Sarajevo Airport will handle its 800.000th passenger for the first time in a single year this coming Monday, December 5. It comes following a record summer season, although it registered a disappointing November. The 800.000th traveller is set to travel on an Air Serbia flight to Belgrade. "This will be an important day for us since it will be the first time we have welcomed 800.000 passengers in a single year", the airport said in a statement. Its previous record was set in 2015 when it saw 794.785 travellers pass through its doors during the entire year. With almost a full month to go, Sarajevo anticipates strong growth in the lead-up to 2017 as the airport was hampered by poor weather conditions, which forced it to close its doors for most December last year.
During November, Sarajevo Airport handled 47.352 passengers, a decrease of 8.7% compared to the same month last year. The number of aircraft movements also decreased, from 828 to 793, or down 4.2%. Despite the setback, the airport has already handled more passengers during the January - November period than for the whole of last year. It welcomed 794.785 travellers over the past eleven months, up 6.7% on 2015. The airport has already announced new arrivals for 2017, with Wizz Air to launch flights from Budapest and Qatar Airways to commence its long-awaited service from Doha, which was originally set to start this year. Furthermore, TUIfly Belgium will inaugurate flights from Charleroi starting March 31, while Air Arabia will resume its seasonal service from Sharjah. Several other Middle Eastern carriers have expressed interest in commencing operations to Sarajevo next year.
The General Manager of Sarajevo Airport, Armin Kajmaković, said earlier this year that 2016 would be remembered as a "turning point" in the airport's history. In 2017, work will begin on overhauling the runway and taxiways. Earlier this year, the airport adopted a Reform Agenda up until 2019, which foresees the construction of a new passenger terminal in the near future. Depending on the cost, the airport will either build a brand new facility or expand the existing terminal building. Furthermore, a VIP lounge, car park, office building for staff and support services, as well as an expansion of the apron are foreseen under the plan. "All development projects are planned in line with international standards with the aim of meeting the expectations of passengers, airlines and other customers using our services", Sarajevo Airport said. This year, the airport overhauled part of its terminal in a bid to boost capacity at check-in, customs and the arrivals gate.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 41.208 | ▼ 5.7 |
| FEB | 42.567 | ▲ 6.7 |
| MAR | 53.438 | ▲ 6.3 |
| APR | 68.085 | ▲ 8.0 |
| MAY | 85.738 | ▲ 7.0 |
| JUN | 66.429 | ▼ 11.3 |
| JUL | 109.141 | ▲ 22.2 |
| AUG | 118.350 | ▲ 16.8 |
| SEP | 91.123 | ▲ 15.2 |
| OCT | 71.360 | ▲ 0.1 |
| NOV | 47.352 | ▼ 8.7 |
Congratulations Sarajevo!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened in November? Why such a big drop?
ReplyDeleteTurkish cut flights from 14 p/w to 10 and Swiss suspended flights.
DeleteWhat happened? Poverty mixed with high airport fees happened.
DeleteThanks. Turkish definitely had the most impact then since they are the dominant carrier in Sarajevo.
DeleteYeah but it can't be just TK, the flights they cut probably didn't have such great loads. Could it be that some other airlines had less passengers?
DeleteWell it could be that fewer people are travelling. Remember this region isn't exactly budding economically. But also Tuzla could be taking away a chunk of passengers.
DeleteI'm happy for Sarajevo but I can't help but think that if they managed to get an LCC fly a few routes they would have had 1 million passengers this year.
ReplyDeleteIf they managed to get EK to fly daily they would have had 1 million passengers.
DeleteThey will reach one million next year for sure.
DeleteIf Wizz Air starts flights and Croatia Airlines opens a base, next year SJJ will definitely handle above 1 million passengers.
DeleteStvarno ste vise dosadni, nece Croatia Airlines otvoriti nikakvu bazu a Wizz Air nece letiti nigdje osim za Budapest jer ce Sarajevo i dalje njih odbijati i pregovori ce od 2011 nastaviti barem do 2031.
DeleteWonder if Podgorica is still ahead of SJJ this year. It's funny seeing as Sarajevo had a record year that it got overtaken by TGD.
