The Tuzla Canton government has concluded a tender to subsidise carriers for the launch of new routes from the local airport, with Greece’s Lumiwings having submitted the best bid, according to local media reports. The other carrier to have applied was Air Montenegro. According to the “Klix” portal, the Greek carrier is likely to station an aircraft in Tuzla by the end of the year and introduce flights to cities in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and Turkey. An agreement between Tuzla Airport and the airline is to be signed in the coming days, after which its plans will be officially unveiled.
Lumiwings has become better known in the region recently, after it operated seasonal two-weekly flights from Foggia in Italy to Mostar this year. In 2022, its aircraft were wet-leased by Air Serbia. The airline currently boasts a fleet of two aircraft - a Boeing 737-700 and a recently delivered Embraer E195 jet. The company has said the latter would be used to expand its operations. Last week, it retired its sole Boeing 737-300 jet. Despite being registered in Greece, Lumiwings’ operations are primarily focused on Italy.
Air Montenegro, which had previously hoped to set up a base in Tuzla and launch ten routes, has been unable to secure permits to operate from the city to most EU markets, as it Is a carrier from outside both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the block. The Tuzla Canton government has allocated roughly 1.27 million euros in subsidies for the launch of new routes. The terms and conditions of the tender, which concluded last Monday, were not made public. Tuzla Airport handled just 18.825 passengers in October, down 65.2% on the pre-pandemic 2019 as it deals with the impact of Wizz Air’s base closure from mid-September which resulted in the termination of most of its routes out of the city. During the January – October period, Tuzla Airport welcomed 550.587 travellers.
To be honest the E195 would be perfect for Tuzla.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYes but it will they base the E195 or the B737 in TZL?
DeleteMy guess is 195, as the Foggia base has only 2 flights max per day, so 737 should be more useful there considering its age
DeleteBetter something than nothing.
ReplyDeleteThey managed to find a replacement relatively quickly, considering TZL said itself they were surprised by Wizz Air's departure.
DeleteWizzair is just like a cat: so unpredictable. They recently launched flights to Turkistan (!). The Balkans including BiH are no longer their priority.
DeleteTurkistan?
DeleteNo such country
I don't think the Balkans were ever a priority for them. At some point they saw they could make some money in the region and launched flights but when you compare to what they have done at their Abu Dhabi base in just 3 years compared to what they have done in the Balkans in the last 10, you see they never really put much thought into it.
Delete@9.20
DeleteIt is a city in Kazakhstan
What does Turkistan have to do with anything 😂? And I guess we'll completely disregard their operations in Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania. Yup, that's nothing.
DeleteWizz Air has 10 planes based in TIA, 6 in SOF, 5 in SKP, 4 in BEG, 2 in Varna, 14 in OTP, 2 in Craiova and Timisoara, 6 in Cluj, 5 in Iasi and one in Sibiu. That is 1/3 of their operating fleet. Not to mention the flights to Ohrid, Nis, Pristina, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Plovdiv, Burgas, Targu Mures, Suceava, Brasov, Bacau, Constanta…as well as summer flights to Split, Dubrovnik and Greece.
DeleteAt least it is some sort of replacement from Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteAnd unlike some they have EU AOC so it should be fairly straightforward
ReplyDeleteWhich routes will they launch?
ReplyDelete"introduce flights to cities in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and Turkey"
DeleteI read that but I meant which cities in those countries?
DeleteMy guess - Gothenburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Maastricht, Cologne, Istanbul
DeleteI think each will be 2x weekly
DeleteMST confirmed by Tuzla Airport
DeleteThe tickets are already on sale for these cities; Stockholm, Halmstad, Maastrich, Saarbrucken i Esbjerg.
DeleteAnd a year ago no one even heard of Lumiwings in these parts. Now they become an important player :D
ReplyDeleteSame with Marathon Airlines. There is suddenly this sudden new trend to look for some strange Greek airlines.
DeleteAs long as someone is, that's good.
DeleteThe subsidies worked
ReplyDeleteHope the management at Tuzla Airport is a bit smarter now and won't just sit back. They need to find more airlines so they don't have a repeat like with Wizz Air where one airline controls all the traffic.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air hasn't completely withdrawn and they continue to fly 3 routes.
