Sarajevo-based FlyBosnia company has fired almost half of its entire workforce and is struggling to pay its employees as debts to Sarajevo Airport and other suppliers continue to rise, Biznis Info reports.
Of the 100 employees, which includes the company management, forty were fired and eight of the fifteen pilots also left the carrier. Furthermore, the airline has not paid salaries for two months, with contributions since April, Ex-Yu Aviation reports.
FlyBosnia company, based in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH’s) capital Sarajevo, returned one of its two planes to its owner on Wednesday.
Airbus 319 with E7-FBB registration departed the night before from Sarajevo Airport in the direction of Phoenix Goodyear Airport in the United States.
That same plane took off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport to Sarajevo on May 7, 2019, and was released at the end of June to return to its owner after only 4 months of use.
FlyBosnia now has only one aircraft, the Airbus 319 E7-FBA registration.
Sarajevo International Airport is likely to terminate its contract with FlyBosnia, Dnevni Avaz newspapers reveal.
In addition to the termination of the contract, a lawsuit will be filed against this airline, which owes the Airport more than 900,000 BAM for the services provided so far.
It will follow because the Sarajevo Airport Authority is not satisfied with the proposed debt collection solutions sent by FlyBosnia to their address on Tuesday. FlyBosnia is not able neither to provide a bank guarantee for half a million BAM, nor a bill of exchange as a condition of securing the collection of claims. This is all the more reason to terminate the contract after less than three months.
Sources for Avaz newspapers claim that it is now obvious that FlyBosnia does not have the money to pay 900,000 BAM in debt and the deadline is by the end of the year. So far, they have paid only 100,000 BAM for which is not enough to continue any cooperation.
“Although the company has been operating flights for only three months, it has already found itself, as we announced, in serious financial problems, and it is doubtful whether there will be any more next year,” Avaz claims. FlyBosnia’s monthly cost for airplanes, fuel and insurance is half a million dollars, and its debts are constantly rising. In addition to its debt to Sarajevo Airport, FlyBosnia also owes hundreds of thousands of marks to HIFA’s fuel delivery company, as well as to lawsuits brought against companies by disgruntled Arabs who used the services of the airline.
