Summer changes for Adria, B&H and Montenegro Airlines

Tomorrow, the 2012 Northern Hemisphere summer season begins. Following on from last week, when changes and additions were published for Croatia Airlines and Jat Airways, this week amendments for Adria Airways, B&H Airlines and Montenegro Airlines can be viewed.

Adria Airways’ summer season sees a big reduction in operations compared to last year. Flights to Paris, Warsaw, Toulon and Banja Luka were all suspended last year. Seasonal flights to Athens, Dublin, Kiev and Stockholm won’t be resuming this summer. The airline will reduce frequencies on regional flights with services to Priština, Tirana and Skopje taking a hit. On the other hand, the Slovenian carrier will launch new flights to London Luton Airport, increase frequencies to Copenhagen and operate numerous charters.

B&H Airlines will operate flights only to Istanbul, Copenhagen and Zurich via Banja Luka. The airline currently has a single ATR72 in operation. However, if its Turkish part owner manages to make amends with the Bosnian government other aircraft could be returned to the B&H fleet which would lead to some destinations being resumed.

Finally, Montenegro Airlines will reduce frequencies to several destinations. The most notable is a reduction of nine weekly flights from Podgorica to Zurich. The airline will also halve the number of flights to Moscow. However, the Montenegrin carrier will introduce a new service from Tivat to London Gatwick and will strengthen frequencies to Paris.

By clicking on the links below, you can view the 2012 summer season changes in more detail.

Adria Airways • B&H Airlines • Croatia Airlines • Jat Airways • Montenegro Airlines

Interest from low cost airlines to fly to Sarajevo Airport

Sarajevo could soon see low cost flights from London, Rome and Dusseldorf as the Bosnian government relaxes its conditions towards no frills airlines. The government currently requires low cost airlines to pay a levy of ten euros per passenger in order to operate flights to the country. Until recently, the levy amounted to fifteen euros but the state government gave up on its share of the takings while the Federation government is expected to follow suit. According to the Al Jazeera Balkans network, interest has been shown for flights to commence from London, Rome, Dusseldorf and a city in Sweden to Sarajevo this summer. Recently, the low cost Austrian airline Niki, owned by Air Berlin, said it was evaluating the Bosnian market.

New airlines would be more than welcomed by airports in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In February, the country’s busiest airport, Sarajevo, suffered a 21% passenger decrease by handling only 26.278 passengers. During the month the airport was affected by bad weather but also B&H Airlines’ route suspensions. However, the full brunt of the carrier’s woes is to be felt at the airport in March. Currently, B&H operates a single daily flight to Istanbul with an ATR72. During February, Banja Luka Airport welcomed 424 passengers and Mostar 318. Tuzla did not manage to attract any passengers last month.

Sarajevo Airport is served by two low cost airlines - Germanwings and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Norwegian operates flights on a seasonal basis and will be resuming services from Oslo and Stockholm to the Bosnian capital this summer. On top of its all year round service from Cologne, Germanwings will resume seasonal flights from Stuttgart to Sarajevo this summer as well.

New look seats on Croatia Airlines A319s

Croatia Airlines has begun rolling out its new economy class cabins in its Airbus A319 jets. The cabins feature the Lufthansa Recaro designed slim seats. According to the Croatian carrier, the new seats will provide more comfort to passengers. However, the airline plans to save with the introduction of the new design. Since the seats weigh only five kilograms each, the carrier will save on fuel. Furthermore, Croatia Airlines will be able to introduce an additional two rows of seating.

The new economy class cabin is featured on all four of Croatia Airlines’ Airbus A319s. Although there were plans to introduce the new seats on its A320s as well, it was decided against the move as the aircraft will soon be leaving the Croatia Airlines fleet. The airline also says the new cabins will be enhanced by new catering, to be introduced this summer season, which sets to promote Croatian cuisine.

