FlyBosnia facing internal turmoil


FlyBosnia has dismissed almost half of its entire workforce and has been struggling to pay wages to employees as its debts towards Sarajevo Airport and other suppliers continue to grow. Out of the 100 employees, which includes the company’s management, forty have been fired, while eight out of fifteen pilots have also left the carrier. Furthermore, the airline has failed to pay two months worth of wages while contributions have been withheld since April. “Once we ask when we are going to get paid, the management responds by saying we should look for work elsewhere if we are unhappy”, an employee said. The airline has been reported to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation (BHDCA) over workplace violations.

FlyBosnia, which this week inaugurated two weekly flights between Sarajevo and Rome and will resume services to Riyadh in the coming days has written to its employees warning them of their conduct. “Going to the BHDCA and reporting the company to someone in the Directorate is completely unacceptable behaviour”, the company wrote. It added, “All of you are grown people, have the freedom of choice, opinion and expression but with this sort of behaviour you are a liability and should be nowhere near a plane spreading negativity among the crew”. The airline has also been struggling to attract passengers on its existing services to London with the flight regularly registering a load factor of below 10% on the Airbus A319 aircraft. A recent trip report published online between London Luton and Sarajevo (featured below) had only sixteen passengers on board.


The Sarajevo-based airline recently returned one of its two A319s to its lessor Aercap and said it would operate a single-member fleet for the duration of the 2019/20 winter season, which runs until late March. The carrier further noted it would add another A319 to its fleet in April once it resumes seasonal operations to the Middle East. However, earlier this year it signed a deal with AerCap to take on another two A319s and set a target to boast a fleet of eight jets by 2023. The carrier’s CEO, Tarik Bilalbegović, recently said the company would introduce services to Paris and Barcelona, with flights to the French capital expected to launch in January. Last month, FlyBosnia noted it was considering shifting its operations away from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital to Mostar and Tuzla due to its deteriorating business relations with Sarajevo Airport.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Wow this is bad

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    Winter is usually make or break for new airlines. Doesn't seem as if Fly Bosnia will make it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:07

    So what happened with Saudi owners and their "deep pockets" as people mentioned here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      Having deep pockets does not mean that you will keep finding forever a loss making enterprise.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      *funding

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:43

      True, but airlines take ages to make a profit, the investors know that and should keep on funding.

      Unless, of course, this was just a money laundering exercise. Maybe that's why the CEO left.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:30

      Anonymous at 09:43
      No, they really don't.
      Failed airlines with bad business plans take ages to reach the revenues=expenses stage and only briefly before slipping back to loses.
      So when an investor sees that their assumptions and plans failed in the real world they cut their loses and move on.
      Unless of course we are talking about state owned airlines where profitability is not the goal and the loses are continuously being covered by taxes.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    They serve nothing but water from London to Sarajevo but the ticket costs almost 300 euros :O crazy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:51

      You can expect them to have LCC prices, there's too much overhead costs with such a small fleet.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    Everything went downhill when the CEO changed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Well the Australian guy said he left because he disagreed with the direction the owners wanted to take the airline.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:12

    Sad

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    Wand Airlines 2.0

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:30

      Many that ran that airlines are running FlyBosnia too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:40

      *airline

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    Their message to employees is despicable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      Full message is even worse

      https://ibb.co/Nx7LJgS

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:14

      Same old story. They want aviation enthusiasts who will work for peanuts and stay on the Titanic together with the orchestra.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:16

    :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    Scary.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:24

    Apparently pilots from Ukraine who were hired to fly for FlyBosnia are also leaving the company.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:24

    Well, that didn't last long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they were a bit slow with european routes during this summer, hopefuly in coming march it will be totally different situation up there

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:10

      I don't think they will be around next summer.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:25

    The Bosnian authorities are the worst, why are they allowing this? Bosnia is a such a mess and the people in Sarajevo disgust me. Why are they ignoring the model that was so successful in Tuzla, Banja Luka and hopefully in Mostar soon as well? Pathetic really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      What are they supposed to do? Ban the airline and order Sarajevo Airport to subsidise low cost airlines?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      They are supposed to regulate the market to ensure maximum efficiency. Fly Bosnia is a joke at this point, it needs to be shut down.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:04

      Well if I remember correctly they did refuse to issue FlyBosnia a permit several times in 2018.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:28

    another one bites the dust

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:04

    The trip report is epic :D

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:28

    16 pax LTN-SJJ?????
    Come on, this is London!
    If BiH is promoted it will become the next ME.
    Look how TGD and TIV developped!
    Lower those bloody prices!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      Bosnia does not have a coast. Montenegro does.
      Also Bosnia unfortunately still has a name associated with war and most people in western Europe would react negatively when you tell them to visit it.
      They are uninformed of course but they are the vast majority and their money are as good as anyone else's.
      SJJ should focus on flights to European destinations of its large diaspora and to the middle eastern countries where there is tourist demand for it.

