Tender procedures for airlines interested in opening a base at Mostar Airport in 2025 in return for subsidies have been launched. Interested carriers have until September 17 to submit their bids. It is speculated that the public call is aimed at the Italian airline SkyAlps, which began flying to Mostar from Rome, Munich, and Verona earlier this summer. Mostar Airport’s CEO, Mark Djuzel, previously announced that the regional carrier plans to base an aircraft in the city in 2025 and launch services to Stuttgart, Vienna, Naples, Palermo, and Catania. SkyAlps, which started operations in June 2021 as a virtual airline, secured its Air Operator’s Certificate in January 2023. It aims to expand its Dash 8 fleet to fourteen aircraft within the next year, positioning itself for further growth.

Mostar Airport handled 20.927 passengers during the January – July period. It anticipates welcoming a total of 40.000 travellers this year, with the figure projected to grow to 60.000 in 2025. Currently, the airport is served by Croatia Airlines, Air Serbia, and SkyAlps, the latter operating only seasonally during the summer. Additionally, Mostar is negotiating with Pegasus Airlines over the introduction of flights from Istanbul. “I believe that soon we will be able to confirm another four new routes so that next year we will have a total of ten”, Mr Djuzel said recently.

During the week, Croatia Airlines put tickets on sale for its Zagreb – Mostar service for the upcoming winter season, while Air Serbia inked an agreement to serve the city from Belgrade until at least October 2025. Both carriers are subsidised on their respective flights. Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said, “In the first three months of the route’s operations, we had very good cabin occupancy, with over 6.000 passengers flying between the two cities. July saw the highest volume of passengers on this route, with a very high load factor. This indicates that nonstop flights between Belgrade and Mostar are of exceptional importance to our passengers. We look forward to continuing our cooperation in maintaining scheduled flights on this route”.