Mostar Airport and Air Serbia are negotiating over the potential introduction of flights from Belgrade with a deal reportedly within reach. “We are working on securing Belgrade flights with a high numbers of frequencies under favourable conditions. We are close to a deal, however, it all depends on available aircraft capacity. We are quite limited by who can fly to Mostar because the airport has a lot of restrictions when it comes to take offs and landings, so we can’t negotiate with everyone”, the General Manager of Mostar Airport, Marko Djuzel, said. Air Serbia currently maintains operations to both Sarajevo and Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Earlier this year, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “We already fly to fifteen destinations in the ex-Yugoslavia. That’s more than any other airline. And we will continue to add frequencies to all the countries since they also provide us with passenger flow for connecting flights, especially for our long-haul operations”. Croatia Airlines is currently the only carrier operating year-round flights to Mostar, restoring its Zagreb service earlier in 2023 after more than three years. Last week, Mostar Airport launched a tender for the provision of subsidies for the upkeep of the Zagreb service, with Croatia Airlines expected to be the sole bidder.
Scheduled flights between Belgrade and Mostar were first established on March 15, 1962 by JAT Yugoslav Airlines and operated off and on throughout the coming decades. The route initially served the local population but from the 1980s onwards became popular with transfer passengers traveling for religious purposes to visit the Medjugorje site. JAT itself sold special travel packages to Mostar for pilgrims in markets including the United States, the United Kingdom to as far afield as the Philippines. As Yugoslavia started to disintegrate, services were discontinued. JAT’s last flight on the route, which was also the final commercial flight between the two cities to date, took place on November 23, 1991. During the final summer season unaffected by the Yugoslav wars, in 1990, JAT operated eight weekly flights from Belgrade to Mostar.
It could work seasonally
ReplyDeleteEspecially subsidised
DeleteThere is great potential for both sides because Air Serbia has a strong network in Italy, which is the main source for OMO travelers considering Medjugorje.
DeletePlus Krakow and possible new Polish destinations and some P2P of course. Mostar could have some tourist campaign in Belgrade, as a reminder they have something to offer... It will work seasonally.
Delete+1 I agree
DeleteWouldn't Maribor make more sense?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. Mostar has Medjugoje traffic, diaspora traffic and there will be some P2P, none of which is applicable to Maribor.
DeleteBiggest problem is small number of Croats, Baznians and Serbs there. They will not like each others but they need connection with Belgrade, but theirs numbers are small.
DeleteMaribor could work, especially considering that Graz doesn't have Air Serbia flying to it. Unfortunately, DRI (airport manager) is mostly just a provisional solution while they try and find a new airport operator. Also, Air Serbia has an aircraft and staff shortage, so they're more likely focusing on more profitable routes that are likely to have higher yields
DeleteAni ymous 09:54. Everyone loves each other nowadays and respects each other. Only corrupt politics causes division in Bosnia.
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteAnon@09:54 is out of touch.
Agreed, and going step further : only corrupt politics caused division in entire ex-yu
DeleteI think this route could definitely work during the summer. In the winter, not so sure.
ReplyDeleteBrac will be better
DeleteJU should first make Split (and Dubrovnik) year-round destinations in their network.
Deleteif JU wants to lose more money, then they will open flights in winter to Split and Dubrovnik....
Deletewhile flights to Brac in the summer season would be more than acceptable and in demand
If they advertize properly, it could work. Not only regarding transfers, and tourism, but there are currently many bus routes from Eastern Herzegovina to Belgrade. If the ticket price becomes affordable, these people could use it as well.
DeleteBesides, I would love to go for a weekend in Belgrade, and I am sure many people from Herzegovina will use it to go to Belgrade for a weekend. Belgrade is far from us if you want to use a bus.
Delete2x weekly
ReplyDeleteIt says they negotiated a high frequency
DeleteHow much could that be?
Deleteat least 2 daily.
DeleteI highly doubt it would be 2 daily
Delete2 daily on an ATR would be around 55 000 pax annually...I don't doubt the fact that there's demand, but not that high.
