Low cost carrier Wizz Air is continuing to reduce its operations out of Bosnia and Herzegovina this coming winter season, which begins on October 29. In addition to the planned closure of its Tuzla base from mid-September, which will result in the termination of twelve routes after the airline recently added Hahn to its list of discontinued destinations from the city, the budget carrier will also suspend operations between Abu Dhabi and Sarajevo. The final flight on the route, launched in October 2021, will run on October 28. Ticket sales have been discontinued thereafter, however, the airline is expected to restore services between the two capital cities on March 31, 2024, although changes remain possible at this early stage.
Wizz Air will also end operations from Banja Luka to Stockholm Skavsta, with the last service planned for August 28. Furthermore, flights from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city to Hamburg will come to an end on October 28. As a result, Wizz Air will maintain operations from Banja Luka to Basel and Dortmund this coming winter. For its part, operator Airports of Republika Srpska said airlines reserve the right to modify their network of destinations and that Banja Luka Airport has a contract in place with Wizz Air until the 2024 summer season, next March, meaning the two sides are yet to negotiate the carrier’s operations past this date.
Wizz Air’s only new addition in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the coming months is the resumption of its two weekly London Luton - Sarajevo service on September 25. As a result, the budget carrier will maintain just seventeen weekly departing flights out of the country this winter, down from 54 weekly services during the same period last year. Wizz Air, which has maintained its position as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s largest carrier for several years, will be tied with Turkish Airlines for the number of operated weekly flights this winter, and will have just three weekly departures more than its low cost rival Ryanair.
Did they have a fight with the government behind the scenes? This is not normal
ReplyDeletewizz was fighting all 3 presidents hahaha.
Deleteyeh they have nothing better to do then fight Yugo politicians lol
Delete3 vs 1 not fair
DeleteThe way things are going they won't have any flights from Bosnia next summer.
ReplyDeleteIts better to say that Bosnia wont have Wizz Air that much next summer, W6 does not care, they will simply if not immediately find other routes to be operated instead of those to BiH.
DeleteWow Abu Dhabi which is current daily (out of season) will be suspended during high season travel to Abu Dhabi crazy.
ReplyDeleteAbu Dhabi is currently daily because it is catering for demand from the UAE for travel to Europe/Bosnia. In winter the demand should be the other way around, from Bosnia for travel to the UAE, but it is obviously not sufficient.
DeleteBut are there still tourists from the UAE in the winter resorts?
DeleteObviously not enough.
DeleteBEG abu dhabi route is going to be crazy. Even now it was packed with Croatians yearning for a cheap UAE getaway, now the bosnians are going to jump in too.
DeleteFlydubai also usually decreases SJJ to three weekly from double or triple daily in peak summer. Shows that the demand is mostly one way and very seasonal.
DeleteDon't know what is going on with Wizz but they are also decreasing flights to BEG to just 2 weekly this winter. Fares are crazy high as flights are full. I think they grew too fast out of AUH.
DeleteMaybe FZ adds a third daily to BEG this winter.
^ Why do you spread misinformation, I'm genuinely asking what is the point? AUH-BEG is 4x weekly in winter.
DeleteFlights between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade are operating 4 weekly entire winter with A321.
DeleteThis could be a result of having to move the Abu Dhabi fleet from A321NEO to A321CEO because of the GTF engine issues. Fuel prices are already much higher now compared to when they launched the route. If they also move to a less fuel-efficient aircraft, the lower demand in Winter is no longer enough to make the route viable.
DeleteFirst they downgraded the planned equipment from AUH to SJJ from A321 to A320 and now flights are completely dropped. Sad :(
ReplyDeleteObviously demand is no longer there.Sarajevo has done next to nothing since covid to promote itself in the Arab world. They are living off of old glory.
DeleteUAE folk have moved on to other destinations and that is why Wizz Air no longer feels that this route is needed.
Thats actually true, there have never been more Arab tourists in Sarajevo than this year, its really crazy.
DeleteThere is definitely a slight decline. People from the Persian Gulf choose everything in a variety of destinations, but all countries like Georgia or Azerbaijan know how to attract them, unlike us.
DeleteThis year, from May to the end of September, Sarajevo has more flights from Arab countries than any previous year.
DeleteCan anyone elaborate a bit more on this. I am from Slovenia. When did they start coming to B&H? An impressive number of tourists, but what sights do they all visit ski resorts or Mostar?
DeleteYou think they visit ski resorts in August? Bosnia has beautiful natural beauty. They escape the hot desert climate to visit the greenery which they long for.
