Sarajevo Airport unveils future plans


Sarajevo Airport is preparing to commence work on the multi million euro expansion of its terminal building (pictured above), as well as the construction of its new business and administrative headquarters, while pursuing new carriers and routes. Last week, Sarajevo Airport inked a 15.3 million euro contract with local company ANS Drive to add an extra 10.000 square metres to its terminal building. Furthermore, the deal also includes the construction of an office/business facility at the airport, worth three million euros. The two projects will be financed from the airport's own funds. "The expansion of the passenger terminal and the construction of a business facility are important strategic projects for Sarajevo Airport, which will provide capacity for further growth", General Manager, Armin Kajmaković, said.

Sarajevo Airport's planned new business and administrative headquarters

Upon completion, the terminal building will have the capacity to handle two million passengers. Currently, Sarajevo can welcome one million travellers per year, with the airport set to surpass that figure during the fourth quarter of 2018. Construction is expected to start this autumn, with its completion scheduled for late 2019. Previously, the old terminal A building was demolished in order to make way for the expanded facility. The new business and administrative building, which will house offices for airport staff, will be located next to the control tower. In addition, following two years of trials, the airport will fully implement its anti-fog system this winter, in order to reduce cancellations and delays resulting from adverse weather conditions. The system involves spraying liquid propane into the atmosphere, which turns fog into ice particles or snow crystals that then fall onto the ground . "We can say with all certainty that this system will be fully operational this winter. Over the past few seasons we successfully tested it and had fewer cancelled flights", Mr Kajmaković said.

The airport is also looking to attract new carriers. Aegean Airlines will commence seasonal flights from Athens to Sarajevo on June 13 of next year, while talks are taking place with several other carriers as well. "We expect developments in the opening of new routes. I recently attended the singing of a new bilateral air service agreement between China and Bosnia and Herzegovina and I had the opportunity to hold talks with Chinese aviation regulators, as well as representatives from several of their airlines. There is a lot of room for cooperation", Mr Kajmaković said. He added, "We are in talks with several airlines over flights to Riyadh and Bahrain, and we have also held discussions concerning services to Skopje, however, airlines remain apprehensive about this route. We are working hard behind the scenes. When the talks are finalised it will be easy to announce and promote new routes".

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Nice work Sarajevo. Great to see the airport developing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:56

      Not only Sarajevo but Mostar, Banja Luka and Tuzla too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:24

      Very happy with all the recent developments at Bosnian airports. It may be an election year but at least things are moving in a good direction.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Is this anti-fog system used anywehere else in the world? It's the first time I heard of a system like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:27

      First time I hear of it too sounds interesting.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:08

    I hope they work on attracting more airlines.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      I think opening up 24 hours could help them get more airlines and frequencies.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      Yes, more European legacy airlines connecting Bosnia to major hubs and cities will be of great value.
      We have more than enough connections to the Gulf states.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:49

      +1

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:46

      Aegean is a good start. Would be nice to see British Airways return.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:52

      Swiss and Air France too.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:32

      @9.10
      Agree
      JU and OS would fly after current closing hours for sure. They would offer more connections that way and SJJ's numbers would grow even more.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:40

      Being a good destination to pick up transfer passengers, I think several European airlines would fly out during the early morning.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:31

      I highly doubt that BA will come to SJJ from slot constrained LHR when they don't even fly to BEG.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous08:47

      Yeah. If Qatar A330 in June and 3 Turkish A330s at once during the Hajj season, why wouldn't it receive the Beijing one?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    Fantastic developments for all Bosian airports!

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  5. I hope they add plenty of toilets in the departure lounge. At the moment there are only 2 male cubicles and 2 female cubicles after security control and they were in a filthy disgusting state, when I passed through this summer, this really let's the airport down! And I don't understand why they run out of sandwiches for sale, at 10am in the morning?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    So SJJ also hoping to get Beijing flights....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      And I think they will sooner or later.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:59

      No hopes for flights to US?

      Strange.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:12

      :D

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:23

      Why not? Chinese don't need visas to Bosnia and there has been a talk of rerouting the Belgrade flight so it operates PEK-BEG-SJJ.

      And before someone asks, yes and A330 can land in Sarajevo.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:12

    Nice to see. Terminal extension sounds good and I'm glad they are on schedule.

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  8. Anonymous09:25

    Go SJJ. Go Bosna!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:40

    Nice

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:46

    Bad news for Užice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:50

      +1
      You snooze you loose.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:44

    Any new renders of the terminal building? Any from inside?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous10:45

    The HW building looks a bit outdated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:45

      *HQ

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:50

      Why? It looks fine.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:45

    They said last year how they would finish the terminal expansion by the end of 2018. Oh well, better late then never.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:50

      As long as it doesn't take the same time it's taking Tuzla Airport to do their terminal expansion, I will be happy.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:52

    Looking forward to the new terminal in Sarajevo.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:52

    Will they have additional air bridges or will it be only the current 2?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:55

      No. Only current two.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:21

      Internally they say that there will be 4 air bridges.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous11:03

    This airport has so much potential, they should definitely let Wizz or Ryan base a couple of aircraft there and launch European destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:41

      With current pricing at the airport I don't think we will see them add new destinations soon unfortunately.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:22

      Any chance of Eurowings revisting their plans to start Dusseldorf-Sarajevo?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:09

      No chance. They are starting Mostar instead.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous11:12

    They also recently opened a cooling chamber which is good news for cargo capabilities.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous11:24

    The most pressing issue to deal with after the terminal is the runway. I hope they can do the reconstruction without closing the airport.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous11:42

    I'm glad modernization will happen. Good luck SJJ.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:22

      Can't wait to see the completed project.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous12:28

    Finally things moving in the right direction at SJJ.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous13:41

    Bravo Sarajevo, nadam se konacnom razvoju tog aerodroma!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous14:21

    2019 looks promising!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous14:37

    With the UAE suspending the visa regime for Serbia, maybe it's time for BEG and SJJ to attract EK to serve both cities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. These are very good news for Serbian citizens although we still don't know when it will be applied

      Delete
    2. Nemjee16:30

      Etihad is currently considering going double daily the whole 2019 summer season. Let's hope the visa regime is suspended before March.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous16:09

    Good that the project is progressing and seems to be on schedule.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous17:05

    Congratulations Sarajevo.

    ReplyDelete
  26. And how about a flight to London? ANY London airport!!
    How about SEN? Fab new small airport and direct train to central London.. 45 mins. Talk to easyjet. Better than LTN or STN..Gatwick woud be great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:09

      I guess there is no demand. Didn't Wizz Air also reduce/cut TZL-LTN?

      Delete
    2. TheBosnian02:45

      And how about them Brits abolishing visas for Bosnians?

      Delete
  27. Anonymous21:11

    Like someone said Sarajevo has huge potential and it is still missing a lot of viable routes.

    ReplyDelete

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