Sarajevo’s time to shine
After an uneventful 2012, next year is shaping up to be Sarajevo Airport’s turn in the spotlight. Several airlines have already announced plans to launch flights to the Bosnian capital in 2013. Over the course of this year passenger numbers have declined at the airport by over 3%. B&H Airlines’ ownership woes and network reductions had a direct impact on its home base. While several potential new B&H owners were announced by the government over the past few months, none have materialised so far. However, there are signs of better things to come.
Turkey’s low cost Pegasus Airlines has confirmed it will launch flights from Istanbul to the Bosnian capital from February 4, giving passengers an alternative on the route currently dominated by Turkish Airlines. However, the Turkish national carrier won’t back down without a fight. Starting with the 2013 summer season, Turkish Airlines will operate up to eighteen weekly flights between the two cities while B&H Airlines will maintain its daily service. As a result, passengers will be spoilt for choice with up to thirty weekly flights on the route from April. Furthermore, Flydubai is set to inaugurate two weekly flights from its Dubai base to the Bosnian capital, linking Sarajevo with the Middle East. The charter operator Gryphon Airlines is also set to return with its Kuwait service, operated by the Boeing 767, over the summer months.
While Wizz Air plans to launch flights from several cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina next year, Sarajevo is still being considered as a potential destination. Still, taxes are posing a problem in attracting a greater share of no frills airlines. On the other hand, Norwegian Air Shuttle will operate a new seasonal service from Copenhagen, in addition to its existing summer flights from Stockholm and Oslo. Meanwhile, B&H Airlines has applied for slots at Amsterdam Airport from April. The airline last operated flights to the Dutch city when it was partly owned by Turkish Airlines. Furthermore, Croatia Airlines has announced the possibility of launching flights to several European destinations, direct from Sarajevo, during the summer of 2013.
Ii have the feeling that zagreb is very depended on sarajevo and the rest of bosnia. They will be the first to feel the pintch. Go Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteNot really as most Bosnians actually drive few hours to use LDZA. Great connectivity of Zagreb to Germany via OU, Lufthansa and above all Germanwings is what does the job on BiH market. Also, Bosnians like to use Norwegian flights to Copenhagen during the summer season. Zagreb is probably attractive to this market due to many other connections to western Europe, especially for reasons of transferring to U.S./Canada (Heathrow, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Copenhagen...).
ReplyDeleteAnd when they drive to zagreb they fly from zagreb. What you mean not really.
DeleteBtw this must be the comment of the week:
Delete"Anonymous December 26, 2012 9:15 PM
Doot, don't you see it's not about aviation and/or business/economy, it's not about AirOne/Jat, it's not about BEG, it's all about frustration & stupidity, in one word, it's about "some" zagrAb"
LOL. Congratulations who wrote that.
ZAG depends on SJJ? With 152 daily seats from SJJ out of 6.088 total daily seats what is 2,49% of Croatia Airlines daily capacity, or 7.193 daily seats including code-share what is 2,11% of daily capacity, or less than 1% of all ZAG daily capacity (including airliners which does not have code-share on OU like Aeroflot, Air France, British, ElAl, Qatar, Germanwings, easyJet, Norwegian...) you can say that ZAG depends on SJJ? Think again...
ReplyDeleteOf course it depends on Sarajevo, not totally but to a certain extent. With increased competition at Sarajevo we can expect OU's numbers to take a hit. With reduced numbers of passengers out of Sarajevo the income of ZAG will be slightly affected. It is not like Zagreb airport or Croatia Airlines will welcome with joy all these new flights. No business likes competition, and all these new flights are exactly that.
DeleteNeither Zagreb nor Croatia Airlines are reporting healthy financial results so for them a 2.5% share of their income being put at risk is not something that will pass unnoticed.
Purger, any business depends on its source of income. The last time I checked passengers out of Sarajevo did not fly for free on Croatia Airlines.
DeleteThere were some 51.000 passengers on SJJ-ZAG-SJJ route last year. It is some 2,5% of all CTN passengers. Of course they are very welcome and they are important for CTN but ZAG does not DEPEND!!!! on SJJ passengers.
DeleteSorry but ZAG does depend, however not entirely.
DeleteMy child depends on me because she is too young to live without my support. If CTN totally closes that line (and for sure it will not because of those lines which mostly goes to southeast and was not transferred via ZAG) it would not be such big deal. For sure it will not destroy eider CTN or ZAG. So ZAG does not depend of SJJ. And for sure it will harm more Jat and BEG than CTN because of conections via BEG to Middle East.
