FlyBosnia (Sarajevo) has laid off almost half of its workforce and is struggling to pay its remaining employees as debts to Sarajevo International Airport and other suppliers continue to rise, the Bosnian newspaper Dnevni Avaz has reported.
Out of 100 employees in early summer, 40 have been dismissed, including 15 cabin crew and eight of the airline's 15 pilots who departed in August. The carrier has not paid salaries for two months, according to Dnevni Avaz, and to add to its woes it has been reported to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation (BHDCA) for alleged labour law violations.
FlyBosnia returned one of its two leased A319-100s, E7-FBB, to owner AerCap in early November and will only use one aircraft during the winter season, FlyBosnia head of marketing Aida Cvijetić told the Bosnian online newspaper Klix.ba. The aircraft will be re-leased in April 2020, she said.
E7-FBB is currently stored at Phoenix Goodyear in the United States, according to the ch-aviation fleets module. FlyBosnia currently operates one A319, E7-FBA, also AerCap-owned, on two 2x weekly flights to London Luton and Rome Fiumicino.
A new route to Paris is expected to launch in January as planned, Cvijetić said, and flights to the Middle East resume in April requiring the second aircraft.
Sarajevo Airport is considering terminating its contract with FlyBosnia and filing a lawsuit over a debt of BAM900,000 marks (USD508,000), according to Dnevni Avaz. In October, Klix.ba reported that the carrier was contemplating relocating its base from Sarajevo to Tuzla International and Mostar due to the debts owed to the capital's airport.