Meanwhile, Croatia Airlines will have to compete on its Zagreb to Barcelona service this summer as the Spanish airline Vueling has announced three weekly flights between the two cities. Services will be launched on June 22 and will operate on a seasonal basis until September 17. Vueling replaces the recently bankrupt Spanair which used to operate on the route. Flight details can be viewed here. The Spanish national carrier Iberia will also operate seasonal flights to the Croatian capital. Flights from Madrid to Zagreb are set to operate twice per week until September 16. Details are available here.

From MAT Airways to Kon Tiki Sky to Alfa Air

Kon Tiki Sky (branded as MAT Airways), led by disgraced Dutch businessmen Harry van Achteren, has found a way to operate flights out of Skopje as Serbian tour operator Kon Tiki Travel confirmed it has sold its stake in MAT Airways to Bays Air from the Netherlands and has no connection to Kon Tiki Sky. Last week, Kon Tiki Sky announced it would launch fourteen new destinations out of Skopje but later noted the mentioned destinations were only a list of cities the airline would wish to fly to since it did not receive a license from the Macedonian Civil Aviation Directorate.

However, it has now found a solution. Kon Tiki will operate under Alfa Air codes, which is an airline based in Romania. It will use its aircraft as well (pictured above). As a result, the MAT Airways Boeing 737-500 won’t be used. Kon Tiki Sky says it will launch low cost flights from Skopje to Basel (5 times per week), Dusseldorf (3X p/w), Stuttgart (2X p/w), Hamburg (2X p/w), Berlin (2X p/w), Malmo (2X p/w) and Istanbul (2X p/w) from April 30. From May 28 the airline will launch services to Ancona (3X p/w), Milan (3X p/w), Bologna (3X p/w), Rome (4X p/w), Trieste (4X p/w) and Bratislava (4X p/w). All flights will operate with two Alfa Air British Aerospace RJ85 jets.

According to Kon Tiki Sky reservations can already be made. Ticket prices, which start from 45 euros, can already be seen on the airline’s website but are still unavailable for online purchase. If the flights do go ahead they should help boost Skopje Airport and its passenger numbers. Kon Tiki Sky will also be up for a chance to receive government subsidies designated for low cost airlines.

Summer changes for Croatia Airlines and Jat

On March 25 the 2012 summer season begins. Croatia Airlines and Jat Airways will both introduce new routes and increase frequencies.

Croatia Airlines has kept its summer frequencies out of Zagreb similar to last year, however, there will be some small cuts to flights in the EX-YU region. The Croatian national carrier will cut one flight each to Priština, Sarajevo and Skopje. Istanbul will see an addition of three weekly flights compared to last summer season. The airline will introduce a new service from Split to Belgrade, Rijeka to Barcelona and new flights from Zadar to Frankfurt and Paris.

Jat Airways will be increasing frequencies to most key destinations. Services to Moscow and Zuirch will see a boost of three flights with the two cities to be served ten times per week. Flights to Brussels have now been separated from the Amsterdam service and passengers will be offered a total of five weekly flights. The airline introduces new destinations this summer to London Gatwick, Malta, Pula and Split.

By clicking on the links below, you can view the 2012 summer season changes in more detail. Note that the tables display the peak weekly frequencies for each destination during the summer (keep this in mind especially for domestic flights within Croatia and flights between Belgrade - Tivat - Podgorica as some services operate only for several weeks). Over the next week the 2012 summer season changes for Adria Airways, B&H Airlines and Montenegro Airlines will also be published.

Croatia Airlines • Jat Airways

More passengers and new control tower for Belgrade

The Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency has announced that it will finance the construction of a new control tower at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Construction will begin next year and is set to be completed by 2014. According to the agency, the land on which the tower will be built has been selected and work on the project design is now in progress. The new tower will stand at 52 metres tall. The current air control tower, being used at Serbia’s busiest airport, was built back in 1962. In 2010 the multi million euro Air Control Centre was opened within the airport complex.

