Sly Srpska left in the cold in favour of Jat

The government of the entity of Repubilka Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina will pay Jat Airways four million Euros over the upcoming 2012 summer season to operate flights from Banja Luka to Belgrade and Vienna. Sky Srpska, the Banja Luka based airline which is still without aircraft of its own, is unhappy with the deal as it means it will not get its own jet until at least the 2012/2013 winter season. “We are very surprised. We nominated Sky Srpska to operate the flights from Banja Luka and now we hear that Jat will operate the service”, Zoran Injac, Sky Srpska’s CEO, said. “It’s completely irrational”, he adds.

The government on the other hand says its agreement with Jat is a done deal. “We have a few technical details to sort out. We need to obtain all necessary licenses from the Civil Aviation Authorities of Serbia and Austria”, the Minister for Traffic and Infrastructure, Nenad Čubrilović, says. He notes that 8 million Convertible Bosnian Marks (just over 4 million Euros) will be provided in subsidies for the service. Although flight details haven’t been revealed yet sources close to the airline say it has been suggested for the service to operate two to three times per week with an ATR72. The additional flights could impact Jat’s plans to launch flights to Pula and Split in the summer of 2012.

Despite a helpless Sky Srpska, it is believed the government concluded that it would cost less to subsidise the flights from Belgrade instead of having to pay not only for an aircraft lease or purchase but also for air crew and other staff in what is still a very small market. During the year, the government of Repubilka Srpska subsidised Adria Airways’ flight from Ljubljana which saw only an average of five passengers per flight. Once the subsidies dried out, Adria suspended the service.

Banja Luka phones a friend

The beset Banja Luka Airport has offered Serbia’s Jat Airways the opportunity to launch flights from the Serbian capital Belgrade to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city. Since such flights have proved as loss making in the past, the airport has suggested for the service to continue on to Vienna, thus connecting Banja Luka with two cities. If such an offer is accepted, services would begin next summer. Jat has already announced the launch of six new routes during the 2012 summer season. Sky Srpska, based in Banja Luka, still does not have any aircraft of its own but would code share on Jat’s flights to both Belgrade and Vienna. “Our research shows that there is a need for flights to Vienna”, Zoran Injac, the CEO of Sky Srpska, said recently as he outlined the airline’s plan for 2012.

Banja Luka Airport is currently only served by four weekly B&H Airlines flights to Zurich. The Bosnian national carrier recently suspended flights from Banja Luka to Copenhagen which operated for a record two weeks. Due to its inability to attract flights and passengers, the airport has found itself in substantial financial problems. Earlier in the year it nearly lost its license to handle commercial flights.

Jat Airways has operated flights to Banja Luka on and off for several years. Services were cancelled each time due to low loads. B&H Airlines was scheduled to launch flights between Banja Luka and Vienna last winter but cancelled them in face of low interest. The airline planned two flights per week between the two cities which is the frequency reportedly being offered to the Serbian carrier, internal sources say.

New hopes for 2012

In October the Banja Luka based Sky Srpska submitted its plan to launch flights in 2012. The plans were submitted to the relevant ministry and the airline’s CEO, Zoran Injac, says Sky Srpska is now waiting to be given the green light by the entity government. If things go according to plan the airline will launch services to Vienna in 2012. “Our research shows that there is a need for flights to Vienna. Furthermore, this market should ideally be catered by two smaller jets of up seventy seats”. The proposed plan outlines that a daily flight from Banja Luka to the Austrian capital should be inaugurated and another three weekly flights to Zurich should also operate.

Sky Srpska was formed in 2007 but no aircraft have ever been neither purchased nor leased. The new plan suggests a single jet should be leased in 2012. Injac adds that a total of 2 million Euros should be invested into the airline on a yearly basis which, according to him, is not a big sum in the aviation industry. An airline based in Banja Luka could revive the city’s airport which is currently only served by B&H Airlines’ flights to Zurich.

