Qatar Airways returning to Sarajevo after more than two years


Qatar Airways has announced the resumption of flights between Doha and Sarajevo from June 3, marking its return to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital after more than two years. The airline suspended operations to the city in March 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite restoring services to Belgrade and Zagreb since, operations to Sarajevo and Skopje have not been reinstated, with no date still set for the latter’s return. The Qatari carrier will be close to restoring pre-pandemic frequencies to Sarajevo, with three weekly rotations planned, each Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Prior to Covid-19 the airline maintained four weekly flights on the route. It will utilise its Airbus A320 aircraft between the two cities.

Qatar Airways, which was primarily used by transfer passengers on the Sarajevo service, will now offer travellers a greater selection of destinations in the Gulf region, as the blockade of Qatar by several neighbouring countries has been lifted and flights have resumed. However, unlike two years ago, the carrier faces greater competition from other rival airlines in the region, which have since launched operations to Sarajevo, among which are Kuwait Airways and Salam Air. In the pre-pandemic 2019, Kuwait City was Qatar Airways’ busiest transfer destination to and from Sarajevo, accounting for 9% of all connecting passengers on the route. It was closely followed by Muscat, then Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney.

Top origin and destination points for Qatar Airways in Sarajevo in 2019


The development comes as Sarajevo Airport continues to close in on its pre-pandemic passenger figures, primarily on the back of Wizz Air’s operations out of the city. In February, Sarajevo Airport handled 50.475 passengers, representing a decrease of 2.9% on the same month in 2020 and a decline of 5% on 2019, although Bosnia and Herzegovina hosted the European Youth Olympics Festival that month two years ago. The number of aircraft movements this February stood at 741, which is still below pre-pandemic levels. During the first two months of the year, Sarajevo Airport welcomed 106.996 travellers through its doors, down 3.1% on 2020 but up 3.5% on 2019. Although European countries are increasingly relaxing their entry requirements, citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina still face restrictions, which were heightened during the Omicron wave in late 2021 and early this year. Digital Covid certificates from Bosnia and Herzegovina are still not recognised by many states in the block.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Finally!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Good but I doubt they will be able to attract as many passengers from Kuwait or Oman

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      Is Salam Air even coming back?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:00

      comes

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Now oneworld returns to SJJ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12

      True. QR is the only one world airline in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Skopje.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:30

    Well done Sarajevo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, SJJ is doing great job lately. Glad about it ☺

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:30

    Why not Skopje too???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      Fingers crossed they come back to Skopje.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:13

      They will eventually.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:00

      it all depends on australia and if it will open. skp depends entirely on it

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:13

      Didn't Australia already open?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:32

      It has completely reopened.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous02:49

      it seems that there is no demand as usual towards skp....maybe nmk aussies will start returning to their homeland in nov o dec

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:54

    I hope they treat the route with a bit more respect this time. Before Covid they were constantly sending the worst aircraft to Sarajevo, the only one without PTVs in economy, which they only use on flight to Muscat because it is short.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous06:07

      Years ago most Airlines including British Airways, Austrian and Lufthansa used to always send their oldest Aircraft to Sarajevo. Thankfully times have changed.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:56

    I was expecting that in February the numbers would have overtaken pre-Covid numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:56

    I'm glad they didn't bring it back in some triangle routing with Skopje.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:57

    Let's see how they do against FZ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      I think they carry different types of passengers. FZ is mostly point to point nowadays, QR is all transfer.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:57

    I don't understand their decision not to return to Sarajevo last year. Gulf airlines did very well and with QR resuming so many routes in the Gulf one would think it was a non brainer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      The yields probably weren't there.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:58

    Interesting to see the traffic flow and feed on these routes. Did not expect some of those.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:59

    Fantastic news! Welcome back

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:59

    I hope they launch Ljubljana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      sameee

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:18

      I don't think so. Slovenia is too small market. Slovenian pax are bonus on flights to/from Zagreb. Why would they jeopardize that?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:21

      Anon 10:18 again with this BS..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:23

      Ok, then tell me why have they not started flights?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:26

      I remember seeing this completely same comment about Flydubai and their expansion plans for EX-YU long time ago. Why would they start LJU if Slovenians are "bonus pax" for their ZAG flights. Now Flydubai flies 5 weekly to LJU.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:08

      I think the most logical next destination in the region would be Tirana.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:16

      Strange they never launched TIA

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:02

    It's a great sign that frequencies are almost the same as last before corona.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      Compared to FZ which will have 3 daily, it's almost nothing.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:21

      3 daily is just short period of the year

      Delete
    3. Anonymous01:59

      What are the general frequencies for most of the year?

      Delete
  15. Anonymous11:08

    What about Dubrovnik? They planned to launch it as a new seasonal route in 2020 but then corona came. Any chance they will restart those?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous11:09

    With world cup being hosted in qatar at the end of the year, numbers will continue to go up and they will probably restart SKP too. Good luck to QR on their ex-Yu routes.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous11:13

    Best airline

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not to my taste. I prefer Emirates

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:14

    SJJ - Doha was very important for Bosnia, since Doha is a major hub for entire Asia. Good to see them back.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous11:16

    Good luck to them. Hope we see some demand recovery this summer.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous11:50

    In 2018/2019, QR used sometimes an A330 on this route during the peak of the summer season. Let's see if they will do the same this year.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous13:12

    Surprised about transfers from/to Singapore being so high.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly my thought. All others, I expected, but not SIN.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:25

      Back in 2018/2019, QR was always used for transfers to Asia specifically "KL and SINGAPORE", because of Doha's airport schedule.
      Flights leaving to those countries are perfect for transfer flights.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous15:02

    If we look back at SJJ only 5 years ago we see an airport with so limited connections and destinations. Today it has changed quite a lot and even during corona times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous01:57

      Agree. Mostly down to change in management. The potential was always there.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous20:57

    So many Gulf airlines in Sarajevo. Great work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous01:57

      Yes, I believe now from every single Gulf market.

      Delete

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