FlyBosnia will launch its first international route to
Kuwait on June 4th, 2019. Flights will operate three times per week, on
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays until August 31, reducing to once per week during the month of September.
With the beginning of Summer schedule of flights (which have
started on March 31), Sarajevo Airport is already seeing stronger demand when
compared to same period of the last year. Airlines are using larger aircraft on
its flights to Sarajevo (Adria Airways is using A319 instead of CRJ-700/900,
Austrian Airlines is using Airbus 320 and much larger 321, Swiss is using
A220-300 with capacity to accommodate 145 passengers, and on some days A320, Next week Qatar Airways is using A321).
For the first 11 days of the month airport serviced a total of 152 arriving and
152 departing commercial flights (total 304 commercial passengers flights). During
the first 11 days of the month total number of seats offered on both arrivals
and departures was 44.354. According to airlines timetable total of 120.000
seats are offered during this month to/from Sarajevo, but with increased demand
airlines are adjusting to larger aircraft, this will add more seats then planed
120.000. My projection: Sarajevo Airport will handle 90.000 passengers in April.
Sarajevo Airport flight timetable for the week of April 11-18
Flightradar24 is showing FlyBosnia
flights to: Riyadh (RUH), Rome (FCO), Moscow (SVO), Frankfurt (FRA) and London
(LGW) but no flights are scheduled or being sold on the airlines website. The
airline is very active on social media but no announcements of any sort about
the possible launch date and destinations. If they were counting on Bosnian
diaspora as they were saying then this summer for them is lost. For Bosnian family living in USA, Canada, Australia or even Europe, It takes months
for family to arrange their vacation with their employers, airline tickets,
hotels, rent a cars etc… Hopefully FlyBosnia won’t be yet another filed airline
project.
Construction works of the VIP lounge at Sarajevo International Airport have started. VIP
lounge building will be constructed on the grounds of existing building where
airports heating system.The construction works will take nine months, and the value has been evaluated at approximately 1,5 million KM. To remind you, the
VIP lounge with the floor area of 300 square meters will provide VIP services
to both arriving and departing passengers in the same building.
Sarajevo Airport VIP lounge under construction (interior)
The VIP lounge will have the area for X-ray screening,
Customs control, check-in, passport control and a Welcome desk – reception
point. According to the design, the building with all its services will be
accessible both from land side and air side and for that reason it will be used
both by departing passengers and those who land at Sarajevo International
Airport. The VIP lounge will have discretely separated groups for
relaxation, furnished with modern sofas and chair sets, information displays,
WIFI signal, TVs, room for press conferences, separate area for organization of
business meetings, a relaxation apartment that can also be used as a prayer
area, a separate working space for smaller working meetings, fully equipped
toilet block, as well as refreshment services, with a possibility of providing
catering services too.
Sarajevo Airport VIP lounge under construction (Location of the building)
The VIP lounge is being reconstructed not only because it is
a significant income source but also because it became necessary to extend the
existing VIP facilities due to a constant growth of a number of passengers and
air traffic operations. The VIP lounge is going to be most sophisticated VIP
lounges (like the ones you see at major international airports), both in terms
of its design and the quality of the services it will provide.
Finnair A321 parked at gate 4 of Sarajevo Int. Airport
Last month Sarajevo Airport recorded 67.893 passengers
going through its doors, representing an increase of 2,88% on 2018. The number
of aircraft movements stood at 1.016, an decrease of 0,09% compared to the same
month of the last year. During the first quarter of this year, Sarajevo Airport
handled 174.508 passengers, representing an improvement of 3,18%.
Sarajevo
Airport outlined plans for 2019, which include the introduction of new routes
from: Athens, Gothenburg, Riyadh and Berlin, as well as infrastructure
developments (construction of new terminal building, construction of airports
office building and expansion of apron and taxiways).
One of the most successful businessmen and investors, a
member of the ruling United Arab Emirates family, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al
Maktoum is attending this year's Sarajevo Business Forum.
Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, is Chairman and CEO of one of the
world's largest airlines Emirates, confirmed the arrival to the Sarajevo Business Forum 2019, the leading investment conference in
Southeast Europe, which will be held this year from April 17 to 19 under the patronage of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is very likely for Emirates to announce Sarajevo as its next destination as the airline starts receiving smaller aircraft, suitable for Sarajevo Airport operations (Airbus A330-900neo is scheduled to join Emirates fleet from
2021).
Al Maktoum is a senior United Arab Emirates official and is most deserving of
the Dubai meteoric rise of the airline industry for 27 years. He was the lead of the
Civil Aviation Directorate of Dubai since 1985, when the incredible business,
investment and tourism expansion of this emirate, which today is the world's
business metropolis, has begun.
Corporations from the area that Ahmed Al Maktoum is leading
are today the largest in the region and among the most successful in the world. This is not the first visit for Mr. Al Maktoum to the Sarajevo Business Forum. He was a
distinguished guest of the investment conference in 2010. The connection that
was then established was crucial for a later fruitful continuation of
cooperation, and then a decision to establish a direct flights between Dubai and Sarajevo.
