The Prime Minister of the Sarajevo Canton, Nihad Uk, has said his government plans to subsidise the launch of new routes from Sarajevo Airport. Mr Uk noted that authorities will be targeting airlines willing to open a base at Sarajevo Airport, those planning to launch flights from European cities of strategic importance for the connectivity of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital, and those carriers willing to introduce long haul services. “The government of the Sarajevo Canton will directly assist in the launch of new routes that will link Sarajevo with points in Europe. These types of subsidies are already widely used across cities in the European Union, but also within our region, delivering unbelievable results”, the Prime Minister said.
Sarajevo Airport’s busiest unserved routes in Europe, including Turkey, based on indirect passenger flows are London, which will be restored by Wizz Air in September, then Ankara, Amsterdam, Izmir, Copenhagen, Paris and Brussels. Its busiest unserved long haul destinations include New York, Chicago, Toronto and Washington. There have been prior attempts to establish long haul flights from Sarajevo. In the summer of 2021, US-based carrier Eastern Airlines planned on launching operations between Chicago and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital but cancelled ticket sales within days. It intended on operating the route once per week on a seasonal summer basis with its 238-seat Boeing 767-200ER aircraft. Sarajevo Airport’s General Manager, Alan Bajić, noted that year, “We are in talks with airlines from the US and in negotiations regarding the launch of nonstop flights between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada, as well as China”.
Sarajevo Airport’s busiest unserved routes in Europe including Turkey
Sarajevo Airport’s busiest unserved long haul routes
Late last year Sarajevo Airport issued a public call for an airline to station an aircraft in the city in return for incentives. Although the airport has said one carrier applied and a contract has been signed, the name of the airline has not been revealed so far. The airport has insisted that an official announcement is being held up by delays with regulatory approvals. “We are in talks with several airlines, and we are continuously in discussions with carriers based on demand indicators. After Wizz Air closed its base, we immediately launched a tender to find a replacement. We are in talks with both legacy and low cost carriers, among which is Ryanair. We have already signed a contract with an airline to open a base, but we still can’t make a public announcement on the carrier in question. The agreement must be ratified on behalf of our state and in line with our laws. We are also in talks with Vueling regarding flights between Sarajevo and Barcelona, however, negotiations have just begun”, Sarajevo Airport said earlier this month.
Long-haul 😂.
ReplyDeleteThe demand for a seasonal flight to the US is there actually.
DeleteAlways good to dream big
Delete240 seats once per week to and from the US for a few months could work.
DeleteIt can work in terms of loads but questionable if it can be profitable for airline operator.
DeleteI’m starting to think no airline will open a base in SJJ and now they are offering subsidies directly from the city, since incentives from the airport didn’t work.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it seems so. Too late for summer 2023 at least.
DeleteBase is not gonna happen.
DeleteDoes anyone know who even applied? That one airline?
DeleteThis has been a big disappointment to be honest.
DeleteI mean it is a late start to a season of course, considering it's May almost and neither the airline nor the routes have been announces, but I think it will happen in May. Requirement of RyanAir has been the 24 clock which is still not there yet.. Maybe they are waiting for that? What do you think?
DeleteIf it is Ryanair, the bigger issue is probably the passenger tax over which they plan to leave Tuzla.
DeleteIt's taking too long but I hope it will be worth the wait.
DeleteLet's hope it's not just PR like the long haul flights announced back in 2021 that is quoted in the text.
DeleteI apologize in advance to all those disagreeing with me but I firmly believe that the only 3 airports in ex-yu with long-haul potential are BEG, ZAG and DBV.
DeleteIf you mean scheduled long-haul flights, even seasonal, then I don’t think you’ll find too many that disagree with your assessment.
DeleteCharter flights are something else.
Yes, of course I meant scheduled flights. And yes, charters are something completely diferrent and much easier to realize. I mean even RJK used to have North American charters
DeleteWith all due respect, it seems most ex-Yu (capital city) airports are subsidising routes to the most basic of European destinations. I really don’t get it. If you can’t sustain flights to Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels without subsidies then you have a bigger problem.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt is really becoming crazy.
DeleteIt shows that the markets are not many strong.
Deletedont agree fully, those subs are sometimes very small and only for a certain period and in no way they make a route sustainable.
Deletedo you think EU capitals have no incentive plans??? They invented it!
DeleteThere is a differenxe between incentive plans by airports and direct state subsidies. And yes, I highly doubt the French government subsidises flights from Paris to London, Rome, Madrid, Prague...
Deletemaybe not the French gov but regional goverments in France for sure. One wonders why Ryanair loves them (reg airports) so much
Deleteand what is the difference from an airline point of view?
DeleteSubsidies of flights are just the consequence of broader issues. It is does not reflects so much about particular market but of the economic system. There is limit and exhaustion of capitalism expanding. And it always moves first from the periphery to the center.
Delete@14:41
DeleteThere is a difference between regional government and regional airports and capital city airports like Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Skopje.
That Ankara service would be perfect for Anadolujet. Hope they start it.
ReplyDeleteMight be getting a bit ahead of themselves with long haul. First secure Paris, Rome, Madrid/Barcelona, London, Berlin...
ReplyDeleteGood on you Sarajevo
ReplyDeleteHow much money will they offer?
ReplyDeleteWould be fantastic to see some widebodies at SJJ.
ReplyDeleteAre there any landing/take off restrictions for widebodies at Sarajevo?
DeleteI don't think so.
DeleteWhat was the largest passenger plane to land at SJJ?
DeleteI believe B747. But there have been many widebody types land in Sarajevo.
DeleteThanks
DeletePRN recently extended their runway. They might be planning subsidized long haul as well.
DeleteI very much doubt it. One thing that has completely absent at PRN has been megalomania. Sure, I don’t doubt it would be welcome, but I don’t think anyone is realistically expecting AA to launch JFK-PRN or planning to lure an airline to open such a route. However, PRN receives quite regularly wide-body jets for non-civilian traffic and in the summer civilian too. So, that’s why the runway was extended and upgraded with safety in mind.
DeleteIf anything, people (including here) have criticised Limak for building a terminal with the capacity to handle 4 million passengers annually. We’re currently at 3 million passengers annually and Limak concession has 10 more years to go. It’s not unthinkable that the airport will reach 4 million passengers in 2024.
PRN needs Wizz base
DeleteWhere is the Bosnian diaspora mostly concentrated in the Canada?
ReplyDeleteBosnian diaspora is difficult to define.
Deleteespecially the one that left during the war
DeleteSJJ still lacks flights to most major European cities. I'm glad the city will become more proactive in this regards because something really needs to change.
ReplyDeleteGood luck Sarajevo! Wish them all the best
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what percentage of Tuzla's passengers are actually heading to Sarajevo?
ReplyDelete60-70%
Deletewow that is a lot.
Deletelol you take everything for granted
DeleteIt's fantastic to see so many new positive developments at Sarajevo
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see Shanghai having more indirect passengers than Beijing, similar to Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteDoubt anything will come of this.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteHave there ever been any long hauls to Sarajevo?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteWhy are there so many turkish destinations? Are these tourists? Are there Bosnian workers in Turkey?
ReplyDeleteBosnia is extremely popular for tourist visits from Turkey and everyone in Turkey knows about Bosnia (and I say that as someone who has nothing to do with Bosnia).
DeleteAnd also there is a Bosnian diaspora in Turkey and many go there for holiday.
DeleteAlso there are visa restrictions to Turkish citizens so they're pretty much limited to the Western Balkans countries for tourism if they don't want to go through the hassle of obtaining a Schengen visa for a quick weekend city break. I hear it's somewhat difficult to get it if you're a Turkish citizen given everything's going on over there, in terms of the economy and political stability
DeleteMany Bosnians also travel a lot to Turkey for summer holidays, something like Serbians to Greece.
DeleteWhen will the subsidies start?
ReplyDeleteWill they organize a tender like in Slovenia and Macedonia?
ReplyDeleteHopefully but it is telling that very few airlines ever apply to these tenders. In Macedonia pretty much Wizz Air has been the only one to reply. For the Sarajevo tender in the past only one airline has applied. We will see how many apply in Slovenia.
DeleteWhy didn't Croatia Airlines apply to open a base in SJJ? Years ago they wanted to open a base in Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteLook at OU's balance sheet and everything will be clearer.
DeleteOu would be happy to fly if subsidized. Look at Mostar.
DeleteBecause Croatia Airlines has flying only as a secondary, auxiliary activity (business not written on purpose because what they do is not business). Their primary activities, and the answer to the question why they didn't do something in SJJ, LJU, or wherever else, are : to feed LH, to laundry money for few selected individuals tied to high politics, and to be uhljeb sanctuary for kradeze aparatchiks
DeleteYes, they didn't do anything in SJJ. Just 2 flights a day, that's nothing
Delete2 flights a day which operate with low LF, make losses, and serve to provide additional feed to LH. It's about totally wrong concept OU operates that I write about, but some people are either ignorant, or unwilling to understand or pretend they don't understand it
DeleteYour OU concept is that they need bases in SJJ, LJU and flights to Brazil?
DeleteMy concept is not to talk to stupid and mean people, those who deliberately lie that I said things I never did, as well as those who are here on Party duty. That's why this is my last post on this topic.
DeleteWouldn't be smarter to found a new airline with 2 to 3 aircraft and secure key destinations?
ReplyDeleteVirtual carrier with three leased CRJ-900 from Xfly, City Jet or other.
DeleteScheduled flights to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Scandinavian, German destinations l.
Could not agree more. Last anon, completely agree. That would be the most affordable and best way to get flights.
DeleteNow we know why Air Serbia suddenly needs so many A330s, to fly subsidized long haul out of Sarajevo
ReplyDeletehahaha sure
DeleteBanja Luka could also use Air Serbia for subsidized flights to New York. Zagreb passangers could use that line.
DeleteSome real experts here
DeleteBosnia is FAA Cat 2 country.
DeleteOuch! Touche'
DeleteIf Wizz could not make it work out of Sarajevo with incentives, no one else will.
ReplyDeleteso true
DeleteOnly maybe an airline with even lower costs per passengers - that is Ryanair.
Deletebut asking for at least the double money
Delete^ true
DeleteSarajevo long haul? Please...
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTechnically speaking, as per EU definitions, Sarajevo flights to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Muscat are all long haul flights (over 3,500 km).
DeleteSo what would be the target long haul market for SJJ? US?
ReplyDelete“We are in talks with airlines from the US and in negotiations regarding the launch of nonstop flights between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada, as well as China”.
DeleteI really hope LH brings back Munich. There is obviously demand and they used to fly it until Covid.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the incentives will make them come back.
DeleteTransavia from Amsterdam and Paris only is needed!
ReplyDeleteAegean from athens too
DeleteFlying has become the village bus service it seems for some politicians
ReplyDeleteTransavia could fly from both ORY and AMS to SJJ and SKP in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThey are like 100.000 in St. Louis Missouri, some in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteNo other way, but to ask Air Serbia to do 1 flight a week.
It's easier for them just to offer transfer option via BEG then fly from SJJ. Also Bosnia would need to get FAA category 1 certification to get US flights.
DeleteUS airline could fly to Sarajevo. Not too many want to.
DeleteUnlikely to happen but it would be interesting if JU used KUL as a connecting point for flights to SEA/Australia (in cooperation with MH, who cooperates with QR). They could pick up fees to/from SJJ. Tomislav Momirovic is seeking cooperation between JU and MH.
ReplyDeleteLow Cost company to be based at SJJ...Only if Lufthansa and AstrianAirlines permit it
ReplyDelete