Mostar International Airport ( hr, Međunarodna zračna luka Mostar, bs, Međunarodni aerodrom Mostar; ) is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

near

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the village of

Ortiješ Ortiješ is a village in the City of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroa ...

, southeast of Mostar's railway station.

History

Mostar Airport was opened for civilian air traffic in 1965 for domestic flights. Prior to 1965, Mostar was a local airport with a large concrete runway used by aircraft manufacturer

SOKO Soko ( sh-Cyrl, Соко) was a Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company was responsible for the production of many military aircraft for the Yugoslav Air Force. SOKO was created in 1950 by the rel ...

for testing and delivering military aircraft, and sometimes by passenger aircraft. Currently, the airport primarily serves for Catholics making the pilgrimage to nearby

Medjugorje Medjugorje ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Međugorje, Међугорје, ) is a town located in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, about southwest of Mostar and east of the border with Croatia. The town is part of the Čitluk municipality ...

. In 2012, the airport had a twofold increase in traffic, making it the second-busiest in Bosnia and Herzegovina after

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

airport. Further investments are planned, which include: renovating and expanding the terminal building, expanding the apron, modernising equipment, possible expanding of runway and further education of airport staff in Italy, also building fuel tanks and hangars for private aircraft and for aircraft of the Secondary Traffic school of Mostar which uses the airport for flight school and educating students for future work. Mostar International Airport is considering a possible strategic partnership with investors or, alternatively, a privatisation or concession. In November 2017,

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-haul ...

was the first airline to schedule regular flights from Mostar to Düsseldorf and Stuttgart with two weekly flights from May 2018. On 3 May 2018, a

Croatia Airlines Croatia Airlines Ltd. is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Croatia. Its headquarters are in Buzin near Zagreb and operates domestic and international services mainly to European destinations. Its main hub is Zagreb International Airport wi ...

plane landed at Mostar Airport marking the introduction of direct two weekly Mostar-Zagreb flights. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

has further disrupted the difficult financial situation, causing Croatia Airlines and Eurowings not to continue their planned flights. Also, numerous irregularities in the spending of airport funds and illegally elected administration were noticed. The airport received 1,000,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible marks (€500,000) from the government in March 2021. On 8 September 2021, Croatia Airlines operated first charter flight from Shannon in Ireland to Mostar Airport. Airport management also start negotiating flights with few low cost airlines.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Mostar Airport:

Controversies

While Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Tuzla's airports have increased their passengers above 100,000; Mostar's airport management has not succeeded in securing any growth. Instead, Mostar Airport continue existing by support of the

Federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

. The Airport management has failed in securing flights to diaspora rich destinations such as

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 2022, the airport lost its only scheduled service. Despite a very low number of passengers, 8 million BAM was awarded to the airport. The current Airport director Ivan Ljubić was appointed against the law since there was no City Council when he assumed office. Mostar Airport fails to land airplanes diverged from Sarajevo, Tuzla and Banja Luka due to foggy weather conditions. Instead these airplanes are diverted to Serbia and Croatia, even if they are much further away from their original destinations. Mostar Airport is located in a very attractive position that the management have completely failed to capitalise on. The following reasons are why Mostar airport should be a very active airport: # Serving the closer towns with more than 400,000 population # Diaspora from Herzegovina region # Diaspora from Dalmatia region # Tourism in Mostar # Tourism in Herzegovina # Faith Tourism / pilgrimage to the very visited and world known Medjugorge # Summer backup for Split and Dubrovnik (Croatia's Dalmatia is extremely high in tourism) # Closeness to Montenegro

Statistics

The record number of 86,000 passengers was recorded in the year 1990,

References

External links