Sarajevo Airport is close to ending its contract to serve as a base for FlyBosnia after the airline failed to pay off part of its debt. According to the daily “Dnevni Avaz”, the airport is also planning to file a lawsuit against the company. The carrier currently owes Sarajevo Airport almost half a million euros in handling, landing and other charges. On Tuesday, FlyBosnia submitted a plan to pay off its mounting debt, however, the proposed solutions were unsatisfactory for the airport. The airline was unable to secure a bank guarantee nor a bill of exchange. The carrier also owes over 100.000 euros to fuel provider HIFA Petrol.
Last week, FlyBosnia said it was considering shifting its operations away from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital to Mostar and Tuzla. "Our company and staff are considering the possibility of shifting our operations to Tuzla and Mostar. In such a case, we would fly to Rome from Mostar, while London and other EU destinations would be maintained from Tuzla, from which we would provide bus transfers to Sarajevo", the airline said. Talks with Mostar Airport are set to take place soon. The carrier has requested for Sarajevo Airport to waive all taxes, as well as service fees for a period of ten years in order to continue flying there.
According to the daily, a number of employees have left the airline in recent weeks due to late wages, while some have been laid off. For the upcoming 2019/2020 winter season, which begins next Sunday, FlyBosnia has scheduled and put on sale two weekly flights from Sarajevo to London and Rome respectively, with two Airbus A319 aircraft at its disposal. "FlyBosnia is a young carrier from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which took up the risk to develop airline traffic both in the country and Sarajevo as our home base. We are well aware that we have no concessions, grants nor any other type of subsidies from either the canton, federal or state governments. This is in contrast to other regional airlines where the state invests into their carriers in order to cover their losses as they are of national importance", the company noted last week.
RIP
ReplyDeleteRIP
DeleteI thought Fly Bosnia's owners were Saudis with quite a lot of cash to burn. What happened?
ReplyDeleteThey burned way too much money. There is a limit to everything.
DeleteOil well dry out suddenly...
DeleteThe issue is that this airline can only make money during summer with Middle East flights.
ReplyDeleteIn that case they don't need a dedicated airline. They can charter out an airline to operate several weekly flights from Saudi Arabia to Sarajevo during the summer.
DeleteThey could make money on other routes and other times, but not when you announce new routes and only start selling tickets a few days before it starts. I'd be willing to bet that most international travelers do not buy tickets just a few days before travel. So of course their planes are nearly empty and they are losing money. Plus they have two planes with one not doing much. There are plenty of destinations that are needed from SJJ yet this airline chose to ignore them. It is a shame as they had potential, but it seemed that they put the cart before the horse. They didn't seem to have a plan but they had two underutilized planes. Successful businesses plan ahead and get resources as they need them rather than burning money while resources sit idle (resources rather than planes as this applies to more than just airlines and resources include staff as well). Sure they can move to Tuzla and Mostar, but with no clear plan they will fail there as well. There are many costs other than airport fees.
DeleteWell I'm not surprised. They put tickets on sale for SJJ-FCO 3 weeks before the flights start. Do they really expect to operate the flights with a high enough LF to produce a profit??
ReplyDeleteThey did the same with London. No wonder its performing poorly.
DeleteFleet is not suitable for these types of European destinations from Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteWell the flights didn't work with B&H Air's ATR72s either.
DeleteAh the B&H Airlines flights from Sarajevo to Amsterdam on a turboprop.
DeleteSurprise surprise.
ReplyDeleteCome to Slovenia. We are used already of that practice
ReplyDeleteSo it's not only the airport they owe money too... This won't last long.
ReplyDeleteOne of their A319s hit the stairs at SJJ this week. Don't know if the plane is back in service.
ReplyDeleteThankfully they have one spare A319 as a replacement. LOL.
DeleteUsually it's stairs that hit the plane. If they managed to have the aircraft hitting the stairs than it's really wow if an airline!
Deletewow of an airline, not if
DeleteSeems like it really was the aircraft that hit the stairs and not the other way around
Delete"Inspektori Direkcije za civilno zrakoplovstvo BiH završili su uviđaj nakon incidenta na Međunarodnom aerodromu Sarajevo, kada je avion kompanije ”FlyBosnia” prilikom okretanja na pisti udario u aviostepenice i tom prilikom pričinio određenu materijalnu štetu.
Do nesreće je došlo kada se avion vraćao u Sarajevo s promotivnog leta iz Rima i, kako navode očevici, prebrzo ušao na platformu i udario u aviostepenice te tom prilikom oštetio i krilo aviona."
OMG, better they cease ops, that's really sad
DeleteSarajevo Airport should finally open up to more LCCs instead of these wannabe national carriers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYou sound like Wizzair CEO?
DeleteI'm not a Wizz Air CEO, just someone living in Sarajevo that would like a better managed airport with more affordable prices to destinations other than Budapest.
DeleteAnd I join you with the same wishes for ZAG
DeleteWizz CEO used the term wannabe monopolist to describe another carrier, when in fact Wizz wants monopoly on routes and if possible on the whole airport. Case in point: Tuzla.
DeleteTwo routes and two planes. You don't have to be a genius to work out why they are loosing money.
ReplyDeleteThat is really a disaster, particularly for a small airline like Fly Bosnia with 4 weekly flights in total.
DeleteAnd +4 A319 comming next year?#
DeleteHahahahaha serves SJJ right for making a deal with a shady airline from the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteThe airline is registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
DeleteThat's pretty much the only thing that makes them Bosnian and you know it.