Banja Luka Airport previously served as a hub to Air Srpska, which was formed by JAT Yugoslav Airlines. The airline was formed in the summer of 1998 so that JAT pilots and crew could continue working since their company was banned from operating flights to the rest of the continent due to international sanctions. Until 2003 the airline operated flights to Belgrade, Tivat and Zurich. However, Jat Airways ended cooperation with Air Srpska by taking back its two ATR72s provided to the airline and effectively closing it.

Strike to close Banja Luka Airport’s doors

Banja Luka Airport will be forced to close its doors from July 27 as its employees will begin a general strike, unhappy with unpaid wages. Employees of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third largest airport (passenger wise) are demanding for government funds, currently being directed for the inexistent Trebinje Airport and the Sky Srpska airline, to go towards their salaries. A total of 63 people are employed at the airport. The head of the worker’s union said, “We are aware that the airport is having financial trouble but this is not our problem. The government and management are responsible for the fact that this international airport offers flights to only two destinations”.

Banja Luka Airport is currently served by Adria Airways from Ljubljana and B&H Airlines, which operates flights to Zurich. The 5 weekly flights operated by Adria Airways are heavily subsidised and on average have 6 passengers per flight. The strike, scheduled for next Wednesday, will disrupt both B&H’s and Adria’s operations to and from the airport. The strike will continue until the demands of the workers are met, which includes a 30% wage increase.

Banja Luka Airport has been in financial strife for some time. Its employees held a warning strike on July 4 but none of their terms have been met.

Troubled times for Banja Luka Airport

Banja Luka Airport is struggling to stay open as it falls into deeper financial trouble. The airport is currently served by only 2 airlines - B&H Airlines and Adria Airways. B&H Airlines operates flights from Banja Luka to Zurich. The service originates from Sarajevo and is failing to attract passengers. Similarly, Adria Airways on average carries 5 passengers on its services from Ljubljana to Banja Luka and vice versa. Flights operated by the Slovenian carrier are subsidised, which has led to fierce criticism from the media in the past few weeks.

The Government of the entity of Republika Srpska yesterday said it will grant Banja Luka Airport 307.000 Euros. Sky Srpska, an airline which is supposed to be based in Banja Luka, will be given a further 409.000 Euros for development. “The financial situation at Banja Luka Airport is difficult. We will have to find a long term solution for the airport such as the opening of new flights. We are determined to help them”, Aleksandar Džombić, the entity’s Prime Minister said.

Last week the airport’s employees staged industrial action, unhappy with late wages. Banja Luka Airport prospered during the early 2000s when Jat Airways set up a Banja Luka based offshoot named Air Srpska. However, the Serbian airline decided to take back its aircraft and focus on its core business back at home, thus closing Air Srpska. Since then the airport has struggled to attract any carriers.

Adria now in Banja Luka

Slovenia’s Adria Airways has begun flights to Banja Luka, linking the two cities via the air with a scheduled service for the first time. The inaugural promotional flight was carried out on Tuesday, while the first revenue flight began on Wednesday. The service, operated by the Bombardier CRJ200, was originally planned to run four time per week but low interest and non existent marketing have forced Adria to reduce the flights to only two times per week. The CEO of Adria Airways, Tadej Tufek, said, “We hope that the new service will be used by relatives, friends and business partners from both countries”. Adria is hoping to attract transit passengers, which would fly via Ljubljana to elsewhere in Europe, in order to make the route successful.

The Government of the Republika Srpska, the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in which Banja Luka lies, is subsidising the flights with 900.000 Convertible Bosnian Marks (approximately 460.160 Euros). The Minister for Transport of Republika Srpska, Nedeljko Čubrilović, said that the Adria service is important as it will lead to the development of air travel from Banja Luka. He also announced that the Government is working hard on opening services from Banja Luka to Tivat.

Adria Airways recently signed a cooperation agreement with Sky Srpska, an airline to be based in Banja Luka and expected to fly from next year. Such an agreement has already been made with Montenegro Airlines, while Jat Airways would provide all the needed technical and logistical assistance.

