The Croatian government has adopted a decision to allocate 950.000 euros for the upkeep of Croatia Airlines' flights between Zagreb and Mostar in 2026. The move comes just weeks after the state converted 78.3 million euros of the carrier’s debt into equity, as well as injected 35 million euros in financial support, with a further 35 million euros planned for next year. In addition, the government has granted authorities in Mostar a further 850,000 euros to “finance programmes aimed at improving aviation safety”. The Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure will oversee the use of these funds.
Croatia Airlines handled 11.042 passengers on flights between Zagreb and Mostar in 2025, representing an increase of 1.6% compared to the previous year. The average cabin load factor on the route stood at 50.6% for the year. The carrier operated a total of 141 flights in each direction during 2025. Almost all services were performed by the 76-seat Dash 8 Q400 turboprop, with the exception of one rotation operated by the Airbus A220-100 and one by the A319. Croatia Airlines launched scheduled flights between Zagreb and Mostar on May 3, 2018, and resumed operations on May 3, 2023, following a suspension during the pandemic. All services on the route are subsidised. Croatia Airlines maintains three weekly services between the two cities. The carrier had previously considered launching nonstop operations from Mostar to several destinations in Europe.
In its decision to grant funds for 2026, the government noted, “Pursuant to the Decisions on the allocation of funds to enhance the air transport connectivity of the City of Mostar, adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia on 14 March 2024 and 24 April 2025, agreements were concluded in 2024 and 2025 between the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the City of Mostar on co-financing programmes aimed at improving the city’s air connectivity. Based on these agreements, the implementation and financing of Mostar Airport’s programme for the provision of scheduled international air services on the Mostar - Zagreb - Mostar route were secured for 2024 and 2025”. It added, “In addition to the aforementioned decisions of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, this proposal introduces the possibility of financing programmes aimed at enhancing the safety and security of civil aviation, in principle through investments in infrastructure or equipment”.
Fantastic load factor...
ReplyDelete11,042 passengers annually equals roughly 30 passengers per flight on average. On a 76-seat Q400, that’s modest but not catastrophic for a thin regional route. Many PSO routes in Europe perform similarly.
DeleteLF won't improve when they have to start sending A220 on this route regularly.
DeleteHappy to see a220 on a route, will perform even better. Passengars like ekspirince of preimum product on Ou 220_100. Rewly like Croatia Airlinees to travel
DeleteWon't operate with a220, it will be smaller plane. They mentioned this before
Delete86 euros per passenger, having an airline is a lucrative business in Croatia I see!
ReplyDeleteWell if it was up to non political decisions OU would never fly this route. It is a will by politicians elected and therefore of course they have to pay.
DeleteI don't understand why it is subsidised by the croatian government, BiH should subsidise it, it's in their best interest that this route is operated.
DeleteThat is one way, so round trip is payed 172 euros per pax from cro government….great job!
DeleteAnd another 150 by the passenger, and they are still losing money?
DeleteIt’s easy to criticise subsidies, but nearly every small European airport depends on them in some form.
DeleteWhat a way to subsidize terrible OU!
DeleteThere are many ways to subsidize, they are really creative with that. It would be cool to know how much they charge tourist organizations for those regional snacks promo... I think one can't list all the state/public money they collect every year.
DeleteAccording to other information croatian government has allocated 1,75 million euro for flights Zagreb Mostar
DeleteI am stil waiting for Serbian government to allocate that amount of money for the flights Belgrade Banja Luka.
Delete@12.12 why not read the article past the first sentence? It would avoid you writing such uninformed comments.
DeleteThis has NOTHING to do with aviation. Bosnia has 0 interest from that and therefore should NOT subsidize the route. This is pure politics, in the interests of Croatian government and HDZ. At the end of the day, Croats from Mostar region vote on Croatian elections.
DeleteAnd these comments above are another proof how ignorant are people here and how much they enjoy saying their "opinion" without even thinking it through. If you know nothing, stay absent.
DeleteAnother year, another subsidy. With a 50% load factor and just over 11,000 passengers annually, this route clearly cannot stand on its own feet. At some point taxpayers deserve a serious explanation of the long term strategy.
