No more flights to Sweden with B&H
B&H Airlines is to add Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden to its growing list of suspended destinations in 2011. The airline will operate its final service to both cities on August 31. Both have been operating once per week this summer, with one flight to Stockholm operating via Gothenburg and one weekly service to Gothenburg flying via the Swedish capital. Poor loads are said to be the reason behind the suspension. In the summer of 2010 flights to both cities operated 3 times per week.The Bosnian national carrier launched both destinations when it received its first jet engine aircraft, a Boeing 737-400, back in 2009. The flights have recently been operating with the airline’s Airbus A319. With these latest terminations, Sarajevo will no longer have a direct link with Gothenburg while Norwegian Air Shuttle continues to provide an alternative to Stockholm, although only during the summer months.
So far this year B&H Airlines has suspended flights from Sarajevo to Belgrade, Vienna and Frankfurt. The airline has 3 aircraft, 2 ATR72s and 1 Airbus A319.
Seriously? I think TK is behind this. What are they doing with this airline? When I flew BH from SJJ-ARN the plane was 75% full! I think BH are a good airline but are being seriously mishandled by their idiotic management.
ReplyDeleteSo where does B&H fly to now? Something is not right here, either Bosnia is way to small a market to sustain ANY air travel (clearly isn't the case) or there are incompetent people running the show. Poor marketing, poor research, poor everything!
ReplyDeleteBH will then after August 31st fly to these cities:
ReplyDeleteSarajevo
Banja Luka
Istanbul
Copenhagan
Amsterdam
this is if Zurich will be cancelled, like rumors are saying.
I believe that the Turks are using BH Airlines as a transit airlines, transferring passengers from Sarajevo to Istanbul and then to other cities, and will continue to work on this. They have it on their website already.
@ AleksNikolicUSA
ReplyDeleteIf Zurich flights are cancelled, then there will be no flights to Banja Luka either, which leaves B&H Airlines with only 4 cities. :-(
^ Maybe they will start something new during the winter?
ReplyDeleteSo much for the Turkish saviour. They are slowly killing the airline.
Another misinformation from EX-YU aviation blog, based on forum "sources"
ReplyDeleteLike this one http://exyuaviation.blogspot.com/2011/06/b-zurich-service-in-trouble.html
@last Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think this is misinformation? STO and GOT flights have already been cancelled from September onwards through OAG.
@ last anonymous:
ReplyDeleteIf u check Amadeus (BH's booking engine) flights to ARN & GOT are nog longer available for reservation after August 31st..
I believe ZRH is a rumour only, because it seems stupid to cancel such a service, practically showing LX that it can be a good service if you offer connections (which LX of course has in ZRH.) The should maken an agreement (interline) with LX just as they have done with KL..
The latest rumour is that CPH will be cancelled after summer schedule, but ZRH will stay..
Pozz,
Bo
This is ridiculous. Why having 3 aircraft when they can easily serve remaining destinations just with 1. It's such a shame. If they cannot fill-up their airplanes now when there is virtually no competition present at SJJ Airport, what's going to happen once Wizz or another LCC starts flying there. They betetr pack their suitcases and leave.
ReplyDeleteIf this is true, this is quite a shock. The airline doesn't seem to be able to actually hold onto any routes, or plan any long-term growth.
ReplyDeleteIf parent TK says it is a money-losing situation, how much money is the airline *really* losing in the grand scheme of things? The small cost of an airline running at a loss pales in insignificance to the lack of business and leisure visitors to the country, hotel rooms and other services providing jobs to locals, and the profile of the country. So perhaps a struggling country failing to get exposure and investment needs not sell its national airline if the country ends up at a disadvantage!
Sadly, the airline's demise is a direct parallel with the poor operations at BiH's under-utilised, under-served airports stemming from cancerous problems facing the entire country: corruption and inept bureaucracy. Get rid of these, and the country will move forward - unless they really want the long-term stagnation we're seeing set in right now.
This could really be the move to just make SJJ-IST thrice daily funneling all pax through the major hub. If so, quite sad really. But then it pushes pax onto OU, JP, JU who funnel through local hubs...
I agree with frequentflyer. It's sad that JA cannot get organised and take advantage of the market conditions. For example, BEG-SJJ v.v. flights have been fully booked for some time now, but alas JA cancelled its flights a while ago. Bosnia and Herzegovina is arguably the most beautiful and definitely the most diverse of all ex YU countries, and yet it cannot attract significant number of visitors. It's a pity what stubbornness, nationalism and incompetence can do. :-(
ReplyDelete@ frequentflyer
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Bureaucracy and corruption are Bosnia's trademarks. If they could export that, they would be one of the richest. The country is split between two poisoned mentalities, the religious-fanatic one and an old communist-titoist way of thinking. None of them really healthy or beneficial for the country's future. We have more ministers per capita than any other country in the world, record high unemployment, bribery, corruption...and yet people don't see anything wrong and they vote for the same crap election after election.
BH Airlines trouble is just a reflection of the general business/political environment in the country.
