Bosnia and Herzegovina based airline FlyBosnia, has released a brand-new route flying Sarajevo to London starting next month in September.

Back in April, FlyBosnia featured as Simple Flying's startup airline of the week but since then has gone from strength to strength with new aircraft acquired, new routes scheduled and more to come.

Gaining traction in Western Europe

The eight-month-old airline, fathered by CEO Mr. Tarik Bilalbegovic, will fly to London starting 24th September this year. The service will operate three times a week, departing from Sarajevo International Airport into London Luton Airport. At the moment, the airline is offering flights once a day on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays but plans to phase in a daily service to London Luton within the next 12 months.

According to the airline, the service will be flown by FlyBosnia's Airbus A319-112, part of the Airbus A320 range which is known for its unbeatable fuel efficiency. With this aircraft, FlyBosnia will be able to take 150 passengers on the two and a half hour journey.

The current scheduled time for the Sarajevo International to London Luton service is at 7:15am, arriving into Luton at 8:45am. Whilst the airline claims that promotional tickets are selling for €11 in the sale, a look at its website shows that one-way tickets for the first flight are currently selling for €209.50 for one passenger on the 'Light' option ticket which is non-refundable and does not allow for checked-in luggage.

Humble beginnings

FlyBosnia hopes that its service to London will help connections between Eastern and Western Europe. In a statement, the British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Field, said that he had spoken with FlyBosnia's CEO about operating routes between the country and the UK adding that:

"It will be good for tourism, business and strengthening ties between the two countries..."

FlyBosnia also hopes that it will be able to run services to other Western European destinations by the end of the year. According to the airline, Paris and Rome flights can be expected within the next three months.

Who is FlyBosnia?

FlyBosnia was designed as a sustainable airline which would display "the charms of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the rest of the world."

Whilst it was founded in 2017, it took its first commercial flight from Sarajevo to Kuwait on 2nd May 2019 on the only aircraft it owned; an Airbus A319. FlyBosnia now operates routes to various destinations in the Middle East - taking advantage of religious toursim - including services to Riyadh, Jeddah and Bahrain alongside the new London Luton service.

It currently has just two aircraft in its fleet; the first Airbus A319-112 bought in December 2018 and the second in May 2019 leased from AerCap according to Air Fleets. Despite its limited fleet size, FlyBosnia claims to have already flown around 20,000 passengers and next year will aim to bring this number to 100,000. With new aircraft arriving, the airline will no doubt set its sights even higher in the years to come. It is expecting a delivery of six new A319 aircraft within the next three years.