Banja Luka Airport has announced it will be linked with Podgorica and Gothenburg by the end of the year, as it makes a major strategic shift by announcing plans to attract low cost airlines. Services to the Montenegrin capital and the Swedish city will be operated once per week from December 22 by the virtual Swedish-based airline Montefly. The operating carrier will be disclosed at a later date once contracted. According to the Ministry for Transport and Communications in the government of the entity of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ticket sales are expected to begin soon. Banja Luka Airport has also confirmed it is in talks with a further three airlines concerning future operations from the city, one of which is Air Serbia.
The Entity Minister for Transport, Nedjo Trninić, noted that Banja Luka Airport will target low cost carriers in the future in order to boost connectivity. It is in stark contrast to Mr Trninić’s previous remarks when he noted, “Low cost carriers are not our future. We are more focused on serious airlines to which we can offer fair conditions". At the time, Mr Trninić criticised Tuzla Airport, which acts as a base for Wizz Air, noting, "At Tuzla Airport they survive on donations made by the Cantnon and Federal governments. We are not interested in such things. Tuzla Airport would not be in operation if it were not for subsidies. Low cost airlines are very demanding in terms of subsidies and airports do not benefit from them". However, local media believe Banja Luka Airport has resumed talks with Wizz itself. “We have reached an agreement with airlines we are currently negotiating with that, until we sign a contract, we will not disclose their names or further details. All I can say at this point is that we are in discussions with two carriers, or three if we include Air Serbia, which currently maintains services to the city”, Banja Luka Airport’s General Manager, Miroslav Janjić, said.
Banja Luka Airport began talks with Wizz Air over potential flights in 2013, however, negotiations later collapsed. The Entity Minister for Transport at the time, Nedeljko Čubrilović, said, “Unfortunately we were unable to agree to the terms set by the airline. It’s not as it looks. They aren’t coming here to give us anything, they want to come here to take something. During negotiations they were very difficult over handling prices so we would not benefit from them in any single way”. Banja Luka Airport is in the midst of a 3.1 million euro expansion of its passenger terminal and the construction of a new cargo facility. During the January - August period it handled a total of 14.745 passengers, representing a decrease of 3.9% on last year. Currently, Air Serbia is Banja Luka Airport's only customer, maintaining five weekly flights from Belgrade.
Serious airline they got there...
ReplyDeletethere should be no more comments allowed today. you said it all!
DeleteWizz Air was named by Banja Luka management as unserious company, and Montefy (is that the name) is serious one?
DeleteHello Anon at 12:55 PM, the guys you mentioned are as thick as two short planks.
DeleteHaha love how they changed their position 360C
ReplyDeleteyap same as before.
DeleteThey realized that what they were doing - waiting for legacy airlines to line up - was not going to work.
DeleteTook them long enough.
DeleteYou mean 180c.
DeleteHah yes I was meant to write 180.
DeleteIf they really are in talks with Wizz Air that would be fantastic and I hope for a positive outcome.
ReplyDeleteWhich routes could they start?
DeleteI think Malmo, Basel and Bratislava could work.
Deleteoh yeah Bratislava worked too well for TZL so they cancelled it...
Deleteand Banja is even closer to VIE. Spot On!
There is a larger number of people from the Banja Luka area living near Vienna then there is from around Tuzla.
Deletema kako da ne
DeleteIn the late 90ties, BNX had flights to Vienna, Zurich, St. Galen and Germany (forgot which city)
DeleteMontefly - another Air Croatia in the making.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the same people that were behind Air Croatia. They were also from Sweden.
DeleteSo another scam.
DeleteIf they are talking to Wizz Air and Air Serbia, who is the third company?
ReplyDeleteMontefly :D
DeletePobeda? Just imagine BNX and INI on their route map. How about Air France?
DeleteAir France suspended Belgrade during their cost cutting measures in 2009/2010. I highly doubt they would now go for BNX.
DeletePobeda sounds plausible.
DeleteWhen I read the title I had a bit of hope but then I saw it was some phantom airline. These guys just NEVER learn. Come out and say you have secured flights when you do it with an ACTUAL airline.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhat are the main unserved markets from BNX?
ReplyDeleteINI
DeleteHaha yeah sure.
DeleteThree years ago Wizz offered Banja Luka flights from Luton, Malmo, Eindhoven and Dortmund to choose from.
DeleteHow much money does Tuzla Airport give to Wizz Air?
