FlyBosnia has returned one of its two Airbus A319 aircraft to its lessor Aercap and will operate a single-member fleet for the duration of the 2019/20 winter season, which runs until late March. The jet in question, registered E7-FBB, was ferried to Bangor in the United States on Tuesday, ending its five-month run with the airline. The lease was initially planned to be on a long-term basis. The carrier has said it will 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 lessor AerCap to take on another two A319s and set a target to boast a fleet of eight jets by 2023. “One aircraft is sufficient for our operations until April”, the carrier’s spokeswoman said.
FlyBosnia currently maintains just one scheduled route, to London Luton, which will be joined by Rome as of tomorrow. The airline also plans to resume operations to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on November 14 and conduct a number of charter flights over the winter months, primarily to Naples and Bari. The carrier’s CEO, Tarik Bilalbegović, has said the company will introduce services to Paris and Barcelona, with flights to the French capital expected to launch in January. “The next cities will be Paris and Barcelona, then we will increase London Luton and Riyadh up to daily in order to meet the passenger demand between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. In the future we are intent on launching Milan, probably during the course of 2020. However, no firm decision has been made”, Mr Bilalbegović said recently.
Despite its expansion plans, FlyBosnia still owes Sarajevo Airport almost half a million euros in handling, landing and other charges. The airline has submitted a plan to pay off its mounting debt, however, it is believed the proposed solutions were unsatisfactory for the airport. Last month, FlyBosnia said it was considering shifting its operations away from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital to Mostar and Tuzla. "Our company and staff are considering the possibility of shifting our operations to Tuzla and Mostar. In such a case, we would fly to Rome from Mostar, while London and other EU destinations would be maintained from Tuzla, from which we would provide bus transfers to Sarajevo", the airline said.
Sounds like Adria and the grand plans they announced in their last month.
ReplyDeleteBetter that they return the plane than for it to sit all day on the tarmac.
ReplyDeleteBut is their no plan involved whatsoever? Could they not have foreseen this?
DeleteWho starts up new routes in the middle of the dead season?
ReplyDeleteFlyBosnia.
Deletewho starts summer seasonal routes in middle of winter?
DeleteNot just that but they will put tickets to Paris on sale 1-2 weeks before the route begins so as to make sure it is empty.
DeleteExactly. Can someone explain to me why they don't put tickets on sale at least 2 months in advance. What's the point of putting tickets on sale 2 weeks before they start??
DeleteSarajevo-Barcelona? Can it work?
ReplyDeleteNo it doesn't, but it really doesn't matter either :)
DeleteIt's amazing how quickly all of ex-Yu has become linked to Spain considering there were no flights only a few years ago. Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro all have nonstop year round Spain flights now. Would be nice to see Bosnia join the list.
DeleteThem returning the plane means their finances are not all that good.
ReplyDeleteWith their existing business model I can only imagine the losses that they generate.
Deleteovo je postalo top lista nadrealista
ReplyDeleteWell there'll certainly be a big list of reasons when they disappear and people ask "what went wrong"?
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThay have made many textbook examples of how NOT to run an airline.
It's actually sad to see the money that they are burning up due to bad decision making. With the money they have they really could have established a nice little airline. Pity.
ReplyDeleteJust be happy that they are not burning public money.
DeleteTrue but still. With the financial backing they have they have the most chance to succeed. They just need a smart management in place.
DeleteThey said how London is mainly to shuttle people to Saudi Arabia but currently they have no flights to Saudi Arabia...
ReplyDeleteThey have very few passengers to London.
DeleteI just don't see someone taking Fly Bosnia from Riyadh to transfer to London Luton.
DeleteLondon-Middle East is one of the most lucrative markets out there.
Deleteby a no-name airline? competing with Emirates, Qatar and Etihad.
DeleteWith so many nonstop flights from the Gulf to London, why would anyone fly via Sarajevo.
Deletenot to mention non-stop flights from Saudia to London with BA and Saudia (both jeddah and ryadh)
DeleteWaiting for the move to Tuzla and Mostar.
ReplyDeleteWhen that happens it's game over.
DeleteThey don't need more A319s, they need smaller planes for European ops.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Emraers would come in handy here.
Delete* embraer
DeleteSo it seems the plane with the EYOF stickers is still flying while the one they returned had the plain livery.. Might be time to remove those stickers. It will be a year in a few months since the event ended.
ReplyDeleteYes! Don't understand that it is so difficult to remove those stickers.
DeleteWhen they remove those stickers it would be nice if they updated the livery too.
DeleteI think visual design is the last of their worries at the moment.
Deletethe funny thing is they didnt even fly when EYOF was taking place
Deletelol
DeleteBest option would be to let Wizz Air open a base in SJJ. We would get European routes that we need at affordable prices.
ReplyDeleteFor that to happen SJJ would have to reduce its fees.
DeleteThese abovementioned flights to Bari and Naples are operating out of OMO not out of SJJ, just for an info
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteFinally more flights to Europe.
ReplyDeleteWe will see how long they last.
DeleteIf they do start Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Milan perhaps, in addition to London, then SJJ will have quite good coverage in Europe.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteStill one of the only European capital cities without flights to Brussels.
DeleteTUI tried and failed on that route.
DeleteThere simply isn't enough demand.
DeleteTo/ from Brussels probably not. There would not be demand to Ljubljana either if Slovenia were not in the EU. And from Brussels to Belgrade there are just a few flights per week. Even Brussels Airlines struggled in Zagreb and turned it seasonal.
DeleteWhy are they avoiding Frankfurt?
ReplyDeleteeven ryan air (that got heavily reduced fares by FRA) is not flying to FRA from Bosnia, but it went with Hahn
Deleteone needs at leasst some network to make FRA work, but they have only P2P so far
But even Lufthansa does not fly Frankfurt-Sarajevo for some reason.
DeleteI find that odd. They do fly Munich though.
DeleteNot only that, I remember when there were two flights to Munich, always full. You could get early morning flight to Munich and then rest of the world. I know LH cover transfers through Vienna and in the summer through Zurich. Also, THY transfers passengers good through Star Alliance network. But still, not having FRA is ridiculous.
DeleteBarcelona seriously? What about flights like Stockholm, Frankfurt, Gothenburg where there is a Bosnian diaspora.
ReplyDeletebecause the airline is probably not run by local people who know these things
DeleteUnless the idea is to transfer passengere from the Middle East to Barcelona via Sarajevo.
DeleteGrohotom
DeleteI'm not sure they will be around in April to get another plane and launch those new routes.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I'm surprised they are still around now.
DeleteYa boy starting a airline called BosniaSky, we already have 1.4 million in debt to Mostar aiport but don't worry we will put tickets on sale 1-2 weeks before our flights from Mostar to Mumbai, India we have a "huge market" over there.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what will happen when that one plane has a major technical issue and sits in the hangar for few days...put some speed tape :-D ?
ReplyDelete