During Summer Timetable 2024 Banja Luka International
Airport will see a significant drop in flights and seats offered when compared
to the year before. For the same months of last year Banja Luka Airport had
535.350 seats on offer, while this year is 300.528 seats, representing a
decrease of 44%. The number of flights last year stood at 2.886, while this
year is 1,734, representing a decrease of 40%. Discontinued destinations this
summer are: Tivat (Air Montenegro), Bergamo (Ryanair), Berlin (Ryanair), Nuremberg
(Ryanair), Hamburg (Wizz Air), Malmo (Wizz Air). One new destination in Germany
is being introduced, Karlsruhe Baden-Baden, will be operated by Ryanair twice
weekly.
Germany is market with the most flights and seats on offer, representing almost half of the airport business, followed by Sweden and Austria. Banja Luka Airport management needs to work with local government to offer subsidies to any LLC to offer low-cost flights to Malmo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Hamburg, Eindhoven, Istanbul and Athens. Air Serbia should either increase its service to Belgrade to daily to enable connections to its network or discontinue its service altogether. After so many years of operations to Banja Luka two weekly flights are laughable. In order for Banja Luka to be sustainable as a LLC airport, number of passengers should be around 800.000 to cover basic needs of airport operations. Next to Germany, Türkiye should be on airports radar with flights to Istanbul, preferably Turkish Airlines with 5 weekly flights during summer and 3 weekly during winter months. Pegasus Airlines could work as well, since they offer many connections via their hub at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport. SunExpress would be ideal with two weekly flights to Antalya. With airport struggling financially, the management of the airport should be proactive on finding solutions, before government decides to sell it to cover holes in 2024 budget.
Source: Zahid Krkić
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