Omani low cost carrier SalamAir will commence operations between Muscat and Sarajevo next month, becoming the eighth Gulf airline to maintain services to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital this summer, with five of them introducing flights only this year. SalamAir will maintain one weekly rotation between the two capital cities, each Monday, starting July 12. The journey, which lasts over six hours, will be operated by the 180-seat Airbus A320neo aircraft. It marks the first time Sarajevo and Muscat will be linked by a scheduled air service. Based on OAG data, in 2019, which is considered the last normal year for commercial aviation, 9.784 passengers flew indirectly between Sarajevo and Muscat on a single itinerary. Sarajevo becomes the only city in the former Yugoslavia to be linked to Oman.
From the Gulf, Sarajevo Airport is currently served by Flydubai from Dubai, Air Arabia from Sharjah, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi from the Emirati capital, Jazeera Airways from Kuwait City, Flynas from Riyadh and Jeddah and Gulf Air from Bahrain, the latter introducing flights over the last weekend. They will be joined by Kuwait Airways this coming Saturday. Furthermore, a number of these carriers will increase operations to Sarajevo mid-way through next month due to the Eid al-Adha holiday, with the likes of Flydubai operating up to four daily flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital on select days.
The introduction of SalamAir’s service from Muscat will result in Sarajevo being linked to all countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with exception to Qatar, with its national airline discontinuing flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital in March 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Almost all of the demand from the Gulf to Sarajevo is generated exclusively during the summer, with almost all flights operated on a seasonal basis. Bosnia and Herzegovina has become a popular destination for tourists from the region. Arab investors are building homes and hotels around Sarajevo and heavily promoting the destination to middle class families looking for cheaper alternatives to Western Europe, fuelling point to point travel from the Middle East to Sarajevo. This has been further compounded in 2021 by Covid-19, with Gulf nationals and residents unable to enter the majority of the European Union and Schengen area this year. Following the launch of Muscat, Tel Aviv becomes the busiest unserved route from Sarajevo to the Middle East, while the busiest unserved destinations in the Gulf are Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Beirut in Lebanon.
Further flight details for SalamAir’s new Sarajevo service can be found here.
wow go Sarajevo!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see Sarajevo's passenger numbers in July and August. I wonder if it will have more passengers than in 2019.
ReplyDeleteHighly likely.
DeleteWho would have though there was so much demand to Muscat.
ReplyDeleteSeems as if there is sufficient demand from Sarajevo to any Gulf country.
DeleteMiddle East in general. You see that TLV is now top unserved route from there.
DeleteSurprised one of the Israeli airlines have not started Sarajevo.
DeleteBosnians do need visa for Israel
DeleteNow the airport, tourism board or whoever has to work on keeping these flights and tourists coming during the winter too.
ReplyDeleteNice addition
ReplyDelete8 Gulf carriers are there, but main 3 (QR,EK,EY) are still missing
ReplyDeleteI don't think QR will come back since they have no flights scheduled in the winter either.
DeleteWell there is Gulf Air which is an important airline in the region, as well as Kuwait Airways.
DeleteMy guess is Saudi Arabian Airlines is next.
DeleteThere was an article here just a week or two ago saying that Saudia gas planned flights to Sarajevo but that the decision to keep visas for Saudi citizens has made them reconsider.
DeleteDid Qatar Airways make a really poor move by suspending Sarajevo this summer too? Especially since they are no longer blockaded and flying to Saudi and UAE.
ReplyDeleteQR will be just fine. Their SJJ route generally underperformed. Maybe they return next summer.
DeleteI think QR relied on transfers from Australia and SE Asia hence halting SJJ. Anyway, their loss might be missed but SJJ managed to compensate with much more new carriers and connections compared to their 3 or 4 weekly flights.
DeleteIf corona scam situation stops and life gets more or less back to normal, and Australia opens, for the next summer I expect all Gulf airlines flying this summer to continue with the flights for P2P passengers, 90 % or more Gulf tourists, Qatar Airways to reintroduce the flights for transfers, and Saudia to start flights. I also think link to Iran is missing big time.