DeleteSmall markets such as TGD, SJJ, SKP, LJU ... can't sustain bases there. Someone will always lose out in the end.
ReplyDeleteTGD is home to a well-known mess.
LJU just had Adria which went down in flames.
SKP has Wizz Air but subsidies are regularly offered for new routes. Plus TAV complained on TV that the airport is not very profitable for them.
SJJ has had a long list of failed airlines.
At least DBV and SPU are realistic so they are not forcing too many flights in winter when they would have to hire more employees.
I agree. But what can these airports do?
DeleteI think they should be extremely cautious when it comes to their costs. They need to realize that they will always have modest passenger numbers and to organize themselves accordingly. The worst thing you can do is plan your infrastructure growth around Ryanair or Wizz Air. They are extremely unpredictable.
DeleteYou are making it sound like it’s SJJ fault they had a plane sitting for several months on the tarmac not doing anything at the beginning, leased another one with only handful destinations, starter Rome at the worst possible moment etc etc etc.
DeleteIMHO SJJ can work out for someone. What it’s going to take is well thought out plan, right plane(s), professional mgmt and enough funding at the beginning.
I doubt they will survive the year.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't they have offered one plane as an ACMI lease during the winter?
ReplyDeleteNot many airlines require ACMI agreement in winter.
DeleteAnd besides that Fly Bosnia isn't very well known. When airlines decide on an ACMI contract they usually go with someone that has experience in that area.
DeletePerhaps can change name into FlySrpska and operate from BNX
Delete:-)
BNX is firmly on the Ryanair bandwagon.
DeleteWithout an ounce of shame, they are asking for the airport to waive all the fees for ten years.
ReplyDeleteThis stands out for me too. As if they brought millions of passengers to Sarajevo and now expect something in return.
Deletevagabonds i said earlier
DeleteNext time use black and white photo of the airline.
ReplyDeleteProbably the next time the airline is mentioned it will be a black and white photo.
DeleteAdria employees said all exyu countries have their own flag carriers. Bosnia is obviously a prime example of how things should be run - debts, debts and more debts.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they got someone from Adria as an advisor to get into this state.
Ajde nemoj z*. Nemoj uspoređivati JP koja je bila na tržištu 60g i mogla je biti i drugih 60 da je bilo volje i mudrosti, z nekim zaljevskim peračima novca.
DeleteDon't get me wrong, but I think Europeans in general would less likely use the airline knowing that Saudi Arabia is behind it. We all know why because of women, gays, stoning, etc.
ReplyDeletePlus, the use of a 319 on a 5 hour flight is bizarre. The destination list is bizarre.
SJJ needs W6...full stop.
Yep I'm sure every European checks the ownership structure of the airline before they fly it.
DeleteIf they had this much success in Sarajevo, I can only imagine in Mostar and Tuzla.
ReplyDeleteDon't see why some people are so happy about this. If they go bankrupt many will loose jobs.
ReplyDeleteObviously it won't matter as employees don't see to be getting their salaries.
DeleteIt says some employees.
DeleteConsidering how much money the investor has burned, I don't get why they just don't pay the debt off. I mean if they had money to lease planes, fly to London with average of 10 passengers surely they have enough to pay off these debts.
ReplyDeleteAt some point you gotta draw the line.
DeleteHow can one airline be so poorly run? Seriously, anyone who reads this blog can do a better job
ReplyDeleteNemojte biti naivni pa misliti, da je kompanija propala jer su nesposobni. Pitaj boga kakve sheme pranja love, financiranja terorizma itd. stoje iza toga. A naivni balkanci su idealna meta. Slovenci i Hrvati vjeruju Nijemcima, Srbi Rusima a Bosanci Arapima. Jer oni su kao naši, vole nas. Da. Vole nas krasti kako se vidi na primjeru Adrije i još čega.
ReplyDeleteSvaka cast Athos, potpisujem 100%, nazalost je to nasa tuzna realnost
DeleteThey could have done flying from other airports in Ex Yu too.
ReplyDeleteFor example LJU always wanted flights to the Gulf - Flybosnia could have provided them.
Belgrade wanted flights to KSA - Flybosnia could have provided them.
Why charters only to Sarajevo and not to Dalmatia or Montenegro coasts - Flydubai could have provided them.
As a non EU airline they can't fly from EU countries to third non-EU countries.
DeleteGotta hand it to them, they had more flights than WAND :)
ReplyDeleteSo money laundering is over? Time to turn off the lights and pack for Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice while it lasted. We had a good run.
ReplyDeleteNije da branim ove muljatore, ali, da li vi ljudi znate da je SJJ najskuplji aerodrom na Balkanu? Ovde se priča o louksterima u Sarajevu. Koji loukoster će da plati putničku taksu 30+ evra??? Malo više od toga (37€) košta kompletna karta, sa svim taksama, od Banjaluke do Memingena.
ReplyDeleteWith this level of services, they will not last long...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294449-i6233-k12943385-FlyBosnia-Bosnia_and_Herzegovina.html
"I've had one of the most outrageous experiences with Fly Bosnia airline.
I was booked on a flight back to London tomorrow 27th October 2019.They sent me an email yesterday saying they have rescheduled my flight to today 26th October 2019.
No explanations, a rude worker at the airport who refused to help in any way saying I only work on the ground.
Lost out on one whole day of my 5 day holiday, one day of hotel cost and guide cost.
Disgusting service."
they should lease a a321 XLR to fly to ST louis as there air plenty of Bosnians their and the would male a lot of money
ReplyDelete