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Sarajevo International Airport

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Sarajevo International Airport

Međunarodni aerodrom Sarajevo

Međunarodna zračna luka Sarajevo

Међународни аеродром Сарајево
File:Sarajevo International.PNG
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorBosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation (BHDCA)
ServesSarajevo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
LocationButmir
Elevation AMSL1,708 ft / 521 m
Websitesarajevo-airport.ba
Map
SJJ is located in Bosnia and Herzegovina
SJJ
SJJ
Location within Bosnia and Herzegovina
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 2,700 8,858 Asphalt
Statistics
Passengers 2015772,904
Passengers 2014709,901
Passengers 2013665,638
Source (excluding statistics): Bosnian and Herzegovinian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

Sarajevo International Airport (IATA: SJJ, ICAO: LQSA), also known as Butmir Airport, is the main international airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located 3.3 NM (6.1 km; 3.8 mi) southwest of the Sarajevo railway station[1] in the Ilidža municipality, suburb of Butmir. In 2014, 709,901 passengers traveled through the airport, compared to 25,000 in 1996.[2]

History

Early years

First regular flights to Sarajevo using an airfield in the suburb of Butmir begin in 1930 when the domestic airliner Aeroput opened a regular route linking Belgrade to Podgorica through Sarajevo.[3] A year later Aeroput opened a new route which linked Belgrade and Zagreb going through Sarajevo, Split and Rijeka. In 1935 Aeroput operated three times weekly the non-stop route Belgrade – Sarajevo, which was extended to Dubrovnik a year later. In 1937 Aeroput included regular flghts linking Sarajevo to Zagreb, and 1938 was the year when first international flights were introduced when Aeroput extended the route Dubrovnik – Sarajevo – Zagreb to Vienna, Brno and Prague.[3][4]

The airfield in Butmir remained in use all the way until 1969. The need for a new airport in Sarajevo, with an asphalt-concrete runway, was acknowledged in the mid-1960s when JAT, Yugoslav national carrier at that time, began acquiring jet planes. The construction of the airport began in 1966 at its present location, not far from the old one.

Sarajevo Airport opened on 2 June 1969 for domestic traffic. In 1970 Frankfurt became the first international destination served. Most of the time the airport was a 'feeder' airport where passengers embarked for flights to Zagreb and Belgrade on their way to international destinations. Over time the traffic volume steadily grew from 70,000 to 600,000 passengers a year. The first renovation came for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games, when the runway was extended by 200 meters, the navigation system was improved, and a new terminal building was built, designed for 1 million passengers a year.

At the beginning of the Bosnian War the airport was put under control of Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). When the regular flights were stopped the JNA evacuated some 30,000 people, mostly women and children, who were fleeing clashes in Sarajevo; the first humanitarian aid from the US and France arrived in this period too.[5] After JNA left, the airport was for a while under control of Bosnian Serb forces and in June 1992 they handed over the airport to the UN to use it for humanitarian purposes (UN Security Council Resolution 757). In the biggest humanitarian operation in history of the UN that followed, during the Bosnian war, some 13,000 flights were carried out and over 160,000 tons of international humanitarian aid was delivered to the besieged city of Sarajevo.[5]

The airport re-opened to civilian air traffic on 16 August 1996 and has since been renovated and slowly returned to its former glory. Since the Dayton Accord in 1996, the airport has welcomed a thriving commercial flight business which includes Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Germanwings and others.

Development since the 2000s

  • In February 2002 directors of sitcom What I Like About You flew to New York from Sarajevo in leased Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737 registered as TC-API.
  • On 18 October 2005, Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, suspended a decision by Bosnian authorities to name the airport after Alija Izetbegović, the first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The High Representative stated that such a renaming might undermine the reconciliation process by alienating non-Bosniak citizens.[6]
  • In 2005, the European branch of the Airports Council International awarded Sarajevo the award of Best Airport Under 1 Million Passengers.[7]
  • In 2013, Sarajevo International Airport had 665,638 passengers which is more than all of the other airports in Bosnia-Herzegovina had together and a 14.7% increase from 2012, this is the highest number of passengers per year since the reopening of the airport. On 26 December 2014, The airport welcomed its 700,000th passenger on Austrian Airlines flight OS758 to Vienna.[8]
  • In May 2015 work has started on expansion of Sarajevo International Airport. Current work is undergoing on expansion of arrival area, adding more passport control check stands and rearranging whole arrival area to make it more passenger friendly. Next to follow is expansion of check in area which will include three more check in counters making it total of 15 check in counters. By the end of the year the airport will begin with platform expansion and the construction of rapid exit taxiway with scheduled completion by mid of the next year. 2017 should be the year in which airport will enter into the reconstruction of the runway and the maneuvering areas. Expansion of the airport at the current level is financed by Sarajevo Airport own funds.[9]
  • On 6 June 2015 Pope Francis visited Sarajevo arriving on an Alitalia Airbus A320-200 from Rome Fiumicino Airport.[10] Welcome ceremony was held at Sarajevo International Airport.[11]
  • The airport served as the home base for the country's flag carrier, B&H Airlines, until July 2015 when the airline ceased operations.[12]
  • First scheduled wide body aircraft with cargo flights to Sarajevo. May 22. 2015. Turkish Airlines started scheduled cargo flights from Sarajevo International Airport to Istanbul Atatürk Airport with an Airbus A330 freighter.[13]
  • December 2015. During this month Sarajevo Airport experienced very low visibility and fog. About 40% of flights were canceled which impacted passengers growth and financial loss to the airport. Airport handled only 28.167 passengers of 50.000 planned (last year in December 43.079 passengers were handled). For Sarajevo International Airport one of major restrictions is a mountain terrain that requires a high approach precision and a big inclination angle in a procedure of unsuccessful approach and landing.

