FlyBosnia returns jet, plans Paris and Barcelona flights


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.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Sounds like Adria and the grand plans they announced in their last month.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Better that they return the plane than for it to sit all day on the tarmac.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      But is their no plan involved whatsoever? Could they not have foreseen this?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    Who starts up new routes in the middle of the dead season?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      FlyBosnia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:37

      who starts summer seasonal routes in middle of winter?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:56

      Not 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.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:23

      Exactly. 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??

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    Sarajevo-Barcelona? Can it work?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      No it doesn't, but it really doesn't matter either :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      It'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.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    Them returning the plane means their finances are not all that good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      With their existing business model I can only imagine the losses that they generate.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:36

    ovo je postalo top lista nadrealista

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:48

    Well there'll certainly be a big list of reasons when they disappear and people ask "what went wrong"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:09

      +1
      Thay have made many textbook examples of how NOT to run an airline.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:54

    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.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:09

      Just be happy that they are not burning public money.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19

      True but still. With the financial backing they have they have the most chance to succeed. They just need a smart management in place.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:54

    They said how London is mainly to shuttle people to Saudi Arabia but currently they have no flights to Saudi Arabia...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      They have very few passengers to London.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:26

      I just don't see someone taking Fly Bosnia from Riyadh to transfer to London Luton.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:28

      London-Middle East is one of the most lucrative markets out there.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:34

      by a no-name airline? competing with Emirates, Qatar and Etihad.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:51

      With so many nonstop flights from the Gulf to London, why would anyone fly via Sarajevo.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:17

      not to mention non-stop flights from Saudia to London with BA and Saudia (both jeddah and ryadh)

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:57

    Waiting for the move to Tuzla and Mostar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      When that happens it's game over.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:58

    They don't need more A319s, they need smaller planes for European ops.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:20

      Agree. Emraers would come in handy here.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:27

      * embraer

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10:18

    So 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:21

      Yes! Don't understand that it is so difficult to remove those stickers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:22

      When they remove those stickers it would be nice if they updated the livery too.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:28

      I think visual design is the last of their worries at the moment.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:28

      the funny thing is they didnt even fly when EYOF was taking place

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:24

      lol

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:34

    Best option would be to let Wizz Air open a base in SJJ. We would get European routes that we need at affordable prices.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:20

      For that to happen SJJ would have to reduce its fees.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:35

    These abovementioned flights to Bari and Naples are operating out of OMO not out of SJJ, just for an info

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  15. Anonymous11:24

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous11:25

    Finally more flights to Europe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:26

      We will see how long they last.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous11:52

    If they do start Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Milan perhaps, in addition to London, then SJJ will have quite good coverage in Europe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:59

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:00

      Still one of the only European capital cities without flights to Brussels.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:06

      TUI tried and failed on that route.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:53

      There simply isn't enough demand.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:05

      To/ 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.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:52

    Why are they avoiding Frankfurt?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:30

      even ryan air (that got heavily reduced fares by FRA) is not flying to FRA from Bosnia, but it went with Hahn

      one needs at leasst some network to make FRA work, but they have only P2P so far

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:30

      But even Lufthansa does not fly Frankfurt-Sarajevo for some reason.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:02

      I find that odd. They do fly Munich though.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:36

      Not 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.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous13:29

    Barcelona seriously? What about flights like Stockholm, Frankfurt, Gothenburg where there is a Bosnian diaspora.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:20

      because the airline is probably not run by local people who know these things

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:01

      Unless the idea is to transfer passengere from the Middle East to Barcelona via Sarajevo.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:19

      Grohotom

      Delete
  20. Anonymous17:01

    I'm not sure they will be around in April to get another plane and launch those new routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:10

      To be honest I'm surprised they are still around now.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous04:17

    Ya 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.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous01:08

    I 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

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