The airport was the only link the residents of Sarajevo had with the outside world.

Commercial air traffic stopped using the airport within weeks of the initial siege in April 1992. Until June, when the UN secured the airport for aid flights, almost nothing moved in or out of Sarajevo by air. Then it became a link for humanitarian aid, journalists, NATO and UN officials, and an occasional Bosnian government official willing to risk their life by passing through a Serb checkpoint. Not that the UN really controlled the airport: The Serb leadership "allowed" the UN to use it, but all flights, passengers, and goods had to be approved by Serb liaison officers stationed at the airport. As a consequence, journalists were only allowed to carry five letters, Bosnian civilians had no chance of passage, and all baggage and aid were subject to seizure. This still didn't prevent frequent shelling of the airport and shooting at planes.

Bosnian civilians, on the other hand, used the airport as the only overland escape route, running across the tarmac to the relative safety of government-controlled Mt. Igman, beginning the arduous and extremely dangerous trek first to Mostar, then Split, and "the outside."

Hundreds of Bosnians were killed by Serb snipers while running across the airport. Not only did the UN not protect them, but also the UN would flood the tarmac with klieg lights when Sarajevans were seen running across, thus making them easy targets for experienced snipers.

A tunnel dug beneath the airport was used as an escape route between Hrasnica and Dobrinja. The tunnel was the primary lifeline for goods and people during much of the siege. Sarajevo residents had to pay for the privilege of stooping in a four-foot-high dirt tunnel in at times knee-deep water, and walking for 30 minutes to reach the other side, again exposed to sniper fire.