Soon in Banja Luka
Wizz Air will launch flights from Malmo to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city, Banja Luka, next summer season. The two sides are finalising an agreement which will see the low cost airline enter the Bosnian market for the first time. “If they are willing to launch year long flights we will put tickets on sale in January while the flights will launch in April”, the acting CEO of the Airports of Republika Srpska company, Davorin Mihić, says. Wizz offered Banja Luka flights from Luton, Malmo, Eindhoven and Dortmund to choose from, with the airport selecting the service from Sweden as it considers it to be the most viable out of the offered destinations.
Wizz Air’s arrival could bring back life to the airport which was on the verge of losing its international operating license earlier in the year. Banja Luka is currently served only by B&H Airlines which makes a stop in the city on its Sarajevo - Zurich service. Although it was planned for Jat Airways to resume its off again on again route from Belgrade this December, this looks unlikely. The Serbian carrier will only fly the unprofitable service if it receives generous subsides. The government of the entity of Republika Srpska is prepared to fork out just over half a million euros, however, the Serbian government has still not disclosed whether it would finance the flights.
Over the past two years Wizz Air has rapidly expanded across the former Yugoslavia. It has opened a base in Belgrade and Skopje and operates flights to Ljubljana, as well as seasonal services to the Croatian coast. Besides Banja Luka, the no frills carrier is also negotiating possible route launches to Mostar and Tuzla. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s busiest airport, Sarajevo, remains off limits for the time being due to its refusal to slash its taxes.
Banja Luka seem to be no better than Mostar, bragging as soon as someone gives them a call.
ReplyDelete...which makes Sarajevo the best! ;)
Delete"We will put tickets on sale in January". Wow, cross that off, even more delusional than Mostar.
ReplyDeleteIf this materializes, I wonder what impact this might have on OU's flight to Copenhagen?
ReplyDeleteIn the text it is clearly mentioned that this deal is being finalized which means that talks between the two sides have been almost finished.
ReplyDeleteHow much credibility do you give to the text?
Delete'Almost' doesn't fly planes - and, to put it rather gently, Banja Luka airport don't seem to have the greatest track record.
With this kind of 'news' they just hurt themselves. If you buy it, good for you.
It is not a matter of buying it or not, it is about not being a pessimist the moment some news is announced. Give everyone a chance.
DeleteIt's not the airport's place to announce this sort of news.
DeleteThe reasons are more than obvious, the simplest being it has no credibility whatsoever.
I understand you'd prefer to believe this particular article to be true. It doesn't make it news though.
For example, talks with Air Asia were also presented, as nearly finalized, but Air Asia said that they have never been in any talks with nobody on Balkans. So I don't believe to anything written by Balkans newspapers and said by Balkans politicians and directors of the companies. One lies more then other, only lies, lies and lies, only to prove their doing of completely nothing ...
DeleteFinally! I just hope that they manage to complete the negotiations and that Banja Luka airport management has not made some unreasonable demands.We all know how business and corporate management in the public sector work in the Balkans. They should always have a piece of the cake itself.
ReplyDeleteI hope they do Tuzla 2, would be great for the region. I only doubt the airport have all the facilitys to handle it.
ReplyDeleteMa cijela Tuzla jednu kravu muzla! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ;)
Delete...ili jednu kozu muzla! HAHAHA! ;)
DeleteYes .
DeleteAll 50 miles another Wizz air base...
Banja Luka is the best choice because it also attracts pax from big parts of Croatia.
ReplyDeleteIn Malmo also live a lot of Serbs and Bosniaks.
If Ryanair would fly BL they probably would call it Zagreb Airport South!
LOL
Lol!
DeleteHahah funnyy! But so true!
Deleteor maybe Belgrade West or Sarajevo North :)
ReplyDeleteI am not questioning the viability of this route, but I do question the reliability of the source of the news. Would an airline really give an airport (an unsuccessful one at that) the option to choose where the airline will fly from that city? I somehow doubt that.
ReplyDeleteI really wish BNX could get sustainable and profitable flights, but it seems to me that their management is amateurish at best. With no scheduled flights for a long time, why is the management even being paid? Oh yes, it is the ex-yu.
