Croatia Airlines plans Mostar launch in May


Croatia Airlines intends on introducing flights between Zagreb and Mostar in May, linking the two cities for the first time following a twelve-year hiatus. Mostar Airport's General Manager, Marin Raspudić, told the "FENA" news agency that the final details concerning the new service are still being negotiated but added, "We will officially announce the new route once we conclude talks with Croatia Airlines, however, we can say with certainty that flights will commence in May". As previously reported in December, the Federal government of Bosnia and Herzegovina approved over half a million euros in funding to subsidise the route. Talks between Croatia Airlines and the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the resumption of flights began in September of last year. Although the scheduling is yet to be finalised, services are expected to run at least twice per week with the Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop. Flights between Zagreb and Mostar were last operated in the summer of 2006 by the now-defunct B&H Airlines.

Mostar Airport is also negotiating flights to Belgrade and Istanbul for the summer. In addition, Eurowings will commence operations from both Dusseldorf and Stuttgart on May 16 and 19 respectively. "The arrival of Eurowings and Croatia Airlines will improve the airport's connectivity and make other carriers take note", Mr Raspudić said. Mostar Airport sees a range of seasonal and charter flights during the summer, primarily catering for pilgrims visiting the Medjugorje site, as well as tourists. However, its passenger numbers have been declining over the past few years, with 43.118 travellers handled in 2017, down 19.6% on the year before. In contrast, figures are expected to double in 2018.

Croatia Airlines recently announced the launch of new seasonal flights from Zagreb to Dublin, Dubrovnik to Munich and Split to Copenhagen. Furthermore, it will boost frequencies on several routes out of the Croatian capital. Starting May 4, the carrier will add four weekly afternoon departures to Skopje, for a total of twelve per week, as well as an extra two weekly services to Rome (via Dubrovnik) for a total of ten. It will also add one service to St Petersburg, bringing its total number of flights on the route to three per week. "This season, Croatia Airlines will operate scheduled flights to 39 destinations in 23 European countries, with the capital Zagreb connected with five Croatian airports", the airline said in a statement. It added, "Due to the expansion of the network, and an increase in the number of operated flights, Croatia Airlines is leasing two Air Nostrum Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft for the upcoming tourist season with the capacity to seat 100 passengers. This will supplement the company’s existing fleet of six Airbus aircraft (four A319s and two A320s) and six Dash 8-Q400s". The carrier expects its passengers number to continue growing after handling a record 2.125.000 travellers in 2017, an increase of some 10% on the year before.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    If they schedule these right, they will get a lot of transfer passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      The price also has to be right. Otherwise people can transfer through Dusseldorf and Stuttgart too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      It would be important that it connects to the Rome flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:41

      That would be a long flight Rome-Dubrovnik/Split-Zagreb-Mostar.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:45

      What sort of scheduling would they have to have? When are the departure waves from Zagreb?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:16

      Transfers should be provided at least from Milano, Dublin and Warsaw (Lot) bcs pilgrims from It, Irl and Pol are quite numerous in Medjugorje

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:01

      Should be early morning arrival in ZAG.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:49

      I think that flights will leave Zagreb around 9pm and return to Zagreb the next day around 7am.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:16

      Schedules will be (Summer) from May3
      Days 7-4 ZAG 2210 2315 OMO
      Days 1-5 OMO 0615 0720 ZAG

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:24

      ^ Thanks. Do you know it's seasonal or year round?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:29

      Year round service

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:31

      Expected a schedule like that. Only unfortunate thing is that it's 2 weekly but better to be safe than sorry I guess.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:59

      2.125 000 carried last year, wow, I was expecting around 2.03 million, but 2.125 million is beyond my wildest expectations.

      I guess in 2018, Carrier might carry 2.25 million, or additional 125000 pax.

