Ryanair was the only carrier to have applied in Sarajevo Airport’s public call for an airline to establish a base in the city in return for incentives. Talks between the two sides over a potential base are ongoing. According to the “Klix” portal, a deal is within reach. Sarajevo Airport is expected to extend its work hours this summer in order to be operational 24/7, a demand reportedly made by the European budget carrier. Earlier this month, the airport confirmed that one airline had answered its public call. The airport undertook a similar tender in 2020, which was won by Wizz Air. It was the only one to have applied at the time. Wizz Air closed its Sarajevo base after just a year and a half in November of last year. The renewed call was not limited to low cost carriers and neither did it require for the airline to base two aircraft in the city, as was previously the case.
Under the terms issued by Sarajevo Airport in its public call, the interested carrier must open its base in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital this year in order to qualify for the incentives. The subsidies are limited only to the number of passengers carried, however, the airline will qualify for the incentives regardless of how many travellers it handles. The more departing passengers it welcomes on board its aircraft from Sarajevo, the greater the financial support, however, the exact amount of funds have not been made public.
Ryanair entered Bosnia and Herzegovina’s market in 2018 with services to Banja Luka. Last November it expanded its operations in the country by launching flights to Tuzla, with services from Vienna, Stockholm and Memmingen. Ryanair’s Director of Route Development, Ray Kelliher, said last year, “We look forward to growing in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the coming years and being able to announce more new and exciting routes for next summer”. Sarajevo Airport handled a record 1.377.348 passengers in 2022, representing an increase of 79.5% on the previous year and up 20.4% on the pre-pandemic 2019. The growth was primarily fuelled by Wizz Air. During the last quarter of 2022, Wizz held a 40% market share in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was the country’s busiest airline.
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No thanks, we don't want Ryanair!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, we do!
DeleteOh hel yes we do. What u talking about. I trust ryanair more than wizzair
DeleteOf course we want.
DeleteKLM/ Air France would be better!
DeleteHaha why wouldnt we want Ryanair?!
DeleteGood news,... So everyone will pay so that a select few can fly...
DeleteI belive many people wait for conection with Sarajevo, me with Charleroi
DeleteExcellent news for Sarajevo!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many routes/ aircraft we could expect if they reach a deal.
ReplyDeleteThere were talks about basing 2 aircrafs, and some 10-15 routes first year, and one more aircraft next year
DeleteI don't understand what they need to negotiate about when the terms of the tender are clear.
ReplyDeleteFR usually looks at getting everything for free.
DeleteRyanair are even very demanding in terms of discounts and incentives
Delete*even more
Delete+1
ReplyDeleteWe don't need no low cost airlines!
ReplyDeleteWe don't need no flight control! Hey, MOL, leave them bosnians alone!
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall.
Huh?
DeleteWhat nonsense are you talking about….
DeletePink Floyd, good one.
DeleteSarajevo - Ljubljana 😅😅
ReplyDeleteWell it could happen. We saw in ZAG that FR does have some short routes to keep aircraft utilisation up (like Zagreb-Podgorica) so Sarajevo-Ljubljana is a possibility :)
DeleteHow would a base in Sarajevo impact their operations in Tuzla and Banja Luka?
ReplyDeleteI think they will pause expansion from Tuzla (similar to what Wizz did). Banja Luka shouldn't be affected.
DeleteIt shouldn't affect BNX at all, especially since they don't have a base there. Meanwhile Tuzla might be slightly different and lowered with operations, vut I'm assuming it will show effect through the summer
DeleteBosnia is becoming an LCC heaven.
ReplyDeleteWizz in Bosnia will be interesting to watch
DeleteFinally
ReplyDeleteI find it hilarious that the airport is willing to extend its operating hours for Ryanair but was stubborn to do so for 30 years to accommodate any other airline.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteThe locals will not be happy having flights 24 hours a day!
