Sarajevo to start terminal demolition in late Q4


Sarajevo Airport will begin clearing its old Terminal A building (pictured) at the end of the year to make way for the multi million euro expansion of its Terminal B facility, as passenger numbers continue to grow. "All tender procedures concerning the demolition and clearance of the old Terminal A structure have been completed. We have also secured necessary approval from the competent federal ministry, so demolition work should begin soon", the airport's spokeswoman, Sanja Bagarić Arnaut, said. She added, "Temporary makeshift facilities are already being installed around the airport. They will be used by employees and will also house a restaurant and other services". Terminal A was utilised for commercial traffic between 1969 until the outbreak of war in 1992. It has since been used primarily for office space by airport staff. Plans to transform it into a low cost terminal have been shelved.

The twenty million euro expansion of the existing passenger terminal will result in an additional 10.000 square metres of space spread across four levels. The length of the entire terminal will total 110 metres, up from the current 68, while the number of check-in desks will be increased from seventeen to 28. Furthermore, the expanded facility will boast seven gates, up from the existing four, and will have an expanded departures and retail area. Upon completion, the terminal building will have the capacity to handle two million passengers. Currently, Sarajevo can welcome one million travellers per year, with the airport set to surpass that figure next year. The demolition of the A building and the expansion of Terminal B will run for some eighteen months.

Sarajevo Airport terminal upon project completion

Sarajevo Airport has recorded strong passenger growth so far this year with 769.261 travellers handled during the first three quarters, an increase of 13.8% on the same period in 2016. Several new airlines have commenced services to the Bosnian capital this year, including Atlasglobal, Nesma Airlines, Wataniya Airways, TUIfly Belgium and Wizz Air, with Qatar Airways to follow by the end of the month. SAS Scandinavian Airlines has announced it will introduce seasonal flights between Copenhagen and Sarajevo next summer season. Commenting on the presence of low cost airlines, Ms Bagarić Arnaut said, "There are several budget carriers operating to Sarajevo Airport, such as Pegasus Airlines, Flydubai, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Eurowings and Wizz Air. Each airline carries out its own commercial analysis of the market and determines the viability of introducing new flights. We offer incentives for all airlines to encourage them to fly to Sarajevo, however, low cost carriers usually opt to operate from smaller airports with less traffic, which are not burdened by additional taxes".

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    I don't understand why people complain about the lack of low cost flights from Sarajevo when there are quite a few LCCs flying from here. More than Zagreb actually.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      It's a shame EUrowings cancelled the planned flights from Dusseldorf.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:32

      Zagreb will become LCC hub in the near future. Evrowings and Easyjet... Sarajevo is an unimportant and miniscule airport compared to ZAG.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:46

      ^why do you people constantly have tge urge to belittle others?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:50

      Anon 11h32 What a nonsense. You know the charges in ZAG are a lot higher than elsewhere. Never will it become a LCC hub for several airlines unless the tax situation dramatically changes!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:00

      @AnonymousOctober 22, 2017 at 11:46 AM

      Cause he is a troll, he isn't even Croatian, so ignore him.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:53

      Ofcourse this guy isn't Croatian, a Croat would never write eVrowings but Eurowings, the way it's actually spelled.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    The idea to turn the old terminal into a low cost one was actually smart in my opinion. Still I'm happy the airport is getting expanded.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      I think it´s a very good idea to demolish it because it´s better to have everything under the same roof.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:11

    Good news for Sarajevo.

