Mostar International Airport

Mostar International Airport (Bosnian: Međunarodni aerodrom Mostar, Croatian: Međunarodna zračna luka 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.[3]

Mostar International Airport

Međunarodna zračna luka Mostar
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of Mostar (88%)
Zagreb Airport (12%)
OperatorMostar Airport Ltd.
ServesMostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
LocationOrtiješ
Hub forSky Alps[1](starts May 2025)
Elevation AMSL48 m / 156 ft
Coordinates43°16′58″N 17°50′45″E / 43.28278°N 17.84583°E / 43.28278; 17.84583
Websitemostar-airport.ba
Map
OMO is located in Bosnia and Herzegovina
OMO
OMO
Location within Bosnia and Herzegovina
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
15/33 2,400 7,874 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passengers20,525 Increase 91,3%
Aircraft Movements686 Increase 64,1%
Freight (in tons)0 Decrease 0%
Source: Bosnian and Herzegovinian Directorate of Civil Aviation BHDCA[2]

History

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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. Military underground hangar was built here.[4] 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.[5] On 3 May 2018, the first landing of a Croatia Airlines aircraft marked the introduction of the twice weekly nonstop Mostar-Zagreb service.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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. Both routes were discontinued after just one season.

Airlines and destinations

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

AirlinesDestinations
Air Serbia Belgrade[10]
Croatia Airlines Zagreb[11]
Luxwing Seasonal charter: Catania, Naples[12]
Sky Alps[13][14][15] Seasonal: Bari, Catania (starts May 2025), Milan-Bergamo (starts May 2025), Munich, Naples (starts May 2025), Rome–Fiumicino, Palermo (starts May 2025), Vienna (starts May 2025)

Statistics

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The record number of 86,000 passengers was recorded in the year 1990.[16]

Annual passenger traffic at OMO airport. See Wikidata query.
Passenger statistics[17]
Year/Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Year total Change
2024 788 868 929 1,771 4,762 5,431 6,378 10,154 31,081  +165.1%
2023 5 30 4 874 1,320 1,533 2,573 5,838 3,736 2,617 992 1,022 20,544  +91.8%
2022 6 39 21 110 189 942 2,151 4,623 1,914 711 5 n/a 10,711  +693.2%
2021 2 16 2 12 17 76 218 253 664 324 153 205 1,942  +41.34%
2020 384 267 133 0 0 0 0 76 190 11 25 288 1,374  -95.81%
2019 163 294 289 1,291 2,423 4,029 4,677 8,369 6,218 3,512 931 670 32,866  +15.46%
2018 0 171 448 1,557 3,881 4,004 3,173 7,561 4,963 1,654 570 481 28,463  -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  -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  -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  +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  -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  −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  +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  +206.0%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Italy's SkyAlps to open Mostar base in 2025". 28 September 2024.
  2. ^ Bosnian, Flying (18 January 2019). "Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation news: ✈Bosnia and Herzegovina air traffic report for 2018".
  3. ^ "EAD Basic - Error Page". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  4. ^ "Podzemni aerodrom Buna (Mostar)". Facebook. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  5. ^ Bosnian, Flying (7 November 2017). "Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation news: ✈Eurowings Mostar flight schedule".
  6. ^ Bosnian, Flying (4 May 2018). "Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation news: ✈Zagreb-Mostar flights inaugurated".
  7. ^ "Nalaz revizije: Aerodrom Mostar netransparentno trošio novac, brojne nepravilnosti". www.klix.ba.
  8. ^ "Vlada Federacije BiH izdvaja devet miliona KM za aerodrome". www.klix.ba.
  9. ^ "Mostar Airport plans 2022 revival". exyuaviation.com. 12 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Air Serbia plans year-round Mostar flights". 18 July 2024.
  11. ^ "Croatia Airlines to restore Mostar flights". 27 March 2023.
  12. ^ "EKSKLUZIVNO-NAJAVE: ZL Mostar dogovorio 20 chartera Luxwinga" (in Croatian). 29 March 2024.
  13. ^ https://www.flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2024/02/skyalps-schedules-mostar-flights-launch.html [bare URL]
  14. ^ "Italy's SkyAlps to open Mostar base in 2025". 28 September 2024.
  15. ^ "SkyAlps pokreće bazu u Mostaru" (in cro). 27 September 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  16. ^ "Zračna luka Mostar". mostar-airport.ba. 4 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Home page". www.bhdca.gov.ba.
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