Banja Luka Airport to add Athens, Tunisia flights in 2023


Banja Luka Airport has announced the launch of flights to Athens and the Tunisian coast next summer season. It noted that additional details, including the operating carriers, would be revealed soon. “Our aim is to serve half a million passengers next year, while the figure will stand at around 300.000 in 2022. All of our routes have good loads, while flights to Tivat were most popular this summer”, the airport said. In addition to Ryanair and Wizz Air, which jointly serve thirteen destinations from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city, Air Serbia maintains flights to Belgrade, while Air Montenegro and Air Cairo operate seasonal services to Tivat and Hurghada respectively. Furthermore, Freebird Airlines runs summer charters from Banja Luka to Antalya.

Over the first three quarters of the year, Banja Luka Airport handled 250.918 passengers, making 2022 its busiest on record as it has already surpassed all previous end-of-year results. The figure was achieved despite the airport being closed throughout most of February for urgent runway repairs, resulting in it handling just 45 passengers that month. The airport previously said, “For us, it was important to open up to the world in 2019 and for some flights to begin. We must now seek out new airlines and partners and expand our destination network. Prior to the coronavirus crisis we discussed the possibility of an airline opening a base in Banja Luka. We will see what will happen in the future in that respect”.

The airport’s passenger terminal is becoming increasingly cramped due to the rise in traffic. In late 2019, operator Airports of Republika Srpska began tendering procedures to select a contractor for the expansion of Banja Luka Airport’s terminal building. However, the project never materialised due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the airport has completed work on the construction of new cargo facilities, which are 900 square metres in size.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    Will Ryanair operate the Athens flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:17

      Ryanair hates ATH so I don't see that.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:43

      Thesaloniki SKG and Corfu CFU and Athens would work only as summer route.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:46

      SKG I understand but why ATH?

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    4. Anonymous20:57

      There is not demand for all year around because this would be covered by leisure passengers.There is no bussines traveller,no gastos and how to fill the plane with what type of passengers if we exclude tourists.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:54

      The year-round flights from ATH are all covered from Aegean that have a huge year-round network. They managed to ‘win’ Ryanair on all routes.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:56

      Aegean will operate flights from BNX to Athens

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Well done BNX. Impressive performance so far this year and encouraging trends for 2023.

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  3. Anonymous09:03

    Tunis will be with kontiki.ba

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      It will probably be a Tunisian charter airline operating the flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:25

      Nouvelair probably

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    Incredible achievements. BNX has already surpassed OHD and reaching INI levels. I like how they have a healthy balance between both Ryanair and Wizzair. Athens will be a very good addition and makes sense. It also makes sense for TK to launch flights.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      It is also nice to see that they have a balance between gasto and leisure routes.

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    2. Anonymous10:10

      @anon 09:10, can you please tell what a gasto route is? I've seen the term a few times and tried to search it but came up empty handed.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:21

      @anon10:10 routes that cater mostly for people who work or migrated abroad. From the German gasterbieter meaning guest worker.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:33

      Thank you 10:21!

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    5. Anonymous11:43

      aka every single route launched by Wizz and Ryan

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:15

    I wonder what the maximum number of passengers Banja Luka Airport could see. Up to a million?

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  6. Anonymous09:15

    Will the Air Cairo flights come back next year?

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  7. Anonymous09:16

    They really need to expand the terminal ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:17

    Aegean?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      Aegean has already announced their new summer routes so I doubt it. We will see.

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    2. Anonymous10:18

      Aegean adds flights last minute so it's not impossible.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:29

    Good to see they are not giving up and that more fights are coming.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:33

      Giving up? I don't see the reason to give up lol, they are having really good results

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:29

    Would be nice if Swiss or Edelweiss launched flights from Zurich.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      A few years ago Edelweiss started ticket sales to Banja Luka but flights were cancelled before the launch.

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    2. Anonymous09:55

      And it is still unknown was it because of poor sales or the management at the time chased them away.

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    3. Anonymous09:58

      At the same time Edelweiss also planned to start Podgorica and they started sales too but cancelled it before it started.

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    4. Anonymous16:59

      Sales probably were not good for either route.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:31

    INI-ATH-BNX-ATH-INI would make the most sense. ATR is the best aircraft for this highly promising route.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:40

    Good news. Wish then success

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:41

    Hopefully we see London, Malmo, Paris, Zürich in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      There are already flights to Malmö

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:44

    Well done Banja Luka. A big transformation from a few years ago

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      Slow and steady growth, that's good. No need to force anything.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:54

    300 thousand is a serious number for a regional airport like BNX...

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      BNX has the potential from its catchment area to grow a lot.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:59

    They have a lot to invest if they want to continue operating. BHDCA nearly closed them this year because of the runway, which is why they had to shut and do urgent work.

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  17. Anonymous10:02

    Which other routes from Ryanair network could work from Banja Luka?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:14

      Paris and London

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  18. Anonymous10:19

    ATH sounds amazing good connections to islands and Aegean's great network. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous10:21

    Is Sky Express a possible carrier for BNX-ATH flights? That would be great to have Sky Express in Balkans.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:55

      They recently launched Sofia last week and read on Facebook that the bookings are going quite strong with full flights. Even bookable for summer 2023.
      But yes, I think Sky Express are a possible option. ATR is perfect as a start.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:08

      That's what I thought with Sofia already on their network BNX would be a great addition their ATRs would be full I don't know if Ryanair for example launch these flights can fill their B738.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:25

      It would make sense for them to enter the ex YU market in BNX. I don't think they can make it in BEG with JU and A3 being super strong.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:39

    "All of our routes have good loads"
    this statement encouraged me to look at the german numbers (September).
    HAM to BiH (both BNX & SJJ) had LF of 67% (both around the same nr of pax)
    NUE to BiH (FR to BNX and W6 to TZL) had a LF of 62.4% (BNX more pax then TZL )
    in opposite direction there's only pax numbers and it is some 15% more (gastos returning from hols)

    Not sure if a lcc is happy with such LF in a busy month like Sept. but at least the airport manager is.
    I have the impresison there is a slight overcapacity in BiH market... maybe a reason why SJJ base was closed.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous12:36

    That building expansion needs to happen asap if they are aiming 500k passengers next year

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous16:58

    This is a big turnaround. I'm very happy for Banja Luka.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous17:05

    Banja Luka would be the perfect base for Wizz Air

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:20

      So far unfortunately there is no terminal capacity

      Delete
  24. Anonymous07:16

    Good work Banja Luka. And good luck in the years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:53

    Air Serbia

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous20:49

    Those are amazing numbers for a small airport and fairly new routes! Good job!

    ReplyDelete

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