Bosnia and Herzegovina is considering establishing a new national airline, some two years after the demise of its former flag carrier. The country's Prime Minister, Denis Zvizdić, noted, "We have to establish a new national airline again so as to improve connectivity and the range of destinations offered from Sarajevo. Sarajevo Airport has around one million travellers per year, although there are other airports in the country which would benefit from increased passenger and cargo traffic generated from a local airline". He added, "Figures at Sarajevo in particular could be significantly increased and for that we need an airline which would be partnered with a world class carrier, such as Turkish Airlines", Mr Zvidić said.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, visited Bosnia and Herzegovina last week where he held talks with Mr Zvizdić. Turkish Airlines, which previously owned a 49% stake in the former national carrier B&H Airlines, said in the past it was open to exploring new models of commercial cooperation with the Bosnian government over the establishment of a new national airline. The Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fadil Novalić, has suggested that a successor to B&H Airlines would be established, with the government to invest 2.7 million euros into the new carrier, which would initially operate with one leased aircraft. B&H Airlines itself was set up on the foundations of Air Bosna, which launched in 1994 but ceased operations in 2003 due to mounting debt. Two years later, the government revived the carrier and renamed it B&H Airlines. It ceased operations in 2015 and its liquidation process was recently completed.
Turkish Airlines is currently in the process of establishing a new national carrier in Albania with the Albanian government. Last week, the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said that the project was in its "final stages". According to Mr Rama, Air Albania will operate flights from Tirana to Skopje, Pristina, Podgorica, Sarajevo, and Zagreb, as well to Western Europe. Meanwhile, the privately-owned FlyBosnia is still awaiting regulatory approval to commence its planned services from Sarajevo, initially to the Middle East. It later plans to expand operations throughout Europe. The only airline in Bosnia and Herzegovina currently in possession of a local Air Operator's Certificate is the Tuzla-based cargo carrier Icar Air.
Not again!
ReplyDeleteIt's election year in 2018 so dont trust the roumors of the politicians
DeleteI notice a pattern with Bosnian national airlines. It is set up, lasts for 9 years, goes bankrupt and then 2 years pass and the government sets it up again....
ReplyDeleteWell Zvizdic is right in saying that it would help growth in Sarajevo. If B&H was still around, Sarajevo would already have over 1 million passengers.
ReplyDeleteBanja Luka and Mostar were much more affected by B&H’s bankruptcy then Sarajevo itself.
DeleteBetter to invest that money in bringing Wizz Air to Sarajevo. Numbers would grow much faster than with a national airline.
ReplyDeleteSo instead of investing in your own airline which would hire locals, you would rather invest in a Hungarian registered airline with its head office in Geneva. Great.
Delete@anon 9:43
DeleteOpening an airline is arguably the worst employment programme you can devise for locals. What Sarajevo need is good connectivity and affordable prices. It's much better to boost LCCs and attract additional legacy carries, that would brings new jobs to the economy in tourism and hospitality.
I would prefer Ryanair instead of Wizz and I fully agree with you!
DeleteThis could work if government gives complete control to Turkish without interfering.
ReplyDeleteIf they had done that the last time B&H Airlinee would still be in operation.
DeleteYeah right Turkish Airlines on purpose destroyed the Bosnian carrier because it wanted to only operate Turkish Airlines.They bought the stakes,blocked all investments,waited till the airlines were full of debt and then destroyed it.Its thanks to Turkey that Bosnia LOST its only national carrier.Never again should Bosnia allow Turkish airlines near
DeleteI don't get this need for a national airline - both in BiH and Macedonia
ReplyDeleteAgree!
Delete"We have to establish a new national airline again so as to improve connectivity and the range of destinations offered from Sarajevo"
ReplyDeleteNo, you don't have to do that-look at SKP
Exactly! Very cost efficient solution in SKP.
DeleteSeems like Zvizdic saw what TK was doing in Albania and now wants the same for Bosnia but I think it's too late now.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhichever way people might react, I don't find this either odd nor unbelievable. In fact I'm sure it will happen. Remember, Turkish purchased B&H when it had 2 planes and flew to 3 cities in total. So there is no reason not to believe that they would set up some joint venture with the government. It would cost them peanuts in the wider scope of things and give them access to a relatively untapped market.
ReplyDeleteBut like you said Turkish already had a JV with the governemnt and it did not go down well. Why would they do the same thing again?
DeleteGulf airlines are now starting to eat Turkish's cake in Sarajevo. Which airline do you think people who can now use 3 daily flights from Sarajevo to Dubai used to fly with?
DeleteBarely JU and OU make sense any more, this is not a good road to take. They should look at Skopje example. Not throwing away money on a national airline but helping companies establish new routes and boost connectivity.
DeleteWhat happened to BH's 2 ATRs? Where are they now?
DeleteAre there general elections in Bosnia this year?
ReplyDeleteYes. 7th October.
DeleteStep 1: milk the Turks for the new airline.
ReplyDeleteStep 2: get a plane for free.
Step 3: create jobs for all your political allies.
Step 4: celebrate the inaugural flight.
Step 5: start calling SJJ a regional hub.
Step 6: start planning long-haul flights, preferably to New York.
Sound familiar :D
DeleteHahahaha so true. Wellcome to Balkans.