ReplyDeletePodgorica also had a record year ;) They will finish ahead of Sarajevo.
DeleteSwiss will also resume flights from March.
ReplyDeleteThere are still a lot of unserved routes like Paris, London and Frankfurt. So plenty of room to grow.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear LH group does not allow such improvement.
DeleteTrue SJJ is Star Alliance territory.
DeleteThe construction of a new terminal should have already started. The current terminal building has 1 million capacity and they are already handling above 800,000. It will be too late when they realize they need to expand.
ReplyDeleteGood news for Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteThis year they managed to bring Qatar Airways and Air Arabia, as well as chase away CSA because they didn't want to open the airport a few hours earlier. That said, I really think they need to work on bringing a LCC to SJJ that could even base an aircraft there. Without a national carrier its the perfect market.
ReplyDeleteOni pregovaraju sa Wizz Air vec 5 godina haha, od 2011 godine, svake godine kazu "vode se pregovori".
ReplyDeleteVise je tuzno nego smesno. Sarajevo je zrtva Federalne vlade koja ne zeli da ukine svoju posebnu taksu od 10eur koja se placa pored one redovne od 18eur. Tuzla i Mostar su izuzeti od placanja te takse.
DeleteI wish them even more passengers next year and a better management.
ReplyDeleteHopefully December should see good growth like the article says if the good weather keeps up. Is there any way Sarajevo Airport can resolve the fog problem with some technology?
ReplyDeleteOT
ReplyDeleteThere are rumors floating around that Aer Lingus might launch two weekly DUB-ZAG in S17.
Would be nice. They are starting Split next year too.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/p/aer-lingus-dublin-split.html
Nice, I hope this is true. Where have you heard this (your source if you can say it) please ? :)
DeleteA friend who works for ZAG in management. Problem seems to be the fees so they are also trying to convince OU
DeleteObviously ZAG''s fees are too high. I have direct information from pretty high in HV that they wanted to launch ZAG from AMS next summer, together with LJU, BEG, SOF and TIA but haven't reached the agreement as ZAG declined any possibility to lower its feees
DeleteWho knows how many other airlines were deterred like that.
DeleteОТ
ReplyDeleteŠta se u ovom trenutku dešava sa Cesnom 560XL na BEG?
Primetio sam već tri puta da mi preleće isti avion, pogledam na FR24 i vidim da je avion odmah nakon poletanja napravio krug i sada već tri puta odradio go around. Obuka pilota ili emergency?
Kalibraza mozda?
DeleteKalibraza sa Cesnom 560 XL sigurno ;)
DeleteCongrats Sarajevo. Seeing as the 800,000th passenger is coming on Air Serbia, I wonder how they are doing on this route. Why didn't they keep Jat Airways' slots of an evening arrival and morning departure? Would have linked to the waves at BEG better.
ReplyDeleteThere was no point in keeping Jat's schedule as it wouldn't have offered any connections. Air Serbia would need a similar schedule:
DeleteBEG-SJJ 00.30-01.15
SJJ-BEG 05.00-05.45
Unfortunately SJJ is closed during those hours.
Those times would be ideal but they would have to keep the afternoon service too for P2P passengers. Shame that Sarajevo is closed at those times.
DeleteOh yes, the afternoon flight needs to stay. Ideally there should be two flights per day but unfortunately we are talking about Bosnia here so...
DeleteOT: ZAG, November +7%
ReplyDeleteWould anyone be kind enough to tell me how to reach downtown Dubrovnik from the airport, tomorrow night, after OU flight from ZAG?
ReplyDeleteIt lands at 10.05pm, but I'm not sure if the public transit/Atlas Buses run at that time of tha day/night.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
A taxi is not too expensive.
DeleteI think you have a bus after every flight.
DeleteNot 100% sure, but Autotrans Rijeka, the biggest bus transport company in Croatia, used to operate services between DBV city and the airport. Try their Web page, they even have some small discount for tickets purchased online. Again, not 100% sure but will be glad if helped. Ciao!
Delete