Mr Vlado Jurić, Head of the Office for aviation safety, presented the information about problems caused by reduced minimums at Sarajevo Airport.For the implementation of ILS categories (CAT II or CAT III), the terrain in front of the runway start should be free of obstacles for at least 1000 meters. It means that the RWY 12 threshold should be moved for additional 200 meters which would reduce the runway length and as such is unacceptable. From the point of view of procedure design, the reduction of minimums is not an option and therefor it is necessary to find other solutions for improvement of landing conditions at Sarajevo Airport. The biggest problem at Sarajevo Airport is fog. The representative of Sarajevo Airport, Mr Nermin Zijadić informed that there is a relevant plan regarding this problem. He also presented the information about future projects of Sarajevo Airport among which the most important one is a reconstruction of the runway including its lighting system.[14]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Main building
Former B&H Airlines fleet
Check-in hall
Apron view and control tower
AirlinesDestinations
Adria Airways Ljubljana
Air Arabia Sharjah
Air Serbia Belgrade
AtlasGlobal Hajj charter: Jeddah, Medina
Austrian Airlines Vienna
Borajet Summer charter: Antalya
Corendon Airlines Summer charter: Antalya
Croatia Airlines Zagreb
flydubai Dubai-International
Germanwings Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart
Global Aviation Summer charter: Kuwait
Lufthansa Munich
Norwegian Air Shuttle Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Summer seasonal: Copenhagen
Onur Air Summer charter: Antalya
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen
Qatar Airways Doha (begins 2 November 2016)[15]
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
Swiss International Air Lines
operated by Helvetic Airways 		Zürich
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Arcus-Air Munich
Icar Air Ancona
Solinair Belgrade, Ljubljana
Trade Air Zagreb
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk

Destinations map

Panoramic view of Sarajevo International Airport and airplane hangars.

Statistics

Passenger numbers[16][17]
Year/Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Year total Change
2016 41,208 42,567 53,438 68,085 - - - - - - - - 205,298 +4,24%
2015 43,700 39,908 50,273 63,064 80,143 74,855 89,319 101,307 79,120 71,255 51,793 28,167 772,904 +8,87%
2014 36,114 35,435 45,789 56,611 71,513 74,976 74,948 88,591 71,168 64,844 46,833 43,079 709,901 + 6,64%
2013 33,437 30,399 44,631 56,918 65,495 72,949 69,699 79,796 66,721 64,387 44,446 36,760 665,638 +14.75%
2012 33,247 26,278 36,765 49,709 55,107 62,491 69,346 60,787 60,323 52,115 38,612 35,278 580,058 – 3.32%
2011 30,484 34,148 40,803 49,489 56,812 62,994 81,042 59,042 59,074 52,957 39,785 33,348 599,978 + 6.5%
2010 + + + + 51,398 59,636 72,615 60,475 54,753 51,137 40,912 – 563,266 + 6.2%
2009 + + 87,257 + + 143,906 + + 177,762 + + 121,427 530,391 + 4.7%
2008 23,909 27,121 34,896 38,052 46,974 55,391 62,524 61,560 42,752 46,094 34,089 32,913 506,398 + 0.2%
2007 32,235 28,028 35,168 42,297 43,633 53,281 59,436 57,381 45,113 43,980 31,952 32,735 505,269 + 8.4%
Top 5 busiest routes at Sarajevo International Airport
City Airport(s) Weekly departures
(Summer 2016) 		Airlines Passengers (2015)
Istanbul Atatürk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport 28 Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines
Dubai Dubai International Airport and Sharjah International Airport 18 flydubai and Air Arabia
Vienna Schwechat Airport 14 Austrian Airlines 115.938[18]Data for 2014
Zagreb Zagreb Airport 13 Croatia Airlines 59.497[19]
Munich Munich Airport 7 Lufthansa 75.841[20]