DeleteStep 7: Enjoy your thousands of euros salaries :)
DeleteStep 8: ask for more state aid.
DeleteStep 9: start consolidating and bringing new fantastic product to the market. :)
Few years later selling slots :-)
Deleteif you have any :)))
DeleteHaha sweet lord. this is a series of steps followed by all Balkan ariline.
DeleteNot exactly: steps 5&6 are more of a Croatia/Serbia thing.....
DeleteWe are running out of airline names.
ReplyDeleteAir Sarajevo?
DeleteB&H Airlines the third.
DeleteBosnianWings, Bosna air, Bosnia airlines, bosnia air, bosnian, bosnia international airlines,
DeleteBosnian airways a good name?
DeleteWhy?
DeleteBH Airlines is still available and owned by the FBIH Government....
Don't go too far! SJJ still needs flights to: FRA, AMS, CDG, BRU, TXL or GVA, to name but a few. All of them have regular bus services, so...
ReplyDeleteHopefully Wizz will start more flights from Sarajevo soon and problem solved.
DeleteWhy would they go to Sarajevo? They are already at Tuzla.
DeleteBecause it's a bigger market and has a lot of unserved routes.
Delete@9.50
DeleteIt is an impossible task with current taxes in SJJ.
What are the taxes in SJJ?
DeleteAMS and CDG are probably ok.
DeleteOthers... TXL, for example, failed multiple times....
What are the chances on creating a pan-Balkan airline? If Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro invest together with the help of Turkish, they can create a worthy Balkan airline that can compete with ASL and CTN.
ReplyDeleteAnd above that, imagine Turkish takes over 49% of JU some time in near future ...
DeleteAs if EY will allow an airline with 90 year history and JFK slots to slip away easily.
DeleteObsession with slots :)
DeleteThese are not fantastic slots at JFK as you probably know. EY will leave the moment they cannot make enormous profit from managing the company.
I'm pretty sure Etihad amongst the hundreds of millions they lost in their Europe adventures would be absolutely devastated about the 90-year old history of a small regional airline.
DeleteFew airlines in the region have both expensive JFK, CDG and LHR slots. Also, the small regional airline you say has the most extensive network in the Balkans.
DeleteSo Jat handed over its history and kept the debt?!?
DeleteOnly in Serbia.....
Here we go again with the flag carrier obsession.
ReplyDeleteIntereatingly, no one ever stepped in to take over B&H AIrlines routes like Amsterdam and Zurich.
ReplyDeleteFrankfurt too.
DeleteMost of BH's routes were a disaster anyway.
DeleteAnd their market share was 6%
DeleteI don't understand that Transavia didn't start flights from Amsterdam. There is a market and I'm sure they would have performed well.
DeleteThey probably will start AMS at some point.
DeleteInteresting that Air Serbia never took up the opportunity to benefit from B&H Air bankruptcy. First they could have taken one or both aircraft and introduced a second daily flight.
DeleteAS wanted to act as transfer company with one frequency to most capitals in the region. Not viable.
Deletewith such level of corruption in the country, it isn't possible the state owns an airline.
ReplyDeleteTurkish starting an airline in Albania and Bosnia would be crazy.It is a big stretch, I imagine they would fail in one, if not both countries.
ReplyDeleteBut they are starting an airline in Albania. It will launch this year.
DeleteI know, that is why I said starting another airline in Bosnia would be too much.
DeleteWhy don't they initially lease the Aviolet and meanwhile order 2 E170 jets?
ReplyDeleteEmbraer is quite popular in Europe: LO, KL, FB, B2, AZ, etc.
Embraer would be good for flights to/from SJJ.
DeleteBest fleet solution for B&H Airlines in my opinion would have been 1 A319 and two regional jets – maybe CRJ700/900.
DeleteA319 would be struggle to fill most of the year. That company would definitely need to work with LH or AF plus try to codeshare on Belgrade and Zagreb flights.
DeleteCRJ is dead aircraft. CSeries/E-Jet/E2 is the way to go in this segment.
DeleteOmg, E2 seems soooo nice on Widerøe! I hope it we see it someday in ex-Yu skies.
Deletewas never a big fan on B&H but I must admit it is a shame they have gone bankrupt. The company did link Sarajevo with some European capitals. None of these have been covered since their bankruptcy. If Wizz Air had come and established a base in Sarajevo then I would say OK, letting B&H Airlines go was not that big of a price. But the problem is nothing has happened at Sarajevo since then except that we have fewer options to fly to Europe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe these cities are not covered because there is no sufficient demand for direct flights? Hope it will get better. Probably Easyjet would be the best option price wise.
DeleteI wrote this exactly two years ago :D
ReplyDelete"I'm waiting for the next government experiment. Wonder what they will call it? Air Bosnia and Herzegovina probably. They will wait two years, all debt they accumulated will be unplayable so no one cares and then they will create a new company which will mount losses for a decade. Then they do exactly the same as they did with Air Bosna and now with B&H Airlines."
Good one!
DeleteHopefully it will not happen.
It's easy being baba vanga in the balkans :D
DeleteA regional airline will only be used by diaspora, because it will probably not be a low cost carrier( which people in sarajevo/bosnia actualy can afford). I really hope this will end up well.
ReplyDelete"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
ReplyDelete