Meanwhile, Belgrade Airport continued to report growth in 2012. In February the airport welcomed 173.606 passengers, an increase of 6.6% compared to the same month last year when it handled 162.813 passengers. The airport was served almost by the same amount of flights - 2.988 compared to last year’s 3.010. In the first two months of the year, Nikola Tesla Airport welcomed 388.185 passengers through its doors, an increase of 13.7% compared to the same period last year.

This summer, Belgrade will see new Croatia Airlines flights to Split which replace Dubrovnik from last year, new flights from Copenhagen by Norwegian Air Shuttle, a 23% increase in flights from Jat Airways while Air One and Qatar Airways will also launch flights to the Serbian capital this summer season.

Scam master running Kon Tiki Sky

Kon Tiki Sky, also known as MAT Airways, which recently announced the launch of fourteen new destinations from Skopje, says it has not obtained a license for any of its advertised flights. It has emerged that Kon Tiki Sky is no longer owned or run by the Serbian tour operator Kon Tiki, rather, it has been taken over by Harry van Achteren, who has been involved in several scandals and bankruptcies. The airline has advertised low cost flights from Skopje to Antwerp, Ancona, Bologna, Bratislava, Basel, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Rome, Milan, Trieste, Stuttgart, Istanbul and Malmo.

However, on its website the airline states, “Kon Tiki Sky was not yet able to negotiate commercial terms, with Skopje Airport and/or local authorities, justifying the start of its scheduled routes out of an “emerging market” like Macedonia. Under the chapter “Coming Soon” on our website we mentioned all of the routes Kon Tiki Sky would like to operate out of Skopje”.

In 2004, Harry van Achteren set up jetsSky.com in his native Netherlands. The airline never took off the ground but sold “ghost” flights via its website, meaning it sold tickets for nonexistent flights. Last year van Achteren was arrested on fraud charges in connection to the collapse of the Antwerp Container Repair & Trading Company. Skopje Airport, which has already seen strong growth at the start of 2012, could have significantly profited from the above mentioned flights which were advertised to begin from May 1.

Snow hits Jat’s passenger numbers

Jat Airways has seen its passenger numbers stumble for the first time in over a year as snow storms and numerous cancellations take their toll. This February Jat handled 62.289 passengers, down 9% on the same month last year. The number of flights operated in February 2012 fell 10%. During the month, numerous flights were cancelled to one of Jat’s busiest markets - Montenegro. As a result, passenger numbers fell 33% on services to Podgorica and Tivat. On Euro Mediterranean flights passenger numbers decreased 5%, while Jat handled 37% more passengers on charter flights compared to February 2011.

So far this year, Jat Airways has welcomed 137.197 passengers onboard, the same as last year. The average cabin load factor for the two months stood at 63%, which is six points ahead of the same period last year. Despite February 2012 having an extra day, as it is a leap year, the three busiest airlines of the former Yugoslavia saw their passenger figures decline. Adria Airways saw its numbers slump due to a decrease in the number of operated flights while Croatia Airlines and Jat were forced to cancel flights due to bad weather.

Meanwhile, Jat has announced that it will resume its seasonal services to Girona in Spain this summer. Flights will launch on June 5, twice per week, with a Boeing 737-300. The aircraft will have an all economy class layout with 126 seats. As a result, this summer, besides Girona, Jat resumes flights to Malta, Dubrovnik, Pula, Split, Ohrid and launches London Gatwick.

Month	PAX	Change (%)	Average load factor (%)
JAN	74.908	▲ 8	66
FEB	62.289	▼9	63

Crisis hit B&H Airlines suspends all flights

B&H Airlines has suspended all operations until further notice but has not ceased the sale of tickets to Zurich, Istanbul and Copenhagen. The airline is currently scheduled to resume operations to Istanbul on March 13, according to the Amadeus global ticketing system. However, the Bosnian carrier has suspended its planned seasonal flights to Gothenburg and Stockholm. It comes a week after it indefinitely suspended services to Amsterdam.

