FlyBosnia (Sarajevo) plans to operate regular charter flights to Turkey, Egypt, and Italy during the 2020 summer season, with charter routes to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states also expected, according to a report in the Sarajevo Times. The airline’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tarik Bilalbegović recently said the carrier has “endless charter requests for the high season."
Beginning on May 25, the start-up carrier will run flights until mid-October from Sarajevo to Antalya and Hurghada on behalf of local tour operators, with plans for further charter flights expected to be confirmed in the next two weeks. FlyBosnia, which currently operates a single A319, E7-FBA (msn 1808), plans to add another two of the type in April to accommodate these extra flights alongside its existing scheduled network, which itself will be expanded.
"We will launch Paris on March 1 and shortly after we will introduce Milan and Barcelona and probably Moscow by July 2020,” added the airline's CEO.
According to the airline's booking tool, it currently offers 2x weekly service from Sarajevo to London Luton and 1x weekly flights to Riyadh, as well as 1x weekly flights from Mostar to Rome Fiumicino. In a press release issued to support the launch of the latter city pair last month, it said: “Due to a much better development strategy and conditions at Mostar and Tuzla International Airports, FlyBosnia continues to establish direct lines from there.”
In December, it was announced that the airline had settled its debt repayments with Sarajevo Airport, thought to have been at least BAM1 million marks (USD565,000).
“In Mostar or Tuzla, the airport taxes total five euros, while in Sarajevo they amount to thirty euros. Therefore, Sarajevo Airport does not help stimulate us in the development of our network," said Bilalbegović.
