Jordan’s national carrier Royal Jordanian will introduce a new seasonal two weekly service between Amman and Sarajevo this summer. Flights will commence on June 17 and run twice per week, each Tuesday and Friday, with the carrier’s 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring twelve seats in business class and the remaining 138 in economy. Operations will be maintained until September 9. Royal Jordanian had previously codeshared on Turkish Airlines’ service to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital. The carrier announced it was studying potential operations to Sarajevo back in 2018 for launch in 2019, however, the flights never materialised. In addition, the airline was also part of a Jordanian consortium bidding for a 49% stake in Bosnia and Herzegovina's former flag carrier B&H Airlines in 2008, albeit unsuccessfully.
Royal Jordanian faces no direct competition on the route. Based on data by OAG, the world's leading provider of digital flight information, intelligence and analytics, Sarajevo saw the most indirect passengers to and from Amman in the former Yugoslavia, ahead of Belgrade and Ljubljana. It generated more inbound than outbound traffic, with Jordanians looking to holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the summer months. In the pre-pandemic 2019, over 3.100 passengers flew indirectly on a single itinerary between the two capital cities. Commenting on the service, Royal Jordanian said, “The new route will cater for tourism, facilitate travel for businesspeople, and enhance trade".
Royal Jordanian A320 business class cabin |
Royal Jordanian will become the second Oneworld alliance member to serve Sarajevo following Qatar Airways, which has announced its resumption of flights from Doha to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital this June following a two-year hiatus, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Other Middle Eastern carriers that will maintain operations to Sarajevo this summer include Kuwait Airways, Flydubai, Air Arabia, Flynas, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Oman’s Salam Air. Further flight details for the new Amman - Sarajevo service can be found here. Tickets are due to go on sale soon.
Royal Jordanian A320 economy class cabin |
Impressive! Well done Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news. The connection will enhance cultural and historical exchange.
DeleteRJ is a nice legacy airline to add.
ReplyDeleteSarajevo has added quite a few from the Middle East since Covid. Good work.
DeleteHopefully there will also be some demand from Sarajevo to Amman. Amman is a beautiful city and Jordan a beautiful country.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend it too. I assume BiH citizens can also get visa on arrival in Jordan?
DeleteYes we can :)
DeleteYes. No problems whatsoever getting the visa on arrival with the Bosnian passport. Process lasts 2 minutes. Just have you debit or credit card ready.
Delete*your
DeleteLet's just wait to see what the fares will be like.
DeleteWonder how this will impact Air Serbia's flights from Belgrade to Amman?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will affect them much. Air Serbia will fly from BEG to AMM year round 4 times per week. These flights will operate twice per week for three months.
DeleteI also doubt there will be much of an impact, especially considering JU has been selling tickets for these flights for 4 months already, whereas the RJ hasn't even started.
DeleteLike I wrote below, the JU's Amman flights don't connect onto their Sarajevo flights in either direction, unless you want to wait for over 7 hours each way. If anyone is impacted (which I doubt), it will be Turkish Airlines.
DeleteMakes sense, especially since they had a codeshare with Turkish
DeleteRelated to JU's Amman flights, any info if they intend to somehow cooperate with RJ, e.g. code-share on their flights to Doha for the World Cup season?
DeleteThere will be JU charters for the world cup. QR will increase capacity and also operate more flights.
Delete"Sarajevo saw the most indirect passengers to and from Amman in the former Yugoslavia, ahead of Belgrade and Ljubljana."
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I would have expected Zagreb to be after BEG.
Yes, that caught my eye too. I assume ZAG is after Ljubljana then.
DeleteAnd yet Ryanair will probably launch ZAG-AMM instead of LJU and "serve market via ZAG". Bravo Fraport!
DeleteIf admin could give us the list of which ex-Yu cities had the most traffic to Amman, it would be highly appreciated.
Delete1. Sarajevo
Delete2. Belgrade
3. Ljubljana
4. Zagreb
5. Skopje
6. Podgorica
Missed opportunity for LJU.
DeleteOne of many
DeleteLJU has more demand on many routes, not just on this. That's why I say there IS enough demand for both airports.
DeleteI wonder how many transfers JU has on their flights to Amman.
ReplyDeleteThe Amman flights don't connect onto their Sarajevo flights at all.
Deletewould be nice if we saw the full list :)
Deletesorry the above comment was meant to the above comment thread.
DeleteNice that they have chosen the A320. I would have expected them to go for the Embraers on this route.
ReplyDeleteCan the Embraer make it from Amman to Sarajevo?
DeleteYes easily.
DeletePerhaps an option to use during winter?
DeleteThis would be interesting since they are a oneworld airline. If I'm correct QR is the only other oneworld operator at Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteYes it says so in the article
Delete"Royal Jordanian will become the second Oneworld alliance member to serve Sarajevo following "
Ooops missed the last paragraph
Deleteomg they wanted to buy B&H Airlines. I wonder how things would have turned out if they acquired them.
ReplyDeleteIn the end he outcome would have been the same. Bureaucracy and Bosnia's political system killed the chance of any foreigner making something out of that airline.