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  4. Anonymous09:12

    Finally things moving in the right direction at SJJ.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:15

    I hope some new European carriers will coma with this expansion. Wizz Air should open some new routes.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      With the current charges, there is little chance for Wizz Air to expand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Ok, when you act so informed, please make comparison between sjj, zag and beg with "current charges". Don't just reply with typical BS you heard or red somewhere on internet. Go ahead and compare it!?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:41

      Ok BEG/SJJ

      Landing
      7,70/14,00

      Passenger service charge
      12,00 (T1), 16,50 (T2) / 18,00

      Transfer passenger service charge
      4,00 / 9,00

      Air Bridge
      114,00 / 72,00

      Parking per ton
      2,00 / 2,55

      Centrilized Ground Handling Services
      104,00 / 204,50

      etc

      So as you can see, Sarajevo is more expensive in almost every way.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:42

      ^ps the charges above are in euros.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:35

      Interesting. Ground handling almost double in SJJ :O could that be because in BEG you have 3 different handlers to choose from so its more competitive?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:51

      ^ Yes, highly likely.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:16

    SJJ is quietly climbing the ranking and putting other airports behind. Well done and will be looking forward to the next long haul.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Which other airports? No disrespect intended, but Podgorica is still ahead of SJJ.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:01

      The race between SJJ and TGD will be interesting to observe over the next few years. They are always very close.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:21

      @9.16 long haul to where?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:51

      Sarajevo would be well ahead of Podgorica if Bosnia had a national airline or it managed to get an airline to base a plane there.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:22

    Looking forward to new terminal in Sarajevo. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:24

    A real big issue for SJJ is fog. They have great numbers during the year and then in December they often have to close the airport for several days because of bad weather. Is there anyway the airport can deal with the fog? Improved runway system or something?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      They did say they were trialing some new technology.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:53

    Great to see so much airport development going on in ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:54

    I don't get it. SJJ announced terminal expansion around the same time as Ljubljana and they are already starting the project. Meanwhile in Ljubljana they don't plan to start work until this time next year o.O

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      What are they waiting for?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      Interestingly the extension in SJJ is much more expensive than the one in LJU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:45

      The Sarajevo project is a bit pricey for its size but I'm very glad that it will be developing.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:37

      LJU is a deadend of avio market. ZAG has soo much potential.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:47

      ^why do you people constantly have tge urge to belittle others?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:11

      Kudos Anon 11:47!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:28

      ZAG has temprorary potential.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:23

    So in total when the runway and apron work is included the investment is around EUR 31 million. Not bad.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      What is happening with the runway reconstruction? As far as I remember they said they will probably have to close the airport to do it. When is it planned?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:43

      It should be closed for around 4 weeks but I don't know when either.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:44

      Which airport would be used as an alternative? Mostar?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:58

      Can't they just do the work over night? The airport is closed at the time anyway.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10:57

    It says the airport will have 7 gates, meaning 3 will be at the new terminal. Will they have air bridges?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:15

      Yes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:27

      Cool. Thank you.

      Delete
    3. Where are airbridges mentioned?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:58

    It's great to see so many new airlines in Sarajevo and 2018 is looking promising. Go Sarajevo!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:53

      5 is pretty impressive I must admit plus Qatar to come and on the upside most are operating year long ops and not seasonal.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous11:01

    So how many passengers can SJJ expect this year? I assume it will be close to 1 million.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:16

      Yep, around 950k this year. Over a million for sure in 2018.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous11:19

    Great news for Sarajevo. Hopefully traffic growth follows capacity expansion.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous12:06

    Are there any other new airlines planned for Sarajevo next year other than SAS?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:15

      I was really hoping for Aegean. I assume there is a big enough market for their Q400 a couple of times per week :/ maybe in 2019

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:25

      +1

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:38

      Brussels Airlines said it was interested in Sarajevo.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:03

      Would be nice but I think TUI serves that market well.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous12:33

    I would hope that they keep the big blue retro letters "Sarajevo International Airport" from the old terminal building - they are absolutly timeless and really cool.

    It should not be put on the new terminal buidling as it wouldn't look good there but I am hundred per cent sure that a suitable place can be found on one of the old areas of the airport!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:03

      Agree. Those are timeless :)

      Delete
  18. Anonymous13:42

    Can't wait to see the completed project.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous18:03

    Good for Sarajevo airport. I hope some new European carriers will come with this expansion. Wizz Air should open some new routes.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Does anyone have any pictures of what the old terminal layout was like. Also would like to see what the terminal looked like on the inside.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:21

      Unfortunately I could not find any but I would also like to have a look.

      Delete

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