Of course no any so unsuccessful airport would be given such opportunity. There is a Bosnia proverb which might offer some explanation, 'Where Bosnia starts, logic ends.' I’ll try to interpret for you the core of a story which I heard about month and a half ago. A guy who worked at a position of the chief of a shift at BNX, became the acting CEO. How come! It's rather a long and incredible story for which is best to say that it fits the proverb. Anyhow, he's been in charge for a long time now; no Supervisory Board, no Managing Board, no executive officers, no heads of the sectors. There is no order in the company; his will, only. He took a few lower-ranking employees as his closest associates and gave them the highest salaries. Should be noticed that, before he became CEO, he had been lower-ranking employee too. And at length he, as well as the rest of the personnel, discovered that nothing went along the way the big boss had imagined. Nobody believes into his preaching anymore. Neither does he. He's just trying to delay the end of his adventure. Every next month means an excellent salary for him. When and how it will end, remains to be seen. He promised to bring not only Wizz, but Austrian, Air Alps, JAT, Montenegro Airlines, a Greek company...he promised many different flights…no one’s happened to come as yet. He also promised many other things were going to happen at that airport. He failed in everything. In order to get the position, he was promising in bulks. Then he put things upside down. He hasn’t even certificated his personnel as yet so as to be able to ground handle airliners, passengers, etc. Never has he ever had a clue about managing a ground handling company! I know it’s hard to believe in all of this since I couldn’t have believed this too until I’ve found some of his statements on the net. It all fitted into the story I had already been told. You might wonder how such guy could have gotten the CEO position. As the proverb said, ’Where Bosnia starts, logic ends.’
DeleteWhy it is not possible to book Pegasus flight from Belgrade to some place out of Turley? Booking is possible to all Turkish cities but not for cities abroad..
ReplyDeleteLink exchange is nothing else however it is only placing the other person's web site link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do similar for you.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to surf my blog : how to play piano
Wizz shoud ignore posssible management incompetence of Banja Luka airport.
ReplyDeleteFact is that this place is a pefect addition to their route map.All advantages were mentioned already before my post and in previous threads.
Basel also will be a good choice of destination as majority of Serbs in Switzerland hail from Bosnia
not from Serbia.
Also i like the idea of sharing my flight with Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is born and grown up in Malmö.
As everybody knows he also is of Bosnian origin.
; )
I'm pretty much sure that people from Banja Luka will greet Wizz Air arrival. Passenger from other B&H and Croatian cities will benefit as well. Give passengers some low fares and they will come to depart from BNX.
ReplyDeleteI just hope that this will not cause problems for eventual launch of JAT's Belgrade route and Austrian's to Vienna.
If they start these flights, I will be the first one who will fly LON-MMX-BNX. Can't wait. They just have to advertise it well, tickets on sale well in advance, train staff at BNX airport and give it a chance.
DeleteEven the European Investment Bank had a link to this article (via another blog). So I guess that the news is not random.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, it totally is.
DeleteWizz air is a big blow for zagrab if they get in banja luka.
ReplyDeleteBut when zagrab
Mujaaaanagaaa zagrebia
ReplyDeleteBig blow with 4 flights per week? You know that ZAG has more than 2.000.000 pax and 4 flights usually we have till 6.00 in the morning every day?
ReplyDeleteHow cute 2mill pax.... Beograd does 3.7 :)
ReplyDeleteSo, what is your point. Serbia has 3,3 million pax (not 3,7 as you try to falsificate), and Croatia 5,1 pax. As you know BEG is almost only airport in Serbia, and Croatia has 9 of them.
ReplyDeleteSo Serbia, as it is much bigger than Croatia has in fact very modest air traffic.
What belgrade
ReplyDeleteWhen zagrab gets funny done up
Yeah!! I love it.. Banja luko i ta tvoja selaa....
ReplyDeletesada mogu ici ako bog da fino iz Eindhovena ili iz Dortmunda i stignem sad sad kuci svojoj
Sir, do you mean, 'Which c_ck do all of you bullshit in English here for?'
ReplyDelete