DeleteWell done Sarajevo!
ReplyDeleteCan people from Bosnia book these flights?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteYou can but who wants to go to the Gulf in summer on 50 degree heat. Also, Bosnian citizens can't enter most of these countries because of Covid. Only Dubai is open out of all these countries.
Delete^ Dubai is the only destination out of these where there is some local demand from Bosnia. The rest is purely for Arab tourists.
DeleteAll these new arrivals from the Gulf will hurt Turkish and Pegasus in Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteIt will be made up for increase point to point demand between Turkey and Bosnia. Remember Turks can't go anywhere in EU either, as can't people from Bosnia.
DeleteTrue, didn't think of that
DeleteIt could have an impact on Fldubai which has a lot of transfers from these Gulf countries.
DeleteFantastic news for SJJ. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteInteresting schedule. All night flight from Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteGood to see that SJJ is using the current entry bans in Europe to get as many of these Gulf flights as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis Gulf demand is crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever flown Salam Air?
ReplyDeleteIs it the low cost subsidiary of Oman Air?
DeleteStill no flights from Tehran?
ReplyDeleteIran is completely closed off at the moment.
DeleteSarajevo now has a good balance of destinations in Europe and the Middle East. Finally.
ReplyDeleteStill missing key European destinations. Not to talk about airlines.
DeleteIf there were demand airlines would be lining up like these Gulf airlines.
DeleteGive it time. We just got a Wizz Air base. I'm sure there will be more good news soon :)
DeleteAmazing
ReplyDeleteNot surprised tbh. BiH is a beautiful country with a lot to offer and has breathtaking landscapes and mountains. Plus, Arabs are crazy about Europe.
ReplyDeleteClearly, the gold medal goes to SJJ this year. They secured European connections and even more Gulf ones.
This current boom reminds me of Tirana.
Well done, BiH!
I agree. This year's winner is Sarajevo. Unbelievable improvement compared to just year or two ago. Glad about it. Congratulations SJJ!!!
Delete6 and a half hours in an A320. That's not going to be a comfortable ride.
ReplyDeleteWell it is an LCC so you get what you pay for.
DeleteAt least it's a neo.
DeleteAmazing news for Sarajevo! Few days in July Fly Dubai will have FOUR daily flights to SJJ, and so will Air Arabia as well, so basically 8 daily flights just to Dubai and Sharjah, lol!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely crazy demand! Arabs escape from the super hot season and find cooler places to visit.
DeleteSuch a missed opportunity for Fly Bosnia.
ReplyDeleteYou snooze, you loose.
DeleteThey do fly to Kuwait.
DeleteSarajevo is going to have capacity issues next month :D
ReplyDeleteHow many aircraft can be parked at Sarajevo Airport at one given time?
Delete13 aviona A321
DeleteSeems like the current management at SJJ really know what it is doing. Good job.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a real breath of fresh air. Hope we continue to see more new routes and announcements.
DeleteGetting rid of stupid taxes definitely helped in attracting airlines.
DeleteLove it
ReplyDeleteThankfully that new terminal is being built in SJJ.
ReplyDeleteThey are taking their time.
DeleteIt was delayed because of corona but now they are working on it full time.
DeleteGood that they are working on it again. Do you know when it is expected to be finished?
DeleteShould be by the end of the year
DeleteGood to hear
DeleteNow imagine if we had a proper national airline that could have launched all these routes and then offered connections to the region.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBosnia has a proper Airline, "Fly Bosnia"
DeleteYes. The plane that they have painted with their logo has been sitting at the airport for 3 months.
DeleteDidn't FlyBosnia have plans for a lot of Gulf routes this summer? What happened?
DeleteThey have started Kuwait and they are flying charters to Egypt and Turkey.