Currently, B&H Airlines does not have an aircraft in Sarajevo. Its two ATR72s are in Monchengladbach in Germany’s west. The ATR registered E7-AAD left weeks ago while the other, E7-AAE, took off for Monchengladbach on March 9. They are officially there for regular maintenance. Meanwhile, the Airbus A319 has been grounded in Istanbul since February 27. The government maintains that it too is undergoing technical checks.

It is believed that recent talks between Turkish Airlines’ management, the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Turkish ambassador in Sarajevo and B&H Airlines’ management broke down earlier in the week. The Bosnian daily “Oslobodjenje” reports that B&H’s part owners, Turkish Airlines, have requested for the Bosnian government to cover debt which has been accumulated by the carrier. Turkish maintains it took over B&H not to make a profit but rather to help the struggling airline back in 2008. The government says it no longer has the means to finance its national carrier. It has ordered B&H Airlines to draft a business plan for 2012 after which talks with Turkish Airlines could resume. Whether B&H can bounce back remains to be seen.

MAT to launch fourteen destinations from Skopje

The charter airline MAT Airways will resume operations from Skopje for the first time since August 2011. The airline, owned by the Serbian tour operator Kon Tiki, will launch fourteen destinations from May 1. The carrier will first inaugurate two weekly flights to Antwerp in Belgium. Just over a month later, on June 18, Mat Airways will launch flights to Ancona (3 times per week), Milan-Bergamo (3 p/w), Bologna (3 p/w), Rome (4 p/w), Trieste (4 p/w), Bratislava (4 p/w), Basel (5 p/w), Dusseldorf (3 p/w), Stuttgart (2 p/w), Hamburg (2 p/w), Berlin (2 p/w) Malmo (2 p/w) and Istanbul-Sabiha Gokcen (2 p/w).

The airline owns a sole Boeing 737-500 but is also likely to use Sky Wings International’s Boeing 737-300, which has been sitting at Skopje Airport for months. MAT operated flights last summer but suspended operations due to poor loads in August. The new flights can be booked via the airline’s website. Prices start from 45 euros. MAT could also be interested in applying for subsidies to be offered by the Macedonian government for low cost airlines.

If the flights get off to a successful start it will be a major coup for Skopje Airport which has already seen strong growth this year. In February, Macedonia’s two commercial airports (Skopje and Ohrid) handled 49.031 passengers, an increase of 22% compared to the same month last year. It was accompanied by a 4% increase in the number of operated flights to and from the airports. Recently, Skopje Alexander the Great Airport finally received a public transport bus link to the city centre, allowing passengers easier access to the country’s main airport.

B&H cancels all flights

B&H Airlines has cancelled all flights as its ATR72 leaves for Germany. Officially the aircraft has joined the other B&H Airlines ATR72 for maintenance. The airline’s Airbus A319 is grounded in Istanbul. As a result, the Bosnian carrier has cancelled all operations until further notice.

Soon in Belgrade

Qatar Airways will launch services to Belgrade in September this year, connecting the capitals of Qatar and Serbia with an air link for the first time in history. The Qatari national carrier will operate four weekly flights to Belgrade, the airline’s CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said at the ITB Convention in Berlin yesterday. Flights will operate via the Turkish capital Ankara, four times per week with an Airbus A320. It is highly unlikely that the airline will receive commercial rights on the Ankara - Belgrade - Ankara sector. Passengers most likely to use the service are those transiting to far east Asia and Australia.

The news comes as the Qatari national carrier plans to launch services to the Croatian capital Zagreb on May 9. The flights to Zagreb will operate on a daily basis via Budapest. The airline does not have local traffic rights on the Budapest - Zagreb - Budapest sector.