ReplyDeleteI don't think there will have bunch of flights between midnight and 6 am anyway so I don't think it will hurt locals too much (although I am sure residents of Dobrinja, Ilidza and Lukavica will not be too happy, they are very close to the airport).
DeleteThe only solution for SJJ.
ReplyDeleteThe question is will Ryanair have more success than Wizz. LCCs don't usually pack and leave after such a short time without a valid reason.
ReplyDeleteRyanair are hardly reliable partners.
ReplyDeleteFantastic news for Sarajevo!!! :)
ReplyDeleteAirport being open for 24h is also great news for Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteThey demanded it long time ago.
Will it be beside Morocco the only FR base out of EU?
ReplyDeleteYes :)
DeleteExcept of the UK, of course.
DeleteSomeone mentioned it as low-cost heaven. Lowcost only/mostly and good for economic development does not go well.
ReplyDeleteGood opportunity to starting flights (when is redy) Sarajevo🛫Trebinje. Hope they work hard on that project?.
ReplyDeleteLol
DeleteThe most ridiculous comment of the week.
DeleteHe meant Dubrovnik East
DeleteOh my God. . .hillarious😅
Delete@9:36 Exactly. Smells like corruption to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's not corruption it is just doing everything that Ryanair dictates because they are desperate not to have a drop in passenger numbers the entire year. And there is nothing Ryanair likes more than a desperate airport.
ReplyDeleteFantastic news for SJJ. I'm surprised at how quickly they managed to find a replacement for W6.
ReplyDeleteGreat. In my opinion City of Sarajevo now needs to do more work to promote itself as a city break destination, particularly in the west. Ryanair flights are perfect in bringing in these kinds of tourists.
ReplyDeleteThey are on it :) the new Tourist Board of Canton Sarajevo is doing an amazing job!
DeleteYes, they have already created Sarajevo city card or something like that for tourists staying 24 to 48 hrs.
DeleteI hope that Ryanair will consider some leisure destinations from Sarajevo too like Corfu or maybe some Spanish destinations.
ReplyDeleteYesss Spain from Sarajevo would be fantastic! :)
DeleteGuys, don't be silly. First SJJ is to small market to fill those 200 seaters with relatively high frequency. Second FR will require 100% discounts for almost everything and will ask to be be provided with even more money. Some flag carriers will be gone as FR will be able to offer flights for 5 EUR for some time to kill competition. And when competition is gone and they have monopoly or quazimonopoly they start to ask airport/government for even more money. Airport will have no sources to earn money and finally will get bankrupt.
DeletePlease just think if not not long term, but medium term not about cheap tickets today. Look at other airports which were dependant on FR. What they do now? No money, no funny. Money flown to private pocket of Irish guys. Airports in Western Europe and CEE learnt well want cooperation with FR means. So now FR or W6 go to the exYu and draw you a drey picture, but it is no real.
Start to be real guys, don't live a dream. You will be crying soon with your beloved 1 or 2 plane base of Ryanair, who is telling you bullshit.
Flying almost every 2 weeks from Belgium or Germany to Bosnia. Aircrafts are 80% full almost every flight.
DeletePretty sure Wizz wanted to dictate pricing or other conditions but was not allowed. What allows Ryan to dictate if not corruption?
ReplyDeleteWhat routes do you guys think Ryanair could launch?
ReplyDeleteMy opinion: London (STN), Milan (BGY), Basel, Brussels (CRL), Memmingen, Berlin, Nuremberg, Vienna, Weeze, Karlsruhe, Gothenburg, Stockholm (ARN), maybe little less probable Copenhagen, Paris (BVA), Frankfurt (HHN). Other ideas?
maybe even Ljubljana if Lju- Podgorica works very well maybe could be the same with Sarajevo
DeleteWhy is Copenhagen less probable? Or Malmo?
DeleteSarajevo - Malta
DeleteI think Copenhagen is less probable than Sweden for example, because Ryanair doesnt fly from there to Balkans. But it could have success in my opinion.
DeleteAthens unless Aegean return, although they're beginning Banja Luka scheduled flights this summer from ATH.