      Just my2cents

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:00

      Bosnia does have a coast, 'Neum'!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:46

      "Bosnia does not have a coast", are you for real?

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:34

    I still think Bosnia has potential for a national carrier. But whose prime motive is to serve citizens of Bosnia. Fleet of 2 aircraft with 80 seats would do the job to several main European airports.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:35

    The way things are heading Sarajevo will soon loose those London and Rome flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:37

      They are hardly full so it's hardly a loss.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:46

      Exactly. It didn't work for Wizz with low prices from Tuzla, it won't work for FlyBosnia with astronomical prices from Sarajevo.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:35

    Imagine the loss of flying planes to London with 10% LF.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38

      Especially for new airlines.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:38

      By that I mean recently established.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:38

    What a mess.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:40

    Hopefully the Directorate will act on the complaints.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:41

    This airline is sinking deeper and deeper each passing week.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:47

    This deteriorated quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous11:44

    I think a smarter move would be if they launched some German, Austrian or Swiss destination. Rome is okay, Riyadh it's quite volatile, and Bosnia hasn't been connected with London for who knows how long. Safer territory is gasterbeiter route. Yes, there is Austrian, Germanwings and Lufthansa, but the demand is really big and is getting bigger each day. If they could introduce some ne cheap fairs, I think that would be a bingo.

    ReplyDelete
  25. That "company" has some nerve! Bashing the employees after they complained to the ruling body regarding the companies approach regarding the salaries is beyond unprofessional. How dare they ask for their salaries!?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous12:45

    RIP

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous14:49

    Amateurs.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous15:00

    We can conclude that they didn't make a business plan past summer.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous15:17

    It's shocking how tight the leg room is in the video?2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:36

      Yes extremely tight. Imagine a full flight to Riyadh!

      Delete
  30. Anonymous15:55

    The APU didn't work as well during the flight on the video.

    Gotta save money when your LF is 15%.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:15

      SMFH!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:35

      How do you know? I didn't notice

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:59

      There was an airstarter parked in front of the left wing.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous18:42

    You guys are seriously funny and gullible. In which universe did you guys think there is a. serious intention to establish airline or b. that this is some kind enthusiast with deep pockets that just does not know any better? It is money laundering by Saudi's with help of Izetbegovic family. The question is only exactly what they doing, not in general what they doing. Unfortunately for normal folks, political structure in Bosnia is conducive to people from foreign countries with bad intentions or people in Bosnia who are using this structure for their own benefit. Let's not also forget that ALL airline crisis in Bosnia are recycling same names, domestic and foreign. Also, add to that that political elite in Herzegovina does not want strong Mostar in order to benefit Split and Dubrovnik. This is not only about airports, but hotel beds etc. SJJ could easily do 2+ million passengers if development was done by serious people without political interference, but that ain't gonna happen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:34

      Amen. Completely correct.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous20:34

    What unacceptable behaviour towards employees.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous22:32

    Something we did not expect? No.

    Who is leading and understanding airline job in this "airline"?

    This is not an Airline!

    Money without airline knowledge means bed investment.

    As in B&H Airlines! The same!






    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous22:53

    Wow employees asking for their salaries and management is angry about it. Seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  35. In the end Bosniacs themselves will pay for this joke of an Airline. Right after it dissapears and leaves multimillions dollars unpaid services to the Airport.

    ...money which could be used to subsidize reasonable routes anyways!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:17

      Everyone is paying in Bosnia for this political situation. Bosniaks are going to pay for this, Croats are not investing a penny in Mostar and Medjugorje bcs. Dubrovnik and Spilt. BNX has a chance bcs. it is far from Belgrade, but if it was located where Bjeljina is, it would never have for example Ryanair.

      Delete
  36. From the beginning this was too good to be true and indeed it was. Remember how they had a first A319 for six months sitting on the tarmac while they were waiting for the permit.

    Bosnia has a big immigration in Germany, Scandinavia. Combined with decent tourism and ME tourists/residents in summer it could work. What’s needed is professional approach and solid funding at the beginning, none of which we had here obviously. RIP

    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.