DeleteWhich Gulf airline will be next to announce flights? :D
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed for Emirates :D
DeleteI'm guessing the issue with Emirates would be seasonality and yields. Are there enough passengers flying business class. Also don't know what kind of cargo demand there is.
DeleteCan Sarajevo handle B777. I'm talking about landing and taking off, I'm talking about catering, gate size etc.
DeleteSARAJEVO može primiti sve tipove aviona, samo ne znam za AN225
DeleteIt is worth to say that no country from Gulf (aside from KSA) needs visa for Bosnia, that's one of the reason of such high demand
ReplyDeleteWhy did they only leave them for Saudi? Doesn't make sense.
DeleteDecision to suspend visas during summer was rejected by one party in Council of ministers (allegedly in order to keep visa policy in accordance to EU policy, but doesn't make sense since other countries aside from UAE need visa for EU and don't need for Bosnia). I guess visa policy for KSA was kept all these years (or decades) for safety reasons.
DeleteReally interesting summer for Sarajevo! Good job!
ReplyDeleteWho thought Sarajevo would go through its most exciting period during the pandemic :D
ReplyDeleteThe EU has just announced that it is putting Bosnia on the green list of safe countries, lets hope this will further boost flights :)
ReplyDeleteI hope so. With all this demand from East I would be great if we have to the West as well.
DeleteThis is a nice exotic route. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI really hope more airlines stay after summer. I think Bosnia could be equally as interesting for Arab tourists in winter as it is in summer.
ReplyDeleteThey are not interested into Winter. Tourism need another destination for winter promotion as well.
DeleteSJJ has been very busy lately. I'm really glad that this pandemic which has been a catastrophe for aviation ha at least resulted in some good news.
ReplyDeleteThere is also an ex-Yu diaspora in Oman which could use these flights.
ReplyDeleteMore airlines to the Gulf than some of Europe's biggest airports :D
ReplyDeleteGood schedule
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile other airports in the region do nothing to attract these airlines .
ReplyDeleteSarajevo airport did nothing to attract them thats for sure.
DeleteWizzair also contacted the airport not the other way around.
That´s not really true, the airport did have an open announcement for benefits for airlines who opened a base there, that is when Wizz applied.
DeleteThese Gulf tourists obviously dislike variety.
ReplyDeleteImagine them all sleeping in the same hotel and going to the same restaurant.
Stupid comment of the day.
DeleteYou mean like Serbian tourists travelling to Corfu, only to end up in a Serbian bar over there with turbo folk playing?
DeleteOr Germans going to Mallorca en masse .
DeleteFor Beer and Schnitzel .
Not to forget the Britons, they get drunk already in the morning .
What if in future restaurants dont serve beer or only halal meals .
Istanbul already prohibited outdoor consume of beer .
Sarajevo got a new mayor Benyamina Karic.
DeleteShe wants to help Sarajevo keep its multiconfessional character.
Restaurants will stay ats they are and everything will be fine.
She is the right person at the right time.
Benjamina is fantastic! The best thing that happened to Sarajevo in years, and she has Jewish heritage :) Agreed with anon above, she is the right person at the right time, and Sarajevo is looking at some shiny and bright years ahead :)
Delete^ No more SDA mismanagement and corruption.
DeleteNo more extremist and one sided politics.
Without them Sarajevo will shine again.
I just hope that Sarajevo does not become another Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteMass tourism destroying everything and making life too expensive for locals.
Good point, but Sarajevo is desperate for any kind of tourist. The numbers are still not high enough to do any real damage.
DeleteSarajevo is still far from Dubrovnik. These tourists from East are mainly interested in lakes and rivers around Sarajevo.
DeleteJust checked out that they have 6 new A320 neos and the oldest one is 3 years old.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, as somebody said above, their schedule is amazing on both legs. Just shows how powerful the A32N are - this is quite a long journey but still manage being able to fly that range. Reminds of FlyBosnia with the A319 to Kuwait I think it was.