      Would be nice if by 2020, carrier can manage 2.5 million pax. However, the load factor will need to be above present 72.5%. OU must achieve 80% load factor before 4 brand new A320 Neos join the fleet in 2021/22

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Reminds me a lot of Air Serbia's Banja Luka flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      True. Low frequency, both subsidized, both with turboprops.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Well routes like Mostar-Zagreb and Banja Luka-Belgrade can only survive if they are subsidized.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:43

      And people were making such a drama because of the ground handling subsidy for JU at BNX.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:13

      Kada bi cene karata bile normalnije, mnogo vise ljudi bi koristilo te linije, a jos jedna bitna stvar... promocija, marketing, mora mnogo vise da se ulaze u to ! :)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:19

      BEG-BNX is hardly expensive. I just checked return fares in March at its 57 euros all taxes included.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:38

      Now those kind of prices should be to places like Podgorica, Tivat as well.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:44

      ^Impossible because taxes alone amount to that much.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    Will it be seasonal or year round?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      For 500,000 EUR hopefully year round.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    This will be a big year for Mostar. It's interesting how well developed Bosnia's airports will become. Banja Luka Airport will also supposedly get its act together in 2019 but still even now all have international flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Sarajevo Airport isn't operating up to full potential.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:10

      Yes, due to the ridiculous decentralization, Sarajevo is suffering the most here actually, and directly financing and helping out its competition. It is insane for such a small country.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:05

      Decentralisation? You make it sound as if it would be normal if only SJJ was functional if things were proper as BiH is a small county. May I inform you that a ride from Banja Luka, Medjugorje, or Brčko to SJJ would take hours and hours... So BiH should support all of its airports if you don't want the population from these areas to use SPU DBV or ZAG.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    You´re welcome Croatia Airlines (yours truly, Sarajevo Airport)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      How is Sarajevo Airport responsible for this?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:17

      Sarkazam.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:19

      It is indirectly financing the subsidies. The money that was given to Bosnian airports from the government is from the passenger tax collected at Sarajevo Airport.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:29

      Yes and money was also given to non existent Bihac Airport.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:11

      Its actually very directly financing the subsidies Mostar - Zagreb. The entire 1 million BAM was allocated from the Sarajevo Airport tax.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:36

      Which was feed by Croatia airlines passengers on 13 weekly flights on Zagreb-Sarajevo route!

      So basically Croatia Airlines passengers from Sarajevo financed new route to Mostar, not Sarajevo airport. It was collected by Croatia airlines tickets.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:43

      if only it worked that way lol

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:57

      Anon 1.36 - not really, Zagreb in 2016 was only the 5th busiest destination from Sarajevo (only 67.737 passengers in 2016, way behind Dubai, Istanbul, and Vienna).

      And what logic is that anyway, its not like Croatia Airlines was paying passengers to Sarajevo to fly with them, its the money of the passengers who for one or the other reason had to fly with Croatia airlines, be it to Zagreb or transiting.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:07

      Of course it is 67.737 passengers x 7 EUR = 474.159, so that money is from Croatia Airlines passengers.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:31

      The point of taxes isn't for the airline to get it back, it's for the airport which collects it to profit from.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous23:03

      Not it is not. It is for development of air traffic in all Bosnia and Hecegovina! And that is definition of that tax.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:08

    Route will be 3 flights pw, not 2.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      It doesn't say it will be 2 it says it will be AT LEAST 2.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    Treba ukinuti ovo nelegalno finansiranje aviokompanija. Zasto vlada da placa kartu putnicima. Pola miliona je mnogo za tako kratku liniju. Drugo je kada grad Dubrovnik odobri svojim gradjanima popuste/dotacije.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:13

    Interesting they are talking about BEG flights too. Personally I don't see where they would find the demand, unless it's also subsidised.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      There would probably be a number of transfer passengers and some O&D demand. Like with flights with Zagreb, they need to be scheduled right.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      But I assume the majority of transfers will be taken by OU. I'm not sure the O&D demand would be too great. Anyhow they would have to cancel or reduce something else to start these flights.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:17

    So is that it for Croatia Airlines this summer? Those are the new routes? People here in the comments were writing how they would launch 8 new routes, get A321s....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      well people write here a lot of fake facts. that's it. They will launch again 8 new seasonal routes and boost some of them. Also, they are starting with 2 new routes from Zagreb (OMO, DUB) and one from Dubrovnik and Split. Think that is quite good.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      They will launch 8 new seasonal routes? What?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:27

