Sarajevo Airport registered its busiest January on record by handling 58.397 passengers, representing an increase of 9.2%. This is despite the number of aircraft movements declining 4.3% to 784. The airport said, “Metrics indicate that the records achieved by Sarajevo Airport in the past few years will continue into 2020”, Ex-Yu Aviation news.
On October 26thlast year, Sarajevo International Airport (SIA), the biggest airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), welcomed on Friday its millionth passenger in 2019, SIA stated in the press release the same day.
“The millionth passenger this year was recorded a month and a half earlier than last year,” stated SIA press release, referring to December last year when the millionth passenger was welcomed.
“The Sarajevo International Airport served the first time, four months in a row, over 100,000 passengers,” SIA added.
SIA highlighted another record in the press release, an increase of 28.0 percent of passenger arrivals recorded in June year-on-year.
In the first seven months of this year, 638,663 passengers passed through SIA, a 9.0 percent rise year-on-year.
At the same time, 7,959 aircraft operations were performed, up 3.0 percent year on year.
Sarajevo Airport has seen its passenger numbers decline 58.4% in March, as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.
It welcomed 28.249 travellers through its doors during the month. The number of aircraft operations stood at 537, down 47.1%. Sarajevo Airport was open for commercial flights for the majority of last month, albeit with a significantly reduced traffic volume, according to Ex Yu Aviation news portal.
It closed its doors on Monday, March 30. During the first quarter, Sarajevo Airport handled 138.615 passengers, down 20.6%. It has shed 35.893 travellers on the same period last year.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina has imposed strict conditions on travel to minimise the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. These restrictions are currently open-ended and Wizz Air continues to closely monitor developments for any change to their status. Wizz Air has suspended all of its flights to and from Tuzla initially until April 30, 2020”, the airline said. It added, “As a result of the Bosnian government’s decision, the airline has extended the suspension of the Budapest – Sarajevo route until the end of April. Reopening of that route is planned for May 3, 2020”.