Kuwait's Wataniya Airways plans to commence services to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina later this year. Sarajevo Airport has confirmed it is in talks with the private carrier which will resume flying from Kuwait City to the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia this summer, after it terminated all operations in 2011, two years following its launch. The airline will run services to Sarajevo with one of its seven Airbus A320 aircraft, which will have the capacity to seat twelve passengers in business and 120 in economy class. Talks between Wataniya and Sarajevo Airport's management began last year and are now in their final stages. The exact launch date and frequencies are yet to be announced.
Previously, Kuwait Airways operated seasonal services between its hub and the Bosnian capital in August and September of 2013. Flights ran twice per week with a 232-seat Airbus A300-600 aircraft via Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Furthermore, the US-registered Gryphon Airlines maintained flights between the Kuwaiti and Bosnian capitals in the past, during the high summer months, with a Boeing 767-200 jet. The service recorded strong loads and catered for the diaspora, tourists and American servicemen stationed in the Middle East. Currently, Air Arabia and Flydubai link Sarajevo directly with the Gulf, while Qatar Airways is also due to begin operations soon.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is becoming an increasingly popular destination for tourists from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Arab investors, primarily from Kuwait, are building homes and hotels around Sarajevo and are heavily promoting the destination to middle class families looking for cheaper alternatives to Western Europe, fuelling point to point travel from the Middle East to Sarajevo, particularly during the summer months. Since Bosnia does not have a national tourism authority, unofficial estimates put the total number of Arab tourists to the country between 50.000 and 60.000 a year, with about a quarter buying property in Bosnia. Visitor numbers from the Middle East are believed to have surged 200% in 2016 alone.
Comments
They managed to attain interest and loads, but never the yields - heck their First Business was often cheaper between Kuwait and Dubai than Emirates in Economy.
To top it off, Jazeera ate into their market nicely as they bet (correctly) on the premise that people don't mind flying low-cost on short and high frequency routes.
I wish them luck in all honesty but it won't be easy. Kuwait Airways is no longer a lost-cause anymore and Jazeera maintains a market following in a country that has a limited market size and virtually zero tourism. Gulf competitors have also cemented their market positions since their original presence...
Sarajevo wise, they probably will do nicely on P2P but will struggle beyond Kuwaiti market.
Interesting development nevertheless, wish Wataniya my best...
http://www.zdistrict.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/WataniyaDec02.JPG
http://www.exyuaviation.com/p/nesma-airlines-riyadh-sarajevo.html
Vueling, Norwegian supposedly (plans to open an base and station 1 aircraft), Transavia, return of EasyJet and Volotea, Monarch plans to add Edinburgh and Birmingham from next year and German Wings might add Hamburg year round too. Return of TAP and arrival of Aer Lingus wold be icing on the cake. This year projections are between 11 and 15.5% Growth, next year could be 17% if all goes according to plans.
http://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/05/atlasglobal-to-boost-belgrade-operations.html
There is demand from ME not to ME.
No, social agreement (collective contract) since March (management had "more important" things to do than negotiation with employees), mechanics exodus, and now example of cancellation of the instructor's contract without explanation why to captain Andre Šarinić who is the one of the best instructor in Croatia without any mistakes, but in same time it was "mentioned" that he was on several meetings in Government about new CEO (and he is not supporting present one).
LX2512/19 ZRHINI 1/113
LX2513/19 INIZRH 1/82
CS1 version 3/120
LX2512/21 ZRHINI 1/114
LX2513/21 INIZRH 2/165 (-3)
A320 version 12/162
It seems that ZRH is rolling good from INI. Can't wait to see peak summer months.