This morning, the first promotional flight of the Hungarian airline “Wizz Air”, which will fly on the route Dortmund – Banja Luka – Dortmund, twice a week, was welcomed at the Banja Luka airport “Mahovljani”.
In addition to this line, lines have been announced for the Netherlands, France and Sweden from June.
Milan Racic, director of the Airport in Banja Luka “We believe that the relaxation of measures and cooperation with these airlines will help enough to develop the economy and tourism in Republika Srpska and the wider region,” said Racic.
Nedeljko Coric, Minister of Transport and Communications of RS: “We expect to expand cooperation and to open some other destinations needed by the citizens of RS and all those who like to come to RS,” said Coric.
Montenegro’s new national carrier, Air Montenegro, which will commence operations on June 10 with flights from Podgorica and Tivat to Belgrade, will add further two destinations to its route network by the end of the month. The airline will introduce flights from Tivat to Ljubljana and Banja Luka from June 27. Services to the Slovenian capital will operate three times per week, while flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city will run twice per week. The two will join the network as Air Montenegro plans to add a second Embraer E195 jet to its fleet by the end of the month. Tickets for the two have now been put on sale through the airline’s website. Air Montenegro’s return fares to Banja Luka start from 89 euros, while return tickets to Ljubljana begin from 129 euros in economy class, Ex-Yu Aviation news reports.
Air Montenegro’s predecessor, Montenegro Airlines, maintained flights from Podgorica to Ljubljana until its demise. During the pre-pandemic 2019, when the service was also maintained by the now defunct Adria Airways, Ljubljana was Podgorica’s fourth busiest route, with 55.758 passengers travelling between the two capital cities. On the other hand, flights between Banja Luka and Tivat were last operated in 2014, when the now defunct B&H Airlines maintained a one weekly seasonal service between the two cities for two months, although tickets could only be purchased through a single tour operator, rather than directly from the airline itself. Based on OAG data, Air Serbia, as the only airline offering transfer options out of Banja Luka, carried 310 passengers between the city and Tivat in the 2019 and 92 travellers between Tivat and Ljubljana. In 2020, these figures stood at 63 and 24 respectively.
A plane to Tivat, Montenegro, is expected to take off from Banja Luka Airport on June 27.
