries for Mostar. Local demand is low because the population is small
ReplyDeleteToo many airports in short proximity.
ReplyDeleteMostar should not let Dubrovnik take all its passengers.
DeleteNot just Dubrovnik. Mainly Split. Because those who are coming to Međugorje are usualy using Split. It is just 1,30/40 minutes with the highway.
DeleteHDZ and his Management on OMO airport are working against their people in Hercegovina.
Air Dolomiti would be perfect to serve Italian market.
ReplyDeleteNot so sure. Dolomiti have the most expensive tickets in LH group. Pilgrims, who are OMO potential passengers in most of the cases are usually looking for cheaper options. Perfect airline to serve OMO, as well as the entire Balkans, would have been OU, if they hadn't miss all opportunities to became much bigger, which they could, with all financial support and all other protectionist measures they enjoyed from the state
DeleteIs Eurowings gonna fly with Dash or Airbus to Mostar?
ReplyDeleteAirbus. They no longer have Dash planes
DeleteThey got rid of Q400s when corona started.
DeleteThanks, didn't know
DeleteFantastic news. Let's hope this is Mostar's year.
ReplyDeleteFinally the government has recognized that they can benefit from a functioning airport.
ReplyDeletePlus maybe we see the revived FlyBosna start flights :D
ReplyDeleteWhat is Air Dolomiti like? An oddly exotic airline for ex-Yu region.
ReplyDeleteexpensive. Im sure their offer is extremely expensive as it was for Slovenia.
DeleteWizzair would be perfect
ReplyDeleteLJU has become long term parking lot for unused, unwanted planes. If there was no traffic for Adria Tehnika service, they would have less traffic than some regional airport in Africa.
ReplyDeleteLJU is really heading towards being cargo airport and scrapyard. The only route that will stay will be FRA (to feed LH cartel), while we will have to drive to ZAG, TRS, VCE, VIE... to catch flights. Bravo Fraport!
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2014/09/fraport-reveals-ljubljana-airport-plans.html
DeleteHAHAHAHA
Would Air Dolomiti fly from Italy or Germany?
ReplyDeleteMost probably to MUC I guess.
DeleteIf the Sarajevo government was not so busy living in the past, you would think 27 years after the civil war ended a Bosna airline would exist serving the entire great kingdom of the ba people.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they try and fail with B&H Airlines?
DeleteBH Airlines has existed for 25 years
DeleteBH Air is from Bulgaria, where BH is abbreviation for Balkan Holiday. B&H Airlines existed for 20 years, not 25, 1994-2013. First 10 years it was not called B&H Airlines, it was Air Bosna. And the bottomline is that they tried and failed, what the first An. is correctly saying
DeleteGreat work Mostar. I am really optimistic that brighter days are ahead :)
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope that Mostar will have regular flights. Shame for OU. OU should have daily flights to Zagreb from Mostar. Air Dolomiti is good with Embraer fleet. Wizz also
ReplyDeleteWizz to DTM, EIN and LTN should work. With Dolomiti to MUC and the EW flights they'd have quite a good programm.
ReplyDeleteHungarian aviation portal (budflyer) posted on FB that Wizzair is in talks about opening a direct flight from Budapest to Mostar. This would be great!
ReplyDeleteInformation is based on the interview appeared with Mario Kordic, Mostar's mayor in Sarajevo Times, according to BudFlyer.
Delete