



Eurowings has said it plans to launch flights from Stuttgart and Cologne to Mostar next year in a statement on its official social media pages. It comes after Mostar was chosen as the low cost airline's newest destination from Cologne in a popular vote on Wednesday. The new routes will help overturn Mostar Airport's declining passenger numbers. General Manager, Marin Raspudić, said this was "just the beginning" of Eurowing's presence in the city. "I would like to thank the citizens of Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as our diaspora, for voting for Mostar. It shows that there is interest in Mostar, which means a lot. This has once again confirmed that Mostar Airport has potential", Mr Raspidić noted. He added that Eurowings is likely to launch flights from Dusseldorf as well.





Lufthansa's low cost subsidiary, Mostar Airport's management, representatives from the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation and local tour operators began talks over the introduction of flights from Stuttgart in January this year, after which the Premier of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton said the route would be subsidised. Flights were expected to begin this October but will now launch jointly with the new Cologne service next summer season. "We are in constant contact with Eurowings and we believe Cologne and Stuttgart are ideal destinations for Mostar and our diaspora. We are also in contact with Wizz Air and have commenced talks with Croatia Airlines as well. I hope that in the coming year we will have more scheduled flights. It is important that Eurowings will start first. When one comes the others will follow", Mr Raspudić said.





Mostar Airport has been in talks with Wizz Air over potential services from Sweden and recently held meetings with Croatia Airlines over the resumption of flights from Zagreb in 2018 following a twelve-year hiatus. Mostar has struggled to attract scheduled flights but sees a significant number of charter traffic throughout the year, carrying religious pilgrims visiting the nearby Medjugorje sight. It handled less than 60.000 passengers in 2016, down 20% on the year before due to fewer charters, making it Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third busiest airport behind Sarajevo and Tuzla but ahead of Banja Luka. During the first three quarters of 2017, it welcomed 38.223 travellers through its doors, down 20.2% on the same period last year. The airport handled a record 86.000 passengers in a single year prior to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, in 1990, but has been unable to surpass that figure ever since.