Route Analysis: Muscat-Sarajevo

Oman’s SalamAir is adding another European destination to its network with the launch of nonstop flights to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The city becomes the third in Europe served by the LCC, alongside Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) and Trabzon (TZX) in Turkey.

Scheduled to start on July 12, the route from Muscat (MCT) to Sarajevo (SJJ) will be served once a week on Mondays using 180-seat Airbus A320neo aircraft. Flights will depart Muscat at 4.15 p.m. and arriving in Sarajevo at 8.25 p.m. The return leaves SJJ at 9.10 p.m. and arrives back in MCT at 5.10 a.m. the following day.

SalamAir becomes the eighth Gulf airline to offer services to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital this summer, with five of them having introduced flights this year.

“With visa-free entry for Omani and other GCC nationals, plus with no quarantine requirements, I believe Sarajevo as our other three summer destinations Istanbul, Trabzon, and Shiraz are extremely appealing for travel,” SalamAir CEO Mohamed Ahmed said.

The MCT-SJJ route will become the only nonstop service between Oman and Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows that there are nine other services between SJJ and the Middle East this summer.

Air Arabia serves SJJ from Sharjah (SHJ), while Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flies from Abu Dhabi (AUH). FlyBosnia serves Kuwait (KWI) and Riyadh (RUH); Flydubaiserves Dubai (DXB); Flynas serves Jeddah (JED) and RUH; and both Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways serve SJJ from Kuwait (KWI).

MCT-SJJ

Photo credit: Getty Images / Xantana