DeleteEindhoven for sure!
DeleteSarajevo - Zagreb would be great success
ReplyDeleteKarlshrue
ReplyDeleteDublin seems likely
ReplyDeleteThat would be great
DeleteSJJ- New york JFK ali mozda Tokio Narita
ReplyDeleteIn all the comments nobody thinks Ryanair could bring in direct flight Dublin-Sarajevo. Why is that regarding that Ryanair is Irish company? Many B&H, Cro and Ser people are in Ireland now and no direct flights during winter anywhere.
ReplyDeleteBosnians need visas for Ireland, because of UK they are not in Schengen. So not sure how well that would go. The visas are free for Bosnian citizens tho.
DeleteAnonymous 16:06 probably you mean that Bosniaks and Serbs need a visa for UK. As you know Croats doesn't need visa for UK (since every Croat from B&H have a Croatian passport). Since, there are so many Croats from B&H living in Ireland, this could work.
DeleteThere are not that many Bosnian Croats in Ireland to make this line work, cmon.
DeleteAnonymous 19:00, there are also not so many Bosnian Croats in general in Bosnia, that would generate that much traffic, let alone Bosnian Croats living in Ireland.
DeleteDiaspora need to be atleast 5k to be a bit signifant
DeleteAnonymous 19:00, Croatians do now need Visas for the UK for stays longer then 90 days as the UK has left the E.U!
DeleteFor heaven's sake, everyone everywhere need visas to stay over 90 days. We talk tourists visas here, not special categories of long term visas. That's precisely one of the advantages of EU and Britons are aware they made mistake and 60 % are now in favour of rejoining EU. But it's so sweet when you can say "Croatians need visas for the UK", which they don't, in terms of tourists visas which West Balkans countries need, instead saying for example "Croatians now can travel without control within the entire Schengen aerea".
DeleteThe Irish government had announced it was dropping the work visas for Croatian citizens several years ago, and 5k is only 1% of the Croatian population of Bosnia, so there actually might be that many of them in Ireland, out of some 30k Croats there altogether.
DeleteIn addition, other B&H citizens probably do have work visas for Ireland too. The route to Dublin might just work.
Ireland's economy has more than doubled in the 2010 - 2020. period, with that small country of less than 5 million people being in the top 10 EU economies - ahead of Austria, in fact. It needs workforce.
Work visas for Croatian were lifted 10 years ago, with EU membership. Only few countries, Holland, Slovenia, UK, Malta used opportunity to limit their market to Croatian citizens for 2 or maximum 3 years, which is transition period allowed by EU. The biggest advantage of EU membership for an ordinary person is possibility to live and work on its entire territory with zero restrictions, which mean that work visas are not dropped but don't exist at all in EU terms
DeleteGuys if they launch SJJ then they will hit Wizz Air in Tuzla, this is a major war brewing in this area.
ReplyDeleteIm so happy for that! Wizz totally deserves it, after abandoning Sarajevo just like that. Go Ryan!
DeleteWell with all the m9ney that Ryanair will be receiving, it would have been more useful to spend it on roads and highways.
ReplyDeleteIt's not corruption, it's finally the acceptance of market dynamics. Sarajevo airport, like other state owned company, had been too long based on "uhljeb mentality".
ReplyDeleteRyanAir tread the fine line with sharp business practices but ultimately the expansion of SJJ, Sarajevo City and wider BiH is dependent upon more people getting to see the country. Bosnia has a great deal to offer and should embrace this first, expand a wide acceptance across the globe of the country as a tourist and sports/skiing destination and thereby empower itself to pick and choose which airlines can grace its runways.
ReplyDeleteBirmingham(UK) Sarajevo would be great.
ReplyDeleteis there a chance for a flight Oslo - Sarajevo? Please, we need it. Every Ryanair plane has been full for the past year.
ReplyDeleteAny more news on this anyone as I have to book some flights with someone soon
ReplyDelete