B&H Airlines

B&H Airlines, d.o.o. was the flag carrier of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its head office in Sarajevo.[1] It operated scheduled and charter passenger services as well as small cargo services from its home base at Sarajevo International Airport.[2] It ceased operating in June 2015 [3]

Not to be confused with BH Air.
B&H Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
JA BON BH AIRLINES
Founded1994 (as Air Bosna)
Ceased operations2 July 2015
HubsSarajevo International Airport
Fleet size1 (as at time of closure)
Destinations3
Parent companyGovernment of Bosnia and Herzegovina (99.93%)
HeadquartersSarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Key peopleAmir Jažić, CEO
Websitebhairlines.ba

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 founded on 12 August 1994 as Air Bosna.[4] In the autumn of 2003, the airline ceased operations due to inability to repay its debt. 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 was in negotiations to buy the airline,[5] and on 30 March 2008, 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]

Developments since 2012

As of mid-2012, the airline was 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%).[2] 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]

In June 2015, the Federation government of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to liquidate the carrier. The Federal Minister for Transport and Communication, Denis Lasić, said that the best option would be for the airline to declare bankruptcy. "They [B&H Airlines] have eaten up everything they had and now they are in a situation where they must redirect all state funding to HETA". B&H has some eight million euros worth of debt owed to HETA, the asset management company, for the financial lease of its two ATR 72s. The Minister added, "I have held talks with the Prime Minister Fadil Novalić and the conclusion is to liquidate the carrier."[12] B&H Airlines owed the airport of Sarajevo over 3,5 million Euros and the lessor of their aircraft over 7,5 million Euros.[13] The total debt was over 17 million US-Dollars at the time of closure.[3]

Last B&H Airlines ATR 72-212 (E7-AAD) dismantled during shipment to Germany

The airline flew its last commercial service on 11 June 2015.[14] The company's Air operator's certificate was revoked on 2 July 2015.[15]

Destinations

As of March 2015, B&H Airlines operated scheduled flights to the following destinations:[16]

Bosnia and Herzegowina
Switzerland

Fleet

Current fleet
B&H Airlines ATR 72-212

As of the time of closure, the B&H Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[17]

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

Historic fleet
B&H Airlines formerly operated a single Boeing 737-400.

Previously, B&H Airlines operated the following aircraft:[18]

Statistics
Passenger numbers[19]
20052006200720082009201020112012201320142015 Q1
24.90659.79268.22261.90487.158138.241129.43559.69731.70535.6063.604
140,1% 14,1% 9,2% 40,8% 58,6% 6,7% 53,6% 46,9% 12,3% 42,3%

See also

References
  1. "Headquarters Archived 4 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine." 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"
  2. Flight International 27 March 2007
  3. ch-aviation.com - Sarajevo to shut down B&H Airlines citing mounting debts 1 July 2015
  4. "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. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. 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". Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  9. "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. "B&H Airlines", Airliner World: 7, June 2013
  12. "Bosnian government to liquidate B&H Airlines". Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  13. "B H Airlines: Bosnien schließt seine Nationalairline". 3 July 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  14. "More Bosnian Bother". Airliner World. September 2015. p. 9.
  15. "Aircraft Operations". bhdca.gov.ba. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  16. "Winter timetable (Effective 26 October 2014–28 March 2015)" (PDF). B&H Airlines. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2015. 
  17. "BH Airlines Fleet Details and History". planespotters.net. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  18. BH Airlines at rzjets.com, retrieved 13-12-2014
  19. "Air Transport, 4th quarter 2013" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.

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