      I think he meant that they will resume 8 seasonal routes which were launched in 2016 and 2018.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:31

      yeah, I was thinking on those route from the summer 16. and 17. :) In total, that is 10 new routes from Zagreb in 3 summer seasons.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:32

      opps yeah I was meant to write 2016 and 2017.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:32

      Hopefully at least one or two become year round in 2018.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    Good luck with the new route.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:20

    Evo jednog teksta od prosle godine pa ko zna,mozda i mi krenemo sa letom za
    Mostar ove god.
    https://www.ekapija.com/news/1931385/tokom-2018-moguci-letovi-kompanije-air-serbia-izmedju-beograda-i-mostara

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      It says in today's article as well that they are discussing flights to Belgrade and Istanbul but I personally doubt Air Serbia is going to start flights to OMO, at least not this year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:12

      That would be really good, both for passengers and Air Serbia. Also, a lot of Serbs from East Herzegovina will use this airport. :) Cross fingers to flight from Mostar to Belgrade :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:53

      Da li ti uopste znas koliko malo ljudi zivi i u Istocnoj i u Zapadnoj Hercegovini. Tri autobusa su dovoljna dnevno za Istocnu.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:38

      A da li ti uooopšte znaš da ne postoji pojam Istočna i Zapadna Hercegovina da se pišu velikim početnim slovom?? Ne znaš.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:37

      U srpskom jeziku se odrednice Gornja Volta, Zapadna Morava pisu velikim slovom.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:29

      Zapadna Hercegovina i Istočna Hercegovina nisu reke, a nisu ni regioni.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:24

    I'm happy to see that Mostar Airport will finally get some scheduled flights and airlines this year.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:25

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:30

    Not bad for OU this summer. Looks as if their aircraft will be better utlisided than in previous years since they will operate all these flights with the same number of aircraft and the only cuts I know of in their schedule is LHR.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:36

    I would have been more happy with another low coster like Ryanair, Wizz or easy but I guess something is better than nothing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      Wizz Air was interested in flying from Poland to Mostar a few years ago but I assume Mostar didn't have the money to subsidise them.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:38

    OU could have based a Q400 in OMO and started flights to a few cities, primarily Italy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Why? It is cheaper to shuttle passengers through Zagreb.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:43

    What airline could it be to Istanbul?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      Either Turkish or Pegasus probably.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      It could be someone else like Onur Air.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:08

      They talks about Istanbul flights each year but nothing ever happens.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:23

      It's Turkish Airlines. They have been talking for years.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:28

      To me this route seems better suited for Pegasus but we will see.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:53

    Great news for Mostar.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:56

    Why has the number of passengers decreased so much from Mostar?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      Fewer tourists from Italy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      Wasn't there some embargo from the Vatican for people not to visit Medjugorje?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:06

      There was a ban on official pilgrimage to Medjurgorje. It was lifted at the end of 2017.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:09

      That could mean that there could be a significant passenger boost this year from that sector as well.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:22

      As someone has mentioned, the Pope sad that Mary is not a mailman to publish new messages every single day in Medjugorje.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:10

      Nothing for you to worry about, since no one forces you to visit and believe. Btw neither do I but passengers are passengers and tourists are tourists.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:57

    great boost for SKP. I think this was triggered by JP increasing SKP to double daily

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02

      I think so too. OU will have a bit more competition on their hands this year with Adria opening some similar routes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:41

      JP 14x, OU 12x, JU 7x (14 in spic sezona) ex-yu airlines are back on track at SKP!

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:08

    So how many passengers would be realistic for Mostar in 2018?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      "In contrast, figures are expected to double in 2018."

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:10

    And how many passengers could OU handle this year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:12

      Around 2.4 million my prediction.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:18

      They are catching up to Air Serbia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      How many did JU carried last year?
      Many thanks for all info.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:33

      They have not announced it yet. I think it's the same like in 2016 - 2.63 million.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:52

      With this year's cuts to ASL schedule and fleet I see that our managment is doing everything it can to give OU a chanse to catch up in 2-3 years max.
      A 180 degree turn is needed in managmemt performance.

      Delete
    6. Dejan13:07

      If they retire the remaining two 737 next year they will be down to just 17 aircraft.
      Still the Croats would need a major expansion of their fleet from 12.
      The airline needs to plan for its future but the EY appointed managers are very short sighted.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:17

      ^
      http://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/01/air-serbia-mulls-future-fleet-options.html

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:41

      12. There are 13 planes all year (one Trade Air on 16 weekly flights that is code-share on OU) + 2 planes in top season, so it is 15 in top season (half of the year).