Sky Srpska hopes for 2011 launch

Sky Srpska, which is to be based in Banja Luka, yesterday announced its plans for the future. The “SeeBiz” portal reports that the airline has made a preliminary 2011 summer season schedule. The airline outlines that it would operate with 2 aircraft in the 2011 summer season. The aircraft would be purchased via a financial lease and could find themselves in Banja Luka at the beginning of next year.

The Government of Republika Srpska, which would be the owner of the new airline, said that Banja Luka currently has the potential to handle some 60.000 passengers on an annual basis. It believes that this demand will grow after the abolition of the European Union visa regime for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which should hopefully occur later this year. The abolition would allow Bosnians to travel visa free to countries of the Schengen Zone.

Earlier it was announced that Adria Airways will commence fights to Banja Luka in July after a memorandum of understanding was signed between them and Sky Srpska.

Soon in Banja Luka

Slovenia’s Adria Airways will commence services to the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Banja Luka, in July, the airline’s CEO, Tadej Tufek announced on Wednesday. Flights should operate 4 times per week but no other information was revealed. The news comes as a big boost for Banja Luka, which currently isn’t being served by any other airline, after the airport rejected proposed 11 weekly flights from Sarajevo which were to be operated by B&H Airlines.

Meanwhile, Adria Airways also signed a memorandum of understanding with Sky Srpska. Sky Srpska is the pet project of the Government of Republika Srpska that still hasn’t taken off from the ground. There are plans for the airline to be launched in early 2011. Montenegro Airlines and Jat Airways also have a memorandum of understanding signed with Sky Srpska.

Whether the new service to Banja Luka will be profitable remains to be seen. Adria hopes to transport transit passengers from Banja Luka through Ljubljana and onwards to other European destinations. The airline recently launched flights to Belgrade but the service is not as successful as was hoped it would be.

Banja Luka flights in doubt, Belgrade in May

With the announced delay of the arrival of 2 Boeing B737-700 aircraft, B&H Airlines won’t be making drastic changes to its timetable for the 2010 summer season. Still, the greatest difference, compared to the 2009/2010 winter timetable is the addition of Belgrade in its route network and its new commitment to Banja Luka, which should see it serve Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city 11 times per week. Speaking to “EuroBlic” newspapers, the CEO of B&H Airlines said that flights to Banja Luka will depart Sarajevo in the evening hours on a daily basis. The aircraft would stay in Banja Luka and depart in the morning in order to connect to B&H Airlines’ European flights. The other 4 flights will depart sometime during the day. However, B&H’s increased flight offer from Banja Luka is in jeopardy after the authorities in Banja Luka announced that they would not allow another airline to threaten its Sky Srpska project which has been delayed numerous times. The authorities should call on aircraft manufacturers to offer their price for 2 short haul aircraft by the end of the first quarter of 2010, that will be used by the Banja Luka based Sky Srpska.

Meanwhile, B&H Airlines’ flights to Belgrade will depart Sarajevo 6 times per week at 13.00CET. The aircraft will commence its return trip some 2 hours after landing in Belgrade. The airline will inaugurate services to Belgrade sometime between May 1 and May 15.

B&H’s planned flights to Amsterdam have been dumped after special prorate agreement (SPA) negotiations stalled with an airline which should connect the Bosnian diaspora with Sarajevo via the Dutch capital.

Deserted until further notice – Banja Luka Airport

The launch of the national carrier of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity Republika Srpska has been delayed by another year. Original plans set the timeframe for the launch for January 2009. Back then it was delayed for January 2010 and has now, for the third time, been delayed by yet another year.

Nedeljko Čubrilović, the transport minister of Republika Srpska said that the Banja Luka based airline would receive its first aircraft in late 2010 and the second in January 2011. The 80 seater aircraft purchase would be wholly funded by the Government itself. Zoran Injac, the CEO of the airline, says that Sky Srpska would begin operations with 2 scheduled destinations but would also operate charter flights. Injac notes that setting up an airline is a difficult task, but with the help of the Government and other related agencies the airline could succeed.