From September, Qatar Airways will go into indirect competition with the no frills Fly Dubai which will be operating five weekly nonstop flights from Dubai to Belgrade this coming summer season. Jat Airways, which planned to resume services to Dubai this summer has decided against the move for reasons unknown. However, Jat will have the most competition on its hands. Fly Dubai has failed to attract transit passengers and is being used primarily by point to point travellers. On the other hand, Jat, which continues to enjoy strong cooperation with Emirates, has simply rerouted its passengers transiting to Australia via European cities served by Emirates rather than directly via Dubai since it suspended flights to the city in November 2011.

Soon in Belgrade

The Croatian national carrier will compete against Jat Airways on the Split - Belgrade service this summer season, a source close to the airline says. Croatia Airlines has applied for a license from the Serbian Aviation Directorate. The flights will replace last year’s summer service from Dubrovnik to Belgrade. They are to be operated by the Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft.

This summer season, Jat Airways will operate two weekly flights between the Serbian capital and Split. In 2011, the two airlines went head to head on the Belgrade - Dubrovnik line twice per week. The Serbian national carrier on average, per flight, carried approximately 45 passengers on its 66 seat ATR72, while an average of 30 passengers chose Croatia Airlines. However, flights were sold out during peak season. So far, Jat has been selling return tickets for its Split service at a price of between 113 and 130 euros.

This summer will see the most air links between Croatia and Serbia since the breakup of Yugoslavia, with services between Pula, Split, Dubrovnik and Belgrade. During the 1980s the Belgrade - Dubrovnik flights were JAT Yugoslav Airlines’ most popular with thousands of passenger per year.

UPDATE

Since the publication of this news item Croatia Airlines has officially confirmed it will launch services between Split and Belgrade, twice per week, every Monday and Friday from June 1. Flight details can be viewed here.

Soon in Sarajevo

The Austrian low cost airline Niki, now owned by Air Berlin, plans to introduce flights to Sarajevo, its Managing Director, Christian Lajsek says. The airline is in the process of evaluating the Bosnian market but also other countries in the Balkans, with Tirana mentioned as a possible addition to its network. Speaking to “ATW Daily News”, Lajsek says its network expansion will take place after Air Berlin enters the One World alliance on March 20. For the past year rumours have been circulating that Air Berlin is considering launching flights from Dusseldorf to Sarajevo.

A new service from Vienna would be warmly welcomed by passengers and would mark the end to Austrian Airlines’ monopoly on the route. When B&H Airlines announced its plans to resume services to Vienna this summer, Austrian was forced to reduce its ticket prices. After news broke last week that the Bosnian national carrier cancelled its planned summer expansion, Austrian inflated its prices. The Austrian national carrier will operate two daily flights between the two cities over the 2012 summer season. Niki’s arrival at Sarajevo would also see the return of a One World alliance airline, following British Airways’ pull out from the Bosnian capital. Currently, nearly all airlines operating to and from Sarajevo are members of Star Alliance.

Air Berlin and Niki are present in the region. The two airlines operate flights to Priština, Skopje and Belgrade and seasonal flights to the Croatian coast as well as Tivat in Montenegro. Lufthansa’s Germanwings is the only low cost airline operating all year round services to Sarajevo. During the summer Norwegian Air Shuttle operates flights from Stockholm and Oslo.

Soon in Mostar

The Italian airline Air Vallée will commence seasonal summer flights from Abruzzo Airport near Pescara, on Italy’s eastern coast to Mostar from April 1. The decision was reached after successful talks were held between the city of Mostar, Mostar Airport, tour operators and Abruzzo Airport. Services will operate twice per week, every Monday and Friday until the end of the summer season. As a result, a total 52 flights will be operated. A total of 54 seats per flights will be pre-booked by tour operators while the rest will go on sale.

Lucio Laureti, the head of SAGA, which operates Abruzzo Airport, told local media, “For the moment flights to Mostar will operate during the summer but there is already a pre-contract for flights to continue in the winter. Offcourse, everything depends on the response we get from passengers”. While pilgrims visiting Medjugorje will play an important role in making the flights a success, Laureti believes there is also room for other types of passengers. “There is commercial interest as well. Soon Mostar will host the International Economic Fair and Italy is Bosnia’s third largest trade partner”, Laureti says.

