Swiss carrier Chair Airlines will enter the Bosnia and Herzegovina market next summer season by launching flights between Zurich and Tuzla. The new service will commence on June 28 and operate twice per week, on Thursdays and Sundays. The Thursday rotation will be maintained with the Airbus A319 aircraft, while the Sunday flights will be served by the A320. Further details can be found here. Chair faces no competition on the route and will become the fourth carrier to serve Tuzla on a scheduled basis following Wizz Air, Pegasus Airlines and AJet. Furthermore, the airport becomes the fourth to be served by Chair Airlines in the former Yugoslavia complementing Pristina, Skopje and Ohrid, where the carrier already has a strong presence.
Chair will grow its operations on the Zurich - Pristina service next summer, increasing its frequencies to up to three daily. Starting June 28, the airline will add an extra rotation on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. An additional weekly flight, on Sundays, will also be added between Zurich and Skopje starting on the same date for a total of eight per week. Further in the wider region, Chair Airlines will introduce operations to Tirana and will also inaugurate flights to Albania’s newest airport of Vlora, on the country’s Adriatic and Ionian coast, becoming its first scheduled carrier.
The network growth comes as Chair Airlines prepares to expand its fleet with a fourth A320 and its fifth jet overall. As a result, the carrier is eyeing additional new routes. Its CEO, Shpend Ibrahimi, said, “For Chair Airlines, the fleet expansion is another milestone in our five-year history, after we have already successfully refitted all our cabins. Our size allows us to respond quickly and flexibly to new market and customer needs”. The airline added, “Additional destinations and departure points from Bern and Zurich are being carefully evaluated, and the market potential is being examined. We are looking forward to making further steps. Chair has firmly established itself in the market as a Swiss airline and enjoys great popularity”.
Commenting on the new Zurich service, the CEO of Tuzla Airport, Dževad Halilčević, said, “We are delighted to announce that Swiss carrier Chair Airlines will be introducing a scheduled service from Tuzla. Of particular note is the addition of Zurich, a destination that has not previously been served from Tuzla. This new route will further enhance the connectivity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Tuzla Canton in particular, with the rest of Europe. Thanks to the dedicated and continuous efforts of the Tuzla Airport team, we are witnessing steady growth in traffic and the strengthening of our airport’s role within both the regional and international aviation network”.
Whoa, nice
ReplyDeleteExcellent news for Tuzla
ReplyDeleteHas anyone flown them. What are they like?
ReplyDeleteI always fly Chair from Zurich to Ohrid. The planes are very clean and crew is nice. Seat comfort is Wizz level though
DeleteWhat about onboard service?
Delete@ 9.12 thanks.
DeleteYes, I'm also wondering about onboard service. Is it like an LCC?
Yes. Chair Airlines is considered a LCC.
DeleteYou can pre order food such as Sandwiches, Züri-Gschnätztles, Thai Curry, Ravioli etc
DeleteIt’s not a low-cost carrier by any means with four airplanes. The baggage policy is very good compering to others, you have the option to pre-order meals or purchase food and beverages onboard.
DeleteTuzla is cooking
ReplyDeleteBravo to Tuzla Airport management! Slowly but surely we’re getting more carriers and destinations. Zurich will definitely be popular.
ReplyDeleteI honestly expected Vlore to have more annoucements by now. Chair is so far their only route. I hope TIA is not sabotaging them.
ReplyDeletePolish tour operators will fly next year to Vlora. It's announced.
DeleteI checked Wikipedia but still nothing on there. Maybe they announecd but it's not confirmed
DeleteIt was announced for this year, but the aieport is not ready yet.
DeleteVlora is to become a very popular tourist destination in the future.
Delete+1000
DeleteI don’t think the construction works are completed yet though and no one seems to know when they will be done by….
DeleteBy next summer. That's why're they're launching flights.
DeleteWould be great if Chair considered Sarajevo as well in the future.
ReplyDeleteOr Zagreb
DeleteOr Ljubljana
Deleteyeah because LJU has a shortage of ZRH flights
DeleteBern would be practical, most people live in the province, not in Zurich so you have to fly to Zurich and take a train for an hour or plus- Bern could save this time somewhat
ReplyDeleteBerns runway is too short.
DeleteI wonder if flights from Bern to ex-YU destinations would make sense? I remember there was some other airline with turboprops that used to fly to a few cities from Bern but I think they went bust.
ReplyDeleteMallorca maybe will be destination from Bern not balkan destinations.
Delete@9.11 the airline you are reffering to was SkyWork Airlines :)
Deletethere were charters to Ohrid with Helvetic 2023
DeleteCould only do Helvetic or similar. Berns runway is too short.
Deletemust have been one of their Embraers. It was announced that they have stationed one at BRN
Deletealso 2024 it seems: https://ohd.airports.com.mk/en-EN/flights/arrival-flights/detail/5182/12.07.2024,10_50/2L_26542760
Good to see Tuzla getting new routes and airlines and not only relying on Wizz.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey will have to do a lot more not to rely on Wizz.
DeleteThis is a good start.
DeleteEvery new route counts. If Zurich succeeds, it could attract other airlines to consider Tuzla seriously.
DeleteHope so. Wishing Tuzla the best
DeleteWith Chair joining, Tuzla now has four scheduled airlines. Not bad for an airport people once said had no future!
ReplyDeleteTuzla definitely needs more airlines. Airlines like Austrian, Eurowings and Air Dolomiti must be taken into consideration.
DeleteI think Air Dolomiti would be a good start.
DeleteHopefully this Zurich service won’t just be seasonal but extended if demand is strong.
ReplyDeleteThis flight will be packed, especially during summer holidays.
ReplyDeleteEight flights to Skopje is just amazing ,well done Chair 👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteWell, it's just one additional flight per week
DeleteMore impressive is that addition 3 weekly flight to PRN for 3 daily flights.
Deletewe have been at 8 flights two years ago
DeleteEven nine in 2023 i think plus three from Edelweiss for a total of 11/12 weekly.
DeleteStill very nice , happy to see Skopje is growing!!
DeleteChair Airlines is a good fit for TZL.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhat are the fares like?
ReplyDeleteCheck their website.
DeleteEveryone’s celebrating, but let’s remember: Tuzla has seen many airlines test the waters. The real success will be if this route is still here in 3-4 years.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the "many" airlines that tested the waters in Tuzla?
DeleteThere as just Lumiwings that failed.
DeleteAir Arabia too.
DeleteI would not call two airlines "many"
DeleteWizzair as well
DeleteChair, the most legendary branding in the history of aviation.
ReplyDeleteChair, as in ch.air
Chair, as in.. chair.
Chair, as in Chair, the Skopje municipality where the CEO hails from.
It's the most God-awful airline name in existence.
DeleteThere's no accounting for bad taste. (09:47)
DeleteNothing beats (or loses to, depends how you look at it) Scat airlines
DeleteThe founder of Chair should become honorary citizen of the municipality and the city and/or get the keys to the both of them. The branding is ingenious.
DeleteCH comes from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland. Add ‘Air’ and it fits perfectly as an airline name. The CEO is of Albanian–Bosnian origin, born and raised in Germany.
DeleteChair wikipedia article says CEO was born in Chair in Skopje
DeleteIt's right ✅️
DeleteGood addition.
ReplyDeleteStep by step, Tuzla is becoming a serious regional airport. Zurich is just the beginning.
ReplyDeleteah ok
DeleteWhat are you on ???
DeleteWhat's wrong with the statement? It will have around 600,000 passengers next year. That will make it something like the 12th busiest in exyu which is not bad.
DeleteIt is not bad at all. I remember when FK Sloboda Tuzla was the only civilian user - chartering Air Force`s planes for the away games... and once were unable to fly due to fog, loosing the match 3-0 :)
DeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteWonder if TZL has some other susprises in store.
ReplyDeleteSomeone like Sky Alps maybe :D
DeleteLove it
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers could Tuzla handle next year with all these new routes?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is 600,000. Maybe even a bit more.
DeleteGood schedule
ReplyDeletei find it hillarious that airprishtina has a better functioning website than chair.ch even if its the same company
ReplyDeleteIt’s not the same company. Give it a few days and you’ll see the change. Running an airline website is an entirely different business.
DeleteGreat news for Tuzla
ReplyDeleteThe more airlines the better!
DeleteWill Chair airlines take the seat of the busiest airline away from Wizz at Tuzla?
ReplyDeleteYeah sure...
DeleteHow exactly do you expect Chair Airlines to be the busiest with 2 flights per week?
DeleteIf Wizz keeps relaxing and takes a seat, certainly Chair could swoop in under the rug and take the lead spot at Tuzla
DeleteHave you missed the news that Wizz is basing 2 planes in Tuzla and launching 9 new routes?
DeleteBut how many seats do those planes have compared to Chair? It’s not just about number of airplanes, it’s the number of seats that matter like with Chair.
DeleteI hope you're joking
DeleteChair Airlines - the best seat in the sky, fly with us
DeleteWhy not Swiss from Zurich?
ReplyDeleteHmm wonder if TZL approached them. I mean they fly to Nis, why not TZL.
DeleteIs it true that all airlines in Switzerland have to have the red flag and white cross painted across the tail? Remember reading that somewhere. I liek Chair's livery. Simple but looks good.
ReplyDeletethere's no blanket rule stating every Swiss registered airline must have the Swiss flag on the tail. But most do have it.
DeleteOk thank you
DeleteWell done Tuzla, but how can someone call their airline Chair?
ReplyDeleteDid they really never think about what is shown, when the airline's name is googled? 🪑🪑🪑
Well it's supposed to be ch (Switzerland) air
Delete20:52 Does Google's search engine know that? It knows what to show in the results, when you google Lufthansa, Wizz Air or even SkyAlps.
DeleteAs long as they know what it it is, I do not think that they actually give a monkey's if it comes up with chairs or tables!
DeleteExactly
DeleteAlways happy to see an airport in the region gain a new route.
ReplyDeleteSame here
Delete