B&H Airlines winter 2008/09More flights to Turkey

On October 25, 2008 B&H Airlines, the national airline of Bosnia and Herzegovina will begin with its winter schedule. With as small amount of destinations and a fleet of only two aircraft (ATR72’s) there won’t be many changes however some lines have been rerouted and some reduced while others increased.

B&H Airline has recently been purchased by Turkish Airlines. The exact amount of shares purchased is still uncertain (49% or 51% - to be announced in the following days) however B&H Airlines is increasing its frequencies to Turkish Airlines’ base – Istanbul. Flights will be increased from 4 per week to 6 flights per week. The Sarajevo to Frankfurt service will increase from 2 weekly to 3 weekly flights.

Furthermore B&H will replace the nonstop Sarajevo – Stuttgart service with a stop via Mostar from October 26. Flight JA214 will be operated twice a week. Frequencies to Zurich will remain as they have been operated during the summer – 4 times per week and the same goes for Cologne which will continue to be operated twice times a week. B&H’s only destination within the EX-YU region, to Skopje, Macedonia, will be decreased from 2 flights to 1 flight per week. The airline will maintain its code share agreements with Jat Airways from Sarajevo to Belgrade and Croatia Airlines from Sarajevo to Zagreb. B&H Airlines will continue operating from Banja Luka to Zurich via Sarajevo.

This is BH Airlines’ last timetable before the privatisation process is officially completed. The 2009 summer season should offer a greater variety of services with new aircraft expected.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address. Soon the Adria Airways, Montenegro Airlines and MAT Macedonian Airlines 2008/09 winter schedule will be published on the blog. Read more

New flights from Sarajevo

The first passengers yesterday arrived from Cologne/Bonn to Sarajevo on the low cost airline Germanwings with many passengers able to buy tickets for the first flight for only 19 Euros making it currently the first scheduled low cost airline to operate to the Bosnian capital. Flights from Cologne to Sarajevo will operate twice a week – Wednesday and Saturday. Officials from the airline said one way tickets will average the price of 70 Euros (including taxes) while one tenth of the tickets will be sold at the lowest price of only 19 Euros. All tickets can be purchased via the Internet however officials from the airline state that since the Internet is in its development stages in Bosnia and Herzegovina tickets will also be able to be purchased at the airport.

From October the airline plans to introduce flights from Stuttgart, Germany to Sarajevo while the line Sarajevo – Berlin will open in March 2009. The Germanwings jet was yesterday welcomed by a water cannon solute at Sarajevo organised by Sarajevo Airport’s firemen. The first flight from Cologne to Sarajevo was sold out.

Germanwings becomes the 11th scheduled operator to Sarajevo although this will decrease to 10 once British Airways withdraws from the Bosnian market in October. In the Ex-Yugoslav nations Germanwings currently operates flights to Duborvnik, Osijek, Pula, Split, Zadar and Zagreb in Croatia and Priština in Kosovo/Serbia and Belgrade in Serbia.

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British Airways to farewell Sarajevo

Due to the increase in the price of fuel British Airways, the national carrier of the United Kingdom, has announced that flights between Sarajevo and Belgrade are no longer profitable. From October 26, 2008 operations between the two cities will cease. British Airways’ representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina says the decision to cease flights was not easy but due to the current crisis in air transportation the airline has to focus on more profitable markets in Europe. She states passengers which have already bought tickets with British from Sarajevo after October 26 (when the airline winter season begins) will be able to receive an immediate refund. British Airways management on August 1 said the airline is in the worst trading environment it has been for a long time announcing that the winter schedule capacity will see a reduction of 3.1% compared to last year.

Sarajevo Airport has been served by British Airways from London Gatwick Airport using a Boeing 737-400 (3 times per week. From October 26 there will no longer be direct flights to London from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently Sarajevo is served by 10 scheduled airlines (including British Airways) although this will increase to 11 in mid August when low cost Germanwings begins flights. Along with the national carrier B&H Air the airport is served by Adria Airways, Croatia Airlines and Jat Airways from the EX-YU.

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B&H airlines privatisation: Deadline extends as Turks confirm interest

The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has agreed to extend the deadline of the tender for the sale of its national airline, BH, by 30 days. The new deadline has now been established to be August 29, 2008. The decision was made due to a new firm interested in becoming the airlines strategic partner – The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. Interest has also been declared by Croatia’s national airline and a company from Malaysia however Turkish Airlines has expressed the greatest interest so far.

The CEO of Turkish Airlines expressed an interest in bidding for a 49% stake in BH Airlines after meeting with the premier of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Nedžad Branković. “Turkish Airlines representatives have confirmed their already expressed interest in taking part in the process" he said in a statement. "They said the extended tendering was a chance for them to prepare a high quality offer... to bid for becoming a strategic partner”.

The federation government owns 99% of the company, with 1 percent held by regional engineering group Energoinvest. BH Airlines went bankrupt in 2003, but resumed operating in 2005 after a deal with Hypo Alpe Adria bank to settle most of its debt. The company employs 89 people and transported some 70.000 passengers in 2007.

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BH Airlines results and plans

The Bosnian national carrier BH Airlines this year has already made 13 million KM (Convertible Marks) in 2008. With an expenditure of 11.9 million the total profit of the company is 1.1 million which is around 560.000 Euros. Nudžeim Rečica the CEO of the airline said that this is an improvement compared to the same period last year when the airline had a loss of 3.5 million KM. BH Airline transported 32.100 passengers in the first six months of the year, an improvement of 3.5% with more than 500 flights operated. The airlines greatest frequency of flights was between Sarajevo and Istanbul on which the airline offers daily service. Other popular destinations include Frankfurt and Zurich, which the airline operates 3 to 4 times a week. The increase in global fuel prices increased the airline’s expenditure this year compared to last year.

BH Airlines, with a fleet of 2, is the smallest airline in the EX-YU. There is hope that the new strategic partner which should be found by the end of the year will make the airline grow with the airline’s CEO hoping that the purchase of new aircraft could enable flights to Scandinavia.

Currently the 6 monthly EX-YU passenger figure leader board looks like this:
1. Croatia Airlines
2. Adria Airways
3. Jat Airways
4. MAT Macedonian Airlines
5. Montenegro Airlines
6. BH Airlines Read more

Submission of offers for BH Airlines start today

The Bosnia and Herzegovina agency for privatisation has , from today, started to accept offers for the national airline in order for it to be privatised. The privatisation of B&H was approved by the Bosnian government on May 29 this year. It won’t be a classical privatisation but a certain amount of shares will be sold so a strategic partner can be found who would work closely with the Bosnian government and both should invest money in the airline. There have already been talks with investors from the United States, Turkey (Turkish Airlines is interested in the purchase) and Croatia (Croatia Airlines has also voiced its interest). The foreign investor would gain 49% of the airline, with the majority share still in the hands of the government. The first action the new part owner must accomplish is to purchase the airline a 100 seater aircraft. This way the airline would have 3 fleet members. Last year the airline carried 70,000 passengers, an increase of 14.1% compared to 2007 and had a profit of 7.3 million Euros, a 9.5% increase compared to 2007.

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