The largest European low-cost airline, Ryanair, announced yesterday that it is starting operations in Sarajevo and that it will establish direct flights from Sarajevo to Gothenburg, London, Brussels, Memmingen, and Milan from April next year.
Representatives of Ryanair and Sarajevo International Airport presented plans for future cooperation at a joint press conference.
Sarajevo International Airport Director Alan Bajic stated that their vision and mission to be the leading airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which is comparable to the best regional and European airports, is becoming more and more realistic every day.
“Ryanair is introducing direct flights from Sarajevo to five extremely attractive European destinations, connecting Sarajevo with London, Brussels, Milan, Gothenburg, and Memmingen and in the process providing BiH with even greater tourist opportunities,” Bajic stated.
He added that the successful realization of that project was the result of the support of the Government of Canton Sarajevo (CS) with the Ministry of Economy and the Tourist Board of CS, which issued a public call focused on stimulating the launch of strategic routes, with the aim of increasing the number of tourists in CS and BiH, as well the support of the Government of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) and the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the FBiH.
Federal Prime Minister Nermin Niksic hopes that the number of the initial five destinations will be expanded so that, he stated, as many tourists as possible come to our country and that our citizens have a connection with as many destinations as possible in the world.
“I am sure that it is much easier for the management of the Ryanair company to enter into a project like this when they see that the institutions of the state stand behind it. We in the Government of the FBiH will monitor and support such projects, and on Thursday, at the Government session, we will make a decision on the payment of grant funds to airports in the territory of the FBiH,” said Niksic.
The Prime Minister of CS Nihad Uk also welcomed the arrival of the largest European airline and the second airline in the world in terms of the number of passengers transported. He added that, in addition to these five flights, from spring we will have between 10 and 15 new destinations that will be connected to the capital of BiH.
Ryanair’s chief commercial officer, Jason McGuinness, announced five new routes with 200.000 passengers a year from next April.
The planes of this company fly to 40 countries, at 230 airports, and they plan to increase the number of transported passengers from 183 million annually to 300 million. They are also planning further development of their fleet.
McGuinness emphasized that passengers will have the opportunity to make sure that Ryanair is a reliable company that, he pointed out, performs its operations on time and efficiently.
To celebrate Ryanair’s arrival in the capital of BiH, the airline has launched a three-day sale of one-way tickets on its five new routes to/from Sarajevo priced at 29.99 euros, for travel from April 24th to October 24th, which must be booked by November 30th, only on the Ryanair app /website, BHRT reports.
E.Dz.