Mostar International Airport

Mostar International Airport (Croatian: Međunarodna zračna luka Mostar, Bosnian: Međunarodni aerodrom Mostar; IATA: OMO, ICAO: LQMO) is an airport near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the village of Ortiješ, 4 NM (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) southeast of Mostar's railway station.[2]

Mostar International Airport

Međunarodna zračna luka Mostar

Međunarodni aerodrom Mostar
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of Mostar (88%)
Zagreb Airport (12%)
OperatorMostar Airport Ltd.
ServesMostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
LocationOrtiješ
Elevation AMSL48 m / 156 ft
Coordinates43°16′58″N 17°50′45″E
Websitemostar-airport.ba
Map
OMO is located in Bosnia and Herzegovina
OMO
OMO
Location within Bosnia and Herzegovina
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
15/33 2,400 7,874 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passengers1.374 Decrease 95,8%
Aircraft Movements144 Decrease 80,4%
Freight (in tons)0 Decrease 0%
Source: Bosnian and Herzegovinian Directorate of Civil Aviation BHDCA[1]

History

Mostar Airport was opened for civilian air traffic in 1965, targeting domestic flights. Prior to 1965, Mostar was a local airport with a large concrete runway used by aircraft manufacturer SOKO for testing and delivering military aircraft. Currently, the airport primarily serves charter flights for Catholics making the pilgrimage to nearby Medjugorje. In 2012, the airport had a twofold increase in traffic, making it the second-busiest in Bosnia and Herzegovina after Sarajevo airport.

In November 2017, German low-cost carrier Eurowings was the first airline to schedule regular flights from Mostar, namely to Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, serving both with two weekly flights from May 2018 respectively.[3] On 3 May 2018, the first landing of a Croatia Airlines aircraft marked the introduction of the twice weekly nonstop Mostar-Zagreb service.[4] The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the airports operations, causing Croatia Airlines and Eurowings not to continue their services as planned, therefore losing all scheduled traffic. Also, numerous irregularities in the spending of airport funds and illegally elected administration were noticed.[5] The airport received 1,000,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible marks (€500,000) from the government in March 2021 as an aid to overcome the Covid-crisis.[6] On 8 September 2021, Croatia Airlines operated a charter flight from Shannon in Ireland to Mostar Airport, marking the resumption of any civilian traffic in Mostar since March 2020. Airport management also started negotiating flights with low cost airline Wizz Air to sustain direct flights to the diaspora in Germany and Sweden, tough without any outcome.[7] In 2023, Mostar gained two new direct links to Italy, with AeroItalia launching flights to the secondary airport of Forlì and Greek charter airline Lumiwings connecting Mostar with Foggia.

Airlines and destinations

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

AirlinesDestinations
Croatia Airlines Zagreb[8]
Seasonal charter: Beirut,[9] Bergamo,[10] Cork, Dublin,[11] Naples, Palermo[12]
Electra Airways Seasonal charter: Catania[13]
Lumiwings Seasonal: Foggia[14]

Controversies

While the likes of Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Tuzla have steadily reached passenger numbers of above 100,000; Mostar Airport has never succeeded to reach these levels. Instead, Mostar Airport continues existing by strong support of the Federal government. The Airport management has failed securing flights to diaspora rich destinations such as Sweden, Denmark and Germany, but is in talks with low cost carrier Wizz Air for flights in 2024, after not being able to secure any flights for the 2023 season.[15][16]

Despite a very low number of passengers, 8 million BAM were awarded to the airport.[17]

The current Airport director Ivan Ljubić was appointed against the law since there was no City Council when he assumed office.[18]

Statistics

The record number of 86,000 passengers was recorded in the year 1990,[19]

Annual passenger traffic at OMO airport. See Wikidata query.
Passenger statistics[20]
Year/Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Year total Change
2023 5 30 4 874 1,320 1,533 2,573 5,838 3,737 15,914 Increase+50,69%
2022 6 39 21 110 189 942 2,151 4,623 1,914 711 5 n/a 10,711 Increase+693,2%
2021 2 16 2 12 17 76 218 253 664 324 153 205 1,942 Increase+41,34%
2020 384 267 133 0 0 0 0 76 190 11 25 288 1,374 Decrease-95,81%
2019 163 294 289 1,291 2,423 4,029 4,677 8,369 6,218 3,512 931 670 32,866 Increase+15,46%
2018 0 171 448 1,557 3,881 4,004 3,173 7,561 4,963 1,654 570 481 28,463 Decrease-33,9%
2017 290 493 1,014 3,741 5,406 5,765 5,201 8,876 7,437 4,121 379 395 43,118 Decrease-19,5%
2016 226 24 1,122 3,797 6,139 7,178 8,411 10,788 10,225 4,692 n/a n/a 53,618 Decrease-28,5%
2015 775 186 2,425 6,680 11,867 9,696 9,715 13,305 11,502 6,718 852 1,303 75,024 Increase+10,3%
2014 395 117 1,575 5,817 9,689 9,288 8,831 10,691 10,499 7,731 1,426 1,921 67,980 Decrease-1,3%
2013 155 7 2,453 7,737 9,082 9,146 6,665 11,103 9,599 7,602 3,339 2,058 68,939 Decrease−13,2%
2012 177 318 2,139 9,169 8,677 11,922 9,921 13,737 10,839 6,360 2,923 1,873 78,055 Increase+212,0%
2011 554 0 696 2,193 4,029 5,087 4,343 4,644 8,432 4,265 1,086 1,478 36,807 Increase+206,0%

See also

References
  1. Bosnian, Flying (18 January 2019). "Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation news: ✈Bosnia and Herzegovina air traffic report for 2018".
  2. "EAD Basic - Error Page". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  3. Bosnian, Flying (7 November 2017). "Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation news: ✈Eurowings Mostar flight schedule".
  4. Bosnian, Flying (4 May 2018). "Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation news: ✈Zagreb-Mostar flights inaugurated".
  5. "Nalaz revizije: Aerodrom Mostar netransparentno trošio novac, brojne nepravilnosti". www.klix.ba.
  6. "Vlada Federacije BiH izdvaja devet miliona KM za aerodrome". www.klix.ba.
  7. "Mostar Airport plans 2022 revival". exyuaviation.com. 12 September 2021.
  8. "Croatia Airlines to restore Mostar flights". 27 March 2023.
  9. "Red letenja za razdoblje od 29.7. do 25.8.2022". mostar-airport.ba. 27 July 2022.
  10. "U Mostar sletio avion sa 140 putnika iz italijanskog Bergama i najavljen talas letova". klix.ba. 28 April 2023.
  11. "Mostar". dublinairport.com. 18 May 2022.
  12. "Direktor Zračne luke Mostar najavio čarter letove iz Poljske, Italije, Jordana". mostar.ba. 25 April 2022.
  13. "S Düsseldorfom nova linija, cilj 100.000 putnika u pet godina". vecernji.ba. 28 March 2022.
  14. "Lumiwings to launch Mostar flights". 10 April 2023.
  15. "Home page". zamaaero.com/08/05/2022/analize/intervju-ivan-ljubicic-direktor-zl-morstar/.
  16. "Mostar eyes Wizz Air flights in 2024". 6 April 2023.
  17. "8million bam to save mostar airport". klix.ba.
  18. "Mostar airport director appointed illegal". klix.ba.
  19. "Zračna luka Mostar". mostar-airport.ba.
  20. "Home page". www.bhdca.gov.ba.

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