✈ Wizz Air, Budapest-Sarajevo flights established!

Wizz Air has established its first route to Sarajevo Int. Airport. Budapest is the first destination for Wizz Air from Sarajevo, which will be served with two weekly flights on Mondays and Fridays. After a short flight of 48 minutes , an Airbus 320  aircraft has landed at Sarajevo airport at 08:40 with, flight W62237 with 144 passengers onboard. 64 passengers boarded flight back to Budapest. Wizz Air is rapidly expanding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year alone the airline has introduced five new routes from its baze at Tuzla International Airport. Wizz Air has plans to introduce more flights from Sarajevo in the near future, and has expressed interest in opening its second base in Bosnia and Herzegovina at Sarajevo International Airport. This year, Wizz Air is offering around 700.000 seats on its flights from and to Bosnia and Herzegovina, positioning itself as a number one airline in the country in terms of the capacity and destinations served. Total of 17 destinations across Europe are offered from Tuzla and Sarajevo (16 destinations from Tuzla  and one destination from Sarajevo). Wizz Air has great potential to establish flights from Sarajevo to: Frankfurt, Milan, Rome, Copenhagen, Warsaw (none of these destinations are served from Tuzla) and others.

Table below is showing current bookings for BUD-SJJ-BUD flights:

	Budapest-Sarajevo	Sarajevo-Budapest	Total Passengers	*CLF %
05/04/2017	145	64	209	58,05%
09/04/2017	124	88	212	58,88%
10/04/2017	89	108	197	54,72%
14/04/2017	155	118	273	75,83%
17/04/2017	112	143	255	70,83%
21/04/2017	112	121	233	64,72%
24/04/2017	100	122	222	61,66%
28/04/2017	108	109	217	60.27%
Total booked passengers	944	873	1.818	63,12%
Total available  seats	1.440	1.440	2.880

*CLF (Cabin Load Factor)

Photos from inaugural flight (April 5, 2017)

                              Photos by Klix.ba and Sarajevo Airport

Source: Flying Bosnian

✈ Budapest-Sarajevo flights to be established by the end of the year!

Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Mirko Šarović and his delegation are participating in the EXPO fair in Ningbo, China. On the margins of the fair, a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó was held.

The Hungarian Minister pointed out that Hungary supports the European Union and NATO  integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the accession to the World Trade Organization. Mr. Szijjártó has confirmed and welcomed establishment of direct flight Budapest-Sarajevo by the end of this year. Wizz air will be operating the flights starting in November with two weekly flights using Airbus 320 with 180 seats. Hungarian government will subsides flights for next four years. Hungarian government see great importance in the region and having air link will offer businessmen and tourist more freedom and flexibility and very short travel time will make many business and tourism to bloom. 

In the past Sarajevo was connected with Budapest with Malev Hungarian Airlines and Air Bosna. Malev served Sarajevo Airport with one daily flight offering connection to Malev network throughout Europe, United States, Canada and China. Unfortunately both airlines went bankrupt and since  2012 no airline tried to connect two capital cities. Air distance between Budapest and Sarajevo is 408 kilometers, flying time is about 40 minutes.  

Source: nap.ba

✈ Hungary will subsidise Budapest-Sarajevo flights

New routes from Budapest

The Hungarian National Development Ministry has published a tender for interested airlines to operate flights from Budapest to: Sarajevo, Skopje, Pristina, Podgorica and Tirana. Flights will be subsidized by Hungarian government. All carriers holding AOC registered within the European Union are eligible to apply for the subsidies. According to tender procedure May 19th is the deadline to submit an application, by July 15th airline operating flights will be chosen. 

Airlines willing to take part in tender procedure have to fulfill following:

• minimum 2 return flights per week
• aircraft must have minimum 30 seats
• aircraft can’t be older than 8 years
• minimum one Hungarian speaking flight attendant

Most likely Wizz Air will be the airline operating the flights, since the airline has large presence in the region, and its low cost model is most suitable for this type of flights.

Detailed information on tender procedure of scheduled air services from Budapest to five Western Balkan countries can be found by visiting: 

(Hungarian National Development Ministry)

✈Possible Wizz Air flights from Sarajevo and Mostar!

There is great interest in the establishment of flights between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary, which would lead to a significant cooperation in the field of tourism and better economic cooperation between the two countries. Hungarian government offered  subsidies for Budapest-Sarajevo-Budapest flights,  expressing their willingness to support the sustainability of the line.

“After Tuzla, which remains our headquarters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we intend to establish flights from Sarajevo, which is a very important destination for us. After that, we are also interested in investing in the Sarajevo Airport,” explained the Director of Wizz Air, József Ujhelyi, at a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Saša Dalipagić that was held yesterday in Sarajevo.

In addition to airports in Tuzla and Sarajevo,  Wizz Air intends to increase its presence on the Bosnian market in the future, which would mean their expansion to  Mostar International Airport as well.

Possible Wizz Air routes from Sarajevo are: Budapest, Copenhagen, Stockholm and destinations in Germany.

Source: FlyingBosnian and akta.ba