This a second attempt at setting up an airline in Republika Srpska. The first, Air Srpska, was launched by Jat in the late 1990s with the Serbian airline providing aircraft and crew. After the United Nations sanctions, imposed on Serbia and Montenegro (then Yugoslavia), were lifted Jat withdrew its 2 ATRs from the Air Srpska fleet and, as a result, the airline ceased all operations.

Sky Srpska’s launch would ensure a big boost for Banja Luka Airport which is currently only served by the national carrier of Bosnia and Herzegovina, B&H Airlines.

Sky Srpska logo

The airline Sky Srpska which is planned to become the national carrier of the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, operating out Banja Luka, could be taking off by the end of the year. The government of Republika Srpska is considering purchasing two aircraft and setting up scheduled services out of Banja Luka. The government says that one of its priorities is setting up the airline. “Since aircraft manufacturers are offering the lowest prices, due to the global financial crisis, the ministry of transpiration is considering, through long term credit arrangements, to loan Sky Srpska the means to purchase two aircraft”, a government statement said. The government says that by expanding Sky Srpska new job vacancies would be produced and the establishment of the airline would lead to greater traffic at Banja Luka Airport.

Sky Srpska’s management, last year, said that 2 Embraer aircraft would be of most use to the airline. The airline has already signed agreements with Airports of Montenegro and Jat Airways. Sky Srpska would be the second airline within the entity. In 1999 JAT Yugoslav Airlines set up Air Srpska with 2 ATR72s. The airline operated for a few years but the 2 ATRs were returned to Jat Airways in 2003 when the Serbian carrier began expanding its destination network and needed the aircraft.

The new Sky Srpska logo

A Croatian designer, Vjekoslav Mravunac, from the design company “Brand Design” has won the open competition launched by Sky Srpska, the new airline of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity Repubika Srpska, in December. A 5 member jury chose the winner on January 22, 2009 out of the 107 logos that they received. The 5 member team consisted of Slavimir Stojanović; graphics designer, Saša Rađan; creative director, Mirel Hadžijusufović; art director and Gorana Ilić and Darko Marjanović, part of the Sky Srpksa management board. It took 3 hours to select the winning design. The jury first chose the best 7 out of the 107 designs. Then the designs were given a mark out of 5 by each jury member, with the score of 5 being the highest and 1 the lowest. The winning logo received a total of 24 marks. The second and third placed designs received 17 and 16 marks respectively. The second placed design comes from a Banja Luka based design company while the third comes from Belgrade. You can see the second and third placed designs below.

2nd placed Sky Srpska logo

3rd placed Sky Srpska logo

Sky Srpska is scheduled to launch later this year with their aircraft to have the selected winning logo painted on them.

Banja Luka Airport, Sky Srpska's hub

Sky Srpska, the newly established carrier of Republika Srpska, an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently called on designers to create the company’s logo which will be seen on the carrier’s aircraft. The airline should be launched during 2009, with the help of Srpska’s government and Jat Airways. It will be the entity’s second attempt to create a national airline after the failed Air Srpska which was left without aircraft after Jat Airways requested its ATR72s to be returned to the mainstream fleet in Serbia. Sky Srpska, which will operate on a low cost basis has ordered 2 regional Embraer aircraft. The airline will be based in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina‘s second largest city and the capital of the Republika Srpska.
Sky Srpska launched a competition to create a new logo in order to differentiate the company on the market of international air carriers. The selected logo shall be implemented for the “brand book” and therefore it has to be complete and functional.

The competition was open and public. The right to compete was granted to all individuals and companies. Candidates' proposals will rated by a professional jury. The logo that is most unique, functional and applicable will be chosen as the winning design. The jury shall grant awards for the top three proposals. The competition officially began on December 15, 2008 and ended January 15, 2009. The winning design will be displayed to the public on January 29. The jury will have a total of 7 days to select the winning design starting January 15.

