Croatia Airlines relaunches Zagreb-Mostar service 

(Photo credit: A Grubelic/Croatia Airlines)

Croatia Airlines has put tickets on sale for its upcoming flights between Zagreb and Mostar, with the inaugural service set to take place on May 3. 

The flights will run three times a week with a split schedule, making it easier for passengers travelling from Mostar to transfer onto Croatia Airlines’ Europe-bound flights via Zagreb. 

The airline will be using a 76-seat Dash 8 turboprop aircraft to operate this route. The City of Mostar has provided a subsidy of just over half a million euros to secure the route’s financial viability for this year, EX-YU Aviation reported.

The last time Croatia Airlines operated flights between the two cities was from May 2018 until the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020. At the time, the flights were only maintained twice a week, and there was low demand for the service, which was also subsidised. However, this time, the airline has tweaked its schedule to allow for better connectivity for travellers originating from Mostar to connect onto the airline’s flights from Zagreb to popular European destinations such as Vienna, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Frankfurt, and Zurich. 

The new schedule represents a significant improvement on the airline’s previous attempt at the Mostar route, which failed to provide adequate connections for passengers looking to travel further afield.

Flights between Zagreb and Mostar have been maintained sporadically over the last two decades, with previous attempts to run the route by Croatia Airlines and B&H Airlines having been unsuccessful due to poor loads. The airline is hoping for an increase in passenger numbers on the route compared to its previous operations between the two cities.

Mostar will become Croatia Airlines’ second destination in Bosnia and Herzegovina after Sarajevo. The airline currently runs thirteen weekly flights between Zagreb and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian capital, serving 33,762 passengers on the route last year.