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| Government moves to liquidate B&H in bid to find foreign investor |
The Federation government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is preparing to liquidate its carrier B&H Airlines, which has been grounded since July 2 after the country’s regulator suspended its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) on a temporary basis until October. The move came in response to the airline’s dire financial state and mounting debt. The Federation’s Prime Minister, Fadil Novalić, said investors from Germany and the Middle East have shown interest in the fledgling carrier. However, the PM has warned that foreign capital could only be invested if B&H formally declares bankruptcy and, in turn, rids itself of debt and part of its workforce. The government is expected to initiate bankruptcy procedures within the next month.
The Deputy Federal Minister for Transport and Communications, Amadeo Mandić, believes a solution to B&H’s problems will be found, which will offer consumers a new and improved product. “The reality is that B&H Airlines has had serious problems for some time now. The Ministry of Transport and Communications, together with the Federation government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is working hard on finding an appropriate solution for B&H Airlines’ difficulties. There are currently a few possibilities being discussed”, Mr Mandić says, adding, “I personally think we will come to a positive outcome which will be in favour of employees, as well as the passengers and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
B&H Airlines was set up in 2005 on the foundations of Air Bosna, which also went bankrupt after amassing significant debt. During its 2008 privatisation process, three bids were submitted for B&H. They included Turkish Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines and a consortium from Malaysia. Ultimately, Turkish Airlines was awarded the 49% stake, however, it relinquished its shares to the Bosnian state for free in 2012 following disagreements with the government. Mr Mandić concedes that despite being the de facto national carrier of Bosnia and Herzegovina, B&H Airlines had little impact on either Sarajevo Airport or the development of air travel in the country. “Having only two aircraft, B&H Airlines is a small company which can hardly compete with big giants such as Austrian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Germanwings and others, which have been operating to Sarajevo for years and which carry the greatest number of passengers”, the Deputy Federal Minister says.
"Fadil Novalić, said investors from Germany and the Middle East have shown interest in the fledgling carrier."
ReplyDeleteYep I'm sure Emirates and Lufthansa are lining up. Why don't they just let them die?!
I'm not saying its LH or EK but it's interesting that BH always seems to have had the most foreign interest. Three bids during the privazation is impressive especially if you get Turkish Airlines and Royal Jordanian bidding.
DeleteI wonder how things would have turned out if Royal Jordanian won the tender.
Deletelol, Royal Jordanian should first clean up in their own garden. "The net loss of the first quarter of 2015 reached JD8.3 million....."
DeleteThere is no need for anyone to buy them. Everyone can just set up their own airline if they wish to. I think OU has the best chance of becoming some sort of main airline there if they base an aircraft in Sarajevo next year like they plan.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what is happening, the new Air Bosna site will be up soon and its not a Bosnian Airline
DeleteYou can't call it "Air Bosna" since that entity went bankrupt already.
Delete@ AnonymousAugust 28, 2015 at 9:51 AM, do you have any more info on this new airline?
DeleteYou can call it what you want as long as the name is not protected trademark in EU
DeleteAs I understand that new company will do seasonal flights starting summer 2016 to SJJ from Basel,Amsterdam,Dusseldorf and Salzburg
DeleteGerman AOC with name Air Bosna
I dont have som much more info yet
Bosnian Wand Airlines Volume 2? A lot of "companies". Bosnian Wand Airlines, Dalmatian, Sky Srpska, Dodik Rudonja Airlines, Dalmatian, Air Croatia, Sea Air, Libertas Air... I can go on forever baby. Just get It, It will never be flights between Sarajevo and Amsterdam unless KLM or Transavia start fly to Sarajevo.
DeleteU ovim komentarima nazalost svako moze da troluje i da izmislja stvari. Mene samo cudi, sad se obracam onima koji upravljaju ovaj blog, zasto toliko paznje BH Airlinesu? Jedan bezveze "kompanija" sa jednim jadnim propelerom sa jednom destinacijom koja je vec propala prije dva mjeseca? Jel vas placaju Amir Jazic i zene, kcerke, sinovi, majke, tetke, dajde, strine i ostali iz obiteljske firme "kompanije" BH Airlines? Znam da se u Ex Yu ne desava toliko puno stvari oko Aviona i kompanija ali moglo bi se naci nesto ozbiljnije da se svaki dan popuni.
lol chill dude. The last BH article was almost 2 months ago. I enjoy that I can read stuff from all ex-yu countries. I had no idea about croatian, adria or their state of affairs before I started visiting here. Cudos to the administrator for having the discipline to have something for us every day. I doubt it's easy.
DeleteAnon @ 9.15am ... how can OU base an aircraft in SJJ if they do not have a Bosnian AOC ????
Deletei assume basing an ac is not a big deal - but it might be to get the rights for new routes out of a non-eu country. the bosnian authorities will have to issue the respective permissions.
