LOT Polish Airlines will commence operations between Warsaw and Sarajevo this coming summer season, marking its entry onto Bosnia and Herzegovina’s market, its sixth in the former Yugoslavia. Flights between the two capital cities will be inaugurated on May 30 and operate five times per week, each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Services will be maintained with the 82-seat Embraer E175 aircraft. In keeping with its strategy for the remainder of its network in the former Yugoslavia, the carrier will offer transfer options to a number of destinations via its Warsaw hub for Sarajevo passengers. LOT’s arrival in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital further strengthens Star Alliance’s presence at the airport, complementing Austrian, Croatia Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines.
This summer LOT will also commence charter flights between Katowice and Mostar on behalf of the Rego-Bis tour operator. The Mostar charters will cater for religious pilgrims visiting the Medjugorje sight and will commence in June. Local authorities in Mostar concluded a three-year agreement with the tour operator, which foresees LOT as the operating carrier for its entire duration.
On top of launching flights to Sarajevo, during the upcoming summer season, the airline also plans to operate up to eleven weekly flights from its base in Warsaw to Zagreb, nine weekly to Belgrade, as well as six weekly rotations to Ljubljana, Skopje and Podgorica. In addition, the carrier will run services from the Polish capital to the Croatian coast, which includes six weekly flights to Dubrovnik, three weekly to Split and one weekly rotation to Zadar. Although LOT previously served Rijeka as well, flights are yet to be scheduled for the coming summer. Flights to Skopje, which are currently suspended, will be restored on May 17, following the airport’s runway overhaul. Previous plans to serve the Macedonian capital through Ohrid during this time have been dropped.
Further flight details for the new Warsaw - Sarajevo service can be found here.
I wonder if these means new routes or more frequencies
ReplyDeleteThe only places I can still see them start flights is Pristina or Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteThey have pretty much covered everything else.
DeleteMaybe they reinstate their Budapest hub and launch ex-Yu routes from there :D
DeleteThey planned BUD-BEG but then Covid started.
DeleteBUD-DBV too, although they did start them in 2020.
DeleteLOT had its own lounge at BUD, but they just gave it up, it became Plaza Premium Lounge this month, so i dont know what their long term plan with BUD as hub
DeleteI doubt BUD is in their short term plans at the moment. Airlines might be adding frequencies but the aviation industry is still a mess, and so are airline finances.
DeleteAnd it is Sarajevo :D
DeleteTheir frequencies are still rather low. They originally planned more for this summer but then revised it down.
ReplyDeleteHopefully as more and more restrictions are lifted, they will add flights.
DeleteThey will add more flights as the virus situation improves.
DeleteThey will benefit from Aeroflot's demise, especially with transfers to Asia.
Delete@09,28
DeleteI don't think they will. A couple of their larger transfer markets are closed (Ukraine, Russia, Moldova), while Russian airspace closure means longer flight times. ICN and NRT frequencies are down, China and Singapore wont restart before the winter 2022 timetable. Perhaps they may get some extra transfer pax from DEL, but that doesn't restart until the end of the month.
What happened to all the coastal routes they had to Croatia from various Polish cities?
ReplyDeleteThose were just temporary in 2020 when people couldn't go anywhere.
DeleteFingers crossed for something exciting.
ReplyDeleteSo ZAG seems to be their strongest route in ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteYes. They carry a lot of transfers to the coast during the summer via ZAG and OU which is also Star Alliance.
DeleteThey also offer transfer to Sarajevo via Zagreb with OU.
DeleteCroatia is very popular among Poles during the summer. Also Croatian citizens can actually enter Poland unlike most other ex-Yu nationals.
DeleteSame thing with the Bulgarian coast. There will be lots of Poles this summer. For example FR operates WMI-BOJ 5 weekly and W6 connected with at least 5 Polish cities. Enter Air have many charter flights as well.
DeleteSame is happening with Tirana by the way. No interest for OHD however.
I'm happy we will see them in Bosnia at least through Mostar charters. I hope they eventually launch Sarajevo.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIs there any Bosnian diaspora in Poland?
DeleteNot really.
DeleteBut LOT could provide good connections to Scandinavia, US and Canada.
DeleteThere are barely any ex-Yu communities in Poland. Their main passengers are transfers, especially to Canada, US...
DeleteI'm surprised they are ignoring SJJ. They could have good transfer feed.
DeleteAgree. Hopefully now that Sarajevo has a proactive management, we will see them soon there.
DeleteIt's like they read your comment :D Sarajevo is their newest destination.
DeleteMaybe they finally add flights from Krakow to ex-Yu cities.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice, finally
DeleteThey actually reduced frequencies compared to what they had loaded a few weeks ago. But still up on last summer.
ReplyDeleteIt is likely they revise it up as Europe seems to realise they will have to live with this virus.
DeleteI remember looking at schedule a few weeks ago and Ljubljana was 10 weekly, now just 6.
Delete^ Now in same league as Podgorica... from being the third busiest airport in ex-Yu some years ago.
DeleteTGD has more passengers than LJU.
DeleteHow many flights per week did LOT have to each city in ex yu before covid?