DeleteExactly, Things would've worked out the same as with Turkish because of the corrupt and incapable government.
Delete150 seat A320 sounds roomy.
ReplyDeleteYes they have a good product. All their seats on the A320 also have PTVs. Economy included.
DeleteExcellent airline and interesting destination.
ReplyDeleteThis could affect those Jordan flights from Mostar.
ReplyDeleteWhich Jordan flights from Mostar? I know nothing about it. Only flights from OMO to that part of the World I know of are to Beirut, Lebanon.
DeleteJordan Aviation was flying AMM-OMO charters. Don't know if it is still operating.
DeleteThose ended long ago and lasted like 2 flights.
Deleteit lasted 2 or 3 weeks unfortunately...
DeleteStunning livery.
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with the way Sarajevo Airport has been developing lately. So many new airlines and destinations. Well done.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIndeed. In just 2 years they brought Wizz Air, Salam Air, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways, Royal Jordanian, LOT, Swiss...
DeleteAir Cairo too
DeleteHope they eventually lure back Aegean too.
DeleteNow if they just finally finished the new terminal, then I would say good job.
DeleteGulf Air has a few charters last year but I don't think they are coming back this year. We will see.
DeleteThings are definitely moving in the right direction. But still A LOT of work to be done in attracting European legacy airlines. Many major hubs are unserved from Sarajevo.
DeleteEmirates next please :D
ReplyDeleteWhat about Saudi Arabian Airlines?
DeleteWhat about it? We already have Flynas
DeleteBravo Sarajevo!
ReplyDeleteOh WOW, I was just yesterday thinking how it would be great for Royal Jordanian to start flying to Sarajevo from Amman!!! This is fantastic! :)
ReplyDeletePity it's not year round. Maybe it could work during winter on the E175. RJ has only 72 seats on them.
ReplyDeleteWOW, well done Sarajevo!!!
ReplyDeleteExcellent. I hope management will start work on getting nonstop flights to Tel Aviv too :)
ReplyDeleteBosnians need visa for Israel and I'm not sure there would be a demand from Israel to fly to Bosnia
DeleteThere was an article here last year where Tel Aviv was among Turkish Airlines' most popular transfer routes to/from Sarajevo.
DeleteExactly Anonymous 16:44. Besides, Jews have a huge history I Sarajevo.
DeleteThat schedule is perfect out of Sarajevo for a short city break
ReplyDeleteAlthough quite an early departure from Amman. It means you have to be at the airport at 3AM. So practically no sleep that night.
DeleteHmm true. But on these longer rotations it can rarely be perfect in both directions.
DeleteThis is a nice catch for Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteGood work SJJ. I still remember their planes landing in Belgrade in the 1980s :)
ReplyDeleteAnd one more interesting fact about RJ, full name at those times ALIA Royal Jordanian, after Queen Alia of Jordan, and their BEG flights, is that they operated exclusively by widebodies, either L1015 Tristar, or A310
DeleteHow many Jordanian visitors visited BiH and vice versa?
ReplyDeleteI think a lot
DeleteBefore the pandemic there were under 10,000 tourists from Jordan to Bosnia.
DeleteYes! Flights are visible in the reservation system. They are just not on sale yet.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it would be best if these flights were actually operated by Royal Jordanian's low cost subsidiary Royal Wings.
ReplyDeleteRoyal Wings flew to Belgrade in summer 2008 once per week. Unfortunately they never came back.
DeleteWhy would you want Royal Wings over Royal Jordanian?
DeleteThey have more affordable fares
DeleteThey don't even exist
DeleteBest of luck to them
ReplyDeleteExciting times coming for Sarajevo with so many new airlines and new terminal. Well done.
ReplyDeleteAnyone having any info on QR's intensions on SJJ flights after the Summer season?
ReplyDeleteLike extending them into the winter season, or it would be just seasonal?
These should be year round flights like before
DeleteGreat job for SJJ. Now they should attract more airlines like Aegean, Iberia, ITA etc.
ReplyDeleteThere will be some good spotting opportunities in Sarajevo this summer :D
ReplyDeleteThis summer will be really exciting at SJJ! Good Job Sarajevo!
ReplyDeleteWell done SJJ!! Very prestigious addition to your destination list. This places the city behind Istanbul and Athens in the Balkans when it comes to Middle East connections and obviously number 1 in ex-Yu. Tel Aviv would be a very good and potential destination.
ReplyDeleteWhat is very interesting is that so far, almost 180,000 passengers passed through the airport and the summer has not yet started. This year will be quite successful for sure. They deserved it after so many positive changes made.
+1000!!!
Deleteisnt israir starring flights to sarajevo this summer??
DeleteIt's a shame the new terminal won't be ready this summer, and it has been years since they started work on it.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see them on other ex-Yu cities too.
ReplyDelete**in
DeleteAny news on FlyBosnia? Thier website is now updated to show new destinations in MENA region
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting for BEG-OMO :D
DeleteAnd we still have no dates for when or if Flynas will start its Belgrade flights ...
ReplyDelete:(
Congratulations Bosnia and Herzegovina. Looking forward to see new terminal in Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice addition.
ReplyDelete