FlyBosnia has dismissed almost half of its entire workforce and has been struggling to pay wages to employees as its debts towards Sarajevo Airport and other suppliers continue to grow. Out of the 100 employees, which includes the company’s management, forty have been fired, while eight out of fifteen pilots have also left the carrier. Furthermore, the airline has failed to pay two months worth of wages while contributions have been withheld since April. “Once we ask when we are going to get paid, the management responds by saying we should look for work elsewhere if we are unhappy”, an employee said. The airline has been reported to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation (BHDCA) over workplace violations.
FlyBosnia, which this week inaugurated two weekly flights between Sarajevo and Rome and will resume services to Riyadh in the coming days has written to its employees warning them of their conduct. “Going to the BHDCA and reporting the company to someone in the Directorate is completely unacceptable behaviour”, the company wrote. It added, “All of you are grown people, have the freedom of choice, opinion and expression but with this sort of behaviour you are a liability and should be nowhere near a plane spreading negativity among the crew”. The airline has also been struggling to attract passengers on its existing services to London with the flight regularly registering a load factor of below 10% on the Airbus A319 aircraft. A recent trip report published online between London Luton and Sarajevo (featured below) had only sixteen passengers on board.
The Sarajevo-based airline recently returned one of its two A319s to its lessor Aercap and said it would operate a single-member fleet for the duration of the 2019/20 winter season, which runs until late March. The carrier further noted it would add another A319 to its fleet in April once it resumes seasonal operations to the Middle East. However, earlier this year it signed a deal with AerCap to take on another two A319s and set a target to boast a fleet of eight jets by 2023. The carrier’s CEO, Tarik Bilalbegović, recently said the company would introduce services to Paris and Barcelona, with flights to the French capital expected to launch in January. Last month, FlyBosnia noted it was considering shifting its operations away from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital to Mostar and Tuzla due to its deteriorating business relations with Sarajevo Airport.
Wow this is bad
ReplyDeleteWinter is usually make or break for new airlines. Doesn't seem as if Fly Bosnia will make it.
ReplyDeleteSo what happened with Saudi owners and their "deep pockets" as people mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteHaving deep pockets does not mean that you will keep finding forever a loss making enterprise.
Delete*funding
DeleteTrue, but airlines take ages to make a profit, the investors know that and should keep on funding.
DeleteUnless, of course, this was just a money laundering exercise. Maybe that's why the CEO left.
Anonymous at 09:43
DeleteNo, they really don't.
Failed airlines with bad business plans take ages to reach the revenues=expenses stage and only briefly before slipping back to loses.
So when an investor sees that their assumptions and plans failed in the real world they cut their loses and move on.
Unless of course we are talking about state owned airlines where profitability is not the goal and the loses are continuously being covered by taxes.
They serve nothing but water from London to Sarajevo but the ticket costs almost 300 euros :O crazy
ReplyDeleteYou can expect them to have LCC prices, there's too much overhead costs with such a small fleet.
DeleteEverything went downhill when the CEO changed.
ReplyDeleteWell the Australian guy said he left because he disagreed with the direction the owners wanted to take the airline.
DeleteSad
ReplyDeleteWand Airlines 2.0
ReplyDeleteMany that ran that airlines are running FlyBosnia too.
Delete*airline
DeleteTheir message to employees is despicable.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFull message is even worse
Deletehttps://ibb.co/Nx7LJgS
Same old story. They want aviation enthusiasts who will work for peanuts and stay on the Titanic together with the orchestra.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteScary.
ReplyDeleteApparently pilots from Ukraine who were hired to fly for FlyBosnia are also leaving the company.
ReplyDeleteWell, that didn't last long.
ReplyDeletethey were a bit slow with european routes during this summer, hopefuly in coming march it will be totally different situation up there
DeleteI don't think they will be around next summer.
DeleteThe Bosnian authorities are the worst, why are they allowing this? Bosnia is a such a mess and the people in Sarajevo disgust me. Why are they ignoring the model that was so successful in Tuzla, Banja Luka and hopefully in Mostar soon as well? Pathetic really.
ReplyDeleteWhat are they supposed to do? Ban the airline and order Sarajevo Airport to subsidise low cost airlines?
DeleteThey are supposed to regulate the market to ensure maximum efficiency. Fly Bosnia is a joke at this point, it needs to be shut down.
DeleteWell if I remember correctly they did refuse to issue FlyBosnia a permit several times in 2018.
Deleteanother one bites the dust
ReplyDeleteThe trip report is epic :D
ReplyDelete16 pax LTN-SJJ?????