ReplyDeleteI think it is 600,000 euros per year.
DeleteBNX should be closed as soon as possible or converted in sport airfield. This isn't an international airport.
ReplyDeleteThe airport is in desperate need of a new supervisory and a new managing board. But the boards will not be replaced until the more than ten years old, corrupt and totalitarian regime is discarded, that's all.
DeleteIt's unfortunate that initial talks with Wizz Air were taking place in 2013. The the management shooed them away because Air Serbia showed up. Had Wizz started talks a year earlier BNX would be like TZL today.
ReplyDeleteNot true, talks started in 2012.
DeleteHopefully something comes of this. Good luck BNX.
ReplyDeleteBanja Luka seem to be no better than Mostar, bragging as soon as someone gives them a call.
ReplyDeletehow tall is banja luka airport atc tower?
ReplyDelete46 metres
DeleteIf W6 comes to BNX it could attract pax from big parts of Croatia.
ReplyDeleteYeah right ahahahaha ... can you imagine Croats flying from Republika Srpska?!
DeleteThat is not very likely ... it is rather difficult to get to Banja Luka and also to connect flights
Delete@1.01 same was said that Croats wouldn't fly to some other cities via Belgrade when Air Serbia started flights to Zagreb, but they do.
DeleteMany Croats from eastern Croatia (Osijek included) fly out of Belgrade so why wouldn't people from continental Croatia fly out of BNX? Don't forget that Banja Luka is connected with the highway now so it's quite competitive.
DeleteBNX needs to be connected to IST, VIE, CDG, BCN.
ReplyDeleteYes of course they do.
DeleteWe want flights between Banja Luka and Frankfurt
ReplyDeleteIt will happen as soon as I am the new minister of the Ministry of Transport and Communication of the Republic of Srpska, and I have got rid off the chicanery and corruption in this field.
DeleteIt for sure means the airport we have been talking about is to undergo a radical shake-up.
BNX would be a perfect addition to Wizz Air's route map. I could see Banja Luka - Base;l working very well since most Serbs living there are actually from Bosnia.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nezavisne.com/ekonomija/privreda/Nezavisne-istrazile-ko-stoji-iza-firme-Montefly-Uzimali-rezervacije-za-letove-pa-ih-povukli/443265
ReplyDeletethat's a nice article (in Bosnian) about how "Montefly" is registered to a garage in Sweden. Well done, BNX management.
I just checked the company name against the Swedish company register, the company doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteAnother classic Balkan fraud attempt.
Who are these idiots running BNX......???
Nobody knows their names.
DeleteNot 5 times per week for BEG. Currently ASL flies 3 times per week, while in winter timetable that will be downgrade to twice per week
ReplyDeleteNo you are wrong. There are 5 flights per week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So the article is very much correct.
DeleteFor the winter it was mentioned in an article a few days ago: "services to Banja Luka will be reduced from three to two per week from November 21 until mid-December and then again from February until March."
http://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/09/air-serbia-to-consolidate-winter.html
So your information is wrong.
Na beg.aero stoji u redu letenja VO363/364 MBX-BEG-MBX od 9.oktobra.
ReplyDeleteTyrolean airlines?
DeleteNo it's VLM Slovenia.
DeleteAny schedule? I am sure this flight will be popular with Serbia in that part of Austria who currently have no decent air link with Serbia.
DeleteVO 363 arrives to BEG at 12.25.
DeleteVO 364 departs from BEG at 13.00.
Interesting.
Forgot to add, it's supposed to operate five times per week.
DeleteThey said plenty of times that they will start flying to Belgrade and it was published here to.
DeleteYeah but now it's finally happening and we even have arriving and departing times. It's quite big. I wonder what their fares will be like.
DeleteSince we are talking about BEG, Israir will not be suspending BEG. It was loaded in the system the other day, two weekly with the A320.
And some people here should learn that it takes time for airlines to load their schedules. Like another guy a few days ago was saying how Wizz was suspending some route to Nis next year and a day later they load it in the system.
DeleteIs there even a market between Belgrade and Ljubljana!?
DeleteLjubljana yes, Maribor I am not too certain.
DeleteAnyway, congrats BNX! Good to see the airport reviving.
ReplyDeleteIt must be great doing business with those desperate little airports. Whenever they got called by a secretary of Wizz, found a new phantom operator or they had a good hamburger for lunch they go 'c'mon let's make a press release to show that we are working very hard'.
ReplyDelete