✈Bosnia visa-free entry for citizens of Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia

The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina has formally approved visa-free entry for citizens of Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia for the upcoming summer season. This temporary measure is intended to simplify travel arrangements and encourage visitors to experience Bosnia and Herzegovina during its peak tourism period.

Key Details of the Decision:

Validity Period: June 1 to September 30, 2026.

Permitted Stay: Up to 30 days

Objective: To promote tourism and strengthen bilateral relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the participating countries.

The introduction of visa-free travel is also expected to benefit the aviation sector, with several airlines planning or already scheduling flights from these markets to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Scheduled flights from : Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia

In the past, Gulf Air operated scheduled charter flights between Bahrain and Sarajevo. These flights, running once or twice weekly, were arranged on behalf of tour operators in Bahrain offering vacation packages to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Source: Zahid Krkić

✈Gulf Air to resume Bahrain-Sarajevo flights

Gulf Air has scheduled its return to Sarajevo this summer with regular charter flights. Bahrain’s national flag carrier will connect Manama and Sarajevo once weekly from June 8^th to August 24^th. All flights are booked in advance by tourist agencies from Bahrain, offering one week vacations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bahrain (BAH) – Sarajevo (SJJ)

Route	Flight number	Flight times	Operating days	Valid from-to
BAH-SJJ	GF 7735	10:00-15:20	-----6-	08.06.-24.08.
SJJ-BAH	GF 7736	16:20-21:00	-----6-	08.06.-24.08.

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Source: Zahid Krkić

✈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

✈ Gulf carriers extending Sarajevo flights!

✈ Gulf Air inaugurated flights from Manama to Sarajevo

Gulf Air inaugurated regular charter flights from Bahrain International Airport (Manama) to Sarajevo with Airbus 320neo aircraft. Flights are scheduled to operate two times a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) until the end of October.

Source: Sarajevo Airport and Flying Bosnian

✈Gulf Air to launch Bahrain-Sarajevo flights

Gulf Air will launch two weekly Manama-Sarajevo flights from June 26, 2021. Flights are scheduled to operate as regular charter flights until the end of October. Flights will operate with Airbus 320neo aircraft.

Source: Flying Bosnian

✈ FlyBosnia Summer timetable 2020

Note: Flight schedule was completed before the coronavirus pandemic outbreak

As of today (March 31, 2020) FlyBosnia is on schedule to relaunch all operations in June of 2020 (pending coronavirus pandemic control and Governments travel advisories).

FlyBosnia destination map (summer 2020)

FlyBosnia is planing to lease two more Airbus 319 aircraft (for a total of three A319) for summer schedule beginning in the last week of the month of May. The airline has scheduled following destinations:

FlyBosnia number of flights by the month and destination

FlyBosnia number of seats offered by the month and destination

Source: Flying Bosnian

✈Record August for Sarajevo Airport

Sarajevo Airport has recorded its busiest August on the record since opening its doors 50 years ago. During the month of August, the airport has recorded 178.943 passengers, representing an increase of 12,18%, or 19.437 passengers more compared to the same month of the last year. Year to date airport recorded 817.606 passengers, representing an increase of 9,15% or 68.578 passengers more. 

Double digit increase in passengers was fueled by the introduction of many flights to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. During August FlyBosnia operated daily flights to Riyadh, two weekly flights to Jeddah and Kuwait and one weekly flights to Bahrain, Gassim and Monastir. Also, during last month the airline operated 12 flights from Medina to Sarajevo bringing around 1.700 Bosian pilgrims returning home from Hajj pilgrimage. 

Flynas had strong presence in Sarajevo during the last month with its daily flights from Riyadh and five weekly flights from Jeddah. Initially Flynas scheduled 3 weekly flights from Riyadh and two weekly flights from Jeddah, but due to extremely high demand flights were upgraded to daily and five weekly. 

Qatar Airways significantly increased capacity on its Doha-Sarajevo route by upgrading aircraft from Airbus 320 to Airbus 321 for the first half of the month, and increasing it again to Airbus 330-200 during the second half of August. 

From the first week of June until the last week of August demand for airline seats from: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman is increasing every year, due to many tourist agencies offering vacation packages to Bosnia and Herzegovina promoting Halal tourism. In the past three years many tourists from these countries switched from vacationing in Turkey and other European countries to Bosnia and Herzegovina due to its hospitality towards Muslim population and safety. In coming years, we can see these numbers growing with more airlines discovering Bosnia and Herzegovina as perfect tourist destination.

New flights operating this year (August 2019 vs. August 2018)

Airline	Destination	Weekly flights
Aegean Airlines	Athens	2 weekly
Eurowings	Berlin	2 weekly
FlyBosnia	Riyadh	7 weekly
	Jeddah	2 weekly
	Kuwait	2 weekly
	Bahrain	1 weekly
	Gassim	1 weekly
	Monastir	1 weekly
Flynas	Riyadh	7 weekly
	Jeddah	5 weekly
Norwegian	Gothenburg	1 weekly
Total		31 weekly

Compared to August 2018 number of weekly flights from Sarajevo Airport increased by 31 new weekly flights.

Source: Flying Bosnian and Sarajevo Airport

✈FlyBosnia schedules Sarajevo-Bahrain flights

Bahrain Airport control tower

FlyBosnia opened bookings for Sarajevo-Bahrain Airport, flights. The flights will start on July 12^th and operate once per week until September 13^th. This is the first time Sarajevo and Bahrain will be connected with regular air service. Bahrain is Fly Bosnia’s fifth destination out of Sarajevo. During last two weeks FlyBosnia launched flights from Sarajevo to Riyadh, Gassim, Jeddah and Kuwait. The airline is planning European expansion during the month of August with flights to Paris, Rome and London. Ticket sales for European destinations should begin very soon.

Sarajevo-Bahrain flight schedule

Route	Flight number	Flight times	Operating days	Valid from-to
SJJ-BAH	6W 116	08:15-14:00	----5--	12.07-13.09.
BAH-SJJ	6W 117	15:00-19:20	----5--	12.07-13.09.

FlyBosnia destination map

Source: Flying Bosnian