In the period from March 1 to August 31, 2020, Sarajevo International Airport recorded a decrease in the physical volume of air operations by 70 percent and the physical volume of passengers by 90 percent compared to the same period last year, is confirmed for Fena news agency by the deputy director of the company Alan Bajic.
He specified that last year, during June, July and August, almost 480,000 passengers passed through Sarajevo Airport.
”Due to restrictive measures in force in most countries and very complicated travel conditions regarding the necessary travel documentation, and other factors such as fear of infection and reduced purchasing power of citizens, most of them are reluctant to travel, especially for tourism. Thus, we really served only about 39,000 passengers for three months this year,” said Bajic.
He added that the number of airlines has been significantly reduced compared to the previous year and currently six companies fly to Sarajevo, namely Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) with seven flights a week, Pegasus (Istanbul) with four flights, Austrian Airlines (Vienna) eight flights a week, Air Serbia (Belgrade) three flights, Flydubai (Dubai) four flights and Croatia Airlines (Zagreb) one flight per week.
In the same period last year, Sarajevo was directly connected to about twenty destinations through 16 companies. Bajic pointed out that Sarajevo International Airport is working intensively to increase the number of flights and the return of airlines that were forced to suspend or reduce their flights to Sarajevo due to the negative consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a significant drop in demand and entry restrictions.
”In the winter flight schedule, we do not expect a significant increase in the number of weekly flights. The return of airlines on a larger scale, as well as the introduction of new airlines and destinations is more certain than the summer flight schedule 2021. The decision of the BiH Council of Ministers to open the border to all foreign nationals who have a negative PCR test is a step towards establishing more regular traffic,” Bajic said.
