NEWS FLASH
Mostar Airport has seen its passenger numbers decline for a sixteenth consecutive month despite securing two new seasonal services from Dusseldorf and Stuttgart operated by Eurowings and year-round flights by Croatia Airlines from Zagreb. The airport handled 4.004 travellers in June, representing a decrease of 30.5% on last year. During the first half of 2018, Mostar welcomed 10.061 passengers through its doors, down 39.8% year-on-year. The airport has been hit by the loss of its busiest customer Mistral Air, which used to operate a number of scheduled charter flights from Italy to Mostar, carrying Christian pilgrims visiting the Medjugorje sight. The flights, which were subsidised by the European Union, were terminated once the funding ended.
Mostar Airport has said it is in talks with Turkish Airlines over potential services from Istanbul, as well as a "large European carrier" concerning flights from Scandinavia.
What a shame. Has there ever been a route at this airport which is not subsidised?
ReplyDeleteBravo Marine!
DeleteThree of Bosnia´s biggest tourist spots in the proximity of this airport, Mostar, Neum and Medjugorje, and this is the worst airport in the country traffic-wise?! Thank you HDZ BiH politics, where they would rather see passengers in Split and Dubrovnik, than in Mostar.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame
ReplyDeletevelika šteta prošli tjedan su turisti iz Baria sletili u Dubrovnik i busom do Međugorja tako je lakše nego da slete u Mostar, samo gdje su turisti iz Irske koje su toliko najavljivali prošle godine, ali nadat se da će biti bolje u budućnosti
ReplyDeleteThat the EU terminates its subsidies for an airport near Medjugorje, I can imagine, since The Queen of Peace in Medjugorje promotes Christian values. But there is more at hand with the airport in Mostar. Crashes have been reported in the past, since the airstrip is located next to Mostar, which is located in a wider part of the Neretva Valley and one can land an airplane there only if the wind comes from a certain direction. Otherwise airplanes escape to Split, Dubrovnik or Sarajevo. The solution for Medjugorje is not to expand the dangerous airport in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 30km from Medjugorje, but to expand the airport/train station/bus station at the harbour in Ploce, Croatia, 40km from Medjugorje. The airport of Ploce is not suited for passenger planes jet. The new fast Bosnian train, passing through Sarajevo, Mostar, and Surmanci, 7km from Medjugorje, can then also connect again with Ploce (and Zagreb), on the most beautiful train line in Europe, through the Neretva Valley, we are all waiting for that. And the harbour of Ploce could start providing boat services with Italy, as it has done before. However, I think Croatia will not expand Ploce because pilgrim traffic through Split will decrease then. But that is the solution. Ploce has tremendous potential for air traffic, pilgrims and tourists world wide, if the authorities would only see it.
ReplyDeleteOr Bosnia would install an airport at Neum, their only coastal city, solving all international problems, since Medjugorje lies also in Bosnia-Herzegovina. There are already plans for a motorway and railway in Neum, according to Wikipedia. Neum is mountainous, but it lies at the sea side, like Hong Kong, not in a valley, like Mostar. If Hong Kong can do it, then Neum can do it.
ReplyDelete