DeleteHigh frequency is actually higher than OU. I expect up to 4 weekly. Sarajevo has 7, Banja Luka 2-3, I don't see Mostar being any different.
DeleteIf subsidized it could be 3 daily....BNX and SJJ are not subsidized.
DeleteI like they are doing a tender for the Zagreb route 😂
ReplyDeleteThey did it for this year too.
DeleteHow much money did they get?
DeleteThey got just over 500,000 euros for this year.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/04/croatia-airlines-eyes-mostar-success-as.html
Thanks. That's quite a lot
DeleteAnyone know how the route is performing?
DeleteI think better then expected
DeleteI wonder if JU will get the same amount of money
DeleteWon't this create competition for OU?
ReplyDeleteI think the management realised that other than Germany transfers and P2P traffic, OU doesn't offer much.
DeleteOU doesn't offer Germany transfers; they fly to 2 or 3 destinations there. JU has more to offer even in that department...
DeleteAnon 08:09 OU creates the competition itself, by operating only a handful of destinations out of its home base. Ridiculous.
DeleteOU does not care about competition. OU is "managed" by aparatchiks and uhljebs. Apartchiks and uhljebs follow directions and orders given by Central Comitee. Aparatchiks and uhljebs care about fat pay checks, ID tickets, holidays, long weekend, sailing, tenis, and similar activites, not about business, costs, profits vs losses and competition. As simple as that.
DeleteExcellent for Italy connections. I'm sure Krakow route will provide feed too.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWill be competition for future Trebinje Airport.
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteOnce Trebinje is opened, they can switch to there or split the flight... Until then, OMO would be fine.
DeleteOMO can nicely compliment Dubrovnik seasonal flights.
So basically the route depends if Air Serbia will have planes
ReplyDelete"We are close to a deal, however, it all depends on available aircraft capacity."
Disappointing. This will obviously be an issue for any expansion next year.
DeleteMostar finally proactive and working on securing scheduled flights. A nice change on the previous 30 years.
ReplyDeleteIt will still be worst performing of the Bosnian airports.
DeleteYou have to start somewhere.
DeleteMostar would have more success if they focused on bringing Eurowings back or attracting Ryanair or Wizz Air rather than Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteLike the CEO said, very hard to find an airline that can fly to Mostar considering all the restrictions.
DeleteAegean would be a good option too.
DeleteWhat are the restrictions? Is it size of aircraft?
DeleteApproach into Mostar. Only specially trained pilots can land there.
DeleteFor example this year there were quite a few sport charters because Zrinjski qualified to group stage. Were all these charter companies specially training pilots for just one flight?
DeleteThere is no sense that pilots need additional training to land in Mostar. Does anyone knows what the problem is?
DeleteThere is definitely a part that needs improvement. It is really hard when you hire someone based on political reasons rather than their competencies.
OMO needs good management that will start from the beginning: analysis, strategy for development, good recruitment, etc.
Wouldn't JU coming to Mostar impact OU's operations? Or are OU's passengers mostly point to point so it wouldn't make any difference?
ReplyDeleteIt's mostly P2P.
DeleteThey don't care about impact or competition. Mostar is political service introduced by Kradeze entities, from both Hercegovina and Croatia
DeleteThat is true. As a non-Croat and someone who is definitely not for HDZ, this Meyer is doing something. He is the first one who seems to listen to people and public opinion. But we will see.
DeleteWould be fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWhat would be the most appealing transfer market from/to Mostar?
ReplyDeleteItaly obviously
DeleteItaly, Poland and Scandinavia.
DeleteAll countries where people believe in the Medjugorje scam
DeleteScandinavia is because of diaspora.
DeleteUSA pilgrims like ages ago?
DeleteAir Serbia could offer very decent transfer options to Mostar. I think they will add it
ReplyDeleteI'm from Belgrade. I would love to visit Mostar but definitely would not want to drive or go by bus.
ReplyDeleteSame
DeleteYou can fly to SJJ and take a car to Mostar. It takes only 2 hours.