Delete@anon 1:12: german aoc with name air bosna: that sounds really intetesting but excuse me i must ask for your source please?
On the contrary, it is a BIG deal ... to base an aircraft in any country outside of it's registered country, requires an airline to satisfy all requirements of that particular jurisdiction in order for it to operate as a Bosnian carrier, transporting originating Bosnian passenegrs. EU registered airlines have that right anywhere across any EU country. Bosnia is NOT an EU country, so any airline wanting to base an aircraft in Bosnia, will be required to satisfy and fulfil the Bosnian CAA requirements, which include having 51% local ownership. Otherwise, they will not be able to avail themselves of Bosnian traffic rights
DeleteWhat happened to Libya's Buraq Airlines. They seemed to be interested at some point ...
ReplyDeleteAnd Tarhan Tower Airlines lol XD
DeleteLibya's Burek Airlines. :)
DeleteFor smart investor with aviation expert , this B&H / Air Bosna could still work with significant and brave investment. Couple of ATR , 2 Embraer and two A330 would do miracle. With constantly growing tourism influx from Middle East regular flights to Kuwait and Dubai would work. Connecting Sarajevo and Mostar with Italy, Poland, France etc for sure would be lucrative. Add couple of flights through Banjaluka and you might have some interesting time at Sarajevo Airport
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteA330? Are you kidding me! With $ 5.450-5800/BH?! A330 is to much metal for, hypothetically, merged-in-one all Balkan airlines!
DeleteBy same logic A320 is too much metal to be based on Tuzla Airport by Wizz...but that logic is proven wrong
DeleteCovek nije ni pogresio da vidite sta je Arapa i u opste muslimana sa Bliskog Istoka kod Jajca i okoline .
DeleteINN-NS
The tourism influx is so huge, it creates enough room for at least 5-6 Dreamliners. One of them should be permanently placed on the Sarajevo-Mostar route with 8 daily rotations. Others would be bringing millions of tourists to SJJ around the clock. MEB3 would follow, then Delta and Air Canada, and finally Qantas.
Delete@AnonymousAugust 28, 2015 at 12:15 PM
Delete$ 5.450-5800?
You know that Federation of B&H is MUCH richer than statistic says.
FB&H has a problem with black economy and tax payment.
So: don't believe much in statistics that you read.
And don't forget:
Kuwait Airways was sold out on Kuwait-Sarajevo rout with their Airbus A310-300 (198 passengers).
Pa sto ne daju pare za vise od 2 Aviona i OS , TK su pustili oni a ne neko drugi .
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
Operative word being "Smart investment and aviation expert"...In theory this is possible since Bosnia has a potential of becoming (exclude Croatian cost) Western Balkan touristic power house. With tourism money comes , with money investments and business men etc...
ReplyDeleteBosnia has much more pressing issues then a national airline. Just let Wizz into Sarajevo and problem solved.
ReplyDeleteNo one is stopping Wizz Air or any other carrier from to/from SJJ. Problem is that Wizz will only fly if they receive next to nothing landing fees/charges ... the problem is not SJJ airport, the problem is Wizz and their refusal to pay the same rates as all other airlines. Why should the airport do that ? If they reduce the fees for Wizz, then they also have to do it for all other airlines .....
DeleteThe word you are looking for is LEVERAGE (or in plain words who needs who more)and LCC usually have it.
DeleteCurrently it’s the Wizz who has upper hand. But who knows, they have a big order coming up, so the moment they don’t have a place their ac, this might change.
If you actually knew anything about it, you'd know Wizz is willing to pay proper rates at SJJ. The actual issues are of operational and administrative nature from SJJ airport side.
DeleteOr just keep hatin' ..
Should it be true that W6 is willing to pay only sth like 3EUR or 6KM of fees to SJJ then maybe FR or U2 would be willing to pay more and fly to SJJ as they also have large metal orders open?
DeleteSM - if WIZZ are so confident in their business model and product, then they should fly to SJJ and elsewhere. The fact that they aren't, is proof in itself that their business model operates within a very narrow bandwidth
DeleteAnon 6:29
DeleteThey are getting a sweet deal in TZL which covers portion of their customer base anyways. Could it be that their resistance to pay more and fly to SJJ is just a result of strategy and not the only way they can operate (with subsidies)? Frankly, nobody knows. They are not getting subsidies everywhere and they appear to be doing OK (how sustainable that is long term is a bigger question).
Nastavljate sa lupetanjima. Sa Wizza ste presli na U2 i FR. A jadni ExYu samo briska.
ReplyDeleteQatar from February 2016 to 3 x weekly to Sarajevo with A319.
ReplyDeleteThey signed a contract with Marriott Hotel last week. =)
Pametna kompanija ima da pokupi sve pare prema bliskom istoku.
DeleteINN-NS
It's good for BNX if BH airlines returns.
ReplyDelete