FlyBosnia preparing for first European flights


FlyBosnia is planning on introducing its first European destinations to its route network following the launch of flights to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait earlier this month. The airline has put up adverts across Sarajevo announcing that London, Paris and Rome will be its first European points and are "coming soon". FlyBosnia previously said it was considering both Gatwick and Luton airports for its London operations. As a result of the new European flights, the airline will link Sarajevo with the UK for the first time since British Airways discontinued services to Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital in 2009, while operations to Paris will resume over a decade after Air France suspended its flights to Sarajevo.

FlyBosnia recently said, "We are a niche airline designed to provide affordable, direct flights to key destinations where we know there is demand. We have conducted extensive market research into creating an innovative and sustainable concept". It had hoped to already be operating revenue flights to a number of European cities, however, "Due to the high demand for airport slots, as well as airspace congestion, the drafting of our schedule is taking longer than expected", it said recently. FlyBosnia currently has two Airbus A319 aircraft in its fleet. It will take a further two A319s in "the coming quarters". "These aircraft will enable FlyBosnia to progressively expand its destination network as it builds up to a planned eight-member fleet by 2023", the company said.

The airline recently inked a deal with local tour operator Globtour Event Sarajevo for the sale of its tickets. The company also plans to operate charter flights which will cater for religious pilgrims visiting Mostar. As a result, it has partnered with the Italian charter service provider SoleAir in order to run such flights. Furthermore, FlyBosnia is seeking EASA rated Airbus A320-family Captains and First Officers for a minimum six-month contract. "This in an urgent requirement with assessments to take place on June 22 and July 1", the airline's recruiter, AeroProfessional, said. 

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    About time

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Finally, I think those destinations are a good pic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    Sarajevo-Rome with an A319? Will they really be able to fill these flights up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Maybe they are primarily for the Medjugorje pilgrims?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      if they manage to fill flight to remote Saudi districts, then they will have no problem filling FCO.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Yes they are being filled by Saudis and their Saudi tour operator. We will see how easy it will be to fill to Rome.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:10

      Alitalia announced years ago they would start FCO-SJJ but they never did.

      Delete
    5. Letili su, ali su brzo ukinuli. Bilo to tamo oko 2005.-2006.g.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    Were there ever flights between SJJ and FCO?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Da. Prije nekih 12-14g, ali samo kratko sa AZ. Radio sam tada u Tunisu i moj prijatelj iz Bosne je ponekad letio SJJ-FCO-TUN tako da je to moralo biti negdje oko 2007.g, ali točno se ne sjećam.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    Hope they try and launch them in summer, August preferably.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    Will be interesting to see which of the two London airlines they choose. I think London and Paris are good starting points for them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    How are their Gulf flights performing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      They are doing well. Flights are full with tourists.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:53

    LGW is a smart option. Very few ex-Yu are connected. U2 has a strong presence overthere and BA used to also connect some Yugo cities it a decade ago.
    SJJ-LGW will be a huge one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      Again, I'm not sure there is enough P2P demand. There is virtually not enough P2P from any ex-Yu city to London. Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia rely a lot on transfer passengers heading to the US on these flights, as well as passengers transferring from other Balkan cities (Sarajevo among them) going to London.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:06

      London didn't work from Tuzla on Wizz either.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:07

      One of the reasons is that visa regime is still an issue.

      Delete
    4. There is virtually not enough P2P from any ex-Yu city to London.

      Sad ima nekoliko mogućnosti:

      1) Ja ne razumijem engleski.
      2) LJU nije za tebe ex-yu grad
      3) Easy i wizzair imaju transferne putnike
      4) Easy i wizzair su kao majka tereza pa šalju avione tamo di im se ne isplati samo da aerodromi imaju što radit

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:09

    Still not sold this airline will work out, at least their European destination network. Time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous10:09

    Stansted is the best option for London.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous10:12

    Well at least they are starting European flights, so that's more than I hoped for.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous10:13

    Anyone know how many frequencies we could expect?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      I think it will be two per week.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:15

    Looking at Sarajevo's route network, these are more than needed
    https://i.imgur.com/3XnEmEp.png

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:24

      +1
      It looks like just gastarbeiter and Arab routes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:54

      Everything west of Germany is not served so these FlyBosnia routes are welcome. Hope they work out.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:06

      I find it interesting that Wizz Air never gave Paris a go even from Tuzla.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:16

    Jeddah is doing good for them. They added second flight in July and August and its completly booked for tour operator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      Good to hear!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Is this a completely new category of passengers or did they use airlines like Fly Dubai in the past?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      or Turkish Airlines?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:05

      Some of them used those, but mostly they used the nonstop flights from Saudi Arabia. Last year they were operated by Nesma Airlines. I think Al Shiddi sold those as well.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:16

    Finally Paris. Will they fly to CDG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      Yes I think it will be CDG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:04

      Who knows maybe they go to Orly.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:20

    I would prefer if these were operated by Air France, Alitalia and British so we could have some connections.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:21

      Maybe FlyBosnia will make deals with some airlines and offer connections.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:23

      Hope so but somehow I doubt BA will be signing any deal with an airline that is less than one month into operations.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:26

      No such chance.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:24

    Excellent news for Sarajevo Airport.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      Can't wait to see the passenger numbers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:27

      First effects should felt this month although Flynas, Aegean, Eurowings and Norwegian will also positively impact numbers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:03

      We could see Sarajevo handle over 200,000 pax in one month for the first time.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:27

    Please unify the livery please. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:30

      +1. A two-aircraft fleet yet they look completely different. Great branding. Hope the next one won't have a 3rd kind of livery.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:31

      it might be time to remove the EYOF stickers off the A319.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:29

    Are they going to wait till winter to launch European destinations or will it happen sooner?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      It;s obviously going to be sooner.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:42

    Frankfurt would have been the smarter choice over Rome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:00

      From Rome they can get diaspora and tourists going to Medjugorje.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:00

      BTW B&H flew to Frankfurt and failed.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:02

      B&H failed on every market. That's why they are bankrupt.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous11:53

    Do they have business class?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:59

      They said they will have euro business. They don't sell business on the Saudi and Kuwait flights.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous14:05

    Interesting that for pilot positions they are looking for EU citizens. So they are discriminating against their own country. Crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  23. So Montenegro with its 700.000 people and not so brilliant living standard has Montenegro Airlines with 7 jets, Adria no matter how much struggling 12 jets, Flybosnia now expecting to have 8 Airbuses soon, Air Serbia after all sanctions and miseries with some 15 jets including wide body long haul, and Croatia Airlines proudly flying 6 A319/320, with all of the tourism, all of the diaspora and all of the best geographical position in the biggest aviation market, second biggest country and second best living standard in exYu. So BRAVO CROATIA AIRLINES and BRAVO HRVATSKA, samo tako naprijed, fantasticno......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've compared incomparable.

      Delete
  24. Why are they not after diaspora e.g. Sweden?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous15:17

    Actually, they are after diaspora, but, that is a highly seasonal market. They will connect with European larger hubs to bring business travelers, diaspora and tourists. Sweden would not work during winter, fall and spring periods. I think it is a smart decision not to compete directly with any airline on these routes. Find your niche and try to survive until summer season. In summer, rake up on Middle Eastern and in future US tourists.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous14:41

    time to start working on codeshare agreement with Skyteam members as Star Alliance pretty much owns the market there. MUC and VIE should be great options if you look at TATL

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.