ReplyDeleteThe route could stand on its own feet with some basic scheduling and enabling the OMO flight to connect to OU's poor, but extant Western European network.
DeleteThe way it's scheduled now, it's P2P only and therefore of limited use.
Mostar has very limited connectivity and this service is politically and economically important. 950,000 euros in the context of overall state aviation support is not a dramatic amount if it ensures stable links between Croatia and Herzegovina.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI guess so.
DeleteBut if the load factor is so poor against lack of other services or airlines (so no competition factor), I understand it may be important from a political perspective, but surely not from the economic one? I mean, so low number of passengers and poor load factor - I would imagine it would be in higher demand if no other options from OMO even exist?
DeleteThere are other options with wider network like JU. What OU can offer - SPU and DBV is most frequent but not needed for Mostar; only LH hubs which then means 3 flights to reach the destination, not cool. There are some p2p options too, not much room for OU here beside direct pax (which shouldn't be this low).
DeleteHerceg Baznia is good only for used Daimler Benz dealership and cevapcici in Jablanica.
DeleteAir Serbia also flies BNX service with tickets of 30€ one way, empty planes and no connectivity through BEG, but it's in someone's interest to have Air Serbia aircraft seen in Banja Luka.
DeleteHow do you know the planes are empty? Could you share the passenger data since you know it's empty. Thanks
DeleteHow anout Bosnia subsidize flights and develop their own industry?
DeleteBravo OU!
ReplyDeleteCorrect. Bravo for stealing money from your poor citizens
DeleteThe route operates three times per week with a Dash 8 and still only manages a 50% load factor. Maybe frequency is the issue? Either increase to daily to stimulate demand or reduce capacity.
ReplyDeleteAll this does not count- it is political and can also be called PSO.
DeleteWould be interesting to know JU Mostar load factor. Whenever I fly it's quite full.
ReplyDeleteThey scheduled one flight less this (out of) season, but most probably due to launch of SPU winter flights.
DeleteOU love a subsidy
ReplyDeleteAnd just a month ago they gave another 286,000 to Mostar Airport
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/12/croatia-grants-funds-for-mostar-airport.html
Ui yes! But have a look how much Denmark gives in subsidies to Greenland; the USA anf others to their outer dependencies- it is the same here - politically motivated on a much lesser scale.
Deleteyou are comparing Denmark with BH and Mostar with Greenland? Dude, Greenland is overseas territory and Mostar is here. What a comedian..
DeleteGreenland is also (still) part of Denmark, small difference.
DeleteInstead of endlessly subsidising Zagreb – Mostar, why doesn't OU try to fly from Mostar to another hub like Rome or Vienna? That might generate stronger inbound tourism and transfer traffic.
ReplyDeleteBecause they want to keep the money in the family.
DeleteBut they dont OU purely exists as LHG feeder
DeleteA rotation like ZAG-OMO-VIE-OMO-ZAG would make sense for OU.
DeleteOr MUC like all other routes seem to be
DeleteWould be interesting to see what type of passengers are these. Point to point or transfers.
ReplyDeleteIt does not connect onto anything
DeleteThat's crazy
DeleteIt misses several connections by minutes. Really wonder what's the logic behind that from their scheduling department.
DeleteIronically, this is a great LF for OU standards.
ReplyDeletetrue lol
DeleteThe fact that all services are subsidised confirms that this route would not survive commercially. The real question is whether its strategic value justifies permanent public funding.
ReplyDeleteThere is no single route from OMO that is not financially supported,
DeleteWhen you combine the 950,000 euros for the route and 850,000 euros for “aviation safety”, that’s 1.8 million euros directed toward Mostar in one year. For 11,000 passengers, that’s a very expensive connection.
ReplyDeletePoisonly expensive.
DeleteSome may use some other word too.
The route has symbolic value that goes beyond simple passenger numbers.
ReplyDelete@09.33 always great to waste taxpayer money on "symbolic" stuff nobody needs
DeleteIf the Croatian government is willing to subsidise international connectivity to Mostar, should Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities contribute more as well?