Accidents and incidents

  • 18 January 1977: Džemal Bijedić, then prime minister of Yugoslavia, and his wife were among the eight people killed when their Learjet 25 crashed on the Inač mountain near Kreševo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plane took off from Batajnica Air Base in Belgrade and was en route to Sarajevo when it crashed, ostensibly due to poor weather conditions. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the crash was not an accident but rather the result of foul play at the hands of his Serbian rivals.
  • 31 December 1994: Belair cargo plane Ilyushin 76TD, registration EW-76836 was operating flight from Luxembourg to Sarajevo on behalf of the United Nations. At the time of landing Sarajevo airport runway was flooded and the aircraft overran runway and struck a ditch with the nose gear. There were no fatalities in crash-landing but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.[21]
  • 23 December 2001: A Crossair Avro RJ, registration HB-IXH, skidded 100 meters off the runway when it tried to land at Sarajevo airport under snowy conditions. Nobody was injured in the accident, nor was there any damage. By next Monday afternoon, the aircraft had been recovered and was parked on the apron. The French Air Detachment (DETAIR) and local aeronautical authorities have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the accident. It was snowing on the afternoon of 23 Dec.. The airport snow plough had just cleared the runway, a 20-minute job, when an HB-IXH from Zürich requested authorization to land." In those circumstances, the air traffic controller cannot give authorization. He only informs the pilot and the pilot is the one who has the responsibility to take the decision to land," said Maj. Olivier Mrowiki, air deputy commander. "The pilot (captain) decided to land and began the IFR approach procedure. The maneuver was correct and the touch down (landing) was perfect. The problem arose when the aircraft did not stop on the runway and went beyond it and stopped just in front of the ILS (instrumental landing system) antennas more than 100 meters beyond the end of the runway,"[22]
  • 3 June 2015: A Turkish Airlines 737-800 registration TC-JFH, bursted two rear tires as it was landing at Sarajevo Airport on the flight from Istanbul Atatürk Airport. The incident happened at 19:10 as flight was scheduled to land. Luckily no passengers reported any injuries, nor the damage to the plane. The departure scheduled for 20:35 was delayed due to tires replacement, the flight departed next day.
Panoramic view of Sarajevo International Airport apron.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "EAD Basic - Error Page". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  2. ^ Statistic data for Sarajevo Airport
  3. ^ a b Drustvo za Vazdusni Saobracaj A D – Aeroput (1927–1948) at europeanairlines.n
  4. ^ Aeroput, the First Airline that Landed in Sarajevo at sarajevotimes.com, 21-4-2014, retrieved 19-7-2014
  5. ^ a b [1]
  6. ^ High Representative Suspends Decision Renaming Sarajevo International Airport
  7. ^ Excellence in airport operations: 1st ACI Europe Best Airport Awards, 29 June 2005.
  8. ^ "Sarajevo-Airport.ba - Međunarodni aerodrom Sarajevo". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  9. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2015/05/expansion-of-sarajevo-international.html
  10. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2015/06/pope-francis-visit-to-bosnia-and.html
  11. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2015/06/pope-francis-airplane-at-sarajevo.html
  12. ^ ch-aviation.com - Sarajevo to shut down B&H Airlines citing mounting debts 1 July 2015
  13. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2015/05/turkish-airlines-cargo-flights-from.html
  14. ^ http://www.sarajevo-airport.ba/vijest.php?id=426&lang=eng
  15. ^ http://www.qatarairways.com/us/en/press-release.page?pr_id=pressrelease_itbpressconf
  16. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2016/02/sarajevo-international-airport.html
  17. ^ "Sarajevo-Airport.ba - Međunarodni aerodrom Sarajevo". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  18. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2015/09/sarajevo-vienna-sarajevo-air-traffic_29.html
  19. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2016/04/croatia-airlines-performance-at.html
  20. ^ http://flyingbosnian.blogspot.com/2016/04/lufthansa-performance-at-sarajevo.html#more
  21. ^ Harro Ranter (31 December 1994). "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 76TD EW-76836 Sarajevo Airport (SJJ)". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  22. ^ "Crossair aircraft has slid off the runway of Sarajevo airport". Retrieved 6 June 2015.

Media related to Sarajevo International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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