DeleteWhere are they going then which cities? Or resorts?
Delete"the greenery which they long for" koja patetika :D
Deleteit is true. Considering I live in Dubai, I know what I'm talking about.
DeleteSlovenian Anon: they started coming to Bosnia some 4-5 years ago massively, I guess after this mess in Ukraine started and some Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon. They visit mostly Sarajevo, Jajce, Mostar, Travnik, and mostly to avoid the extreme heat they have over there in summer. They visit also ski resorts in the winter, and they spend lots of money. I think this year only there will be more than 150,000 Arab tourists mainly from UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia now when have liberalised the visas for them (only during summer months)
DeleteThank you very much!
DeleteExactly Bosnia os beautiful country and not so hot compared to the gulf and ofc it really helps that Bosnia is a majority muslim country to attract these arab tourist’s
DeleteThose who cannot get a visa or afford Germany,Switzerland and Austria probably come to Bosnia... and there are some political/religious bonding games too
DeleteBosnia could be a hub similar to Belgrade. Flights to Moscow, St Petrburg, Warsawa, Bucharest and or Luton. Thats ir
DeleteThis cutting of Sarajevo flights from Abu Dhabi is absolutely insane! I travel back and forth 7-8 times a year and whether it is November or July, the Wizz Air plane is 80 to 100% packed especially with Omanis (at any point 90% of the flight is GCC or expats and only about 5-10% Bosnians, Croatians or other ex-Yu states passengers). Lots of GCC nationals travel to Sarajevo even outside the summer (June to September) season as many now have homes over there. It is a very popular route and its suspension from Nov 1 2023 until 31 March 2024 is just incomprehensible! If they cut it down to 2-3 times a week from daily, I understand, but completely!? And now Bosnians and GCC nationals will have to fly via Istanbul or Belgrade or Vienna to get to Sarajevo which is rather silly. They said it can be due to the 3 euro per pax airport tax, that it might be political (Orban being closer to Serbia than Bosnia), etc, who knows. But, but, knowing that Wizz Air ABU DHABI is a franchise or joint venture and that basically it is Etihad Airlines painting its planes into Wizz Air and having its staff change uniforms, makes it a further a mystery! They have nothing to do with Wizz Air in Europe just like Wizz Air UK! Lots of questions here and we are yet to get a complete honest answer!
DeleteI still think that Bosnia and Herzegovina has some fault. It's just ridiculous to close two bases and 40 routes....
ReplyDeleteApparently, after the development of Banja Luka, TZL is losing passenger traffic
I explain it like this:
DeleteAfter Banja Luka got new airlines and destinations TZL lost passenger flow.
Opening the base in Sarajevo turns out to be a bad move for TZL as both bases lacked a good LF.
The other reason is the bureaucracy of Tuzla.
Development of Banja Luka? They are also losing Wizz routes and to me it looks like they won't even renew the contract with BNX next summer.
DeleteYes, but I mean that Ryanair is very stable there!
DeleteYes, true, at least they are not cancelling routes left and right.
DeleteHopefully FR grows some more in BNX.
Deletedoubt it. Their german routes perform under average compared to the rest of ExYu. For example NUE had a LF of 78% in June (combined numbers for TZL and BNX).
DeleteYes they are performing so bad that they have daily flights to Memmingen. Stop spreading lies.
DeleteDude im looking into german official statistics and you are telling me to stop lies ???
DeletePls post data here. Thanks in advance.
DeleteBHDCA announced enforcing 1.5€ taxes in TZL and BNX after which all of these carriers cancelled their operations...
DeleteAnonymous 10:31 we are still waiting for data...
DeleteNumbers from BNX to Germany are really good. Is there an airport in ex yu that has daily flights with lcc to Germany. BNX has daily flights to Memmingen.
DeleteAre there other routes suspended in the region? Are we the only ones losing?
ReplyDeleteIt was reported before that they will end TGD-FCO and VIE but they said these will return in summer 2023. They also end INI-MMX.
Delete*summer 2024. INI-MMX also returns next summer.
DeleteAlso Plovdiv-Meminghem but maybe inly for the winter season as TGD.
DeleteThey also cut TSR-VCE flights and they are not bringing them back next summer. Kukes was completely shut down.
DeleteSeems like W6 is withdrawing from smaller, tertiary markets and focusing on larger airports such as BEG, SKP, SOF, BUD...
I am expect more cuts to be present in PRN.