ReplyDeleteBiH government should encourage a few FR flights from Mostar. Croatia spends a lot more than this on the ever dwindling Croatian populace of the BiH.
DeleteWe cashed out last year from the Bosnian Federal government 1 million Bosnian Marks to Croatia Airlines for this nonsense of a route, so its only fair the Croatian government pays this year as well.
Delete@09:44 FR or W6 from Mostar is not possible. Those airlines don't want to complete extra pilot training needed for flights to and from Mostar.
DeleteOnly solution is Trebinje Airport.
Delete@13:47 joke of the day 🤣
DeleteThe Dash 8 Q400 is probably the right aircraft for this route. Anything larger would push load factors even lower. I wonder what will happen after the Dashes are gone.
ReplyDeleteSame thing will happen like on many OU routes. LF will go down as there is no sales strategy in place to turn that around.
DeletePerhaps the ATR42 would be better for these very weak PSO routes, Mostar, Brač, Osijek, Lošinj, Rijeka, Zadar?
DeleteVery weak routes are in TradeAir's contract. OU is trying to get some ATR and they're already late, not just for PSO routes.
DeleteIsn't it too early for OU?
Delete@10:17 there are no PSO flights or even commercial flights to Lošinj
DeleteYet they invest in Mostar. Weird...
DeleteGiven the 1.6% passenger growth year-on-year, the route appears stagnant rather than expanding.
ReplyDeleteSome people forget that regional connectivity often requires public support everywhere in Europe. The difference is transparency. At least here the numbers are public.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTo be fair OU have never hidden the facr they are bottom feeders and have no will to be run properly or for profit
DeleteAt this point Zagreb-Mostar is effectively a permanent PSO route, just without being formally labelled as such.
ReplyDelete11,000 passengers per year is tiny. Some regional bus routes carry more people.
ReplyDeleteWhy not try a summer seasonal increase? Religious tourism to Međugorje alone should generate more demand.
ReplyDeleteYou realise Mostar is not far from Sarajevo and Dubrovnik? Tourists can already get there very easily.
DeleteGiven Croatia Airlines’ financial position, it’s difficult to see how any non-core route can operate without state backing.
ReplyDeletehow does this connection benefits Mostar?
ReplyDeleteIt keeps the airport open and needs BH subsidies, so more subsidies in the never ending chain of subsidies
DeleteIt adds some pax without spending a dollar for it, unlike for other flights. It' pure benefit.
DeleteTrade Air with Saab would make much more sense on this route.
ReplyDeleteAgree!
DeleteYes, with daily rotation.
DeleteYou mean that flying van?
DeleteZ-expert would tell you Saabs are not profitable. But with PSO, who cares.
DeleteWhat a waste
ReplyDeleteEverybody's commenting on the approx. 1 million OU is spending on the Mostar route, but the elephant in the room is actually the almost 150 million in total the Croatian Government had and will inject for this and next year (recent conversion of 78.3 million euros of the carrier’s debt into equity, as well as 35 million euros in financial support injected with a further 35 million euros planned for next year).
ReplyDeleteIn relation: OU had a revenue of 269 Million in 2024 and their Government is supporting them with 100 Million.
DeleteHahahahahah so true!
DeleteI wonder how many pax connect further in Zagreb
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the timings?
DeleteThey wait around in the Airport and connect on Ryanair like everyone else hahaha
DeleteTrue
DeleteThe worst part of this route are the exorbitant prices on top of all the subsidies. JU base price is considerably cheaper, and even more so for connections that are very competitively priced.
ReplyDeleteOU pricing on the few connections they offer is highway robbery.
They do same with some domestic flights (mostly DBV and SPU-ZAG). Subsidized but crazy high fares.
DeleteJust checked a return flight from Zagreb for random chosen dates (29.04. and return on 06.05.). The price is 110€. I think that's fair. JU is charging from Belgrade about 10€ less...it's better to check before using words like exorbitant...
DeleteThe fact that they are sending A319s nowdays...
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDelete