Bosnian Wand Airlines to launch on January 7

Bosnian Wand Airlines to launch flights from Iraq and Bosnia from January 2015

Start-up Bosnian Wand Airlines (BWA) will inaugurate flights on January 7, with services from Sarajevo to launch a day later, on January 8. The carrier will primarily focus on operations from Iraq to Sweden. In addition, it will run nonstop flights from Sarajevo to Athens (from January 8 - inbound flight only, outbound from January 10), Amsterdam (from January 9), Gothenburg (from January 9) and Stockholm (from January 10). The airline will operate services with a leased Airbus A321 aircraft from Air Méditerranée (pictured above). The jet, registered F-GYAN, is nineteen years old. It was recently repainted into BWA’s livery in Craiova in Romania. It has the capacity to seat 214 passengers, with the airline to offer twelve seats in business class and the remaining 202 in economy.

During the winter season, BWA will offer one weekly flight to all of its destinations operated out of Sarajevo. Flight times and operational days differ on a weekly basis. Tickets are already on sale and bookable through the airline’s website. Besides services from Bosnia and Herzegovina, BWA will operate flights from Baghdad, Erbil, Al Najaf and Sulaimaniyah in Iraq and Beirut in Lebanon to Stockholm and Gothenburg, as well as services from Athens to the Swedish capital. An Iraqi company, the Al Wand group, is behind the newly established carrier. BWA will operate flights under Hermes Airlines’ callsign. Hermes is a subsidiary of Air Méditerranée and is based in Athens.

BWA crew uniform

BWA cabin crew members recently completed their training at the Turkish Airlines Flight Centre in Istanbul. A total of 28 crew members have been recruited. In a recent statement, the airline said, “Our vision is for BWA to become a recognisable national brand on the aviation market. We believe it is possible. An important segment of our business will be to attract tourists from Asia to visit the cultural and historic sights of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. From Sarajevo, BWA will face direct competition only on its Stockholm route from Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Comments

  1. They are not the first airline to try this... it's worth mentioning that all have failed until now.
    If I remember correctly there used to be an airline called Viking or something and they had flights from Athens to Iraq and then to Sweden and Birmingham. It did not last long.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:26

    Canary bird uniform

    ReplyDelete
  3. If they are going to be an international company, why would they have Bosnian branding?

    Also, if they are mainly going to fly from Sweden to Iraq, why not set up the airline in Sweden?

    Something is very suspicious to me here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:57

      Same reason as ASL calling itself Air Serbia.

      Delete
    2. Um, Air Serbia doesn't fly from Sweden to Iraq...

      Delete
    3. I think it is to hide the true ownership and those owners probably figured it would appease local authorities.

      Seems like a bizarre project, but...

      Delete
    4. Most airlines also don't have pictures of people wearing oxygen masks on the front page of their website.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:06

      * haha I was just going to mention that. Seems a bit daunting.

      Delete
    6. The airline gives off a bad image because of their site. The English is poor, there is a picture of people in oxygen masks on the front page, and they also have sever requests for trust, and guarantees of safety and security, which would make anyone uneasy.

      Overall, it just seems very unprofessional to me.

      Delete
    7. Should be "several" instead of "sever" in my comment above.

      But let me say that I like BWA's livery.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:37

      Livery im je mala kopija ASL livery-a :P
      Ali kako sam ja cuo uspece i ako mi deluje malo cudan koncept poslovanja.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    9. TheBosnian21:48

      It reads: "Strucni trening kabinskog osoblja" over the "oxygen masks" photo, so I guess some people should learn to read... Also, can´t help noticing that to some people, ASL is like a religious experience: everywhere they look, there´s AirSerbia, even on another airline´s plane: The only similarity I can spot is that it´s an Airbus.....

      Delete
    10. Anonymous21:53

      It doesn't matter what it says. I can read but its horrible to see a picture of people with oxygen masks plastered over the main page when you want to book a ticket. As for INN-NS comment about some copy of the livery it's silly and his comments should never be taken seriously.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous00:22

      Na malu kopiju sam mislio na engines ako ste malo bolje pogledali.
      A komentari jednog Anonymous-a bi trebali.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    12. @TheBosnian - I am Bosnian too, but this site is terrible. I agree with all of Aleksandar's points about the site, and would add that the destination page is bizarre as well, with their first planned destinations being on the second page and some non-European destinations being on the first page. There are many people local to Bosnia that speak English well enough and have web design experience that could make this site a whole lot better. Furthermore their description of Sarajevo is incomplete and ends in...

      Delete
  4. AirCEO09:37

    OT: It’s time to end 2014 by recognizing success and to set expectations for 2015. First of all, big thanks to our blog editor for great coverage and exclusive articles. Looking forward to more aviation news in 2015!

    Next up, Air Serbia and Belgrade Airport. To give credit where credit is due, most of Belgrade Airport growth is because of Air Serbia, so big thanks go to ASL and smaller ones go to BEG. I’d like to believe Airport has been sandbagging expansion plans in 2014 and has some real cards up their sleeve for 2015.

    Air Serbia deserves praise for outstanding turnaround and growth. Keep the momentum going, set your aim high for 2015 and above all, wishing Air Serbia safe skies.

    Expectations for 2015 make a long list so I trimmed it down to only one for ASL and BEG. For Air Serbia: to start flights to NYC, ORD and YYZ in 2015. For Belgrade Airport: to complete concession process and start construction of a new terminal.

    If both succeed, they will deserve “above expectation” mark for 2015, but I will be impressed even with partial achievement. Have a happy New Year and see you all here in 2015!

    ReplyDelete
  5. OT

    It would be interesting if BEG kept a list of the most delayed flights. I think the winner would be, without a doubt, Tunis Air's flight. I think 1 in 50 flights departs/arrives on time. My guess is that the second one would be JU's flight to BEY.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:27

      Talking of Tunis Air, there are going to be two B737-600 at BEG now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:58

      Kakav im je LF na njihovom 736 on ima kapacitet od 126 mesta nadam se da ce linija opstati i sledece godine posto je redak gost 736.
      736 bi bio odlican avion za Aviolet.
      INN-NS

      Delete
  6. Anonymous10:14

    @ExYu: the timetable does not vary from week to week. It's consistent. Only thing is that ISU flightsare run every fortnight

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:37

      I just tried booking a ticket and their booking system is inconsistent with the times shown on the timetable

      Delete
  7. Anonymous10:24

    I wonder if they will take them to Republika Srpska or just around the Federation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:37

    Their prices are outrageous

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yessssss

      SJJ - AMS - SJJ

      Eur 400

      ...

      Delete
  9. Anonymous12:02

    Not that i wish them ill, but the name is horrible! Wand? i.e. wave the magic wand and hope your flight actually leaves. What use is a once weekly flight to most people? If it cost 50euros to amsterdam i could see the point of a once weekly lcc flight. But at 400 euros you could fly business class with all number of airlines.
    This is a total disaster in the making.
    Bosnia should do what Macedonia has done and use LCC as a defacto national carrier.

    Futhermore, the days of North-Western Europe to Iraq flights are over. There are now loads of one-stop flights to Iraq from just about every point in Europe via Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and Kuwait..Why would anyone risk flying via Sarajevo is beyond me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:08

      Additional : Although it looks like they're going to link Sweden with Iraq and Greece directly..?Also..why? Website is horrific. Price horrific also.

      Delete
  10. OT:

    Qatar Airways starts DOHA - SARAJEVO service in 2015.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:09

      Yesss :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:05

      Do you have any source?

      Delete
    3. It was mentioned today by the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Qatar, after talks with Qatar Airways CEO.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:46

      Thanks, let's see what happens - I won't hold my breath until we see something officially announced by QR, but let's be optimistic!

      Delete
  11. Anonymous12:51

    BWA je imao dobar izbor engines-a CFMI CFM56-5B1.
    Taj avion je sad parkiran na CDG.
    Kako sam ja cuo bice to lep projekat i nadam se da ce saradjivati sa ASL .
    Bilo bi dobro da ga ASL nekad koristi na wet lease ko sto je bilo planirano sa JA ATR 72 .Malo je cudna Mapa destinacija ali je barem projekat dobar tako sam cuo.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous15:39

    Gospodine Vaske izvinite sto kasnim sa odgovorom u vezi letova za PEK.
    Jos se vode pregovori mozda nas Dane iznenadi lepim vestima za Novu Godinu.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous20:41

    OT: Today, I noticed Czech Airlines plane at Skopje. Also, right now, there is Helvetic Airways's Fokerr 100 at Belgrade. New routes maybe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helvetic often flies for Swiss.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:10

      A neznam sta je OK radio u SKP.
      2L leti nekad umesto LX za BEG posetice nas i njihov Embrarer 190 ponekad.
      INN-NS

      Delete
  14. Anonymous22:30

    Неке људе треба тући ланцима...

    http://www.kurir.rs/planeta/incident-na-letu-za-podgoricu-putnici-na-silu-hteli-napolje-intervenisala-policija-clanak-1649484

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:55

      "Dok je trajao novi tehnički pregled, više putnika u avionu počeli su da negoduju jer im dugo vremena nije saopštena nikakva informacija o razlozima ekstremnog kašnjenja nakon ukrcavanja."

      1. Tipicno za Air Serbiu da ingnoriše punike. Pa kako mogu da ne kazu sto i zasto su putnici ceo cas u avionu i da se ne polece. Neverovatno je da im se niko nije obratio. Neprofesionalno i neverovatno.

      2. Mora da je bilo nekoliko putnika koji su podlegli panici i mislili da je nesto pogresno tehnicki sto bi moglo da bude kobno za vreme leta. Znate kakvi su putnici panicari i da ne umeju da razlikuju tehnicki problem od rusenja aviona. Zato je trebalo da im se saopsti sto je na stvari i da ne treba da panicare. A onda i mora da se desi da takvi panicari pocnu da rade probleme.

      Ovde nije problem u putnicima koji su se prepali, nego u neprofesionalnom odnosu posade i kompanije koja ne sme da ignoriše putnike i ostavi ih ceo čas u avionu bez ikakve informacije. Verujem da bi i ja lično podviknuo i napravio rusvaj da me neko tako drzo zatvorenog u avionu jedan cas i bez ikakve informacije. Ne bih se bojao da cu da se srusim kao oni koji panicare, ali ne bi mi ni bilo milo da bez razloga sedim zatvoren uz jos dva putnika do sebe a vec sam trebao da budem u Podgorici.

      Ne mogu da verujem da si Air Serbia tako sto dozvoljava. I nije to prvi put.

      Delete
    2. I don't understand why everyone in Serbia acts this way towards Air Serbia. I remember in 2006 when I flew with JAT Airways from BEG to Paris CDG, we were delayed over two hours on the tarmac because of a brake issue. Nobody on the plane even said a word. The flight attendent opened the rear door to let air in, and everyone quietly waited the entire time. We didn't have any information other than we had to wait until the mechanics come and resolve the issue.

      I swear that everyone has some kind of complex against Air Serbia. Waiting 60 minutes in a plane is certainly not something out of the ordinary. I wonder how these passengers would react when they have to wait for multiple hours in an ERJ-145 in ORD. I bet they would be quiet because our people only seem to complain when it involves Air Serbia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:02

      Као прво, шта је требала посада да каже? Имамо технички квар али ништа не брините, све ће бити у реду а ако не онда ћемо се сурвати негде у кањону Мораче.

      Друго, путници не смеју да напусте ваздухоплов пошто је завршено укрцавање. Ако би пустили све напоље онда мора да се поново ради cabin check, између осталог.

      Дакле, није ЈУ крив већ болиди од примитиваца који боље нека иду возом следећи пут.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:38

      This departure is filled with transfer passengers, it could have been a Montenegrin or a foreigner.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous01:40

    ima i nastavak price sa istim avionom
    http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/reportaze/aktuelno.293.html:527007-Putnik-sa-leta-Podgorica-Beograd-Zapomaganje-ljudi-turbulencije-i-kvar-na-avionu-pamticu-do-kraja-zivota

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous05:52

      Računari za automatsko kočenje, računari za automatsko sletanje, računari za automatsko pisanje tupavih tekstova u tzv. 'medijima'...

      Delete
  16. Anonymous03:01

    I would like to share my experience with Delta last year. We were flying from Detroit to Orlando. We were boarding the aircraft, when it was announced that boarding will stop and that everyone had to exit the aircraft. Once we were out of the aircraft, we were informed that there was a problem with the air conditioning in the aircraft. Well things were quickly fixed and in 35 minutes boarding started again. Found them to be very professional . Each time I flew and there was some problem, we were always asked to leave the aircraft. No big deal. Better than waiting in an aircraft and getting all tensed up and not knowing what is going on.

    ReplyDelete

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