DeletePurger is getting mad, he can barely control his emotions, he is shaking and growling all over the keyboard...
DeleteHow is Jat relevant to this discussion? Also they no longer have a Middle Eastern network, unless Tel Aviv and Istanbul qualify as that.
DeleteAs mentioned earlier, OU and ZAG need cash which is provided by the network and their routes, including SJJ. In other words they depend on it but not as much
2012 is catastrophic year for SJJ - I don't actually believe in only 3% decrease. Tickets are too expensive thus preventing more traffic. I hope arrival of Pegasus will start positive trend in 2013
ReplyDeleteSome people want to downplay it. Lets look at it, you have two daily flights by Ou and that is like four daily flights. Lets calculate how many pax that is and that would be a lot more than 1 or 2 percent.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I fly Heathrow to Sarajevo via Zagreb with Ou I would say approx 15-30 passengers also transfer along with me!
ReplyDeleteBtw I passed beside BEG C1 today, and the C gates look huge. Higher ceilings and so bright. You can tell it the parking spot for widebody jets.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the larger aircraft coming to BEG, we might soon see A380's flying here:-))).
DeleteI don't see any A380 coming any time soon but eventuanlly an A330 or B772 of EK or Air China if they start flying there might be a more probable possibility.
DeleteI'm against FZ starting SJJ and SKP. They should have sent EK to BEG very simply and connect other regional passengers from there. While SKP might be viable, SJJ will be a disaster for FZ.
DeleteFor sure those idiots from Dubai doesn't know how to run air companies. Please can you give them instructions?
DeleteNIKIs last flight on VIE-BEG-VIE route will be on 27 January, instead of 30 March
ReplyDeleteEven earlier to leave BEG? It is not just cancellation but they start to cancel even earlier.
DeleteAir Berlin is on the verge of bankruptcy and they can't afford to keep their Balkan routes where Austrian Airlines dominates.
Deleteand Air One, and Air France, and British Air, and CSA, and airBaltic, and Aero Svit...
DeleteAerosvit went belly up two days ago. CSA axed countless routes including those in the United Kingdom. British AIRWAYS left Belgrade because they couldn't compete with Jat and Wizz Air. airBaltic is also in the shit and they needed government funding to survive, hence why they are under investigation now.
DeleteThe only reason why these airlines left Belgrade is because the market is competitive. Maybe you should think about that :*
Of course British has competitive market just in Belgrade nowhere else. For instance in FRA, or VIE, or ZRH they don't have any competition. Even in Zagreb they have such modest competition from Croatia Airlines 14 flights per week and easyJet 5 flights per week.
DeleteAnytime,
ReplyDeleteWith dual jetways BEG is A380 ready.
I love how this info is copied straight from another forum. The Amsterdam slot info actually comes from me. Flights are supposed to start on May 2 four times a week.
ReplyDeleteHowever they are still listed with an A319 which I doubt they will lease...
Being from Australia as a member of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora and knowing that most Bosnians and Herzegovinians fly with Malaysia Airlines through Kuala Lumpur, I think that Malaysia Airlines should fly to Sarajevo (charter during the European summer only at this stage). It's certainly my favourite airline...and plus, it would open up Sarajevo to more Asian destinations as Malaysia Airlines flies to A LOT of Asian destinations. Saying that, I also think that Sarajevo should also aim at reconnecting with some of the Middle Eastern cities it used to be connected with before the aggression, such as Baghdad, Amman and possibly even Damascus, that is, once the civil war is finished in Syria (hopefully soon). It's also shameful to say that Sarajevo isn't connected to either London, Paris or Rome...how unfortunate!
ReplyDelete+ 1
DeleteI prefer Malaysia Airlines to and from Australia going to / coming from Europe 100%! Relatively new fleet, exceptional cabin crew, gourmet catering, excellent 'Select' in-flight entertainment, comfortable seats, modern and easy-to-navigate KLIA transit...I mean what more would you need? Malaysia Airlines = AWESOME Airlines!
definitely agree couldnt have said it any better.
Delete^ Tocno!
Delete+1
DeleteI agree with you, and Croatia Airlines are awesome for the shorter European flight's!
DeleteCroatia AirCrap, my ass... Just read their reviews on Skytrax.