DeleteLjubljana - 7 weekly (was supposed to become 8 weekly in summer 2021)
DeletePodgorica - 6 weekly
Skopje - 6 weekly
Belgrade - 11 weekly (was supposed to become 12 in summer 2021)
I can't remember what was Zagreb's frequency. I think it was double daily or almost double daily.
It will take some time for LO to recover.
DeleteZAG was double daily
DeleteIs Poland still strict with entry restrictions?
ReplyDeleteYes, for most ex-Yu countries.
DeleteWhat is the financial situation at LO? Before the Covid crisis they seemed to be doing great.
ReplyDeleteThey got 650 million euros in aid due to Covid.
DeleteWhat equipment are they currently using on most of their ex-yu routes?
ReplyDeleteMostly E75
DeleteGreat news
ReplyDeleteThey should open routes from Ljubljana and did what they were planning. A few rotations to Skopje etc. Slovenia would (hopefully) be ready to subsidize this routes
ReplyDeleteFinally Sarajevo!!
ReplyDeleteAnother great news for Sarajevo! This summer will be really interesting for SJJ!
ReplyDeleteYay tickets already on sale for Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteFantastic news for Sarajevo. It's going to be a busy summer.
ReplyDeleteThey are starting very strong to SJJ.
ReplyDelete5 weekly flights. Not bad at all.
DeleteSarajevo is becoming a Star Alliance fortress.
ReplyDelete"Fortress" :)))
DeleteWell I'm sure they handle over 50% of Sarajevo's traffic at the moment. Which is not a bad thing. What is positive news is that the variety of their offer is getting bigger and bigger.
DeleteBring on TAP now :D
DeleteMore and more key airlines are finally coming to Sarajevo. About time!
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show how poor the former managements were.
DeleteWhile I agree the new management is doing a good job, it also has to do with the fact that the government finally removed taxes which only applied for airlines landing at Sarajevo so airport like Tuzla and Mostar can be funded. They removed these during corona and all of a sudden airlines start flocking to Sarajevo.
DeleteYes, the tax seemed to have a big impact on attracting airlines. But also this management is doing a much much better job than the previous ones.
DeleteSeems like ex-yu knew about it. This morning when I entered the site the news was about LOT planning to announce ex-Yu expansion and when I came in 2 hours later, it was about LOT launching Sarajevo :D
ReplyDeleteadmin was probably waiting for tickets to go on sale.
DeleteThis is excellent news for people in Scandinavia, US and Canada. This will allow great connections.
ReplyDeleteBravo SJJ and LOT!
ReplyDeleteNice. Anyone know what kind of service is offered on LOT on these EX-YU flights. Are they standard European kind of service or have they kept some of that legacy shine?
ReplyDeleteIt still has legacy shine (to my big surprise). I found out after reading a recent trip report here. I think route was Warsaw-Ljubljana.
DeleteHere it is
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/02/trip-report-lot-warsaw-ljubljana-warsaw.html
They still offer free drinks and snacks on intra-European flights. This has really become luxury on legacy airline in Europe unfortunately.
You are right. Very little difference between legacies and LCCs these days.
DeleteBut looks like LOT has a very decent product. Good work and thanks for the link.
What about their long haul product?
DeleteTiming perfect for 3-day city break (Sat-Mon) :)
ReplyDeleteNot such good news for OU
ReplyDeleteI don't see how it can hurt OU. I assume transfers to Germany and western Europe will keep flying with OU. LOT will get a lot of transfer passengers to Denmark and Sweden, I'm sure. Also Baltic countries and of course US and Canada.
DeleteGreat news for point to point traffic to. I expect number of Polish tourists to increase significantly and that they will now explore more than just Medjugorje :)
ReplyDelete*too
DeleteThere will be tourists in the other direction too.
DeleteSo Pristina is now only capital city they don't serve in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteCorrect
DeleteWill this be a year round route?
ReplyDeleteI think it will depend on demand. No final decision has been made yet.
DeleteWhat are the fares like?
ReplyDeleteI randomly selected dates in June and return fare in lowest economy saver fare is 140 euros.
DeletePrices fluctuate of course
DeleteNot bad
DeleteI'm not surprised. A few months ago Sarajevo airport CEO said that they are negotiating flights to Warsaw. Although personally I thought it would be Wizz. What I'm surprised is that it took LOT this long to start these flights.
ReplyDeleteLove LOT
ReplyDeleteCongratulations SJJ. You have made so much improvements during the last couple of years. I love to see how BiH grows and a beautiful country with so much potential. I think it could be the second most visited country in ex-Yu if it were in the EU. I am confident this route will succeed very well.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWOW fantastic news for Sarajevo! :)
ReplyDeleteWith LOT starting SJJ i hope Aegean returns to Sarajevo too , we miss A3!!
ReplyDeleteWould be another great addition.
DeleteCan't wait to see their birds in Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteGood news. I think if SJJ were operational 24/7 it would attract much more airlines.
ReplyDelete“We are in talks with airlines from the US. Furthermore, we are in negotiations regarding the launch of nonstop flights between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada, as well as China and several European markets with whom we lack connectivity, such as Italy, Spain and Poland”
ReplyDeleteBased on this article. Maybe we get flights to Spain and Italy next
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/01/sarajevo-plans-new-routes-as-it-reaches.html