This just highlights the fact that Bosnia can not function as a single state. A split is inevitable.
ReplyDelete@Lento,
ReplyDelete''For example, BEG-SJJ v.v. flights have been fully booked for some time now...''
No they haven't. JA's loads were catastrophic on the route and Jat's are just ok.
@Nemjee
ReplyDeletego look now at jat.com try to book a flight for 2+ people BEG - SJJ leaving in the next few days, flights to sarajevo sell out quickly, many people also use Beograd from Sarajevo as a transit spot. also many O&D pax.
^^Probably because of the Sarajevo Film Festival. JU was actually considering to stop flying to SJJ at the begging of the year and to code share on the BH flight instead but thankfully decided not to in the end.
ReplyDelete@ Anonnymous 4:08 PM
ReplyDeleteThe point I am trying to make is not whether Bosnia can function as one state or not. The fact is that all three sides are equally to be blamed. When it's about corruption, bureaucracy, public spending, they are all the same. The nationalist rhetoric is used only to distract people from real issues. If you think that Serbs, Croats or Bosniaks would be better off and less corrupt living separate, you are wrong. Just look at what happened to ex YU states after they got independent. They all look like bunch of scared sheep running in the woods with no direction. To think that Germany, Russia or Turkey will give us everything for free and save our ass is absurd. B&H Airlines is a good example of it. There is no such thing like free money and the longer we wait for someone to clean our mess, the worse it's going to be for us and the generations to follow.
off topic
ReplyDeleteNemje,
would you happen to have total pax in the last 3 months on PRN-BSL and PRN-GVA routes ?
@chelica2
ReplyDeleteDo you mean the easyJet figures?
The Switzerland to PRN flights have changed significantly in the last two years or so. There used to be up to 12 daily flights to Zurich and perhaps 1 or 2 to GVA at weekends. This Saturday there were 16 return flights to PRN from Switzerland, however 2 were from Bern, 3-4 from BSL and GVA each and the rest were from Zurich. Btw, did you know that even Adria Airways is flying BSL-PRN?
I would love to know the figures too, but I would expect they are good considering that Belair of Switzerland was by far the largest airline at PRN last year serving only Zurich and Geneva.
@ Second to last Anonymous.
ReplyDeletePlease continue your political campaign somewhere else..
Furthermore, 1 out of 3 Amsterdam flights (the Tuesday flight) will be downgraded from 319 to ATR-72 starting September 6th.
If all these plans continue, that would mean that the A319 sits on the tarmac @SJJ all day on days 2,3 and 6..
Sad, sad story..
Pozz,
Bo
@Visit Kosovo
ReplyDelete16!? Amazing. I knew there was a big diaspora in Switzerland, but 16, that's something.
Would be interesting to find out what kind of pax numbers attracts EasyJet in general.
MAT has 1 737-500, B&H has 2 ATR's and 1 A319 and they operate to less international destinations. I think somthing is actually not adding up well here.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the flights from Banja Luka outbound are only to Zurich and not anywhere else is this correct? They have no rights on a domestic route from SJJ.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that B&H will not take up its orders for the Airbus A319-100 aircraft which I think 2 is made on order.
What B&H Airlines should do is only operate smaller aircrafts and that way the planes will be full. They dont need 3 airbus. They should sell the airbus and get a pair of bombardier q400. It would be perfect.
ReplyDelete''go look now at jat.com try to book a flight for 2+ people BEG - SJJ leaving in the next few days, flights to sarajevo sell out quickly, many people also use Beograd from Sarajevo as a transit spot. also many O&D pax''
ReplyDeleteYes, but two days completely sold out doesn't mean that the flight has been sold out for quite some time as Lento said.
Plus I doubt many people use Belgrade as a transit place from Sarajevo because Jat has only one flight a day meaning that the connecting times are too long.
Chelica2:
Sorry I only have for BEG :)
@AirChina777
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing new about the 2 Airbus 319 order.
The order was placed when the now defunct predecessor Air Bosna was still operating by the Bosnian Government. Order still hasn't been picked up or made real. I actually don't get why Airbus still holds these orders in their orderbook
Pozz,
Bo
@Bo
ReplyDeleteSo they actually have the same chance of receiving the A319 as JAT does with their 90s Airbus problem! Strange that such a company like Airbus would bother keeping this information on their books and online too.
I think this pause in Swedish operation is just natural. It is a fact that SJJ-Sweden market is good only for the summer season. Does Norwegian have a different approach? No! They operate in the same way. I believe BH will start serving ARN and GOT in the coming summer season again.
ReplyDeleteFlew to ZRH on BH yesterday and the flight was near capacity. I don't think it was an exception because nothing particular was going on that day. Why drop ZRH then?
ReplyDeleteI dont think they are dropping ZRH. These are just rumours. My sources reveal that the company is just pausing operations to GOT and STO during the unprofitable winter season. AMS, CPH, ZRH and IST flights are ON during the winter season as well. Yet, I hear they are planning to expand after new year. so, these things that people say here and there dont realy make that much sense once you know what is actually going on.
ReplyDelete