Flights between Mostar and Pescara operated for a short time last year by B&H Airlines although flights to Pescara ultimately went to Air Vallée this year. Late last year the Bosnian national carrier expressed interest to expand operations out of Mostar. While Mostar does not have scheduled flights, it enjoys numerous charters. In 2011, Mostar Airport handled 36.807 passengers, an increase of 107% compared to 2010, and secured its position as the second busiest airport in the country after Sarajevo.

Adria soon to Split as government plans to save Tehnika

Adria Airways will be operating charter flights out of Split this summer. The Slovenian carrier will operate a one weekly service from Split to the city of Lulea, on Sweden’s northern coast. Adria will launch the service on May 12 with a CRJ900. Flights will operate until September 29. Dubrovnik Airline was supposed to operate the route to Luela as it was selected by the tour operator last year, however, the airline ceased operations at the end of 2011. Flight details for the Lulea service can be found here. Adria Airways operated charter flights out Split to Kristiansand in Norway last summer, although the service is not set to resume this summer season.

Meanwhile, the new Slovenian government is planning to provide a cash injection to Adria Airways Tehnika, which was left reeling after the collapse of its second largest customer Spanair. According to the “Finance” portal, the Slovenian government will provide between two and three million Euros to the maintenance company owned by Ljubljana Airport and the government run asset management firm PDP.

Recently, employees at Adria Tehnika agreed to a 20% reduction in salaries as the company battles with debt, made worse by Spanair’s bankruptcy. Tehnika is hoping to replace Spanair through new contracts with Wizz Air and Air Berlin. The company was previously an Adria Airways subsidiary but was separated from the airline as a part of the carrier’s financial restructuring process.

B&H cancels expansion and temporarily suspends Amsterdam and Copenhagen

B&H Airlines has cancelled its planned new flights to Skopje, Dusseldorf and Vienna which were due to be launched during the 2012 summer season. Ticket sales were first suspended in early February and flights have now been completely removed from global reservation systems. Services to the Macedonian and Austrian capitals were to be inaugurated on March 25 with five weekly flights each. B&H suspended flights to Vienna back in May 2011 due to poor passenger figures. Austrian will operate two daily flights from Vienna to Sarajevo this summer season. Services to Dusseldorf were planned to launch on June 2 twice per week.

Since yesterday, B&H Airlines has begun cancelling flights to Amsterdam. All flights will be temporarily suspended from March 4 until early April. Furthermore, the Bosnian national carrier will see cancelations on its flights to Istanbul throughout February and March, Copenhagen has been temporarily suspended until April (for a second time this winter season) while Zurich will operate only once per week until the start of the summer season.

The cancellation of planned flights to Skopje, Dusseldorf and Vienna won’t affect the airline’s seasonal services to Gothenburg and Stockholm set to launch this June.

No Tripoli comeback for Jat

Jat Airways has cancelled plans to resume services to the Libyan capital Tripoli this summer. Flights were to launch on March 26, more than a year after they were suspended due to the implementation of a no fly zone over Libya which eventually led to war. The Serbian carrier planned to operate flights to Tripoli as a triangle service via Malta (Belgrade - Malta - Tripoli - Belgrade), as it has done so in the past few years.

Most European airlines will resume flights to the Libyan capital this summer, including Austrian, British Airways, KLM and Air France. Recently, sporadic gun fighting between rival clans has been reported near Tripoli Airport. Before the fall of the Gaddafi regime several Serbian engineering and construction companies worked in Libya with Jat flights mostly being used by workers. With all investments now stalled there is little need for the planned two weekly flights to resume.

