Mostar Airport plans 2022 revival
Mostar Airport handled just 516 passengers between January and August of this year, making it one of the most affected on the continent by the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The figure is down 56.3% on the pandemic-stricken 2020, during which it was closed for three months, and 97.4% on 2019. The global health emergency grinded charter flights catering for religious pilgrims to a halt, while Eurowings, the airport’s only no-frills operator, discontinued its services from Stuttgart and Dusseldorf citing low demand. Croatia Airlines, the only other carrier serving the city, also discontinued its scheduled Zagreb flights. However, airport authorities are confident 2022 will see a return to better times with a major low cost airline likely to commence operations. “There are signs that some low cost carriers could finally start flying from Mostar Airport. Talks are ongoing and we hope to soon make these plans for 2022 public”, the airport said.
During 2019, Mostar Airport was in discussions with two low cost carriers over the introduction of flights, one of which is believed to have been Ryanair. The two sides have held talks on several occasions since 2012. Previously, it was proposed for the low cost airline to introduce services from Charleroi, Frankfurt and Oslo to Bosnia and Herzegovina's fifth largest city. However, there is also potential for the carrier to cater for religious tourism on routes from Italy and Poland. Over the past few years, Mostar Airport has also negotiated with Wizz Air. In 2012, the two sides discussed potential services from Dortmund and Malmo, but the airline ultimately opted to operate out of Tuzla instead. The government of the Herzegovina - Neretva Canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina has expressed its willingness to provide financial assistance to airlines serving Mostar. The airport is also hopeful Eurowings will restore its operations, blaming high fares for the carrier’s failure on its Mostar routes.
In a positive development this week, Croatia Airlines commenced the first of five charters to Mostar carrying pilgrims from Ireland. The service from Shannon marked Mostar’s first commercial flight of the year. A total of 140 passengers were handled on the charter this week, operated by an Airbus A319 jet. “Services will run once per week, each Wednesday, during September and October. In addition to Shannon, flights will also operate from Dublin and Cork”, Mostar Airport said. The airport’s busiest year was in 2013 when it welcomed 75.244 travellers through its doors.
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