B&H Airlines

Not to be confused with BH Air.
B&H Airlines
IATA
JA[1]		 ICAO
BON		 Callsign
AIR BOSNA
Founded 1994 (as Air Bosna)
Hubs Sarajevo International Airport
Focus cities Banja Luka
Fleet size 1
Destinations 2
Company slogan Fly B&H Airlines
Parent company Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (99.93%)
Headquarters Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Key people Amir Jažić, CEO
Website bhairlines.ba

B&H Airlines, d.o.o. is an airline with its head office in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.[2] It operates scheduled and charter passenger services as well as small cargo services. With its home base at Sarajevo International Airport, the airline is the flag carrier of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[3]

History

Early years

The logo of Air Bosna, B&H Airlines' predecessor
A former Air Bosna McDonnell Douglas MD-80 in 2002

The airline was initially founded on 12 August 1994 as Air Bosna.[4] In the autumn of 2003, the airline ceased operations due to an increased debt that it could no longer repay. It remained defunct until May 2004, when the Government of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina promised to revive it. In June 2005 it restarted operations as B&H Airlines, operating a pair of ATR-72 aircraft.

In late 2007, the Bosnian government announced it was to sell shares in B&H Airlines.[4] On 23 February 2008 it was reported that Turkish Airlines were in negotiations to buy the airline,[5] and on 30 March 2008 that Croatia Airlines was also interested in a stake.[6] The government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also invited Comintel and MyAir (in addition to Turkish Airlines and Croatia Airlines) to recapitalise the airline.[7]

Bids were received from Turkish Airlines, Malaysia's Comintel Corporation and a Jordanian consortium, which included Royal Jordanian.[8] On 29 October 2008, the Bosnian government announced that Turkish Airlines had been picked as the best bidder in an auction for B&H Airlines shares.[9] Turkish Airlines proposed to sub-lease B&H Airlines two Boeing aircraft, if requested by the airline, and in return for 49% of the shares of the company covered the lease payments of the Boeing aircraft and participated in capital increase decisions.[9] However, in June 2012 Turkish Airlines ended the joint venture[10] following which the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave the airline a cash injection of €3.5 million.[11]

Development since 2012

As of mid-2012, the airline is jointly owned by the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (99.93%) and Energoinvest (0.07%), after the government's purchase of a former joint stake by Turkish Airlines (49%).[3]

In April 2013 the airline had to cancel flights when its only airworthy ATR 72 aircraft was withdrawn for maintenance. Its other ATR 72 had been previously grounded for similar maintenance.[11]

B&H Airlines and Croatia Airlines have been rated as best in terms of safety in the former Yugoslavia in 2013 for a second year running while Air Serbia’s improved product saw its rating build on 2012, thus offering the best service in the former Yugoslavia, according to AirlineRatings.com[12] which lists safety and service ratings for 425 airlines around the world. In 2014, B&H Airlines maintained the list of one of the safest airlines in the region again for third year in a row.[13]

Destinations

As of April 2015, B&H Airlines operates scheduled flights to the following destinations:[14]

Bosnia and Herzegowina
Switzerland

Fleet

Current fleet

B&H Airlines ATR72-212

As of March 2015, the B&H Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 19.5 years:[15][16][17]

B&H Airlines Fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Orders Passengers
ATR 72–212 1 — 66

Historic fleet

A former B&H Airlines Boeing 737-400

During its existence, B&H Airlines also operated the following aircraft:[18]

Statistics

Passenger numbers[19]
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 201220132014
24.906 59.792 68.222 61.904 87.158 138.241 129.435 59.697 31.705 35.606
Increase 140,1% Increase 14,1% Decrease 9,2% Increase 40,8% Increase 58,6% Decrease 6,7% Decrease 53,6% Decrease 46,9% Increase 12,3%

References

  1. ↑ "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Headquarters." B&H Airlines. Retrieved on 10 March 2010. "PE “B&H Airlines“ Limited Liability Company Hamdije Čemerlića Street 2/16, 71 000 Sarajevo Energoinvest Building"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Flight International 27 March 2007
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Public invitation for expressions of interest in recapitalization of the Public Company "B&H Airlines" d.o.o. Sarajevo" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  5. ↑ "THY is in discussions with Air Bosna for possible acquisition". Hürriyet. 23 February 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  6. ↑ "Croatia Airlines - ch-aviation.com". ch-aviation. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Partnerstvo Croatia i BH Airlinesa?". Vjesnik. 29 February 2008. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  8. ↑ Turkish Airlines Best Bid For BH Airlines - Corporate Financing Week
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Turkish Airlines picked bidder for Bosnia carrier- gov't". Hurriyet Daily News. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  10. ↑ "Bosnia's BH Airline Grounded Over Debt". Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "B&H Airlines", Airliner World, June 2013: p7
  12. ↑ "B & H Airlines". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "BH Airlines i Croatia Airlines proglašeni najsigurnijim avio-prevoznicima u regiji". Kontrola Letenja. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "BH AIRLINES". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "BH Airlines Fleet Details and History". Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  16. ↑ B&H Airlines Fleet ch-aviation.ch
  17. ↑ Fleet age BH Airlines airfleets.net
  18. ↑ BH Airlines at rzjets.com, retrieved 13-12-2014
  19. ↑ http://fzs.ba/saopcenja/2013/5.7.4.pdf

See also

External links

Media related to B&H Airlines at Wikimedia Commons