B&H Airlines d.o.o. was the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hi ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

with its head office in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

. It operated scheduled and charter passenger services as well as small cargo services from its home base at

Sarajevo International Airport Sarajevo International Airport ( bs, Međunarodni aerodrom Sarajevo/Међународни аеродром Сарајево) is the main international airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It i ...

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's old ...

27 March 2007 It ceased operating in June 2015

History

Early years

The airline was founded on 12 August 1994 as ''Air Bosna''. 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 the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,; hr, Vlada Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine; sr, Влада Федерације Босне и Херцеговине commonly abbreviated to the Federal Government,; hr, Federalna Vla ...

promised to revive it. In June 2005, it restarted operations as B&H Airlines, operating a pair of

ATR-72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, Flight length, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by Aerospace manufacturer, aircraft manufacturer ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR (french: Avions de transport région ...

aircraft. In late 2007, the Bosnian government announced it was to sell shares in B&H Airlines. On 23 February 2008, it was reported that

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the ...

was in negotiations to buy the airline, and on 30 March 2008,

Croatia Airlines Croatia Airlines Ltd. is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Croatia. Its headquarters are in Buzin near Zagreb and operates domestic and international services mainly to European destinations. Its main hub is Zagreb International Airport ...

was also interested in a stake. The government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also invited Comintel and

MyAir My Way Airlines S.r.l., operated as MyAir.com, was a low-cost airline based in Torri di Quartesolo, Vicenza, Italy. It operated scheduled services linking a dozen Italian cities and international flights to France, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Mor ...

(in addition to Turkish Airlines and Croatia Airlines) to recapitalise the airline. Bids were received from Turkish Airlines, Malaysia's Comintel Corporation and a Jordanian consortium, which included Royal Jordanian. 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. 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. However, in June 2012, Turkish Airlines ended the joint venture following which the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave the airline a cash injection of €3.5 million.

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 Energoinvest (full name: Energoinvest, d.d. - Sarajevo) is a multidisciplinary engineering and energy company with headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. History Energoinvest was established as a small design office under the name of ...

(0.07%), after the government's purchase of a former joint stake by

(49%). 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. 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 &H Airlineshave 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." B&H Airlines owed the airport of Sarajevo over 3,5 million Euros and the lessor of their aircraft over 7,5 million Euros. The total debt was over 17 million US-Dollars at the time of closure.ch-aviation.com - Sarajevo to shut down B&H Airlines citing mounting debts
1 July 2015 E7-AAD at Bosnian custom

The airline flew its last commercial service on 11 June 2015. The company's

Air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...

was revoked on 2 July 2015.

Destinations

, B&H Airlines operated scheduled flights to the following destinations: ;Bosnia and Herzegowina *

base *

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

- Banja Luka International Airport ;Switzerland *

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

- Zürich Airport

Fleet

As of the time of closure, the B&H Airlines fleet consisted of one ATR 72–212 seating 66 passengers.

Historic fleet

Previously, B&H Airlines operated the following aircraft:BH Airlines
at rzjets.com, retrieved 13-12-2014 *

Airbus A319-100 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final assem ...

* ATR 42 *

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

* CASA C-212 Aviocar * Fokker 50 * McDonnell Douglas MD-80 *

Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airlin ...

Statistics

References

External links

Official website (archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:B and H Airlines Defunct airlines of Bosnia and Herzegovina Airlines established in 2005 Airlines disestablished in 2015 2005 establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2015 disestablishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina