✈Bosnia and Herzegovina air traffic report for October 2021

During the month of October Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 137.777 passengers going through its four international airports. Sarajevo Airport recorded 84.462, followed by Tuzla with 35.027, Banja Luka 17.964, and Mostar with 324 passengers. When compared to pre-pandemic October of 2019, Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 17% passengers decrease. Year to date, the country has recorded 993.202 passengers, representing 59% of 2019 passengers traffic.

2021	2019 vs. 2021

Source: Flying Bosnian and BHDCA

✈Bosnia and Herzegovina air traffic report for September 2021

During the month of September Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 151.357 passengers going through its four international airports. Sarajevo Airport recorded 99.950, followed by Tuzla with 32.960, Banja Luka 17.772, and Mostar with 664 passengers. When compared to pre-pandemic September of 2019, Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 16% passengers decrease, which is well above European average. Year to date, the country has recorded 855.425 passengers, representing 56% of 2019 passengers traffic.

2021	2019 vs. 2021

 

Source: Flying Bosnian and BHDCA

✈ Sarajevo Airport terminal construction photo update

The work on Sarajevo Airport terminal building expansion is in its final stage. New building will provide approximately 10.000 square meters of space on four floors with capacity to handle 2 million passengers per year. Estimated value of the investment is 38,5 million Bosnian Marks or 20 million Euros.

The new terminal building will feature:

• 30 Check in desks
• 10 passport control desks
• 9 boarding gates
• 3 air bridges
• optimized and improved baggage handling system
• enlarged restaurants and shopping area
• covered front of the terminal building for convenient passengers drop off and pick up
• improved, automated, and enlarged car parking area 

The next major project for Sarajevo Airport modernization includes the expansion of the main apron, construction of rapid taxiways, and the overhaul of the runway and taxiways. With rapid passenger growth, after terminal expansion priority is  to expand the platform for aircraft parking, which will provide three additional parking spaces for  medium size airplanes (Airbus 320 or Boeing 737 family). This project is valued at 11 million Euros.

Italian company Tecno Engineering was chosen to carry out work on  drafting  the reconstruction project. Tecno Engineering has extensive experience in airport construction and carried out work at Mostar Airport in 2014. It has partnered up with the Mostar-based companies Ecoplan and Integram for the Sarajevo Airport project. Sarajevo Airport  runway was last upgraded in 1998. During that time the airport was closed for two weeks while work was being performed with all traffic being moved to Tuzla Airport.

Source: Flying Bosnian

✈Sarajevo Airport schedule for December 2021

Next month Sarajevo International Airport is expecting to reach passenger numbers of pre-pandemic traffic of December 2019. Total of 13 airlines will serve the airport with 29 routes across Europe,  Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.

Wizz Air will station second Airbus 320 at the airport, introducing seven new routes from Bosnian capital to: Billund, Cologne, Frankfurt-Hahn, Hamburg, Malmo, Oslo-Sandefjord and Venice-Treviso. With the fleet of two Airbus 320 aircraft based at the airport, Wizz Air will position itself as Sarajevo Airport busiest airline, offering  46.620 seats on 254 flights to seventeen destinations during December.

Also, next month Flydubai will be boosting its flight offerings from Dubai to 58 flights with 10.092 seats on sale. Swiss International Airlines will increase its service from Zurich from 16 flights in November to 26 in December, boosting its seats offering to 3.250 seats.

The city with the most frequencies out of Sarajevo is Istanbul with 20 weekly flights, followed by Vienna with 13 weekly flights. Countries with largest number of seat offers from Sarajevo are Turkey, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Austria and Sweden.

With Flynas, Gulf Air and Swiss International Airlines extending its flight operating during winter months Sarajevo Airport  is on the right track to reach 2019 numbers next year, when airport handled record number of 1.143.680 passengers. According to  Eurocontrol projections, majority of European airports are expected to reach pre-pandemic (2019) numbers in the year 2025, while Sarajevo Airport will reach 2019. numbers in upcoming year 2022.

During the month of December, the airlines operating at Sarajevo Airport have scheduled 858 flights, with 127.546 seats on sale. The airport is expecting to handle 75.000 passengers in December.

Source: Flying Bosnian

✈Gulf Air to operate Sarajevo flights during winter

Gulf Air will reintroduce two weekly flights from Bahrain International Airport (Manama) to Sarajevo on December 15, 2021. The flights are scheduled as regular charters and will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays with Airbus 320neo aircraft. The airline initially started Sarajevo flights in June of this year, as summer seasonal, but due to increased demand for tourist visits from Bahrain to Bosnia, Gulf Air will now operate flights as year-round.

Last week Flynas has decided to upgrade its Sarajevo service to year-round from both Riyadh and Jeddah. During spring and summer months Bosnia and Herzegovina is very popular tourist destination from countries in the Gulf region, but due to opening of many new hotels and resorts, and promotion of the country as  year-round destination,  the airlines are seeing very strong demands and upgrading seasonal flights to year-round. With the introduction of extra flights from Gulf countries, Sarajevo Airport will start reaching  pre-pandemic passenger numbers in December.

This winter season Sarajevo will be connected with following destinations in Gulf region:

• Abu Dhabi – Wizz Air 2x weekly
• Dubai – Flydubai 4x weekly (two daily 24.12.21.-08.01.22.)
• Flynas – Jeddah 2x weekly
• Flynas – Riyadh 3x weekly
• Gulf Air – Manama 2x weekly

For upcoming summers season 2022. Air Arabia has already scheduled Sharjah-Sarajevo flights resumption three months earlier than usual. The service is scheduled to resume on March 30, 2022. with three weekly flights, increasing to daily from July.

Source: Flying Bosnian

✈Sarajevo Airport statistics for October 2021

Last month Sarajevo Airport recorded 84.462 passengers, representing an increase of 294% when compared to the same month of 2020. The airport was only 11% (or 11.166 passengers) down compared to pre-pandemic October in 2019. The January-October period airport handled 634.945 passengers, representing an increase of 187% when compared to the same time of the last year. Passenger’s traffic is 37% down compared to record 2019 when Sarajevo Airport handled 1.143.680 passengers. 

Source: Flying Bosnian and Sarajevo Airport

✈ Flynas upgrade Riyadh and Jeddah – Sarajevo service to year-round!

Due to very successful summer season Flynas has upgraded its summer seasonal service between Riyadh, Jeddah and Sarajevo to year-round operations. During winter timetable, Flynas will operate three weekly flights between Riyadh and Sarajevo, and two weekly flights between Jeddah and Sarajevo. Riyadh-Sarajevo flights will operate via Tirana.