Irish low cost Ryanair commenced operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina primary airport at Sarajevo International Airport 2 April launching five new routes from Brussels Charleroi, Gothenburg, London Stansted, Memmingen & Milan Bergamo with over 20 flights per week, generating 200,000 passengers within the first 12 months, creating 150 new jobs.
EI-DWR Boeing 737-8AS msn 36081 Ryanair DAC operated the inaugural flight from and to Gothenburg RYRFR3696/7 arriving 0816 local and departing 0906 local.
Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jason McGuinness said “We have worked closely with our partners at Sarajevo Airport, the Government of the Canton Sarajevo, the Ministry of Economy of the Canton Sarajevo, the Tourism Association of the Canton Sarajevo, and the Government of FBIH to launch these 5 new routes, and we hope to strengthen these relationships over time as we continue to work together to deliver further inbound tourism, connectivity, and low fares to Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens/visitors. For too long Sarajevo Airport traffic has been held back by high fare incumbent airlines such as Turkish, Austrian, and Wizz. This era of high fares ends with the arrival of Ryanair’s low fares.”
Sarajevo Airport’s Managing Director, Alan Bajić said “Ryanair is now introducing direct flights from Sarajevo to 5 extremely attractive European destinations. Ryanair is connecting Sarajevo to London, Brussels, Milan, Gothenburg & Memmingen and in the process, providing Bosnia & Herzegovina with even greater tourism opportunities. The successful implementation of this project is the result of the support of the Government of the Canton Sarajevo with the Ministry of Economy and Tourist Board of the Canton Sarajevo, who launched a Public Call which focused on stimulating the launch of strategic routes, with the aim of increasing the number of tourists in the Canton Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the support of the Government of FBIH and Ministry of Transport and Communications of FBIH.”
Ryanair is the only major European airline to significantly grow traffic post-Covid, particularly in the Balkans, where other airlines have stopped growing, are cutting routes and reducing traffic.
Next year, Ryanair will grow to 11 million annual passengers in the region (a +260% increase in traffic vs. pre-Covid). This traffic growth complements Ryanair’s plans to grow to 300M annual passengers by 2034, as it takes delivery of a further 400 aircraft (incl. 300 Boeing MAX-10 aircraft).
Image Credit: Mark Winterbourne – JP Spotters via Creative Commons
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 2 April 2024 All Rights Reserved