DeleteWhy doesn't TZL persuade Animawings instead of Lumiwings? They seem to have downsized quite a lot in Romania as it apparently didn't work for them for strange reasons. After all they are run by Aegean.
ReplyDeleteIf Romania didn't work for them, I thin there is even less of a chance for Bosnia to work for them.
Delete* think
DeleteAegean just has Animawings for Greek destinations only out of Bucharest that's what I understand. Also I don't think they're performing that bad... they're launching an Animawings App which is impressive.. Also summer destinations to HER, KGS, JTR, ZTH, EFL, CFU, RHO, CHQ basically every Greek destination out of OTP that doesn't seem bad. So finally BiH is not for them Aegean doesn't even operate direct ATH-SJJ flights...
DeleteThey probably have one of the nicest looking websites around, so clean and easy for the eyes
ReplyDeleteGood luck Tuzla. I'm happy they managed to find a replacement for Wizz.
ReplyDeleteLumiwigs is an international airline. They have an office in Greece and Italy. Hope they open an office in B&H as well. Thus we will have a new Bosnian airline. 😁😁😁😁
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Wizz Air hasn't applied.
ReplyDeleteWell it makes sense, they just pulled out.
DeleteThey pulled out of Sarajevo too but they applied for subsidies.
DeleteCondition for Tuzla subsidies was opening a base. In Sarajevo subsidies are given for opening new destinations.
DeleteI didn't realise there were European airlines still using Boeing 737-300 in 2023.
ReplyDeleteTheir B737-300 was 32 years old!
DeleteFlew with it last year :D it was in a surprisingly good state.
DeleteUtair, Belavia, Air Bucharest, SCAT.
DeleteMaleth Aero, GP Aviation Switzerland
DeleteAir Horizond
DeleteJet2.com
DeleteLet´s just hope management won´t pushed them away with freshly made up bull*hit tax and actually roll up their sleevs to finally make TZL look like and actual airport.
ReplyDeletepush*
DeleteAgree. The everchanging managements at TZL is the airport's own worst enemy.
Delete2024 will be a renaissance year for aviation in Bosnia&Herzegovina.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely
DeleteHoping it works out
ReplyDeleteWill they still keep flying to Mostar then?
ReplyDeleteLove it
ReplyDeleteI hope the prices will be competitive. Lumiwings isn't an LCC
ReplyDeleteWhat will be the number of destinations.
ReplyDeleteCan they start by the end of the year?
ReplyDeleteThey announced flights towards EU can be launched by the end of the year, except for Istanbul (2 weeks more). Highly doubt it but lets see.
DeleteI think it‘s bureaucratic from many EU countries that they didn’t give permits to air Montenegro. If airlines from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium etc are not interested to launch Tuzla flights let Air Montenegro launch Tuzla flights. They inderectly are saying we are not interested to invest in Tuzla flights but we also do not want that Air Montenegro is gonna make money so we don’t give permits.
ReplyDeleteOfc now this Greek airline applied but it’s still not fair towards Air Montenegro. I think there should be a new EU law that only allows countries to refuse giving permits to airlines if there is a serious reason as safety or political issues. This is pure protectionism and nothing to do with capitalism.
Air Montenegro does not have an EU AOC.
DeleteIt was refused permits for the same reason TK or EK would be refused if they wanted to launch flights from TZL to an EU destination.
The only worrying thing is that if aircraft breaks down, they don't have a replacement at all
ReplyDeleteIf they'll continue their Italy charters they'll need to increase their fleet accordingly.
DeleteAnd if the TZL routes prove successful maybe base a 2nd aircraft there.
The E195 seems perfect for our region.
They are a Greek airline focused on Italy with two airplanes, and now they will take one of those two airplanes and use it to operate flights from Tuzla to Scandinavia. Makes every sense. Another candidate for a codeshare with Maribor to China flights
ReplyDeleteSorry but you can't compare this Greek airline that actually exists with this Slovenia China nonsense lol.
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