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:44

      Trade Air's plane is Trade Air's plane. Doesn't make it Croatia Airlines plane because they have a codeshare.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:19

      Air Serbia flies longer routes.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous15:06

      Not true. Those trade air routes are Croatia feeding routes (Osijek via Zagreb and Rijeka/Pula via Split). Trade air here is just Croatian Government contractor with obligation to have code-share on Croatia Airlines.

      But for sure two CRJ-1000 are part of Croatia fleet. So even with Trade air it is 14, not 12 planes.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:10

      By that logic you should count Croatia Airlines fleet in Lufthansa's because it feeds more passengers to them each year than Trade Air does to Croatia Airlines. As far as the CRJs are concerned, yes they should be counted in OUs fleet but Trade Air planes definitely not. Same way Trade Air passengers are not counted as Croatia Airlines passengers unless they connect on a Croatia Airlines flight.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous17:33

      Well the Trade Air plane with just 19 seats is practically neglegible I suppose and anyway I am sure it (and pax on that J32) will be counted for Trade Air (C3), not OU.

      So OU is using 12+2 planes.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:16

    500.000€ for one route? Med i Mleko!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:23

    Will OU fly those charters from Mostar to Beirut this year?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:29

    Mostar used to have a lot of flights back in the day (80s). All for Medjugorje. But back then JAT used to shuttle them in from all corners of the globe, Asian pilgirms in particular.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:39

      There were a lot of JU charters from the UK too.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:46

    In the end the only new route that will go year round will be these subsidized Mostar flights. OU complains about seasonality but they do nothing to try and make some route year long. I can't believe Bucharest or Prague can't operate during the whole year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:08

      Prague didn't work for CSA year long. Doubt it can for OU either. That's just the nature of the Croatian market.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:28

      Ili ceskoga

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:31

      You know very much that it's the Croatian market. Visible by looking at the figures during summer and winter or purely at the number of airline operating to the country in the summer. Because if that wasn't the case Croatia Airlines wouldn't have over 8 seasonal routes from Zagreb alone.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:39

      the czech are all travelling with their cars to HR

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:00

      I ja za Prag idem autom.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:59

    It shocks me A LOT how BiH has 4 operational airports given its size, economy and population. It is just behind Croatia in ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:01

      Me too! Surprising really.

      Delete
    2. Probably because of the large dispora looking to fly directly to Bosnia rather than flying to Croatia / Serbia and renting cars for outrageous prices and extra charges...

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:23

    OU tried and failed in Mostar. I hope this time it's different. Probably will be since their is a financial incentive this time around.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When? The last airline who tried and failed was B&H airlines

      Delete
  29. Good expansion at SKP. I also see their one way fares start at 40 eur (ZAGSKP)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous12:11

    TZL, INI, OMO, OHD, BWK -crazy growth and developments. Those airports have worked so hard to reach those amazing results. Excellent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:25

      Is eurowings confirmed flights to bwk?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:00

      the only thing comfirmed with Eurowings is chaos planning

      Delete
  31. Anonymous15:47

    500 000€ for 2-3 fpw hahahaha.. At my calculations tickets should be free. With 500 000€ they could base one lcc aircraft and gain 400k passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:36

      Probably not half a million for one year, I assume the contract is made for several years. But I guess we will never know what are the exact conditions and for how many years is that amount of subsidy.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous22:59

    Finally!!! Well done OMO....it is very important to develop regional airports such as Mostar, because they help to improve flow of people...OU is targeting transfer passengers, but i think there will be a notable number of point to point passengers considering how many people from Herzegovina live in Zagreb and there are a lot of students from Herzegovina studying at university of zagreb......i think OMO is back on track and showing signs that something is changing and proving it can do better

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous01:00

    Every new connection will help a bit to tourism efforts. It should be good to see Air Serbia and Turkish soon there too. Mostar has so much potential to develop into a decent small regional airport. It was a right move by the Federal Government to provide necessary funds.

    ReplyDelete

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