DeleteOne can drive a car from BEG to ZAG but there are flights too....Flying to SJJ plus getting off the plane plus 30 min to get a car plus two hours of driving? That is in total 5 hours to get to Mostar, insane really
DeleteI want to go to see Mostar as well … apparently it’s beautiful for a weekend trip .. same wouldn’t take a bus
DeleteIt is same from here (Hercegovina). I would love to go for a weekend in Belgrade, and I am sure many people from Herzegovina will use it to go to Belgrade for a weekend. Belgrade is far from us if you want to use a bus.
DeleteJU should give it a try next summer with the Atr.
ReplyDeleteOr Embraer if it is working well
DeleteJU should start flying to Mostar only and only if they get the same amount of money (or more) OU got from OMO.
ReplyDeleteThey have obviously already agreed if they get all the planes they plan to get.
DeleteJU should start flying to Mostar only and only if they can fly with some profit. The amount OU got is not of great importance.
DeleteIt is much easier to achieve profit if you receive subsidies.
DeleteDo you guys think they don't know that? So, you believe someone will fly somewhere without profits. They don't need you to tell them that. 🤣
Deleteit is difficult and time consuming to travel to Mostar and Herzegovina.
ReplyDeleteWhen will JU announce new routes for next year?
ReplyDeleteLast year was in December
DeleteIs there a fog in Mostar so often as in Sarajevo? Could it be a problem for ATR?
ReplyDeleteThere is no fog in Mostar. i landed twice in Mostar in old days when Sarajevo airport was closed due to the fog.
DeleteNo way, the climate is much different in Mostar, more Mediterranean.
DeleteOnly wind can be an issue.
DeleteSo called analyst said these are old news 🤣
ReplyDeleteThe airport GM said it just a day or two ago
DeleteI know it, you know it, but "expert" doesn't.
DeleteAh, not surprised.
DeleteFirst route announced to Summer 2024 ,soon the rest of 5 new routes to nex year, Dublín, Manchester, Shanghái Alicante
ReplyDeleteI don't think this will be the new routes. Plus they p0lan Guanzhou too.
DeleteMany serbian are buying houses in Alicante, so that’s a great demand all year.
DeleteNice! Hope it happens.
ReplyDelete"We are quite limited by who can fly to Mostar because the airport has a lot of restrictions when it comes to take offs and landings, so we can’t negotiate with everyone" - seriously??
ReplyDeleteIs the airport apron that small it cannot handle more than 4 planes for instance or is it the runway that has a limited capacity? Find this a bit odd.
Do Electra Airways still operate charters to from OMO to Catania, btw? They rolled out their new livery last month and think it is stunning!
https://aircraft.airbus.com/en/newsroom/stories/2023-11-electra-airways-a-brand-new-visual-identity-created-by-the-airbus-design
It is related to the very tricky approach. Only specially trained pilots can actually land there.
DeleteAnonymous 13:39 please don't spread false informations. Where did you get this informations?
DeleteMostar Airport should only release such information once the contract is signed. This is common practice. There have already been many announcements from Mostar (Wizz, Ryanair...) but almost nothing has happened
ReplyDeleteI think Mostar won't be that successful, JU should try Split as year round route instead.
ReplyDeleteSPU in winter has no chance.
DeleteThere is simply no demand. Even KL as the only foreign legacy carrier decreased SPU to only 1 weekly roatation in winter. There is no Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, LOT, Air France, SAS, British..Nobody flies there in winter.
SPU in winter would be nothing but wasting of time and money for Air Serbia.
@Anonymous15:11
DeleteUnlike those airlines, Air Serbia can cover Spit with ATR, making this line much more feasable in the winter
Still not profitable as there is no demand.
DeleteBetter to use ATR for new destination like CLJ than to waste capacity on SPU in winter.
To connect first and third busiest airports in ex yu year round might be a god idea actually
DeleteAgree they need to fly to all Yugoslav airports
DeleteI remember that Mostar was in talks and made a DEAL with Wizz for four new routes which at the time they said that they will be further announced. What happend with it, was it all a lie?
