Jat in Banja Luka ... been there done that
Jat Airways has finally terminated services to the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jat’s off-again on-again flights from Belgrade to Banja Luka were suspended in late October although it was expected that the line was on hiatus and would be resumed in January as was listed in global reservation systems. These have now been removed. Jat has blamed low interest for the closure of this route.After many years, Serbia’s Jat resumed services to Banja Luka in 2007. Flights were operated by an ATR72 and during 2008 were subsidised by the Government of Republika Srpska, which covered all the losses the airline had on this route that year. Speaking to a Belgrade newspaper, a spokesperson from Jat said that in 2008 the airline carried 2.678 passengers on 170 flights. The average cabin occupancy index on these flights amounted to 26%, meaning that there were approximately 17 passengers on each flight. Results for 2009 are even less impressive. “In October we transported a total of 45 passengers", a Jat spokesperson said. The CEO of Banja Luka Airport said that the airline did not terminate flights due to low interest rather due to the fact that it did not have any available aircraft.
This year Jat suspended flights to Banja Luka for 4 months, however they were resumed. It is not clear whether Jat will resume the service some time in 2010. The suspension poses as a predicament to Jat Airways’ CEO who recently estimated that the airline would carry 50.000 passengers out of Banja Luka in 2010. Ticket prices on this service amounted to 90 Euros.
Belgrade is no more and Banja Luka has been left with 3 weekly flights to Zurich, operated by B&H Airlines. Jat is a supporter of the stalled Sky Srpska project.
BNX was always a waste of an ATR7...wouldnt mind seeing the aircraft better used on a destination such as SOF :)
ReplyDeleteThis was a political flight so it made sense that the loads were so light...
ReplyDeleteThey flew twice a week, so where are they going to deploy these birds? Maybe add another two flights to Thessaloniki?
Does anyone know how are the loads on that route?
I like how CEO of BNX is saying that it is not due to low loads but due to not having aircraft available. Haha, as if JA couldn't find aircraft if it was profitable.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of wasting tax payers money.
As I said on article on Trebinje Airport as soon as you cannot give any more empty promises for BNX you start giving empty promises for Trebinje Airport.
Dissapointing to here this, last time i flew to Banja Luka there were certainly more than 17 people on board infact i saw more people when i flew to Banja Luka than when i flew to Sarajevo(ski trip). I have heard rumors that they will replace this route with a Belgrade-Portoroz route begining December 18th.
ReplyDeleteOf course it would be cancelled, awfully bad marketing, very expensive tickets and cancelletions all the time would bring this! I am giving up on our area! BNX could be serving so many flights. Like another small airports in Europe! Second largest city in BiH can't have more than 3 weekly flights?!!!! Can anyone explane that to me? 4-5 times smaller cities/towns across Europe are served by so many LCC but this cannot happen in BiH, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro as it doesn't suite someone!!!!
ReplyDeleteSad!
Let me just get this straight - they transported 2.600 passengers in 2008, and Srdjan Radovanovic "predicted" they would transport 50.000 in 2010?
ReplyDeleteWhat a lemming.
Why don't we just scrap the whole scheme... an airline that has this kind of a moron for a CEO can't possibly survive and shouldn't survive.
I wonder how the people who voted yes on the current poll are feeling at the moment?
ReplyDelete@ anonymous
ReplyDeleteBEG SKG have good loads. Its very very hard finding spare seats on the flights atm.
@ Nemanja
would be intresting to see if the ATR7 could operate POW. The runway isnt that long or wide, but apparently itll be lengthened and widened for aircraft such as a B757...
@ anonymous
as they say here, mesečna plata mi je 300 KM a trošim 600KM...
@ anonymous
JAT could do BEG-BNX-ZRH/VIE/FRA which i suppose would boost JAT passenger numbers ex BNX. In that sense, JAT would have a couple increased frequencies from BEG from where it could attract a couple more passengers...not alot, but if the price is reasonable then im sure it could attract a handful of passengers.
Well if they really want to fly in there let them rent an EMB-120 and fly the route! ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat about Skopje? Today it's a 737-400 flying the route, is there really that much demand?