2x weekly CRL-LJU was supposed to be resumed this March but it was discontinued. Also LTN-LJU was reduced from 3x to 2x weekly.
Delete@9.27 how did you knew about PRN. I see FKB and BSL gone
DeleteBecause I know from an inside source the PRN isn't performing that well for them. Yields are absolute trash. That's why they are terminating two routes.
DeletePRN will be a slightly better version of SJJ. They had their apex in covid but that's long gone now.
So they will have 37 weekly fewer flights from BiH or if you include the return flights that 74 fewer flights per week. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteThey are clearly in trouble.
ReplyDeleteClearly in trouble because they are cutting routes from what is highly likely a low yielding market, particularly in winter?
DeleteExactly. mainly with two weeks lead time. That's not normal business.
DeleteSeems like Wizz is completely retreating from Bosnia.
ReplyDeleteWizzair is the only one that cancels flights. see the Sarajevo Airport page. Even without Wizzair, there are more flights every day than last year.
Delete^ But as it seems, less passengers.
DeleteBosnia and Herzegovina will have more tourists this year than any previous year. The diaspora is coming as before. This with Wizzair has some other reasons.
DeleteBut passenger numbers in Sarajevo are down compared to last year.
DeleteBosnian diaspora is a bit compex being. The diaspora that had to leave in the 90s rarely comes back and mostly for administrative purposes (this is my impression from Bavarian Bosnian diaspora). The younger diaspora do come back but its not enough obv.
Delete@9.49 yes its always for some other reasons
DeleteAir Arabia also discontinued Abu Dhabi - Sarajevo a year ago.
ReplyDeleteBecause of WizzAir .
DeleteSad
ReplyDeleteWe go back to 2010. But at least there was B&H Airlines then.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is that no one seems to be rushing to replace them.
ReplyDeleteWrite them off. Now often required to focus on more OS, LH, TK, PC, LO, JU, OU. But any new route is welcome. I sincerely hope that Eurowings and Norwegian will launch at least two destinations.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, Fly Bosnia would be useful at this point even if it was only 3-4 destinations (like Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Berlin, Paris).
ReplyDeleteLondon Luton will succeed. Demand is there, yield in order, perks from SJJ available and new incentives from Sarajevo canton will ensure profitability of this route all year round.
DeleteWithout Russia wont sucseed.. otherwise flights would be full btw
DeleteI'm waiting for Luton to be cancelled next!
ReplyDeleteSame!
DeleteNot good at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on!?!
ReplyDeleteFinancial capitalism at its best, that is what’s happening
DeleteWhat are they supposed to do, fly empty planes?
DeleteShould Tuzla or Sarajevo start the search for a new carrier.
ReplyDeleteShould have started a while ago.
DeleteWizz air have no choice but to reorganise their operations across Europe. They did a good job in Bosnia. At SJJ they will do very well regardless. When it comes to Tuzla it remains to be seen. For the moment the best of what Tuzla can do is to re-establish some flights for 2024 summer season with different carriers. No need to be so much in a hurry in order to make desperate decisions. Potential is there.
ReplyDeleteTZL should install runaway lights, Finnish 3rd gate, and other infrastructure
DeleteThe moment Wizz terminated AUH-SJJ they increased winter flights to BEG from 2 to 4. What we are seeing here is them focusing more on BEG in the region where yields and volumes are much, much better.
ReplyDeleteSJJ needs to do some soulsearching and to find a way out of this situation. OK?
Ok, we will. Thank you for letting us know!
DeleteNo problem my friend, it's obvious that someone has to let you know because your aviation is currently in a free fall. You are performing worse than Slovenia!
DeleteImagine tying your identity to how the local airport is performing. I myself prefer a bakery sales.
DeleteAnon 10:57, true, but aviation always has its ups and downs, and its nothing tragic :) What is important is that SJJ is performing better than the pre-pandemic 2019, that the airport is in a big expansion, and that Bosnia has never had more foreign tourists than this year :)
DeleteYou think this is just part of ups and downs? This is cataclysmic.
Deletelol, sure....
Delete@Bosnian oh well you always spin it the way you like
Delete@anon 11:17
DeleteHahaha!!
SJJ is doing very well. AUH-SJJ will be discontinued anyway. Things may change in the future, but comparing BEG and SJJ is not justified by all means. The best thing of what in SJJ they do is not comparing their potential with other airports in the region. Best days for SJJ are yet to come.
ReplyDeleteHow is SJJ doing "very well" when passenger numbers are below that of last year?
