Sarajevo delays terminal expansion

Sarajevo Airport expansion on hold

Sarajevo Airport won’t go ahead with its planned terminal expansion for the time being, managing director Ivica Veličan confirmed recently. Despite being granted a 25 million euro loan in 2010 from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the expansion and overhaul of its facilities, the airport had decided against the move as it is still unnecessary to expand capacity. “Since we handled only around 600.000 passengers last year, we will most likely cancel the expansion project for the time being”, Veličan told the Sarajevo Airport Magazine. The current terminal building has the capacity to handle one million passengers per year.

The much talked about expansion of Sarajevo Airport was planned to begin in 2011 but was then moved to 2012. It involved the addition of 7.000 square metres to the terminal building, the construction of a new apron and the overhaul of the existing jetways. The final price tag of the project was estimated at 32 million euros. While the airport is still functioning effectively, capacity constraints are starting to emerge at peak hours with security and duty free facilities in need of expansion.

The current terminal building was overhauled and refurbished in the early 2000s. In 2005 Sarajevo Airport was named the best European airport to handle up to 1 million passengers. Last year Sarajevo Airport welcomed 599.978 passengers. Numbers have declined some 5% this year mostly due to the sharp decrease of flights operated by B&H Airlines.