Despite the cancellation of its Tripoli service Jat will go ahead and launch flights to Malta which were suspended when services to Tripoli were dumped. The airline has pushed back the launch date for the Malta service to June 18 and has slightly revised its flight times. Details can be found here.

easyjet dumps Dortmund service

The low cost airline easyJet will suspend its flights from Dortmund to Zagreb from May 20, leaving the no frills carrier only with services from London Gatwick to the Croatian capital. The flights from Dortmund in western Germany operated twice per week over the winter and will increase to three weekly flights from March 25 until their suspension two months later. It follows a decision made by easyJet in December last year to terminate flights from Paris to both Zagreb and Ljubljana. Germany has the most flights and seat capacity out of Zagreb.

It will be the second time Zagreb has lost a link to Dortmund. Previously, in 2010, Wizz Air scheduled flights from Dortmund to Zagreb but cancelled the route. The news will be warmly welcomed by Croatia Airlines which has previously accused Zagreb Airport of giving special waivers to low cost airlines operating to the airport. It even threatened to suspend routes on which it competed with low cost airlines. In late 2010 Tonči Peović, the head of Zagreb Airport, told the press that he offered easyJet to operate flights to Zagreb out of six different cities, although the airline settled only for Paris and London and later introduced Dortmund. easyJet will maintain five weekly flights between London Gatwick and Zagreb over the coming summer.

Despite pulling out on the Dortmund - Zagreb service, easyJet will launch several seasonal flights to both Dubrovnik and Split. They include flights to Dubrovnik from Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Geneva, Paris and London as well as flights to Split from Amsterdam, Berlin, Bristol, Geneva, London, Milan, Paris and Rome.

Soon in Belgrade

Alitalia’s low cost subsidiary Air One will launch flights from Milan to the Serbian capital, ending Jat Airways’ monopoly on the service. Flights from Milan Malpensa Airport to Belgrade will launch on September 18 and will operate three times per week with an Airbus A320. Flight details can be found here. Air One’s new service will compete directly against Jat Airways, which plans to operate six weekly flights onboard its Boeing 737-300 this coming summer season. Alitalia will continue to code share on Jat Airways’ services to both Milan and Rome.

Air One does not operate flights to other former Yugoslav republics. Last September the airline scheduled services to Zagreb, however, due to poor ticket sales, the planned flights were cancelled. Air One will expand this summer as it add new destinations to its route network besides Belgrade such as Munich, Sofia, Brussels, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Saint Petersburg, Barcelona, Istanbul, Kiev and London Gatwick.

Air One merged with national carrier Alitalia in January 2009, though it continues to operate as a separate brand. The two use an integrated booking system. Air One operates a fleet of seven Airbus A320s, with a further three arriving soon. Some of its aircraft have a high density cabin layout of up to 180 seats while others have a somewhat smaller capacity.

Passenger boost for Sarajevo Airport

Sarajevo Airport has started the year off on a positive note by handling 33.063 passengers, an increase of 9.1% compared to the same month last year when it saw 30.292 passengers pass through its doors. The number of operated flights to and from the Bosnian capital stayed almost the same with 371 operations compared to 376 in January last year. B&H Airlines remains the dominant carrier at the airport with a 33% share of all scheduled arrivals and departures followed by Croatia Airlines and Austrian with a 17.5% share each.

Numbers at Bosnia and Herzegovina’s main airport could suffer in February due to many cancellations and diversions throughout the month, which are still ongoing, due to thick fog and record snow fall. This summer the airport will benefit from new services to be introduced by B&H Airlines as well as the resumption of seasonal summer flights from Oslo and Stockholm (to be operated by Norwegian Air Shuttle) and Stuttgart (by Germanwings).

Proposed future look of Sarajevo Airport terminal

This year there are plans for the much awaited expansion of Sarajevo Airport to begin. The head of the airport, Ivica Veličan, said last year that the 32 million Euro project should commence in 2012 with 7.000 square metres to added to the terminal building, a new apron to be built and existing jetways to be overhauled. “The expansion of the terminal building will allow better quality service for our passengers and will improve our country’s image”, Veličan said.