Namely, during the visit of the director of BBI Bank Amer
Bukvić Dubai, Sheikh Al Maktoum announced the arrival of one of his airline
"Fly Dubai" in Sarajevo, which was later realized. Today, Flydubai is real engine for the development of tourism and business connections between
Bosnia and Herzegovina and and United Arab Emirates. Sheik Al Maktoum is a graduate of political science in Denver,
USA, and is extremely appreciated in the world of business. He is the holder of
numerous awards and prizes including the Order of Legion of Honor, the highest
French decoration, Legend
of Aviation—2007 Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year.
Bosna Bank International (BBI), in cooperation with its
shareholders (Islamic Development Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi
Islamic Bank) and other international partners, is the organizer of the annual
International Business and Investment Conference - Sarajevo Business Forum
(SBF). The Conference was initially organized in 2010 and since then, has been
held every year. The conference has been positioned as one of the most
important business and investment events for Southeastern Europe.
Sarajevo Business Forum is connecting institutional and private investors and
businessmen from all over the world with businessmen and project owners from
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and
Slovenia. It represents a platform for business networking and exploration of
investment and business opportunities in the Southeast Europe region with the
sole objective to foster its economic development.
Sarajevo Business Forum Airline Gold Sponsors for 2019 are:
FlyBosnia and Turkish Airlines
The list of renowned SBF attendees during the previous eight
years include H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey; H.E. Dr. Bandar
M.H. Hajjar, President of Islamic Development Bank Group; H.E. Tun Dr. Mahathir
bin Mohamad, 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia; H.E. Mehmet Simsek, Deputy Prime
Minister of Turkey; H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief
Executive Emirates Airline & Group; H.E. Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu, former Prime
Minister of Turkey; H.E. Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, State Minister for Financial
Affairs of UAE; H.E. James Steinberg, former Deputy Secretary of State of the
USA; H.E. Christian Danielsson, European Commission Director-General for NEAR
and many more.
In a massive
logistics operation that will start tomorrow, Turkey is going to say goodbye to
Atatürk Airport, which has long been home to Turkey's rise in global aviation
and move to the new Istanbul Airport. The long-awaited process of shifting from
the longtime home of Turkish civil aviation, Atatürk Airport, to the new
Istanbul Airport will kick off at 3 a.m. tomorrow. The move will last for 45
hours and be completed just before midnight on Saturday if all goes according
to plan. Both the outgoing Atatürk Airport and the incoming Istanbul Airport
will be closed to all passenger flights for a period of 12 hours, between 2
a.m. and 2 p.m. that day.
Atatürk International Airport, which was commissioned in
1953, will no longer serve commercial flights as of Saturday. The airport,
which handled 68 million people last year, will transition to other uses, such
as training activities, aviation fairs and civil use.
The last plane to carry passengers from Atatürk Airport
will fly to Singapore on Saturday at 2 a.m. [April 5, 2300GMT]. Flights at
Istanbul Airport will increase gradually as of Saturday at 2 p.m. The first
flight after the big move will be to Ankara's Esenboğa
Airport.
Due to big move Turkish Airlines flights to Sarajevo will see
temporarily adjustments. In transition period flights will operate once a day
instead of three daily (from April 5 to April 11). On April 11 all flights go
back to normal and will operate as scheduled three times per day.
In Q2 2018, Georgia was Europe’s fastest-growing country market (capacity up 28% in Q2 2018 vs Q2 2017), and it has continued its momentum into S19, with it showing to be the continent’s fourth fastest-growing market in Q2 2019. Along with Georgia, the only other markets in the top 15 for Q2 2019 growth that also appeared in the same category during Q2 2018 are North Macedonia (14% growth in Q2 2019; 17% growth in Q2 2018 versus Q2 2017), Latvia (12%; 19%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (11,1%) and Hungary (8.2%; 15%). Of the countries listed in the top 15, only one appears in the top 15 ranking for most seats, with Portugal being Europe’s 12th largest market regarding total departing seats in Q2 2019. The top markets remain the UK (3.1% growth in Q2 2019), followed by Spain (3.7%), Germany (2.0%), Italy (5.9%) and France (5.2%).
Ryanair remains the top airline on the continent, with it growing its seat capacity by 7.6% in Q2 2019, which represent just under 2.88 million additional departing seats versus the same quarter of 2018. easyJet is growing ever so slightly faster than Ryanair, but when it comes to net seat increase, it is only adding 2.17 million, less than the number being added by Ryanair.
The fastest-growing airline among Europe’s top operators is Wizz Air, with it showing an 18% rise in its departing seat capacity during Q2 2019, a result of it operating an additional 1.68 million departing seats. Regarding the other end of the spectrum, Air France, SAS, Norwegian, Eurowings and Pegasus Airlines are all showing declines in the number of seats they’re operating during Q2 2019, with Norwegian seeing the greatest cut at 5.0%. For Norwegian, its capacity has been reduced in the short-haul market, with it posting a 6.7% cut in this sector. However, it does continue to push its long-haul agenda, with data showing that it has increased its long-haul capacity during Q2 2019 by 21%. While this is impressive, the carrier’s long-haul operations still only account for 5.9% of all seats it operates during the period, although this has grown from a share of 4.6% posted in Q2 2018.