DeleteAnd the number of routes is dwindling every day
DeleteLele koje novosti danas, BiH not stonks
ReplyDeletePassenger numbers are not essential merit of whether airport is doing well. Having a 1 million of high yield passengers or 2 million low yield is not the same. Secondly there is ongoing development at SJJ. For the first time in many years SJJ airport is investing heavily into bringing new facilities and services. Having said that, all funds invested are from SJJ bank account without anyone’s helping hand. More is to come, along with new airliners and destinations for the summer 2024. Main focus in this forum is ‘comparing’ what is completely wrong. After all, we all know what is the best, reasonable and possible at the moment in our garden, rather wishing to have of what others have. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteComparing passenger numbers of the same airport this year compared to last year is completely valid, and the nunbers are not good. The airport lacks flights to almost all major European capital cities and situation is far from rosy, not matter the way you spin it. The airport's management came to the genius idea of signing a contract with a non European airline to open a base to fly to European cities, lacking the basic of knowledge that this is not possible. The airport's PR was on TV 10 dqys ago. When asked are there any new flights she proudly excalimed "We have these delayed flights from Podgorica launching". Genious work.
DeleteThat’s bad
ReplyDeleteAgain, comparing. World events are not bringing the same results for the same airport. There is one detail above towards the end, of what is possible and reasonable at the moment. It is easy to stand aside and judge from personal prospective without accurate information. Situations and places are far from perfect, so do we. Management made an effort to do something different by trying to sign in an airliner from outside EU and they they didn't succeed. Nothing wrong with that. They didn’t sit and wait for things. They work behind the scene to deliver results no matter how small it could be. This is how results materialise in a long run. Ryanair could come easy and have it all of mentioned above regarding connectivity. Of course under condition for millions of euros in subsidies and freebies under their terms. At some point Ryanair may behave like they are in charge of the airport. Im very glad SJJ stood its ground for any airline with an offer and approach as this.
ReplyDeleteRyanair will come without subsidies if there's money to be made. In Bosnia there is no money to be made so the choice is simple: pay Wizz/Ryanair or lose almost all your traffic.
DeleteAn infant child could have told you that a non European airline can not fly from Sarajevo to EU markets. Obviously the professional management under the advisership of Alen Scuric was not aware of this. They wasted months on this instead of trying to find an actual solution that could work.
DeleteI am wondering what results have been achieved in the last year? And spare me the extended terminal which was supposed to be opened in winter 2019 and it is now the end of summer 2023 and it is still not complete. Entirely new airports have been built in a shorter period of time and covid is absolutely no excuse. Wizz Air came and it left within months, the management didn't retain them and their PR goes on TV and says "we have absolutely no idea why they left but we have the DELAYED flights from Podgorica" (I laughed when I heard that as I don't understand why someone would highlight that the flights launched 1 month late). There are no flights to Paris, Rome, Brussels, Munich and these are the basics. Middle East boom which had nothing to do with the airport but in actual fact with covid is also coming to an end and it will get significantly worse as Kuwait and Qatar will have visas abolished for the EU next year.
DeleteMr Alen Scuric is aviation enthusiast. This is pretty much it. Same as you me or anyone else in this forum. Hope this helps. Again, nothing wrong of trying different things and look outside the box.
DeleteGreat, good luck with him being the mentor to Sarajevo Airport's management. It is certainly out of the box and the results so far are amazing.
DeleteThere is nothing "out of the box" with a non EU airline opening a base in Sarajevo to fly routes to EU. It is not possible under EU legislation. It's not called out of the box it is called being stupid or not knowing basic EU aviation legislation.
DeleteMr Alen Scuric is not mentor for SJJ. At SJJ there is a proper management in place. Passenger numbers may not be the same as last year, but financial results are very solid and above. This will ensure continuous investment, development and prosperous future for SJJ. Thanks for your best wishes. It’s appreciated.
DeleteAbrakadabra!
DeleteMany successful leaders out there had to do many so called ‘stupid’ things before they became at the Top of their game.
DeleteI don't know how you don't understand that a non EU airline can not fly SJJ-EU. If you think wasting 6 months on this because the management was not aware of this was smart thinking then good for you.
DeleteIt is unfortunate that Mr. "analyst" presents himself as an "expert" but in reality he is, let's use mild words, very, very far from it.
DeleteNot to mention all those fake news his portal announced.
We don’t really know what were the details of those negotiations. There were bits and pieces displayed to the public. Some of them correct or incorrect. As a consequence, there were many negative comments regarding this issue. This is also good experience for the airport management. They have had good intentions and it’s not fair to blame them for that. Things get carried away sometimes. No place is perfect regardless of its reputation. Perhaps next time say nothing and once things are done bring the good news.