ReplyDeleteIt was apparently Wizz that didn't have enough resources to operate the planned routes. Afair, Wizz were still interested in launching in 2024 - but given the recent uncertainty with Wizz and its other operations in the region, that statement probably doesn't say much.
DeleteIt seems the deal that Mostar airport has with OU expires very soon as there aren't any flights for sale between ZAG and OMO past mid January or so...so perhaps JU is going to 'replace' OU as the airline that gets the €500k per year subsidy to operate year round flights from the canton?
Delete^ Read the article
Delete"Last week, Mostar Airport launched a tender for the provision of subsidies for the upkeep of the Zagreb service, with Croatia Airlines expected to be the sole bidder."
Great news. I hope its very successful for Mostar, the area and JU. Soon I hope they also increase the frequency to both SJJ and BNX. 1 per day is really not enough for SJJ.
ReplyDeleteMostar would really help itself by incorporating Medugoria in its name (Mostar-Medugoria intl airport) for example.
ReplyDeleteOU should also use Medugoria when selling tickets to Mostar as this would really help sales as it would come up in google searches when people try to figure out how they might travel there.
I bet if JU starts services, they would do just that. Call the destination Mostar-Medugoria or something similar to this.
Whatever you think of Medugoria, it still has a huge amount of visitors every year so it makes sense to use the name as much as possible to help fill up flights.
Not a bad idea, but I would spell it Međugorje or at least Medjugorje.
DeleteAfter all, ovce su za šišanje.
No passengers, not reliable route! New frequencies to SJJ is better than this.
ReplyDeleteWill be*
DeleteWhat a waste of company resources. They should use any spare capacity they have to either boost existing routes with bigger potential or to launch new routes like Cluj, Iasi etc.
ReplyDeleteOMO is a dying market with limited growth potential. Not to mention that they should rather focus on boosting BNX where there are 10 or 11 daily buses from Belgrade.
BNX and OMO have different coverage areas.
DeleteAgreed
Delete3 weekly flights to BNX. If this route has more potential they will fly atleast dailly. Also fares are €90 for a return which is reasonable.
DeleteBEG-BNX is full and can go more than daily. Issue are the yields.
DeleteWhich 15 destinations is he talking about? I can not count more then 14
ReplyDeleteSo just one is missing from your calculations. Almost there.
DeleteBelgrade, Kraljevo, Nis, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Podgorica, Tivat, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Skopje, Ohrid - 16 actually
DeleteBeograd is JUs base, can't include it.
Deletewait, it is not enough that Ryanair is punching OU in the stomach on its own playground, now Air Serbia is joining the party and hitting them in their backyard? Whoa, that drug OU managment is on seems to be pretty strong....they are completely numb.
DeleteYou really think that 2-3 weekly flights to OMO is going to hit OU hard?
DeleteFor which they're still getting paid for it 🤣 Nice try
DeleteThere’s no flight from Beograd to Kraljevo
DeleteHe says how many cities they fly to ex-Yu not how many cities from Belgrade. Read.
DeleteThen it’s 16, not 15. You read it
ReplyDeleteIn case of Air Serbia the ticket price is not the main issue.
ReplyDeleteTheir mostly problems is baggage service on the earth !!! , especially for connection flights!!!…, airplanes, Air service etc. If you are travel only with back pack, maybe....
This is really good news. One should look at this from every side. There is a pretty large demand for flights from OMO to BEG, and viceversa. Also, JU could really benefit from transfers from Poland and US regarding pilgrims. Also, a good number of transfers from disapora when it comes to Scandinavia and Germany and also US. There is considerable disapora from Herzegovina living in a greater Toronto and Chicago area.
ReplyDeleteI think the real question is when are the flights going to materialise not are they going to materialise at all cause I am sure the respectable airline like JU has done its homework and research regarding demand. Otherwise they wouldnt enter the talks at all.
Good luck OMO i am sure flights will happen?! 😁