The new found airline of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity Republika Srpska, Sky Srpska, is expected to launch flight next year with the help of the government and Serbia’s Jat Airways. Montenegro Airlines will now join the two. Following a meeting between ministers from Republika Sprska and Montenegro Airlines’ CEO the two agreed that flights between Banja Luka and Tivat should be established which would operate at least 4 months per year, since there was satisfactory aircraft occupancy between the two cities when flights were operated on a continual basis in 1999 and 2000. The management of Sky Srpska also spoke with Jat Airways a few days ago regarding potential flights to Tivat, if all necessary licenses could be received. Currently Sky Srpska, with its base in Banja Luka, plans to open services to Belgrade, Pula and Tivat – all of which would be in code share opeartion (once operated by Sky Srpska the other time by a partner airline). It is expected that Sky Srpska would bring back life to Banja Luka Airport. For a few years Republika Srpska had its own airline under the name of Air Srpska, operated by Jat Airways. However when Jat decided to return the two aircraft given to Srpska back to its own base in Belgrade, operations ceased.

The Government of Republika Srpska (RS), a Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina with its main base in Banja Luka is undertaking efforts lately to expand passenger volumes at Banja Luka Airport and launch new services with Jat Airways, the national airline of Serbia, being the main sponsor of its projects and initiatives. The RS transport minister Nedeljko Čubrilović held talks with the general director of Serbia’s national airline, Saša Vlaisavljević today, about the purchase of two aircraft for the recently formed carrier Sky Srpska which would be based in Banja Luka.

The Government of RS recently invited offers for this procurement deal. Čubrilović reminded that RS has had very good collaboration with Jat Airways so far, and the two will discuss the potential for its expansion. There are plans for Jat Airways to lease the two aircraft from Sky Srpska and operate both on their (Jat’s) behalf as well as the behalf of Sky Srpska. Jat Airways is further hoping to completely take over the aviation market in Republika Srpska by commencing new flights from Banja Luka to Pula, Croatia as well as to Tivat, Montenegro from March 2009 if all necessary licenses are gained. Currently Jat Airways operates daily flights from Belgrade to Banja Luka with its ultimate goal being to operate two daily flights. At present the load factors are average with 32 passengers on each flight with the aircraft having a capacity of 72 seats. All seats that are not sold are subsidized to Jat by the government of Republika Srpska. It is expected Sky Srpska will launch in 2009. On Wednesday, September 10, Čubrilović is scheduled to meet with representatives of Montenegrin airports.

During the last year the government of Republika Srpska, an entity wihin Bosnia and Herzegovina, has announced the creation of its own airline to be named Sky Srpska. The project recently received the green light for the government and new developments have since occurred which could see the airline take off from its base in Banja Luka (pictured above) by the beginning of next year. Yesterday the government of Republika Srpska announced that Sky Srpska would soon receive 2 new, smaller, aircraft for which $24.5 million dollars (USD) will be allocated from the entity’s budget. The two aircraft will have a capacity of 50 seats and will be purchased via credit. The manufacturer of the aircraft has not been chosen however the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, a few months ago hinted they could come from the American “General electric”. There is no word on which destinations would be served by the airline although whatever destinations are chosen they will have to wait until next year as it will take time until the aircraft are dispatched to the airline. The CEO of Sky Srpska has announced that future development plan of the airline will soon be made public.

The government hopes to, by starting up Sky Srpska, bring life to Banja Luka Airport which despite its renovated runway, control tower and terminal has extremely low traffic – only served by Serbia’s Jat Airways (to Belgrade), Bosnia’s B&H Airlines (to Zurich) and Austrojet (to Salzburg).

Republika Srpska used to have a national airline from 1999 until 2003. Air Srpska was owned by Jat Airways and used two of its ATR72s for operations to Belgrade, St. Gallen/Altenrhein, Vienna and Zurich. However Jat withdrew its aircraft from the airline in 2003 and therefore all operations ceased. Although Air Srpska was not a large airline, it was extremely unique having major agreements with airlines such as Swiss Air as well as being part of IATA (unusual for a small regional airline) , however this was mostly achieved due to Jat’s lobbying and support.