DeleteNothing was done.
DeleteHis portal have some interesting topics. Unfortunately, the way he communicates with public is not appropriate. Who knows some day maybe he change his ways. Good luck to him.
DeleteAviation consulting experts typically have extensive background in academia, research, running large airlines etc. None of his "analysis" would ever qualify for Univeristy-level transportation curriculum or research papers.
DeleteI giggle everytime i read "prema xxxxData"
DeletexxxxData is ALWAYS wrong. I corrected him so many times and he always deletes my comments. He deserves the ridicule he gets.
DeleteYes, even today he wrote that JU flies FRA-BEG 6pw. Even when he is corrected he does not publish comments.
DeleteMatter of crazy, false pride.
That's what I call optimism!
ReplyDeleteEven though not based on reality, but still optimism.
SJJ have solid future regardless. Passengers have choice to go places anywhere around the world with good connections from LH/LX/OS/TK/FZ-EK/OR. If someone wants more BEG and ZAG are near by.
ReplyDelete+10000
DeleteConnecting Sarajevo and Tuzla with destinations in Germany and the Scandinavian countries is essential!
ReplyDeleteHow many daily flights are we losing? 5 out of 6?
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me which airlines have increased their flights to Sarajevo this summer?
ReplyDeleteTurkish, Flydubai, Kuwait, Jazeera, SalamAir Wizz Abu Dhabi and so on
DeleteNew routes by Norwegian and Eurowings will be super!
ReplyDeleteHopefully next year we might see Vueling and go to amazing Barcelona any time all year round:-)
ReplyDeleteThings are not going well for Wizzair, those massive cancellations in many other places are not normal. Why aren´t Ryanair or easyJet cancelling that much? All this happened when they began expanding eastwards. This is why I think Ryanair do not want to do the same and focus entirely on Europe, Morocco and Israel.
ReplyDeleteOnly Wizz air knows how they managed to put themselves into this scenario. But the good news is, they did look after our Bosnian colleagues who were working for them.
ReplyDeletePristina-Baden-Baden and Pristina-Basel had Wizz air also cancelled
ReplyDeleteOhrid basel too
DeleteAfter a whole day of working on it, I came to the conclusion that the situation is not so complicated.
ReplyDeleteI do a brief analysis of airports 6 years ago and now.
2016
SJJ - same as now but no Gulf flights.
TZL - have a base with 15 destinations
Banja Luka - Have only JU.
2023
SJJ better than 2016 with more flights.
TZL only 3 destinations from W6.
Banja Luka - You already have Ryanair and other airlines like TZL in 2016.
I come to the conclusion that Banja Luka is the new Tuzla. W6 only came to SJJ because of the subsidies, but I could see LF being low and directly affecting TZL. So today, due to bureaucratic problems with the purchase, the W6 was withdrawn. So Banja Luka is the new TZL, SJJ and TZL potential is 50% LF. So the A320 is big for those cities
Thats apsolutely not true that the LF is 50% LMFAO
DeleteI come to the conclusion that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about
DeleteAnon 21.10, I agree what you wrote
ReplyDeleteEvery day wizz abu Dhabi to and from sjj has 200+ pax per flight, there is no day in their operation below 190+ passengers, so this decision to cut flights is really strange but they had massive blow from Jazeera because Jazeera took a lot of passengers from wizz, because Jazeera is going 2x daily and wizz only 1x
ReplyDeleteOk fellas, couple things:
ReplyDeleteYes, load factor is amazing on sjj flights, we fly with 200+ pax.
Few problems:
Company is running out of NEOs in AUH due to horrible reliability in sand and heat. Replacing more and more with CEOs, but they don't have the range to go to SJJ, and performance i case of single engine Go Around is not good enough (lower eng power vs NEO)
Next is number of diversions at SJJ in winter, due fog and wizz not being approved for lower minima ILS approach due to Bosnian caa dragging its feet on that issue.
Wizz is ULCC, profit margins are ultra thin, and a single diversion costing tens of thousands of EUR is disastrous. And when you have 2 per week it's nonsensical to fly, because it's a huge loss.
These are some more obvious factors, who knows what else is there
So this decision to cut flights during the fog months is actually very prudent, in this current situation.
DeleteI thought the range on a CEO is around 5,500km while AUH to Sarajevo is around 4,000KM? Not flying in December due to fog makes sense...
Delete