ReplyDeleteCome on, this is London!
If BiH is promoted it will become the next ME.
Look how TGD and TIV developped!
Lower those bloody prices!
Bosnia does not have a coast. Montenegro does.
DeleteAlso Bosnia unfortunately still has a name associated with war and most people in western Europe would react negatively when you tell them to visit it.
They are uninformed of course but they are the vast majority and their money are as good as anyone else's.
SJJ should focus on flights to European destinations of its large diaspora and to the middle eastern countries where there is tourist demand for it.
Just my2cents
Bosnia does have a coast, 'Neum'!
Delete"Bosnia does not have a coast", are you for real?
DeleteI still think Bosnia has potential for a national carrier. But whose prime motive is to serve citizens of Bosnia. Fleet of 2 aircraft with 80 seats would do the job to several main European airports.
ReplyDeleteThe way things are heading Sarajevo will soon loose those London and Rome flights.
ReplyDeleteThey are hardly full so it's hardly a loss.
DeleteExactly. It didn't work for Wizz with low prices from Tuzla, it won't work for FlyBosnia with astronomical prices from Sarajevo.
DeleteImagine the loss of flying planes to London with 10% LF.
ReplyDeleteEspecially for new airlines.
DeleteBy that I mean recently established.
DeleteWhat a mess.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the Directorate will act on the complaints.
ReplyDeleteThis airline is sinking deeper and deeper each passing week.
ReplyDeleteThis deteriorated quickly.
ReplyDeleteI think a smarter move would be if they launched some German, Austrian or Swiss destination. Rome is okay, Riyadh it's quite volatile, and Bosnia hasn't been connected with London for who knows how long. Safer territory is gasterbeiter route. Yes, there is Austrian, Germanwings and Lufthansa, but the demand is really big and is getting bigger each day. If they could introduce some ne cheap fairs, I think that would be a bingo.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThat "company" has some nerve! Bashing the employees after they complained to the ruling body regarding the companies approach regarding the salaries is beyond unprofessional. How dare they ask for their salaries!?
ReplyDeleteRIP
ReplyDeleteAmateurs.
ReplyDeleteWe can conclude that they didn't make a business plan past summer.
ReplyDeleteIt's shocking how tight the leg room is in the video?2
ReplyDeleteYes extremely tight. Imagine a full flight to Riyadh!
DeleteThe APU didn't work as well during the flight on the video.
ReplyDeleteGotta save money when your LF is 15%.
SMFH!
DeleteHow do you know? I didn't notice
DeleteThere was an airstarter parked in front of the left wing.
DeleteYou guys are seriously funny and gullible. In which universe did you guys think there is a. serious intention to establish airline or b. that this is some kind enthusiast with deep pockets that just does not know any better? It is money laundering by Saudi's with help of Izetbegovic family. The question is only exactly what they doing, not in general what they doing. Unfortunately for normal folks, political structure in Bosnia is conducive to people from foreign countries with bad intentions or people in Bosnia who are using this structure for their own benefit. Let's not also forget that ALL airline crisis in Bosnia are recycling same names, domestic and foreign. Also, add to that that political elite in Herzegovina does not want strong Mostar in order to benefit Split and Dubrovnik. This is not only about airports, but hotel beds etc. SJJ could easily do 2+ million passengers if development was done by serious people without political interference, but that ain't gonna happen.
ReplyDeleteAmen. Completely correct.
DeleteWhat unacceptable behaviour towards employees.
ReplyDeleteSomething we did not expect? No.
ReplyDeleteWho is leading and understanding airline job in this "airline"?
This is not an Airline!
Money without airline knowledge means bed investment.
As in B&H Airlines! The same!
Wow employees asking for their salaries and management is angry about it. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteIn the end Bosniacs themselves will pay for this joke of an Airline. Right after it dissapears and leaves multimillions dollars unpaid services to the Airport.
ReplyDelete...money which could be used to subsidize reasonable routes anyways!
Everyone is paying in Bosnia for this political situation. Bosniaks are going to pay for this, Croats are not investing a penny in Mostar and Medjugorje bcs. Dubrovnik and Spilt. BNX has a chance bcs. it is far from Belgrade, but if it was located where Bjeljina is, it would never have for example Ryanair.
DeleteFrom the beginning this was too good to be true and indeed it was. Remember how they had a first A319 for six months sitting on the tarmac while they were waiting for the permit.
ReplyDeleteBosnia has a big immigration in Germany, Scandinavia. Combined with decent tourism and ME tourists/residents in summer it could work. What’s needed is professional approach and solid funding at the beginning, none of which we had here obviously. RIP