DeleteI do read the reviews and they are very good, not forgetting they are 4th best airline in Europe. So go and shove your jat!
DeleteAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAH!! Yes, they are fourth best.
DeleteWhat has Jat to do with this comment?
DeleteSome good propaganda. Even places like Budapest and OTP got very limited links to the middle east, let alone asia. Work hard and keep paying to the germans.
ReplyDeleteI think the Germans I.e Lufthansa should take over all ex yu carriers, after all they more or less dictate to them now them now. Even Jat uses advisors from Lufthansa!
DeleteSingapore airlines are my prefferd choice to Australia!
ReplyDeleteSQ forever :):):)
Delete"However, the Turkish national carrier won’t back down without a fight. Starting with the 2013 summer season, Turkish Airlines will operate up to eighteen weekly flights between the two cities while B&H Airlines will maintain its daily service."
ReplyDeleteAre they nuts? Some airline enters the market and instead of cutting the frequency or increasing frequency but lowering capacity per flight, they just increase everything just cause of some pride. What an idiots those Turks my God, and that is in the same way as their expansion is organized, they never know when it's time to back down before they get hit hard on the head.
Sorry buddy but it seems that the only idiot here is you. What Turkish Airlines is doing is classic dumping. Usually when an airline considers a market to be very important and when there is additional competition, they will add seats so as to lead the competitor to a larger loss, thus eventually leaving the market.
DeleteAre you talking to yourself? Oh, sorry, i didn't knew your English was so poor hence i'll forgive you for your ignorance.
Delete"they will add seats so as to lead the competitor to a larger loss"?!
Can you explain that to yourself please?
Thank you.
Just for any case to know that you are seeing well: 2 + 2 = ?
DeleteI'll feel reassured about your well-being and mental abilities if you are able to answer properly.
Thank you.
@anonymous 5.12, it is 'didn't know.' Your lack of English is probably the same as his so stop sodding about it
ReplyDeleteAnd it is a lack of what not to put a period at the end of the sentence and to place ' after the period? You've made yourself the biggest moron in here.
DeleteWell you're partially right. I should have used " instead of '. Placing the period within the ' is entirely correct according to modern spelling. However I wasn't't the one calling someone stupid because of a grammar mistake. If you accuse someone of having a lack of English skills the least you can do is provide them with grammatically correct feedback.
DeleteKind regards
A380 in the balkans lol... the only way a a380 will ever land there is when it gets a emergency on board 'above' the balkans.
ReplyDeleteIn the future 50 years we can all just dream about it :D
LOl!
DeleteWhat SJJ needs is simply low cost airlines. They might consider attracting those airlines gradually abandoning BEG and try competing with SKP!
ReplyDeleteExactly! But it will not work as long as politically correct fools from SJJ management kick out people like those from WizzAir...
DeleteAnonymous_December 27, 2012 3:22 PM
ReplyDeleteClearly you not only have no idea about manners but also have no idea about aviation either. What Turkish did is one of the oldest moves in the game.
What do you do when you suspect a competitor to enter the market?
Would you decrease capacity and allow the competitor to enjoy the unmet demand in the market.
No, you idiot! You increase your capacity, you try to flood the market so much as not to allow your competitor if not a bailout an easy entry.
Also, Pegasus will definitely hurt Turkish in the local Istanbul market.
But, lets not forget that maybe 20% of Turkish' passengers are Istanbul, rest is beyond.
And a final note, LCCs are definitely good for a market, they come with their own market. So, I would expect passenger growth in Sarajevo Airport for sure.
Go, Sarajevo Go!!
I see you're still unable to answer 2+2 equals how much so that tells everything in my opinion about your mental capacities.
DeleteEmphatic regards.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteHaha, yes, he sounds like one of those Turkish Airlines fanatics who fly SJJ-IST-LHR.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteTrue winner of this battle will be us. Lets embrace this competition instead of 'fighting' here LOL
ReplyDeleteBtw an a380 already landed at athens. I think athens is the balkans.
ReplyDeleteVisas for serbian citisens again?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/ ... h-vor.html
The principal problem with SJJ, as someone already said, is the fact that the airport is not run with a "business" background but only with politics and nepotism. Of course, technical constraints of SJJ are also quite important, but other ex-YU airports are not much better in this respect. This is just the true problem and I am completely sure that SJJ will never become any serious airport before these issues are addressed in a serious way.
ReplyDelete