The regular airline Mostar-Rome will be established in mid-April, confirmed the Office of the Director of the Mostar Airport.
‘’In the last few years, Mostar was connected with Rome through a series of charter flights. The regular line to this destination is in the final phase with the Italian company Mistral Air, and the planned beginning is the middle of April’’, said Mostar Airport.
Thanks to the AIR.NET project, which is unique in Europe because it is the first time that EU structural funds and financial instruments that support the accession of Balkan countries to the EU are used to improve the transport of passengers through concrete airline links, said Fena.
Mostar airport introduced direct flights from Mostar to Trieste and Bari, and in some 130 operations it carried over 15.000 passengers, confirmed to Fena the Office of the Director of Mostar Airport.
Otherwise, transport infrastructure, whether road, rail or air is a key prerequisite for economic growth and tourism development. AIR.NET project, implemented through a part of the program of cross border cooperation IPA Adriatic, was aimed at establishing networks of regional airports for a single economic area and mobility of people and goods.
When it comes to the study, financed by the EU for the reconstruction of airports, the Office of the Director said that the project that is financed by the EU was placed in three parts.
‘’The global objective of the project is fast economic growth, improving competitiveness and increasing revenue from tourism in Herzegovina through air connections through the Mostar airport.
Three phases of the project were related to the assessment of the business opportunities of the airport-Mostar Airport, market opportunities and creating a financial plan and forecasts of financial flows in the short, medium and long term. As a result, a business study, marketing plan and investment plan were made, as well as options for further development of the Airport through possible scenarios of the restructuring of ownership’’, said the Airport.
Regarding charter flights from Mostar, due to its closeness to Međugorje, the Mostar Airport is in an ideal position as a driver of religious tourism, and in the last few years had charter flights primarily from Italy.
However, that trend is slowly changing and moving to other types of tourism, whether incoming or outgoing. The season has already begun and this year the Mostar Airport will be connected by regular charter or regular connections with the following Italian cities: Bari, Naples, Milan, Bergamo, Pescara, Palermo, Pisa, Cuneo and of course Rome. It is necessary for the Mostar airport to be connected with several European hubs to allow for further connectivity with other destinations. Potential travelers from areas that are covered by Mostar airport generally gravitate towards German and Scandinavian markets because this is the main focus of the airport for further development and opening new air connections.
‘’Last year we visited Stuttgart, organized in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Mostar, where several meetings were held with business people from that part of Germany as well as with colleagues from Airport Stuttgart and representatives of the German low-cost airlines German Wings.
We hope that in the future this cooperation would expand to introducing lines with some German cities. Terms and conditions of low-cost companies are financially and technically demanding and for the realization of these lines, it will be necessary to get the help of institutions, whose direct or indirect business involved the Mostar airport’’, said the airport.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba)
